Invaders from Another World ................but they're already here and came by bus to keep costs down
It is the mid 1950's in America and tv series creator John Price has just had a hit tv show, The Love Station, and has been called into the office of his producer Andrew Diamond to discuss ideas for future tv projects.
Andrew
"When you first came to see me John, I knew you had talent but I questioned, and I question this of everyone who sits in front of me, I questioned whether you had the ability to convert your talent into numbers. And based on the figures we've recieved for the first season of The Love Station the answer is a resounding yes. And we don't want to wait for the dust settle for the next season we want to hear other ideas you may have future television"
John
"Well that's very nice of you to say that , in fact I do have one idea which i'd like to discuss, you know ......"
Andrew interrupts
"Sorry John, i didn't introduce you to Vince David from our finance department he's the guy who basically changes the feeding of the 5000 to the feeding of one and he's already brought a packed lunch from home"
Vince
"Well i wouldn't put it quite like that but it is my primary responsibility to esnure that there are no budget over runs and naming no names but we have encountered a number of challenging financial conditions recently which means that as much as Andrew and myself want to support you as much as we can John you will be working to a tight budget"
John
"No problem, i'm happy just to be here having this conversation"
Andrew
"Great, so John, what's the big idea?"
John
"Ok, well you know how in all sci fiction series so far it's always been a case of us travelling through space and landing on a planet and then encountering extra terrestrial life?well, what if we're the ones being encountered and the aliens land on earth but only one man sees them and he then spends the entire series travelling the country building up evidence to prove to the authorites that the earth has been invaded"
Andrew
"I like it, them to us rather us to them. What do you think Vince? "
Vince
"I presume these aliens will come to earth in some sort of spacecraft"
John
"well yeah it's a bit far to walk"
Andrew and Vince say nothing and just look at John
John
"Yeah they'll be coming in a spacecraft"
Vince
"We won't be able to afford to do a big set piece of a space ship landing so unfortunately we'll have to assume the aliens have already landed"
John
"Ok fair enough, the idea is to show how the aliens absorb themselves into every day human life anyway so it shouldn't be a problem
Vince
"And how many aliens will be coming, 2 or 3? "
John
"No, the whole idea is that they are here in significant number and are infiltrating every area of society from bankers to politicians to the armed forces"
Vince
"so what 20?"
John
"I was thinking tens of thousands"
Vince
"And i presume they'll all need to be made up to look like aliens "
John
"Yes but the action will only centre around a few aliens each week so you'd only have to provide costume and make up for a handful"
Vince
"The budget still won't stetch to that , how about they look like humans?"
John
"well, that was my idea, they look, sound, act like humans but they are wearing a skin coating which hides their true reptilian frame"
Vince
"I was thinking along the lines of being identical to humans in every department"
John (undertone of sarcasm)
"So they're aliens but they look and sound and act and talk exactly like humans?"
Andrew
"I see where you are coming from John , how about we shave their heads, we can stretch to a set of clippers can't we Vince?"
Vince
"I'm confident we can"
Andrew
"Great, ok, now John what have you mind for the long term objectives of the alien visitors?"
John
"Sorry, I've still got some reservations about the whole looking like humans aspect, don't we at least need some way that the viewer and the human race can identify the aliens. How about they revert back to their original alien reptilian form when they are killed"
Vince
"Yeah but again it's going to involve makeup and special effects"
John
"Ok then they turn into a huge flame "
Vince
"Pyrotechnics, not cheap"
John (slightly exasperated)
"Ok well they emit a loud noise"
Vince
"That's just going to annoy our pensioner and pet demographic. How about they don't bleed when cut"
John
"That would work but what if they don't get into a fight , we need something that they are always consciously trying to hide from the viewer"
Andrew
"They don't have any toes "
John
"What?"
