The richest man in the world is killed, and within a week, the second richest man in the world (now the richest) is killed. The next week the third richest man is killed, and people start noticing there is a pattern.
The Group comes forward to confirm suspicions; they are killing the rich, starting from the top and working their way down. They point to a website listing the 10 richest people in the world. The 1% of the 1% scramble to see who’s next.
The next guy on the list freaks and hides himself behind every form of security he can buy. He releases a video showing how safe he is. He still gets killed.
At this point the next guy on the list (let’s call him John) knows his days are numbered. He knows no amount of security can protect him, so what can he do? He gets a crazy idea: maybe he can move down the list?
John dumps half his money into the first charity he can think of and checks the website. He’s still #1. He takes a lot of drugs and goes to sleep.
The next day the whole world checks the website and John’s name is off the list; he must be dead.
John releases a video showing that he is not dead, living comfortably in the squalor afforded by the mere 57 billion dollars he has left.
He doesn’t explain how he did it.
Many people reach-out to John for an explanation and he simply says “I don’t know”.
Maybe it’s just over?
A few days pass and the world breathes a sigh of relief. Then the next guy on the list is killed.
The Group releases a new video. They applaud John’s cleverness but condemn “the fact that, like all rich people, he won’t share”. They increase the number of names on the website from ten to one-hundred and point out that John is back on the board (number 43). The group ends the video saying “figure it out fast, we’re increasing the harvest to one of you per day”.
It doesn’t take long for someone to figure it out.
The rich scramble to figure out how to get to the bottom of the list. A few do what John did and dump their money into their favorite charities, others try to find ways to “hide” their money from being counted. Some realize that they don’t have to get off the list, they just need to stay a notch below the top. Hilarity ensues as all these schemes and more play-out to varying degrees of success and failure, the names shuffling each day on the website and another billionaire being killed every day. I have a few ideas for some of these viginettes but there’s lots of room for creativity here, the key is to illustrate how cheating doesn’t work and contributing something useful to the survival of the species does.
Between divestment and dying there’s almost no billionaires left by the end of the month, and the world notices that the list of getting shorter. When the last billionaire falls, the list is complete empty.
A week goes by and there’s no more names, no more killings. Maybe it’s over for real this time?
Someone decides to test this and cancels their ongoing donation to the Red Cross. Their resulting profit tips the needle above the $1B mark. They are dead the next day.
Ultimately it is a dark-comedy/slasher film with the associated slasher film morality story, only instead of punishing lust the sin is greed. The “victims” however are given a chance to escape the “monster”, which effectively puts them in control of their destiny.
I have a couple of ideas on how to end this, but I’m not sure which I like the best.
Being a slasher film, I’m inclined to end on a cliffhanger hinting at a sequel (which I have no intention of making).
Another option is to flash-forward and depict the long-term impact of these events, but this could get too pointed or underestimating of the audience’s intelligence.
It could just end here, and have a short post-credit sequence revealing a monument to The Group for averting collapse. I’m just not sure because I don’t love any of these yet.
The Group comes forward to confirm suspicions; they are killing the rich, starting from the top and working their way down. They point to a website listing the 10 richest people in the world. The 1% of the 1% scramble to see who’s next.
The next guy on the list freaks and hides himself behind every form of security he can buy. He releases a video showing how safe he is. He still gets killed.
At this point the next guy on the list (let’s call him John) knows his days are numbered. He knows no amount of security can protect him, so what can he do? He gets a crazy idea: maybe he can move down the list?
John dumps half his money into the first charity he can think of and checks the website. He’s still #1. He takes a lot of drugs and goes to sleep.
The next day the whole world checks the website and John’s name is off the list; he must be dead.
John releases a video showing that he is not dead, living comfortably in the squalor afforded by the mere 57 billion dollars he has left.
He doesn’t explain how he did it.
Many people reach-out to John for an explanation and he simply says “I don’t know”.
Maybe it’s just over?
A few days pass and the world breathes a sigh of relief. Then the next guy on the list is killed.
The Group releases a new video. They applaud John’s cleverness but condemn “the fact that, like all rich people, he won’t share”. They increase the number of names on the website from ten to one-hundred and point out that John is back on the board (number 43). The group ends the video saying “figure it out fast, we’re increasing the harvest to one of you per day”.
It doesn’t take long for someone to figure it out.
The rich scramble to figure out how to get to the bottom of the list. A few do what John did and dump their money into their favorite charities, others try to find ways to “hide” their money from being counted. Some realize that they don’t have to get off the list, they just need to stay a notch below the top. Hilarity ensues as all these schemes and more play-out to varying degrees of success and failure, the names shuffling each day on the website and another billionaire being killed every day. I have a few ideas for some of these viginettes but there’s lots of room for creativity here, the key is to illustrate how cheating doesn’t work and contributing something useful to the survival of the species does.
Between divestment and dying there’s almost no billionaires left by the end of the month, and the world notices that the list of getting shorter. When the last billionaire falls, the list is complete empty.
A week goes by and there’s no more names, no more killings. Maybe it’s over for real this time?
Someone decides to test this and cancels their ongoing donation to the Red Cross. Their resulting profit tips the needle above the $1B mark. They are dead the next day.
Ultimately it is a dark-comedy/slasher film with the associated slasher film morality story, only instead of punishing lust the sin is greed. The “victims” however are given a chance to escape the “monster”, which effectively puts them in control of their destiny.
I have a couple of ideas on how to end this, but I’m not sure which I like the best.
Being a slasher film, I’m inclined to end on a cliffhanger hinting at a sequel (which I have no intention of making).
Another option is to flash-forward and depict the long-term impact of these events, but this could get too pointed or underestimating of the audience’s intelligence.
It could just end here, and have a short post-credit sequence revealing a monument to The Group for averting collapse. I’m just not sure because I don’t love any of these yet.