NT 009 - Charlie's Parlor

It's a gorgeous morning here in

San Francisco, California.

What? How would you know if it's

a nice morning in San Francisco?

I mean, that's obviously where

we are.

I mean, no. And it would only

be 7 a.m. in San Francisco.

Yeah, that's still morning.

Anyway, it's a lovely morning

in southern New England.

The bugs are bugging. The sun

is sunning. The breeze is breezing.

What more could you ask for?

Cheese quesadilla.

Of course. Of course. This, you

know, it's going to get said at

least once per show, I'm pretty

sure, until he gets sick of it.

Maybe.

When are you going to get sick

of cheese quesadillas?

Who knows?

Who knows?

Yeah, well, you know, the good

thing is, if that museum idea

works out, we'll have plenty of

hands that we can use to eat

the cheese quesadillas.

Yeah.

So what's going on?

So what's going on?

In terms of what?

I don't know. We're walking.

Start talking.

About what?

What do you mean, about what?

About what?

I don't know. You said you were

doing something the other day.

Well, what were you doing the

other day, first of all? So you.

So. What has been exciting for

you lately?

I have been. I terminated some

plants on Thursday. Oh, that's

why there were those green.

Yeah. Spikeys. Yeah. Up in the

in the brush pile. Yeah. Did

you enjoy cleaning? Cutting the

green spikeys? They attacked me.

They attacked you? Yeah. Well,

you got to keep in mind they

attacked me too. I mean, really,

they had it coming.

But yeah, Kit does do some

assistance with the yard when

required to. I won't say when

volunteering because he doesn't

volunteer anything. Anyway.

So, so the weeds. What about

the weeds?

So, I found out that they, they,

they don't just come out of the

ground. They also go back into

it. Yeah. Yeah.

So, like, especially, like, not

so much just rose bushes, but,

like, uh, pricker type weeds.

It's really interesting. So

they'll grow. And they'll get

so big that the other side of

it will, like, penetrate into

the ground.

And then that will start

becoming roots. So then you get,

like, a double-sided vine,

which is really weird. It's all

one big root system. Yeah. And

this gets to my idea. Well,

hang on. Let me finish. So the

problem with weeds, really, is

that if you don't kill the

roots, they will keep coming

back over and over again. Yeah.

Which is why there's specific,

like, plant killers that you

have to use. So that the... Or

you can just dig a bunch. It'll

ingest the poison down all the

way into the roots. Like, even

sucking it down through the

stem and whatnot. That's... You

know, we killed a bunch of

poison ivy last year.

And that stuff... Supposedly.

That stuff will come back rigorously.

It... It... It wants to live.

It wants to live. And it will

fight hard. Yeah. It'll fight

hard to live. Yeah.

Anyway, so... Weeds that...

That grow vines that then

become roots on the other side

of the vines or plant. What...

What did this bring up for you?

What... What is your idea? So...

Imagine there's this movie...

Okay. About... A... A plant parlor.

A plant parlor? Yeah. What's a

plant parlor? I don't know,

like a flower shop or something.

Like... Like... Like... Little

Shop of Horrors?

uh not exactly but they

probably sells plants and stuff

so okay so it's a they they

have the

the the pretty flowers growing

outside on vines okay uh and

then the the the they go making

to

grandma here's the thing those

flowers aren't the actual plant

flower uh you you see all of

those

all those the all the vines

with the flowers are really

just the roots and the real

plant is

underneath the building okay

yeah that's interesting so so

what's the plot though

uh like what why why well well

obviously uh it's one hive mind

plant okay it's a hive mind

plant but

like what what gets okay so let's

set the scene here you have

some kind of arboretum

or uh or florist we don't know

which yet but like it's

someplace where you can go to

look at plants

and purchase plants yeah okay

so far we're on the same page

yeah outside of this place

now does it start off like it

does does the movie start off

with this place

already already existing or

does this place kind of just

show up overnight i was

thinking it would

already exist okay place

already exists and everybody

knows about this place so there's

there's nothing

suspicious about yeah okay all

right fine so this is just

normal nice place for people to

go and look at

and/or buy plants. Yeah. Okay.

Outside there are these vines

that are like maybe hanging off

the

building or like they have all

this lattice work where it's

like you know wooden structures

or

metal structures and there are

these vines hanging down and

the vines all connect to

flowers and have

flowers on them. Yeah. Okay.

