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Pirates of the Caribbean: Community Prequel Script

One tip to everyone when trying to capture Sparrows way of speaking and doing things, he is almost always sarcastic, and he likes to mix words by saying them quickly and rearranging them so they say the same message but with a different order of words, believe me he IS a hard character to cast, but Jones will also be a bit difficult. He is somewhat bi-polar being sad, then furious, then his deluted form of happy, then sad again. Remember this everyone, sparrow does not "turn around" he spins around with his fingers being pointed out, and then does his trademark waltz off into the distance.
 
<!--quoteo(post=213722:date=Sep 5 2007, 09:28 PM:name=Old Salt)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Old Salt @ Sep 5 2007, 09:28 PM) [snapback]213722[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Great posts, Mercer. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" /> We do need to be reined in at times while pitching in ideas and make sure that the script is kept somewhat honest. I agree, we can't get caught up in the darkness (and that's easier said than done) because it does suck the life out of a movie, and Captain Jack Sparrow is all about, by his very nature, being loose and carefree and so the script should reflect that.

No harm in starting a second thread with more ideas for another prequel. I don't think anyone would expect that there can only be one prequel, there are far to many loose ends in the three movies and we need to know exactly how those loose ends were untied. What exactly happened to these people in the past that caused them to become what they are? What is the backstory? That's why the Star Wars prequels were so fascinating to those who are into that sort of fare. You wanted to see how that little kid became Darth Vader, and there is always an audience for that. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" />


<i>Looks like I posted this right after you posted part of your screenplay. This was in response to your other posts.</i><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thats a "sequel" so we can go both ways and see who gets farther. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" />
 
Sorry for my long list of posts, i think of things i should have put earlier later on. If you have any questions concerning the history of this time, how to cast the characters ask me, i will probablty have an answer. Or if you just want me to proofread any script and see where it needs improvements, i will; you guys do the same for me.
 
Well, your script is intriguing so far, and it looks like you have captured the essence of Jack's character as well. No doubt you have been giving this script some serious thought and I like the strong enthusiasm you are bringing to it, as should everyone else connected to this thread.

No problem about the posts, ideas should be shared before they are lost.
 
going in the right direction for as far as i can see. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" />
 
Its 6:30am now, i will have more script done by about 5pm. I am giving this some enthusiasm because we have to get it turned into the writers before they get their minds set on one particular, and possibly stupid idea. I am having trouble understanding this thing about turning it into the writers, is there a big advertisement that says "send us your scripts for what you think we should do for pirates 4" and usually big-shots like them dont post their e-mails online so how did one of you turn this up? I think its great that you found a way, but how do you know they wont just turn it down as junk mail?
 
We don't. I don't know if anyone else has heard anything to the contrary. From what I have read in interviews and such both the producer and one of the screenwriters is open to the idea of a fourth film. My personal opinion, as I have stated, was that it was a mistake to make the two sequels back to back because if you make a mistake in the direction your going with the first one you are making that same mistake in the second. I would think that they realize that a lot of the fun went out of the series with those two sequels and that they still have a core audience which is hungry for a movie that would more emulate the first film.

But this is all a game a chance, as it usually is. Hopefully they are thinking in this direction (about going the prequel route) and anything we send will have some impact with their line of thinking. If anyone else here has some more information about what Disney or anyone else is thinking in terms of this project, please share it. We are under no illusions here, that no matter how great we think our script is we will send it and see a large portion of it intact and on the movie screens in a few years. We can only try and see where it gets us and hopefully prod them in our direction.
 
Heres an updated script.

Movie starts.

You see a ship sailing in choppy seas on a cloudy day.

It looks just like the Black Pearl except for the real colored wood and white sails.

Camera pans down around the mainmast, you clearly see the EITC flag flying in the wind. The camera continues to pan without stopping until it is face to face with Jack Sparrow at the helm.

He pulls out his spyglass.

Camera in spyglass mode sees a port with many ships, it is quite obviously asian.

He smiles and closes spyglass.


SPARROW: Welcome to Singapore, all hands prepare to make port.


The crew rushes about prepping to dock.

The camera pans to the back of Sparrow’s ship and you see the name “Wicked Wench”.

The ship continues on, but the camera turns right to see the stern of a large ship of the line with the name “Endeavor” on it.

As the Wench pulls alongside the dock Sparrow waltzes down with a bit less of a drunk mans sway.

