Screenwriting : Hypothetical Robocop rewrite. by Adam McCulloch

Picking Robocop for this example was a bad move, for the original trilogy contained prescient satire and social commentary about real issues like gentrification, privatization, consumerism, infotainment, and urban decay. The remake was just an action movie with a few jabs about drone warfare.

So how would you make it current?

Lost me at calling Robocop crap.

I'm not sure it can be made current since we're living a lot of it already. It's the same with Flash Gordon: the Sam Jones one was bad, but the Syfy series was way worse.

Holy s**t, dude. If you mean Robocop (1987), you're utterly off your nut. That script is fantastic. I can definitely think of what I would do with a rolled up copy right now, but it wouldn't be to rewrite it. Why are we starting another thread slamming other writers' work??

1987 was great and very relevant which is why 2014 was such a disappointment. Times change so reboots can be tricky. That's why I thought it was an interesting example.

The Shinning? Ouch, now that does sound painful.

Wait and see what they do for the Robocop TV series. Clive Barker to be involved in this web project for Machinima: http://www.cnet.com/news/robocop-clive-barker-and-an-evil-justice-league...

May as well talk about what will be changing for the Gilligan's Island reboot co-written by Josh Gad.

Good examples with excellent challenges, David. Gilligan's Island sounds like it could be made relevant by upping the conflict between the classes but the challenge would be in how to differentiate it from reality TV. Maybe make it darker in tone.

For David: there already were three Robocop series, a syndicated live-action and two cartoons: https://youtu.be/U00p0LNZOpw https://youtu.be/G4e7bldkrpg https://youtu.be/W92tZHOLSNo

I'm not saying Gilligan's Island would be good or bad. I'm just saying it is the kind of job writers are asked to do so it might be a fun mental exercise to think it through a little in a forum. Personally I'd have one of the characters be in a wheelchair or be in some way reliant on the other characters for survival. Maybe the Captain can be to blame for the plane going down rather than the storm.

Maybe it was a patient transport plane. Everyone has to donate blood to one of the characters every few days.

Jeff, I know. One was a Canadian series. We are discussing reboots hence why I did not mention them.

Hi Adam if I were asked to re-write the film Robocop, I would write it from my cultural and historic background. This would give it a different view from what the world has already seen. I'm from the Caribbean so I would incorporate the Caribbean as the background. Most people see the Caribbean as a vacation destination not a futuristic decay of society I would write it as big business men who use technology to control the masses, Robocop is an elite police who has sold out to the corporation. he becomes a cyborg who is confronted by inner conflict of right and wrong. This would be my take on it. I hope it was helpful for you

Cool idea, Anderson. A robot police force would effectively be generic and able to take the story to any location on the planet. That way the principal characters can remain the same and the location and cultural significance would change. I like that idea a lot.

Robocop is already at play. The company who created him puts out more police robots, but they're full robot of course. Robocop doesn't like them. He suspects they are doing something malicious. A robot kills an unarmed civil rights leaders. Riots begin. An investigation ensues. In the end, we find out the robot who killed the civil rights leader was actually created by him or her. They used themselves as a Martyr to begin a radical change.

The thing I liked most about Robo Cop was first, the actor who played the role, Peter Weller, (so casting will definitely be key) and I understand that's not in your control. Second, the family background. His wife was a sweetheart. You immediately felt his loss and wished she could have still been in his life. So, I'd definitely bring her into the mix. I'd keep him personable too. He's a robot on the outside, but he's still so human that you've gotta love and root for him. Also, I'd make him kinda cool. Statistically the majority ticket buyer of the big screen is males ages 15 - 35. In this day and age, cool is what's happening. Aside from the "cool" graphics and action, the swag-gitude of the Transformers is what makes them so likable. Same for the Avengers. I didn't like the remake of Robo Cop. The new actor sucked big time. Peter Weller nailed that role, making him a hard act to follow.