All right. At least they look

like flowers. Okay so they look

like

flowers. Fine. How does this

and and you know we discover at

some point later on that it's

all

connected to this giant plant

of some kind underneath the

building in either a cave

system or in another

building in a room that was

specifically built for it. Yeah.

Okay. Why is that drama?

Because

the plant is evil obviously.

But what does the plant do?

Like because keep in mind like

what you're describing is like

the end of Little Shop of Horrors

right now. Yeah.

Like Little Shop of Horrors. It's

one giant pod that eats people

and then at the end it has all

these little mini things that

are growing off of its its its

its vine arms. Yeah. And they

sing. Yeah. And it's creepy.

Yeah. So we obviously can't

redo that. Yeah. So I like the

premise so far.

what does the plant do over

time well my original idea was

that it could hypnotize people

okay that's interesting now to

what end what do you mean okay

so people come

to this this place and they're

looking at the flowers and

somehow through pheromones or

something

else they get hypnotized by the

flowers okay now what they're

hypnotized what are they hypnotized

to

do and why well plant more with

the plants of these plant more

of the plants yeah okay but the

question

i have is so let's presume this

is taking place in one town

this this is not going national

or anything

these things aren't like super

famous this is just one small

town in in like middle of

nowhere usa

or canada or canadia yes yeah

also known by leno ruley as

fake america so okay i'm with

you so far

now when they plant the flowers

so so obviously these flowers

would look as if they have

their own roots

because you're not going to

drag a vine all the way from

the store back to your house so

these would

have to be like little seedlings

yeah but do the seedlings then

underground grow a vine back to

the

main one okay so basically the

story is plant hive mind is

using its hive mind influence

through hip

hypnosis of its flowers to get

people to plant more of the

flowers to expand its reach

across a small

town in the united states or

canada yeah okay okay wait i i

have i have a full idea now

okay do go on so

Originally in this town, there

was a laboratory.

And they were testing on

genetic manipulation on plants,

as a lot of places do.

Okay.

And one day, a horrible tragedy

occurred where a suddenly sinkhole

appeared.

It was definitely a sinkhole,

and none of the plants they

made caused it, for sure.

Okay.

So there's a few different

genetically modified plants

trapped down there.

And the biggest one is the one

that now has the shop built

over it.

I'm now getting a little bit of

Batman and Robin vibes when,

you know,

scientists have been

experimenting with plant

extracts and whatnot,

and kills Lady and, like, all

the plant extracts and, like,

hybrid plants grab her.

And then she becomes, like, Poison

Ivy is, like, what her

character's name is.

But still.

So, yeah, obviously that

happens.

And they built the new flower

shop on top of it.

Well, yeah.

Wait, the plants built it?

No, the plants didn't build it.

Okay.

Some people did.

So, okay.

So, laboratory basically falls

into sinkhole.

Definitely natural causes.

Definitely.

You know, the scientists don't

know that this has happened.

Like, maybe, like, well, how do

you foreshadow that without it

being obvious, though?

Like, hey, whoops, I dropped

one of the sample seeds and it

fell somewhere and it's lost.

I don't know how you set that

up in a way that's organic.

Hey, organic.

Yeah, there we go.

All right.

But I don't know how you set

that up in a way that is not

obvious from the get-go.

But then again, this is a bee

movie, probably.

So, people probably don't care

that it's obvious.

They're like, I bet that's

going to come back later.

So, okay.

So, scientists are working with

genetically inbred plants.

I said inbred plants.

They're keeping their

relationship in the plant

family.

Anyway, moving on.

So, plant, seed, pod gets

dropped at some point.

And then, entire building

randomly collapses.

Scientists don't really know

what's going on.

But the entire building

collapses into a sinkhole.

And then the town comes and,

like, fills the sinkhole in

with, like, dirt and stuff to

make it stable again.

Yeah.

So, they fill it in with, like,

concrete, dirt, whatever.

And then they sell the lot.

Yep.

And what do you know?

There's this nice, like, you

know, nice man and his wife, we'll

say, who, you know, are looking

to start a florist.

Like, they want to start.

Well, maybe the town donates

the land to make it into an arboretum

and, like, plant sale place.

Yeah.

And, you know, there's man and

wife who have always loved

plants.

And they get elected to be in

charge of this thing.

So, they don't truly know what's

going on.

Yes.

All right.

So, they plant all the nice

plants.

You know, it's a nice story of

them, like, getting to pursue

their passion.