He walks along the deck and steps on the gangplank just as it is set down.

As he steps off of the gangplank Mercer and a few guards bar his way.

MERCER: You’re late.

SPARROW: A man is never late, just not early.

Mercer scoffs.

MERCER: You know, Lord Beckett is growing impatient of your apparent inability to appear on time. He sent me to make sure you appear before him on time.

SPARROW: I’m here aren’t I?

Mercer draws pistol and cocks it, but doesn’t aim at Sparrow, he nods and the guards grab Sparrow they “help” him to Beckett’s office. Mercer follows behind with his pistol pointed in the air. They arrive at Beckets office. Beckett is seated behind his desk looking over a paper. He sets it down and motions Sparrow in. The guards release him and he rubs his wrist.

BECKETT: Ah, Captain Sparrow, so nice of you to show up.

Mercer walks in.

SPARROW: I had a little help.

He glances nervously at Mercer.

BECKETT: I will assume that all of the shipment arrived intact.

SPARROW: As crisp as it was when we left.

BECKETT: I’m sure. Well I shouldn’t dance around why I had you brought here, you won’t be in Singapore long, I have another shipment being loaded in a small port in New Spain, the transport which name I will not mention yet is to be escorted by you back to Singapore undamaged, do I make my self clear.

SPARROW: Crystal clear, mate. I am going to need ammunition for my ship, and some extra comforts to help the long voyage go easily, savvy?

He glances at a barrel of rum in the corner. Beckett notices this.

BECKETT: You will have the ammunition and what ever else it is that satisfies you.

SPARROW: Perfect we will set sail as soon as the rum is loaded…along with the ammunition.

Sparrow spins around and walks out of the room. The guards close the doors. Mercer who was previously looking out the window, turns toward Beckett and takes off his hat.

BECKETT TO MERCER: Mercer, I need you to take a frigate and follow Sparrow’s ship the whole round trip, without him noticing. If he deviates or does anything to endanger the shipment you know what to do.

Mercer gives a sinister smile.

MERCER: Sooner or later it will have to be done.

He walks out of the room. Beckett picks up a paper and continues reading. Now the camera pans to the docks and you see Sparrow walking with his distinctive sway, then he stops dead when he sees the rum being loaded, he starts running.

SPARROW WHILE WAVING HANDS ALL ABOUT: Oi! Wait! Stop!

He stops at one of the boxes of rum bottles being loaded. Sparrow then opens it, and then grabs a bottle.

SPARROW: Carry on, gents.

In the background you clearly see Mercer and several detachments of marines headed for the frigate, but Mercer turns down the dock where the Wench is docked.

MERCER TO SPARROW: Mr. Sparrow, let’s make sure that you understand that you are not to dock at your destination, you will wait at the mouth of the harbor for the transport, and then escort it back to here, do you understand?

SPARROW: Quite hard not to. Now, just so I know, what exactly is the transport…transporting?

Mercer hands Sparrow a sealed letter as he addresses him.

MERCER: That is not for you to know, here are your orders.

Sparrow takes the paper.

SPARROW: Ah, well in that case: All hands prepare to set sail! Raise the anchor, cast off the lines, you know Oi! Oi! Oi! And the like.

He walks up the gangplank while saying this. Upon reaching the deck you see Sparrow toss the letter off into the harbor as he continues to shout. The ship sets sail into a choppy sea. The screen fades black, and all sound is drowned out. The screen now fades back to normal, and you are looking at the sea. At first the sound is quiet until it grows gradually louder, then you hear Davy Jones locket tune being played. The camera pans up and you see the Flying Dutchman as what it was before being encrusted in sea-life. The numbers “1574” appear at the bottom with white numbers. The music-box continues playing all through the voice-over, also note that the camera is also showing different scenes during the flashback.

DAVY JONES VOICE-OVER: May 7, 1574.

The camera switches to the inside of Jones’ cabin as he sits writing in his journal. He is human-like.

DAVY JONES VOICE OVER CONT’D: I have waited a decade for tomorrows event. I can finally set eyes on my love Calypso. She told me I must take the role of ferrying the souls of those who died at sea to the afterlife, and to rescue drowning sailors, if ever she was to fully love me. There was a price though, I could not set foot on land but once every 10 years. She said she would wait on Isla Cruces for me every decade and we could have the whole day to ourselves. Finally the day came. I anchored the Dutchman off of Isla Cruces, and rowed ashore. I didn’t see her as I stepped off of the boat. I thought she was hiding to jump out and surprise me.

