The ad to the left is one piece of the viral marketing campaign that accompanied the release of "Limitless," which included a fairly convincing dummy website for the designer pharmaceutical NZT that only definitively reveals itself on the side effects page. "Others reported experiencing violent thoughts, brain damage, blackouts, suicidal feelings, homicidal feelings, extreme paranoia, rapid aging, time dysplasia, psychosis and possibly even death." Perfect pitch, pitch perfect.Like high concepts that seem a bit thin in previews but turn out to be pretty dense, as well as Spike Lee's best movies ("Clockers," "Malcolm X," "25th Hour," and maybe even the rumored "Oldboy" remake), "Limitless" is adapted from original, written material. This phenomenon supports the strongest piece of advice Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon offer in the excellent, hilarious and mildly-depressing-if-you-allow-it "Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!," which is "You simply have to write an outline to write a screenplay." Spend a lot of time and energy on the blueprints and the skyscraper almost builds itself.
Oh, also, if you have any interest in writing movies for a living, click the link, buy and (important step I skip about half the time) read the book, purchase a slick new suit and submit your resume to Initech.
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