People from the town come and

help.

And pretty soon there's this

thriving arboretum.

Yeah.

And then, like, Guy notices,

huh, like, we have these really

pretty vines.

I don't know what genus they

are.

I don't know what they are.

But they're making these really

pretty flowers.

Why don't we help them to

thrive?

We'll put some, you know,

structures that they can grow

on outside.

And, you know, we'll encourage

them because it'll be pretty.

Yeah.

Okay.

Also, there will be the three

main characters.

Okay.

Three main characters.

Let's go.

There will be the four shot

people, which are the two

people.

So, that's like, you're

counting that as one character.

They're not unique in and of

themselves.

No, I'm saying they're two

characters.

Okay.

Two characters.

And then, the third main

character would be the whistleblower

guy.

The whistleblower guy.

Yeah.

Because, obviously, they're

going to try to cover up that

anything bad happened to this

laboratory.

Oh, okay.

So, this guy, he'd be going on

about making alien plants and

such.

Alien plants that suck people's

blood.

And, there's definitely no

reference there.

Wait.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Let's stop for a minute.

Hey, I'm smelling something

different here now.

Wait a minute.

We've got some opportunity.

I think that this story has

just taken a turn.

Because, you're like, well, the

story is about this hive mind.

Plant.

Yeah.

No, no, no, no.

See.

Here's where we go with this.

Whistleblower guy is actually

one of the former mad

scientists who nobody knew that

escaped.

Yeah.

Okay.

And, he doesn't know what

happened to the building.

He just knows that the town

filled it in and whatnot.

And, he's trying to make sure

that he's distancing himself

from anything having to do with

it.

Because, you know, it was kind

of...

I mean, none of his work

survived.

And, you know, he's kind of

ashamed that nothing, you know...

Like, what did we do?

We made some plants that didn't...

And, he's like, we've got to

make plants that, like, do

stuff.

We've got to make...

Oh, wait.

We can be even more stereotypical.

So, his part of the lab, unbeknownst

to everyone else in the lab,

was run and funded by the U.S.

military.

Of course.

So, they're trying to get...

He was trying to weaponize

plants.

Yeah.

Now, everybody else was just

trying to do, like, good

studies.

Like, trying to gauge the

intelligence of plants.

Or, make healthier plants for

eating.

Right.

Or, to, like, you know,

determine, like, hey...

Like, there are some stories

out there that plants actually,

you know, feel things.

And, like, if you yell at them,

they grow better sometimes.

And, if you, you know, if you

mistreat them, they don't like

it.

And, maybe they have some sort

of pain tolerance thing.

You know, who knows?

There's some studies around

that.

They're probably sketchy, but

still.

So, you have the majority of

the lab doing, you know,

legitimate science and trying

to create hybrid plants that,

you know, maybe look prettier,

smell nicer.

Grow faster.

Grow faster.

Or, maybe they do try to look

into plant intelligence.

And, meanwhile, this shady guy

is off in his own corner just

trying to do whatever.

And, he's about to make a

breakthrough on plants that'll,

you know, like, be able to be,

like, planted in the enemy

fields, grow quickly, and then,

like, overwhelm them.

Yeah.

So, he goes and he starts

working on this.

He starts working on this.

Like, after he escapes from the

lab, he goes to his basement

and keeps sending progress

reports to the government or

whatever.

And, nobody knows about this

guy.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

Then, why would he be calling

him a whistleblower?

Just, just, no, no, no.

He's not going to be a whistleblower

guy.

I got an idea how we'd change

this.

So, he doesn't want anybody to

know about the lab or what he's

doing.

So, he's, maybe there's another

scientist that's actually, like,

good scientist that's, like,

hey, I also, like, look, I don't

want to admit that I was

associated with this project

because there were all these

weird stuff.

But, like, there was this guy

at the lab.

We never found him.

We never found his body.

But, he, like, we really think

he was doing some sketchy stuff.

So, here's where the twist

happens, okay?

So, you have hive mind plant.

Yeah.

And, really, hive mind plant

doesn't hurt anybody.

Hive mind plant is just trying

to grow and expand.

It hypnotizes people to plant

more of it.

And, you really set it up so

that everybody perceives that

hive mind plant is probably

going to be the evil one.

But, as it turns out, here's

where the fun comes in.

So, meanwhile, evil scientist

guy starts planting plants, you

know, on the edges of town.