Music box clicks to a stop.

DAVY JONES V.O. CONT’D: She wasn’t there. I searched the whole island for most of the day, and she was nowhere to be found. Finally when sunset came I returned to the rowboat I called her name one last time, then rowed away. I sat for hours in my cabin grieving. 10 years! 10 years I waited to meet her and she wasn’t there!

You see Jones throw everything off of his desk. The music box fell to the floor, opened and started playing. Jones picks it up listens for a while, then shuts it.

DAVY JONES: Calypso.

You see him grieving again.

DAVY JONES V.O.: I was overcome with sadness, and despair. I couldn’t face it, but couldn’t turn away. I tried everything. I still was overcome with grief so I cut my heart out. And the grief left immediately. I locked it into a chest along with every love letter that she had written me, and threw it onto the deck.

Jones walks out on deck. Maccus and the crew look puzzled. Jones points at Jimmy Legs and Maccus.

DAVY JONES: You and you row to the island and bury it! I never want to see it on my ship again!

The two return sometime later.

MACCUS: Captain, should I set a course for World’s End?

DAVY JONES: No, take the ship down.

MACCUS AND CREW: DOWN!!!!

With a lightning flash and a thunder clap squid-faced Jones’ eyes snap open as he sits at his organ, he was clearly dreaming. He starts playing an eerie tune on the organ, differing from the one in DMC. At first it is simple, playing along with the music box, but the thunder and lightning increase in frequency, his song grows louder and more complex, thus drowning out the music box. You hear an evil cackle escape his lips. Now the camera pans out to a bit behind the Dutchman, you see the infamous window on the back that is supposed to doom sailors who lay eyes on it tossing and swaying in the storm.

Now back to the Wench with the frigate Demon hard on her heels. Sparrow and most of the crew had drunk themselves to sleep. A storm was blowing in, and a huge thunderclap awoke Sparrow. He inspects an empty rum bottle at his side.

SPARROW: Empty, why doesn’t that surprise me?

He jumps up and throws on his hat and walks out of his cabin.

SPARROW TO MR. EVANS: Mr. Evans! ‘Rouse the crew; we’re going to have a rough night.

Evans shuffles off down the steps, and shouts about. The crew stagger onto the deck.

SPARROW: To stations everyone! Here it comes.

A huge wave crashes over the bow of the Wench.
 
I feel like it has too many plotlines already and not enough detail on them, or its just too short about Sparrow and Beckett, then to Jones. What do you guys think?
 
Just got home and kind of beat but read through it and will offer up this tired opinion, though you should wait for other input also. Perhaps the scene between Sparrow and Beckett is a bit too short, especially since it opens up the movie. Maybe some more wordplay back and forth so the audience can really settle in and get used to experiencing the young Jack Sparrow. And a longer opening scene between the two of them will make smooth the way as the movie shifts over to Davy Jones as it won't be so sudden.
I see nothing wrong with the scene in terms of the plot since it outlines exactly what Beckett is expecting of him. Davy Jones scene is informational though maybe as we progress through more of the story we will better see if it fits in well where it is now. Overall I like it so far. I wish I could give a more thorough account but as I said I am pretty tired as I write this and should really be offering up an opinion when I'm more alert.
 
the thing is, they've never used voice-overs. i wonder if they'll change it for this movie or just continue with showing everything instead of using a voice-over.
 
<!--quoteo(post=213776:date=Sep 7 2007, 03:30 AM:name=morgan terror)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(morgan terror @ Sep 7 2007, 03:30 AM) [snapback]213776[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->the thing is, they've never used voice-overs. i wonder if they'll change it for this movie or just continue with showing everything instead of using a voice-over.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You know that only the things that say "voice over" are the voice overs. Not the ones that just say Davy Jones. I am hastily writing this because i have to go somewhere so i will fill you in more on my plans ASAP.
 
First I will reply to some of the posts already posted. In my next post I will post a bunch of my own ideas on a prequel script. Also be sure to have a look at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_films" target="_blank">this</a> page. It should be a great help to making a prequel script.

