Notes Towards a Possible Film (#1)

We send a small team of location scouts to a Northern American city, preferably one operating at the height of population capacity. These scouts will research and select one apartment building in this city. Tenants will be sorted through a thorough interview process, which ends only when two willing persons are selected, and referred to from here on as the protagonists. Their identity will be revealed to no one; not the other tenants, not the crew, not the producers. They will be issued directions, as follows.

First.

Under no circumstances may they admit their involvement with the film; such admission would be considered "breaking character."

Second.

They have one, and only one "goal" -- to identify the other (second) protagonist. Once located, they will announce their victory by physically assaulting the suspected other. If wrong, their mistaken assault on the innocent tenant will be dealt with according to the wishes of the victim, and the "letter of the law;" the involvement of the film's producers will be denied.

A film crew, working with a single (video) camera and sound equipment, will be released into the hallways of the apartment building. Under no circumstances must the camera crew leave the hallways or enter the apartments; under no circumstances must they reveal the details of their assignment to the tenants -- proper cover story will be provided. The camera crew will try, to the best of their ability, to follow significant moments in the ongoing conflict narrative; if the narrative is concluded without their knowledge, they will be pulled back in. Remember, the crew will not be given any information as to the identity of the protagonists.

There will be multiple shifts of crew members; they will eat, sleep, use the restroom, etc. in designated trailers set up several hundred feet away from the apartment complex. The narrative will last for as long as the conflict takes to find resolution, or until funding is revoked.

Once filming is complete, the footage will be logged by disinterested interns, edited by a pay-rolled employee and her assistants, narrated by the cheapest Hollywood actor who has enough name recognition to appease the sponsors.