Like, maybe, maybe there's a

local prison.

And, he plants the plants

outside of the prison.

And, they look a little bit

like hive mind plants.

So, you can't, like, so, at

first, you're thinking they are

part of the hive mind.

The only thing is, like, maybe

the hive mind plants are purple.

And, these are obviously red.

All right?

But, they...

Well, no, like, the middle part

would be a different color.

Fine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It has to be more subtle.

You can't make it too obvious.

Yeah, that's true.

Speaking of pretty flowers, we

got a bunch of pretty pink and

white flowers off to our left

right now.

You can't see them because this

is a podcast.

But, they do be looking pretty.

Well, there's some magenta ones.

Yeah.

They're pretty.

Yeah, pretty magenta ones.

Anyway.

So...

All of them, I was saying.

Speaking of...

So, like, one night, there's a

prison break.

And, these prisoners escape.

And, these flowers, like...

Quack.

Attack them with poisonous barbs.

And, then, suck their blood.

And, like, absorb their bodies

under the ground.

Like, they pull the bodies

under the ground.

Look at the quackers.

Yay, quackers.

All right?

Ducks.

So...

Ducks.

But, the flowers are so similar

to the hive mind plant.

That, everybody is presuming

this is one big thing.

Like, Scientist Man didn't...

So, Scientist Man, like, is

sketchily planting these things.

But, you're presuming that

those are the same things that

are planted elsewhere.

But, the twist comes...

When...

Arboretum people...

Like, are starting to get

accused of, like, something

weird going on with their

plants or whatever.

And, they're able to trace down

and discover the hive mind

plant.

Yeah.

And...

Deep in the basement.

Deep in, like, the sub-levels.

Like, they manage to find a

tunnel or something.

Yeah.

And, they go down there and the

thing is psychic.

Yeah.

And, it starts communicating

with them.

And, they're like, why are you

killing people?

What's going on?

And, it's like, look...

All I want to do is live.

And, you have treated me so

well.

I have...

I have...

You know...

My only purpose has been to

keep you safe.

And, while I may have

influenced people to plant, you

know, offshoots of me

throughout the town.

There's a reason.

And, what do you mean there's a

reason?

You're killing people.

I have killed no one.

You see, back when I was just a

seedling.

And, my intelligence was just,

like, beginning to take root.

Hey!

Um...

There was...

There was a man...

You know, there was a man...

Who...

Was doing these really bad

experiences to my plant

brethren.

And, turning them into man-eaters.

Wait, I thought of another

twist, too.

So...

Uh...

I'll get to that in a minute.

So, it turns out that hive mind

plant has really just been

expanding its influence...

In order to try to find...

This guy...

That it knows survived.

So, it's not the plant killer.

And, so...

They've got to figure out, what

is this killer plant?

What's going on?

And, so...

They kill one of the killer

plants.

But, they start following the

roots.

And, they manage to follow the

roots like this shack on the

edge of town.

And, instead of there being a

hive mind plant...

There...

Instead...

They find the scientist just

sitting in a chair...

With all of these vines

connected to him.

He's like, welcome.

I have become one with nature.

And, the military is gonna love

it.

Your town has been perfect

subjects.

And, you will succumb to my...

Obviously, there's gonna be

some other killings and stuff,

too.

But...

Yeah.

You will succumb to my...

My plantly wiles.

And...

And, so, like, at some point

there's a conflict.

And, the people look like they're...

Toad...

Whoa.

Told you, Toad.

Look at him go.

Look at him go.

I wasn't sure if it was dead or

not.

But...

But, like...

It gets to the point...

So, they start fighting this

guy.

But, he's able to use the vines...

To, like...

Block them from killing him.

And, like...

He shoots, like, one of the

poisonous barbs.

And, like...

Plant Lady collapses.

You know?

Because, it's...

Like, one of the bugs that

knocks you out before it can

suck your blood, you know?

Yeah.

So, she's collapsed.

The guy is at the edge of his,

like...

The edge of, like...

What he could do.

He's about to get killed by,

like, Scientist Guy.

And, then...

The hive mind plants roots bust

through.

And, a bunch of the townspeople

along with it.

And, they have flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

And, they start flamethrowers.

So, then...

Then, unfortunately, like...

The guys got all this, like,

explosive stuff in there, too.

Like, toxic gas.

And, it's like, come on.

We gotta get out here.

But, no.