<!--quoteo(post=213712:date=Sep 5 2007, 10:18 PM:name=Mercer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mercer @ Sep 5 2007, 10:18 PM) [snapback]213712[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also everyone, i build shipmodels, and in doing so i have kind of roughly guaged what decade the story takes place. [...] So Commodore John Paul Jones, your idea, again if you follow some type of historical guideline, has a flaw about the Endevour sinking the Wench, the story would have to take place 5-15 years before the CBP, most likely 10 since Jack has built up such a reputation, the endevour is non-existant at that time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->One thing worth mentioning is that the films take place in a fictional universe that resembles our own history, but with some main differences. First of all, there is magic in this world and some myths actually turn out to be true. Also the time setting seems to combine the best of all piratey eras without actually being set in one specific year. So in a new script, we could take some artistic liberties with the real world's timelines. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=213713:date=Sep 5 2007, 10:32 PM:name=Mercer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mercer @ Sep 5 2007, 10:32 PM) [snapback]213713[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There HAS TO BE some big ass sea battle that takes up a good 20 minutes. Also there should be a good amount of sword fighting, but not too much, (we saw how much they milked it in DMC). Now the POTC are in serious need of a milked sea battle.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Very true. Personally I would like a sea battle involving more than two ships. However, I can not see how this could be added into a prequel. After all: The stories should become progressively larger in scale. It would make no sense to have the biggest sea battle in the series take place in the first film. So probably the prequel should only contain a somewhat smaller sea battle. Same for the swordfights.

<!--quoteo(post=213713:date=Sep 5 2007, 10:32 PM:name=Mercer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mercer @ Sep 5 2007, 10:32 PM) [snapback]213713[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Lets all remember that having a trilogy first, then going back and making the prequels is a kick-ass idea, look at Starwars.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->The Star Wars prequels seem to be generally accepted to be much less good than the original films. Personally I like them all, but not everybody agrees. We should try to not fall into some of the traps of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Also many people notice some major similarities between PotC 1-3 and Star Wars 4-6. So we should deliberately try to NOT mimic the Star Wars prequel storyline in our stories.

<!--quoteo(post=213721:date=Sep 6 2007, 04:27 AM:name=Mercer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mercer @ Sep 6 2007, 04:27 AM) [snapback]213721[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Movie starts.

You see a ship sailing in choppy seas on a cloudy day.

It looks just like the Black Pearl except for the real colored wood and white sails.

Camera pans down around the mainmast, you clearly see the EITC flag flying in the wind. The camera continues to pan without stopping until it is face to face with Jack Sparrow at the helm.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->This is a nice idea. But how about setting this scene during a sunrise so that you see the Wicked Wench as a silhouette only. That way the ship would appear to be black like the Black Pearl. I think it would be great to have this scene be somewhat surprising to the audiences. First they see a silhouette looking like the Black Pearl. The camera pans around the ship and it is revealed the ship isn't black at all. Then the EITC flag is shown and the audience starts wondering what is going on. Then the captain is shown, looking like the Jack we know from afar. However, when the camera comes closer, you see that he looks more like a respectable captain and not so much as a pirate. In the PotC PC game we have got several skins of Jack Sparrow as respectable man. Would be nice to have something similar in the films.

<!--quoteo(post=213721:date=Sep 6 2007, 04:27 AM:name=Mercer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mercer @ Sep 6 2007, 04:27 AM) [snapback]213721[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->BECKETT TO MERCER: Mercer, I need you to take a frigate and follow Sparrow’s ship the whole round trip, without him noticing. If he deviates or does anything to endanger the shipment you know what to do.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I find this part of the story somewhat weird. It costs a lot of money and effort to sail a ship halfway accross the earth. Now to send another ship to pursue the first ship you sent out would cost twice the amound of money and effort. That's not very economic. Since Beckett is very economic, this wouldn't be somethig he'd do. Instead I could see him sending Mercer to accompany Jack on his trip (same as what he did to Davy Jones) or otherwise have another spy in Jack's crew. Also it would be hard to pursue a ship halway accross the world without being noticed. If you lost the ship you're pursuing from view, you might lose the ship completely. This might also happen in storms or doldrums. Also if you don't lose the ship from view, the other ship's captain would be bound to become suspicious.

<!--quoteo(post=213722:date=Sep 6 2007, 04:28 AM:name=Old Salt)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Old Salt @ Sep 6 2007, 04:28 AM) [snapback]213722[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->We do need to be reined in at times while pitching in ideas and make sure that the script is kept somewhat honest. I agree, we can't get caught up in the darkness (and that's easier said than done) because it does suck the life out of a movie, and Captain Jack Sparrow is all about, by his very nature, being loose and carefree and so the script should reflect that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Very true. One of the main things we should do is not make the story overly dramatic. They already did that in the second and third movies, so we need not repeat that.