Andrew
"And they cover up this secret by wearing shoes , everywhere, even in the bath"
John is sensing that his vision is not going quite in the direction he wanted
John
"So let me get this straight we're going to be making serious, intelligent, paranoid sci fi and we're asking viewers to bear with us while the hero waits for the aliens to take off their shoes and socks before we know if they're humans or not . Why not get him to work in a shoe shop , that'll give him a perfect reason to meet the aliens"
Vince
"That's a great idea and we can get people to play along at home and bet which shoes the alien is going to try on. We can call it the Shoe moment"
John has had enough and collects his notes and gets up to leave
John
"Look, gentlemen, I'm flattered the Love Station is doing well and you're interested in my ideas but this is not the direction i wanted to go in so respectfully I'll bid you both a good day"
Andrew
"Woah wait John , look I understand you're new to television but this is how ideas get developed. You're not happy with some of the suggestions i can see that but this is a more complicated situation than The Love Station and we need to consider it from all angles and that often means making suggestions that may not work. The point is that we both want the same thing so why don't you take a seat and let's carry on and see where we get to , ok?"
John takes a seat
Andrew
"Let's forget about how the aliens get here and what they look like for now , let's just look at the chief protagonist, the hero , what thoughts do you have for him John?"
John
"Well I thought for the series to work we have to get the viewer to believe he has both the time and wealth to travel the country so he's got to be succesful and do a job where he isn't working all the time or can make time such as someone working on a project like an architect or someone
Vince
"How about a baker "
John (still clearly annoyed)
"Why would he be a baker?"
Vince
"He wouldn't but we do have some spare baker uniforms in the wardrobe department"
John
"But he's not going to be chasing aliens wearing a white hat "
Andrew
"Although it a strong heroic symbol"
John
"But it's going to make the show a laughing stock"
Vince
"I don't think so, most bakers work till about lunch time so we can have him racing from work to track down aliens in the afternoon. And that way you're showing the balance of working to earn money and having the time off to chase aliens "
John
"But no one is going to believe it "
John just sits back in his chair absolutely demoralised, sensing he has to do something to raise moral Andrew steps in
"I think we're going to make a concession here Vince, surely for the sake of credibility there is enough in the budget to pay for a few suits and a few drawing things to make him an architect. "
Vince
"Yes but we'll have to make cut backs elsewhere "
Andrew
"Ok but we can at least go with John's idea for the lead character"
Vince
"In principle yes "
Andrew
"Great now we are getting somewhere "
Andrew gets up and grabs a piece of chalk and walks over to a black board
Andrew
"So he 's a successful architect who wears nice suits and has had many lovers but due to the nature of his mission he can never settle down, not until he has exposed the aliens to the world so he meets women and they help him but love is always out of reach and as a viewer we feel his pain "
John has now had his interest peeked and he is back on board with the brain storming
John
"Yeah i like that , people can identify with that one man's struggle aspect and I thought of giving him a backstory of being a successful racing driver as a young man who never turned professional because of a crash but rather than live in fear of driving it becomes his vice and he feeds on the adrenaline of the chase but we develop this aspect slowly over the duration of the show "
Andrew
"And you begin to wonder if chasing aliens is more about him getting his kicks rather than a moral crusade "
John
"Yes, yes , yes "
Andrew and John are now postively ecstatic as slowly they can see their ideas gelling, Vince is less ecstatic
Andrew
"What is it Vince? "
Vince
"You want to make this guy attractive to women? Well you're going to have a problem as we have no free female actresses, they are all contracted onto other shows "
Andrew
"Really? All of them? "
Vince
"Yep "
Andrew
"Well what do we do? "
Vince
"Well we can't very well get male actors to play female roles because again it raises the issue of the cost of make up and wardrobe"
John
"And the fact that no one would believe that one man could date so many female bakers "
Vince ignores the slight and continues
"so there really is no option left open to us, we'll have to give him no reproductive organs"
John stands in shocked silence , Andrew shakes his head
Andrew
"No, no, no............he was abducted by aliens as a child and had them removed and now he wants them back. Godammit that's utter genius, what a show we have here . What do you think John? ....John? ..........John?...........John?"
John is half way down the corridor on his way home