Like, the hive mind plant that's

been our friend is gonna get

destroyed.

Nah, we gotta leave.

We gotta leave now.

No.

Like...

We...

No.

We gotta protect hive mind

plant.

And, hive mind plant is like,

no.

Trust...

You know...

I've served my purpose.

Go without me.

Hmm.

And, run, humans.

Run.

And, so they run.

I mean, what the...

And, there's a massive

explosion.

And, they come back.

So, they defeat the bad guy.

And, they come back to the arboretum.

And, all the vines are withered

and dead.

Hmm.

All the hive mind flowers are

dead.

We're all very sad.

And, so, like...

So, like...

It cuts to, like, five days

later.

Yeah.

You know, you do one of those,

like, five days later things.

Yeah.

And, they're just finishing up,

like...

Taking all the vines that have

been cut.

And, like, burning them.

And, like, the place just doesn't

look as good.

Hmm.

And, the guy...

The guy and his wife are just,

like, getting ready to go back

into the arboretum where the

other plants are.

And, they look down.

And, as they pass the corner of

the building, like, they go

around the corner to get into

the building.

And, there's a little flower

just starting to sprout right

next to, like, the walkway

through the door.

Hmm.

And, they're...

You know, maybe they call the

hive mind Charlie or something.

I don't know.

Hive mind plant Charlie.

They're like...

And, the plant just kind of,

like, the flower just kind of bops

up and down really quick like a

yes.

Hmm.

And, then, they look at each

other.

They smile warmly at each other.

Hold each other's hands.

And, go inside.

And, then, here's the evil foreshadowing

moment.

At the end of the credits.

Where the chair where the

scientists used to sit.

There's a small bowl.

A small what?

A small what?

A small bowl.

A small what?

A small bowl.

Bulb.

Yeah.

Well, I think we one up that.

We can go more cliche than that.

So, you see this bulb that has

a little tiny sprout.

Yeah.

But, then, whether it's

mechanical effects or visual

effects.

Because, you know, you had

close ups of like...

Like, you had hyper close ups

of the bad guy's face at times,

right?

Yeah.

So, what you do is you have the

bulb kind of open up and inside

is the bad guy's eye just like

kind of looking around.

And, you hear like kind of a

maniacal laugh from the bad guy.

Yeah.

There we go.

Okay.

So, I think that, you know what?

Your idea is great.

This is a good idea.

Mm-hmm.

The question I have for you

though is...

Okay.

So, we got a basic plot.

Yeah.

We've got a concept.

We've...

You know what?

I think between the two of us,

this is, again, one of those

things that Hollywood...

Look, if you...

Should do.

If you're looking for ideas, we'll

be happy to sell this idea for

you for the low, low cost of

what? 55,000?

Yeah.

Well, you know, but just keep

in mind that you have to act

soon because as we go through

this walk...

Inflation.

Inflation.

So, by the time we're done with

this walk, it's going to be

like a million.

Just for the idea.

Maybe even five.

Yeah.

If you're not.

Just for the idea.

Hypothetical, a million dollar.

Like this is...

You know, you can make this

movie on the cheap.

You can make this movie for

like, you know, five to ten

million dollars easy.

Yeah.

And just make hundreds of

millions.

You could get tenfold what you

invested in pure profit.

Exactly.

And all...

And all...

All stack quickly before

inflation...

And all we're asking is, you

know, a low, low writer's cost

of a million dollars...

60...

To the right.

And, you know, 5% of the gross.

That's all we're looking for.

Yeah.

It's not that much, really.

No, not really.

I mean, we're well worth it.

All right.

So, we workshopped the movie.

Yeah.

Which I think again,

congratulations, this was a

great idea.

You gotta come up with a type

of name.

You're not gonna sell it

without a good name.

But if you want it to sound

like a bad movie, I already

have two names for you.

Okay.

So, you could...

You could just simply call it

The Parlor of Plants.

Or...

Wait, what was the first one?

If you want it to sound okay,

you could call it The Parlor of

Plants.

The Parlor of Plants?

Okay, that's got a good 1950s,

60s vibe to it.

But if you want it to sound

like a bad MST 3K movie, you

could call it Attack of the

Killer Weeds.

Well, I mean, Parlor of Plants

also fits that.

Let's be honest.

Yeah.

Hmm.

You know what?

I think we can simplify this.

Just call it Vines.

I mean, it's probably been done

already.