<!--quoteo(post=213722:date=Sep 6 2007, 04:28 AM:name=Old Salt)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Old Salt @ Sep 6 2007, 04:28 AM) [snapback]213722[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There are far to many loose ends in the three movies and we need to know exactly how those loose ends were untied. What exactly happened to these people in the past that caused them to become what they are? What is the backstory?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Is that true? Do we really want to show <i>everything</i>? One of the main things people like about Jack Sparrow is that he's mysterious. I think we should resist the temptation to give his full life story from birth till death. I think there should be some major blank spots left so that the audience and the fans can just make up their own story of what happened. After all one of the main subjects of the PotC films are "stories" and "myths". So some things we should completely explain, but I think some things we should deliberately not explain. Also what I really like in the films are the conflicting explanations. For example: The story of how Jack really did get off the island after being marooned. A lot of stories go round and it is not clear which one is actually the truth. I think we should try to acchieve that in the prequel as well, so that the audience can choose what to believe.

Also: I personally think one prequel would be enough. One film would be just enough to give some of the explanations the people want without explaining too much. I would personally like to have two new PotC films: One prequel to CotBP and one sequel to AWE.
 
<!--quoteo(post=213783:date=Sep 7 2007, 03:45 AM:name=Mercer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mercer @ Sep 7 2007, 03:45 AM) [snapback]213783[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=213776:date=Sep 7 2007, 03:30 AM:name=morgan terror)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(morgan terror @ Sep 7 2007, 03:30 AM) [snapback]213776[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->the thing is, they've never used voice-overs. i wonder if they'll change it for this movie or just continue with showing everything instead of using a voice-over.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You know that only the things that say "voice over" are the voice overs. Not the ones that just say Davy Jones. I am hastily writing this because i have to go somewhere so i will fill you in more on my plans ASAP.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

i really don't know what you're talking about. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />
 
As promised, here come a bunch of my own ideas.

<i><b>Main Character(s)</b></i>
As great a character as Jack Sparrow is, he was never the main character of any of the movies. So is Jack Sparrow going to be the main character of the prequel? Personally I think he shouldn't be the main character. Instead he should greatly influence the stories of the real main characters. I would personally suggest taking James Norrington as the main character. I think Norrington is a great character who deserves to get more attention. However, Jack and Norrington should never actually meet during the film.

Imagine Jack actually being one the main causes for Norrington's success, without Norrington actually knowing it. I think it would be great fun if Jack would (more-or-less accidentally) do a lot of good during the course of the film and in some ways actually helping Norrington with several things, without either of them knowing it. Imagine the irony then when Jack and Norrington finally meet during CotBP: Norrington wants to kill Jack immediately for being a pirate, not knowing how much he actually owes Jack.

<i><b>Jack Sparrow</b></i>
Naturally the prequel film should contain some of Jack's backstory. How he once worked for Beckett and captained the EITC ship Wicked Wench. How he refused to transfer the slaves for Beckett and was branded a pirate in return. How the Wicked Wench was sunk and then subsequently the deal with Davy Jones.

In the three current PotC films, there never was much character development for Jack. So I think it'd be great to have major character development for Jack here. The first time we see Jack in the film, he is a respectable EITC captain in the employ of Beckett. As the movie progresses, we see respectable, honest Jack turning into the pirate Jack we all know.

As far as Jack's personality goes, I think he should start out as a just plain repectable man*. Smart, clever and witty as we all know him, but quite gullible and much too trustworthy as well. During the course of the movie, we see Jack becoming much less trusting and, in turn, becoming much less trustworthy. He will learn that he must be as smart and clever as the forces that orchestrate his life to be able to overcome those forces and lead his own life. At the beginning of the film, Jack is but a gullible pawn in the game of Cutler Beckett. At the end of the film, it should be Beckett who is the pawn in Jack's game. This will then also result in the mark Jack left on Beckett: Jack somehow made a proper fool of Beckett. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/razz.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":razz" border="0" alt="razz.gif" />

