STEAL THIS IDEA! part II

      This is an idea for television and, to a lesser extent, movies. I don't know if it would be possible to do given the various unions involved but what I would want to see is a television show where another story is going on surreptitiously in the background.

      These background characters would never have any lines. It would be a totally mimed story which the camera work of the show never draws attention to. Admittedly this idea would probably have worked better in a pre-internet television series because, let's face it, the internet is full of assholes who like spoiling everything and nobody knows how to respectfully keep their mouths shut while the show is unfolding.

      This is a simple example, suitable for a sitcom, which commonly features scenes in a public environment. Such stories could either be planned to play out over the course of a series or new stories could be done seasonally.
      A couple has an entire relationship in the background culminating in marriage. It could start with a non-descript man visible, but not obviously so, in the background with a different woman peas and carroting each week for a couple of episodes. But then, the same woman is shown with the same man over the course of the remaining episodes. Again, nothing which draws the attention. You couldn't show him giving her a gift, but a gift could be present on the table. You couldn't show his proposal, but you could have her ring glint in the lighting. If you keep their "storyline" going, she could be seen visibly pregnant in later episodes and later still, with a baby or two. A similar version could be with an old couple. After a while, one disappears and later still, the other one disappears too alluding to the obvious. Perhaps they were longtime customers and a photo of them on the wall could appear.

      The key point to all this is subtlety. If at any point, it is obvious to the viewer that they are being made to see something, you're doing it wrong. What these background characters are doing can't trump the action of the characters whom the show is based on. It would probably help if these mime-stories don't take place each episode so as not to be too obvious. The stories themselves would have to be simple and decipherable by mere visual cues and/or through heavy use of symbolism (e.g. floral arrangements since most flowers have certain implications associated with them).



DISCLAIMER: To anyone reading this, you are welcome to not only use, but claim this idea as your own without giving credit to me. I sometimes have ideas, but I do not have the skills needed to express them. It is more important to me to see these ideas done than to receive recognition for them. That being said, giving me a mention anyway would make me giddy. If this idea has in fact already been done, then I strongly suggest you not actually steal it (at least not without major revisions) :-)