Pool Movie Writing Thread

[bsheehan]

A good friend of mine directed a movie about pool that was screened *today* called Swamper. Please check it out, it is fantastic.

Plot:

A young pool shark is caught up in a world of underground gambling and struggling to make ends meet. His luck seems to change when he lands a job with a moving company, but it soon leads him to more trouble.

 

[easy-e]

In current times would the most accurate representation of a pool player be a communist oppressed athlete trying to survive by traveling the world looking for titles to win and prize money to take home.

A fictional story set in a fictional country. Due to scarcity of jobs or opportunity an individual dedicates countless hours to self development in billiards. The interest is when the unknowning communist arrives to America. American values and friendships create a inner conflict, which plays out over the course of a future serialized column in this thread. Art to follow.

View attachment 591989

I couldn't keep reading after "athlete".

 

[Pin]

Crap player joins local league team and starts taking informal lessons with old-timer on the team.

The two strike up an unlikely friendship and there is pool action and life lessons as the league season unfolds.

Sort of Tuesdays With Morrie meets Karate Kid meets Dodgeball, except it is subtly revealed that the old-timer isn't really very expert, is learning as he goes to stay one step ahead of the lessons, and leading the young player to find the answers himself.

At the end young player chooses to put pool on the back-burner and focus on his job and the baby he's about to have. Old timer is proud of him. Someone new joins team...

It would be cheap to film.

 

[Pin]

Crap pool player acquires Magic Cue that telepathically guides the player in how to shoot every shot.

The twist: The player is really channeling their own instinct. Like Dumbo with the magic feather learning to fly.

Cue magic stops working (or the cue gets lost or something) and player learns to play in the same way himself.

Or:

Magic cue starts out helping player, then consumes and enslaves them in self-destructive pool obsession. Like the song 'Black Blade' by Blue Oyster Cult. Or whatever fantasy book/movie inspired it.

 

[dquarasr]

In current times would the most accurate representation of a pool player be a communist oppressed athlete trying to survive by traveling the world looking for titles to win and prize money to take home.

A fictional story set in a fictional country. Due to scarcity of jobs or opportunity an individual dedicates countless hours to self development in billiards. The interest is when the unknowning communist arrives to America. American values and friendships create a inner conflict, which plays out over the course of a future serialized column in this thread. Art to follow.

View attachment 591989

The movie is a dark tragedy:

The protagonist is in a pool hall in middle America on a summer afternoon. He's doing drills. A seasoned player is watching him and decides to take him under his wing. "Hey, have you ever heard of the Ghost Ball Aiming System?" They form an alliance, the seasoned player coaching the young player.

Cut forward six months.

The young player struggles in a large money match at a MidWest pool hall. The guy who beats the young player and takes all his money sees something in the young player and feels sorry for him. He says "Hey, have you ever heard about Poolology?" They form an alliance, the seasoned player coaching the young player.

Cut forward one year. The not-so-young player is hill-hill in a race to 11 in a pool hall in the Northeast. He gets beaten after his fundamentals fail him on the the money ball. The guy who beats him asks him about his aiming system, then admits he uses the CTE Aiming System. He takes the young-ish player under his wing and teaches him CTE.

Cut forward three years. The player is in a double-elimination tournament in the West. He loses his first two matches and leaves the pool hall vowing to never return. An older guy who beat him in his elimination match sees his frustration and asks him about his game. The older guy says he doesn't use any aiming system. He just eyeballs it and plays by feel.

Cut forward 40 years. The now-elderly player is in a pool hall, decrepit and bent, hair gray, eyes failing him. He plays a rack of 9-ball. He's on the 7-ball, shoots it in, says "999,998", then shoots in the 8-ball and says "999,999". Then he pockets the 9-ball with the camera on a close-up of his face; he yells "1,000,000!!!!! I'M READY!!!!!" The camera zooms out, out, out, all the way out the door of the pool hall, down the street, fading to "The End".