Jack transformation should also be visible in his clothing. For an example, see below images of Jack progressively becoming more like the Jack we all know. In the first picture, he is a respectable captain. In the second picture, his hair is longer and he already has a bit of a beard. In the third picture he resembles the Jack we know, but his hair isn't quite as dirty yet and his clothes are still in light colours. In the fourth picture Jack has complete changed into the Jack we know.
[attachment=1138:1_Respec..._Captain.jpg] [attachment=1139:2_Pirate_Captain.jpg] [attachment=1140:3_Pirate_Jack.jpg] [attachment=1141:4_Ordinary_Jack.jpg]

Just for fun, see below picture of fat Jack. This is Jack after his pirating days are over and he enjoys a simple life somewhere. [attachment=1142:5_Fat_Jack.jpg]

* We all know Jack's father is a pirate. So why would Jack be a respectable man? I think we should give no conclusive answer to that question, though we could give several conflicting theories during the course of the film. We can't seriously expect Keith Richards to play a (big) role in the film if it does get made, so I think we should not include his character.

<i><b>Events during the film</b></i>
No PotC film is complete without a swordfight and ship-to-ship battle. I would like a multiple (more than two) ship battle in a PotC film, but I don't think it would be at home in the prequel. Instead it should be a relatively small battle so that the battles become progressively larger throughout the films.

One of the main events should be Jack's sacking of Nassau without firing a single shot. It should never be obvious if Jack planned everything to go that way or that it just accidentally happened. However, it should be a major success in Jack's pirating carreer. This might be the point in the story where Jack devides to pursue his carreer of pirating. When Beckett brands Jack a pirate, it is an unfortunate series of circumstances that leads to this. Jack never did want to become a pirate, but is forces into piracy by Beckett. Only after his accidental-or-not sacking of Nassau does Jack decide to on piracy.

<i><b>Cutler Beckett</b></i>
One thing that should be explained in the film is exactly who Cutler Beckett is and especially what he wants and why. In the two PotC sequels it is made clear that Beckett wants to eradicate all pirates and take on a trade monopoly with his EITC. We must clearly show how and why Beckett is evil.

<i><b>Supernatural Elements</b></i>
We all know there are many supernatural elements in the films. However, I think there should be none or hardly any in the prequel. Jack seems genuinely surprised in CotBP to find out there really is a curse, so Jack can't have had many dealings with the supernatural before. As the films become progressively more supernatural, it starts to become obvious that just about anything is possible to the point of having a waterfall at the end of the world and a ship-to-ship battle in a whirlpool. However, the series should start out with an almost-normal world. I think there should be some slight references to the supernatural and some events that suggest supernatural involvement, but to never show anything decidedly supernatural during the film.

<i><b>Locations and story progress</b></i>
I would personally like to show at least the following locations in the film: England, Ivory Coast and Nassau. I don't think Singapore should be in the film. If it is already in the prequel, it is no longer new in AWE. I think Singapore and the Asian influence should be exclusive to the third film.

England is where the story starts with Jack going to the EITC headquarters. The England scenes should show some of the English countryside, London and a bustling port, then go on to showing the white cliffs of Dover as the Wicked Wench sets sail for Ivory Coast to pick up the cargo of slaves.

When Jack arrives at Ivory Coast, Africa, he sees familiar white rocks, mimicking the white cliffs of Dover. However, the closer he gets, the less familiar it all looks with all the palm trees. Here there should be some nice jungle scenes as Jack goes ashore in search of water. He comes to a native village and befriends the people living there. However, now one of the first action scenes starts with EITC soldiers attacking the village and kidnapping the people. Jack flees to his ship and doesn't really see who is actually attacking.

When Jack arrives at the port where he was to pick up the cargo, he sees all the people from the same village chained as slaves and he is to transport them to the Caribbean to work on the plantations. Naturally Jack isn't happy about this, but he tries not to show it to the EITC representatives. He takes on the cargo and the slaves themselves, who thought Jack was a friend, make it very clear that they hate Jack for first pretending to be a friend, then betraying them by taking aboard as cargo. Jack leaves port with his cargo and sets sail for the Caribbean.

