Blank Check Pictures

**Blank Check Pictures** is the yet-to-be-incorporated Hollywood production company that would make films based on the story pitches that Ben, David, and Griffin come up with during tangents in the show. Sometimes the ideas are invented from whole cloth, but other times they are wholly intended as vehicles for Blank Check hosts or guests.

## Current Slate

The following titles and descriptions have been floated as possible projects for Blank Check Pictures to make.

### THE BEN HOSLEY STORY

Biopic of Producer Ben. Plot to be determined, since he has such a rich mine of stories to draw from. Potential fits for the lead role include Caleb Landry Jones (mentioned during The Third Annual Blank Check Awards), Sean Harris (mentioned in Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol) or Ron Howard if the story involves time travel into the future.

### MIDNIGHT RUN: FORBIDDEN ORIGIN

Remake of the movie *Midnight Run*. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Griffin Newman and Gal Gadot in the lead roles: that's right, it's Griff 'n' Gal. (Described at about 1:59:30 in The Iron Giant episode.)

Re-titled ***Midnight Run: 2049*** in The Keep episode.

### REALMS OF THE UNREAL

Cryptically described by Producer Ben as "Naked babies... the animated Henry Darger project." Presumably this would involve obtaining the rights to "Realms of the Unreal," a posthumously discovered gigantic manuscript written and illustrated in isolation by a recluse. Read more about the unusual case of Henry Darger to get a better idea of what this project might entail. (Described at about 1:59:30 in The Iron Giant episode.)

### EZWRITER: THE ESTHER ZUCKERMAN STORY

A biopic of film critic and friend of the show Esther Zuckerman. Her handle on twitter is @ezwrites, so this pitch practically writes itself. (Described at about 1:59:30 in The Iron Giant episode; may have been mentioned in more detail in an earlier episode.)

### THE BUZZED

Remake of *The Hangover*, except with teenagers. (Described at 1:50:25 in Sense and Sensibility.)

### GADGET

Reboot of the *Inspector Gadget* franchise, starring Griffin Newman. (Described at about 2:00:10 in The Iron Giant episode; may have been mentioned in more detail in an earlier episode.) As of the *The Keep* episode, Alex Ross Perry is tentatively attached to direct.

### THE BUGGYMAN

The next Liam Neeson man-under-pressure revenge thriller, except it's also a period piece: so it unites the two halves of Neeson's career. The protagonist gets bomb threats to the horse and buggy he's driving, delivered via carrier pigeon... an outlaw highwayman stops them and it turns out they know each other from the past, working on black ops in Scotland, and they kidnap his wife as collateral... this movie would likely be about five hours long. (Also, note that the title is of course pronounced with the unstressed vowel sound, 'Buggy-mən.') (Described at 1:05:00 in the Sense and Sensibility episode.)

### RICHARD T.

The fourth solo Joker movie to market, starring Griffin Newman. The twist is that it would take more of a Logan-type approach - a secret Western! (Described at about 0:42:00 in the Incredibles 2 episode.)

### NIGHT EGGS

*Main article: Night Eggs*

Story idea by Ben, with punch-up from Executive Producers Chris Weitz and #TheTwoFriends. An action movie in the tradition of Die Hard, with a contained plot involving terrorists or a murder or whatever. But the reason it's called *Night Eggs* is because the main character has a "blender" where he always eats a breakfast-type meal after dark, and now "Night Eggs" is kind of his nickname.

### THE LONG FILING

Alternate title: *A Very Long Separation*. Story idea by Jamie Lee, starring herself and directed by Nancy Meyers. The main character would be going through a divorce, but she's still great friends with her soon-to-be ex-husband. In fact, the movie would be something of a "will they / won't they" except they're already married, and the question is about whether they will go through with the divorce or not. One scene would feature Jamie standing in a beautifully tiled kitchen, staring out the window at her garden while drinking tea and wearing an oversize white button-down. Then someone comes in and Jamie gets to say, "Ugh, I'm a *mess*." (Described at about 1:25:51 in The Intern episode.)

### TUESDAY

An 80's style slasher titled *Tuesday* about a killer who gets out of prison and kills people. As ARP points out there's huge sequel potential in the *Tuesday* franchise, i.e. *Tuesday II: Wednesday* and *Tuesday: Origins - Monday*. (Described at about 1:05:00 in the Halloween episode.)

## Fanfare

In the Patreon episode Talking Fanfare, Ben suggests the fanfare for the production company be a donkey with the word "dang" written on it kicks over a Rube Goldberg-esque machine, the terminus of which launches slime at the camera revealing the name of the company. A second fanfare includes a waterskiing ham splashing the camera to reveal the name fo the company. For the third he described an all white screen and a high pitched squeak. The camera zooms in several times and reveals "a little stinker coming out of a tiny trash can." The final one involves a karate slug chopping a "big thing of salt" and the spilled salt spells out Blank Check Pictures. The guy never misses.

## Blank Check Press

In the I'll Do Anything episode, #TheTwoFriends talk about what it would be like if Nick Nolte and Albert Brooks had a baby it would sound like a chain-smoking Jewish pterodactyl. Their guest, Esther Zuckerman, pitches a children's book "Shlomo the Jewish Pterodactyl" to be published by a Blank Check imprint.