During the voyage, it becomes clear that Jack is conflicted: He wants to keep his commission as captain and do as he is told, but it becomes increasingly obvious that he can't stand the work he has to do. He knows it is wrong. So he decides to do the right thing and sets the slaves free. In CotBP Norrington tells Jack: "One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness". Jack answers: "Though it seems enough to condemn him." Here we see how Jack's good deed actually <i>condemns</i> him <i>to</i> this lifetime of wickedness. Ah, the irony! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

I am not yet sure of what should happen after these events. Naturally Jack must get his compass, which might be given to him by Tia Dalma in thanks of his good deed. Tia Dalma might have been among the cargo of slaves. Also Jack should somehow meet with Beckett again and be branded a pirate by Beckett. Beckett must also burn and sink the Wicked Wench. Also there should be the deal with Davy Jones and the saking of Nassau.

<i><b>Davy Jones</b></i>
I think Davy Jones doesn't need to be in the story very much. Backstory is never shown onscreen in the PotC films and I don't think we need to deviate from that. We can elaborate somewhat on the story of Davy Jones, but not very much. I think first Jack should simply hear the myth of Davy Jones without actually believing it. Then when he meets Tia Dalma in Ivory Coast, she also drops some slight clues on the story of Davy Jones.

I wonder how Jack's meeting with Davy Jones after losing the Wench should play out. Obviously Jack should make the agreement with Davy to raise his ship from the bottom and captain her for thirteen years in return for his soul. However, I wonder if Jack should actually take Davy seriously. If Jack knew that he would be hunted down by Davy in Dead Man's Chest, would he have made the agreement? Also if Jack would see Davy with his squid-face, wouldn't that be a reason for Jack to be somewhat suspicious of anything Davy would offer him? That is why I think Davy should not be all tentacly when he meets Jack. Perhaps at this point in the story, Davy simply looks much more like his original self, because he had not been cursed for very long yet. For example: He still looks like an ordinary man, only his left arm looks like a crab's claw.

Jack and Davy could have some conversation where Davy drops some hints on his past with Calypso and also offers Jack to raise his ship from the bottom. Notice how well Jack seems to know Davy during DMC. During the whole conversation, Davy keeps his left arm behind his back. This is all done in an apparently friendly and trustworthy fashion, so Jack agrees without really knowing what he agrees to. As Jack leaves the Dutchman, we see Davy from behind and we see his crab-claw hand. The audience now knows something sticky is going on, but Jack does not.

<i><b>Tone</b></i>
I think the tone of the film should be light and colourful. The begin of the film should give the feeling that Jack has a great carreer in advance as captain of an EITC ship. The tone then becomes darker as Jack is forced into piracy, finds out the truth about Beckett and makes the deal with Davy Jones. However, the film should then become much lighter again with Jack starting to enjoy his freedom as a pirate.
 
<!--quoteo(post=213784:date=Sep 7 2007, 08:09 AM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pieter Boelen @ Sep 7 2007, 08:09 AM) [snapback]213784[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->First I will reply to some of the posts already posted. In my next post I will post a bunch of my own ideas on a prequel script. Also be sure to have a look at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_films" target="_blank">this</a> page. It should be a great help to making a prequel script.
<!--quoteo(post=213722:date=Sep 6 2007, 04:28 AM:name=Old Salt)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Old Salt @ Sep 6 2007, 04:28 AM) [snapback]213722[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There are far to many loose ends in the three movies and we need to know exactly how those loose ends were untied. What exactly happened to these people in the past that caused them to become what they are? What is the backstory?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Is that true? Do we really want to show <i>everything</i>? One of the main things people like about Jack Sparrow is that he's mysterious. I think we should resist the temptation to give his full life story from birth till death. I think there should be some major blank spots left so that the audience and the fans can just make up their own story of what happened. After all one of the main subjects of the PotC films are "stories" and "myths". So some things we should completely explain, but I think some things we should deliberately not explain. Also what I really like in the films are the conflicting explanations. For example: The story of how Jack really did get off the island after being marooned. A lot of stories go round and it is not clear which one is actually the truth. I think we should try to acchieve that in the prequel as well, so that the audience can choose what to believe.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree Pieter, I didn't mean to suggest that all the loose ends needed to be tied up, I just meant that we have a lot to work with to put in a prequel. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" /> I'm running back out now so I didn't have a chance to look over your ideas and that's why I'm not addressing them in this post. Will do that in the next post.
 
One thing we would also need to keep in mind: We should not make the story just for the sake of explaining everything. There should also be a story worth telling in there. So rather than just putting all events we know to have taken place into a film and elaborating on them, we should also add a bunch of things that were never even suggested in any of the other films. We need to add something <i>new</i> in there somehow.

<!--quoteo(post=213744:date=Sep 6 2007, 01:38 PM:name=Mercer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mercer @ Sep 6 2007, 01:38 PM) [snapback]213744[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I am having trouble understanding this thing about turning it into the writers, is there a big advertisement that says "send us your scripts for what you think we should do for pirates 4" and usually big-shots like them dont post their e-mails online so how did one of you turn this up? I think its great that you found a way, but how do you know they wont just turn it down as junk mail?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Actually, we don't really have a way of giving it to the writers. We do know the writers have a website with forum (www.wordplayer.com) and that Terry has got a MySpace account (http://www.myspace.com/terryrossio). We also know that they occasionally visit certain websites, such as www.keeptothecode.com. So we're just hoping that some good may come of what we're doing here. Perhaps we can somehow get the scriptwriters to read it. And if not, perhaps we can post the finished draft somewhere on other PotC sites to get feedback from other fans. If it doesn't get used for PotC 4, at least we could have some fun with it.
 
I wonder if we should post about our PotC 4 script WIP on some other PotC fansites so that we might get some more people sharing their ideas. The risk of that is that we might get some of those crazy fanboys, fangirls and "shippers" who would then spam the forum with completely stupid ideas.
 
WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! EVERYBODY! Lets not tear all my hard work to pieces shall we. Pieter, i am going to include Norrington in my story, and give him a good part, but one thing, Jack IS the main character, thats the whole point of the movies, now to satisfy you, and go with somethings i have been brainstorming, i will give Norrington kind of the same light as Will had in the other pirate movies. I love your idea of the sunny day, and the sillohuette thing, i will make the changes ASAP. Now I think Jones is a great character, and deserves a good role in this. I am trying to foreshadow Will and Elizabeth with Jones and Calypso. Now Beckett is not awaiting a shipment of "slaves" that is a little to controversial, he is going to await a shipment of prisoners one of which is Calypso. There is going to be a funny part with Murtogg and Mulroy in trying to escort her to the ship. Mercer is following Sparrow in a separate ship because some of the prisoners are once great pirates, Beckett wants no screw-ups. Mercer is in the frigate with a large security detachment to transfer partially onto the prison ship. By now Jack has already known Dalma aka Calypso for a while and when he sees her being escorted onto the ship, he does one of his feats with Murtogg and Mulroy to get them into an argument, then he takes Dalma onto his ship. Now the sea battle thing, Beckett sinks the Wench about 12 miles outside of the harbor in Singapore. The Dutchman appears next to Sparrow, but the EIC fleet is only anchored a mile away, Sparrow knows that if the Wench raised then the EIC will just sink it again. Now Jones and Sparrow make a deal to raise the Wench and let Sparrow captain it for 16 years, yes 16. But when someone spots jones ship and sounds the alarm the fleet is turning as predicted, Sparrow makes a hasty decision with Jones to shorten his captaincy to 13 years in exchange for Jones fighting of the EIC fleet so the Wench can escape. Now there's your seabattle. Now i know you have seen enough of Jone's ship fighting, but this is meant to show Beckett the awesome power Jones commands, and starts him on his quest to get Jones heart. Also, not because my username is Mercer, i think Mercer is SCARY, he needs to have more of a role. Also Annamaria will be in the script along with Gibbs, later though. Also Teague sparrow will be in the script. I don't plan 3 prequels, i want 2. You may think WTF? Why do we need two prequels? Well we could do what they did in AWE just cram as much of stuff into one movie so most people got sick of it, or we could add more content into 2, and be less constrained. So it will no comparison to Starwars. Here's a way you can always remember that pirates is not starwars: Jedi vs. Sparrow, who wins? (duh, Jedi). Now if there are any more questions i will gladly answer them, and if you guys need me to clarify anything on my plans, please Do ask.
 
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bounce.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":b:" border="0" alt="bounce.gif" /> HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Everyone, i have just discovered one of the best pieces of music in pirates. Now i will assume everyone has the POTC DMC DVD now fast foward it to 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 22 seconds precicely! Now you all know the first verse, but listen to the second. That was not included in the movie or sound track, also it was not made into any piano sheetmusic which i buy and play. That is one song that MUST be in my script of pirates, preferably when Jones is playing his organ after having that dream where i said it grows more and more complex. Also does someone by chance have Hans Zimmer's e-mail? He made the music of pirates.
 
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