The name's probably been taken,

but I'm just gonna say like,

just calling it Vines.

Because then that implies that

like, the hive mind thing with

all the vines that you see in

the beginning is actually...

The evil.

You know?

I mean, really, the vines are

its roots.

Yeah.

Yeah.

By the way, we also have to rig

it up so that like, evil

scientist man looks like...

What we gotta do is, he has to

purchase one of the like, hive

mind plants.

Yeah.

And what we don't know is, he

took it back to his private lab

and experimented on it.

We just see him planting it and

that the coloration is slightly

different.

Yeah.

But there's no explanation as

to anything.

So you have it, you still have

it so that the audience...

The audience believes that it's

the same plant.

Yeah.

Same hive mind plant.

You know?

But, uh...

So yeah, I mean, I like the

idea of Vines being the name.

Ooh, Hive Vine.

Instead of hive mind, do you

use hive vines?

No.

That's not good for a name.

for a name. The plant that

saved America. Beware of toads.

There may be toads. There's a

cricket

over there too. I mean, you

could, if you wanted to go like

the kind of like interesting

route,

so like if you had the plant's

name be Charlie or something,

you'd just call it Charlie. But

I don't know that that, that

would get people in. Yeah. But

really, I think this is a good

idea. I think your concept is

good. I think. Or you could

call it Charlie's Parlor.

Charlie's Parlor. Hey, or

Charlie's Arboretum. Yeah. I

like it. I like it. That's

because then people are

wondering like the whole time.

Like wait, like the guy who's

running the Arboretum, his name's

not Charlie. And his wife's

name isn't like Charlize or

anything that could be mistaken

for Charlie. Who the hell is

Charlie? Or if you want to go

even like, if you want to sound

more formal, you could say

Charles is, but Charlie sounds

better. Yeah. The two sila,

like it, Charles. Like it's, it

just doesn't roll off the

tongue the same way. And

Charlie makes it sound friendly.

Yeah. Like you don't, you don't,

Like, oh, oh, Charles. Like you're

not going to call it Chuck

either. Like, come on. Like you're

not going to be like Chuck's

Parlor. Like who cares about

Chuck's Parlor? Yeah. No. Or

Chuck's Arboretum. Like it's

just, it's not Charlie. Sounds

nice and friendly.

You know, it gives a little bit

of an air of like openness, but

it doesn't exactly say that

Charlie is truly friendly. It

just is a friendly sounding

name. Yeah. I like it. You know,

I think your, your initial idea

plus, um, a couple of, you know,

like,

our creative... A couple of

additions, like our creative

input together here, usually

has this

impact. We've got a... Look. We

have a good movie idea. We've

got a good movie here,

Hollywood.

And look, just for the low, low

cost of $2.5 million plus 8% of

the overhead,

this idea could be yours. It's

really not that big of a cost.

No, I mean, again, this is a

movie

you can make using old school

movie techniques with a little

bit of CGI, like well-intentioned,

well-thought-out. You've got to

have a good director. The

director's got to know how to

use a great

combination of practical and CG

together to really be

intentional about the shots.

But I think that this could

work. And besides, you don't

even really have to have the

hive mind

plant Charlie actually like be

like speaking like Audrey too

does. Like you could do it

completely

via telepathy. Yeah. But the

plant just kind of maybe pulses

in line with what it's saying

or thinking.

Yep. And that can, that can all

be done practical effects. I

mean, you just have like this

really

nice plant. You get some glycerin

on it. So it looks like it, you

know, you do some foam rubber

stuff.

I mean, you could even just

have it be a glowing light. I

mean, you could, but you don't

want to go

that cheap. This is, you know,

we are in the era of, you know,

good movie making effects. But

I would say

that like you make the main

plant, it doesn't even have to

be a pod. It could be something

else, but

like you make it have a unique

look to it. You do the coloration

really good. You add some glycerin.

So

it kind of like, you know,

shines a little bit and you add

some air bladders to it so that

it, you know,

can like kind of pulsate and

move. And there you go. You don't

even have to like, I mean, and

you can

enhance it digitally a little

bit. Like you can make it so

that the pulses are better time

to what it's

thinking. Yeah. Um, you know,

you could add a little bit of

ambiance, like add some extra

mist and smoke in

the room. Yeah. That's more

controlled. You know, you could

do stuff like that, but like,

this is not

a VFX heavy movie. And it's

something that you could do

like relatively inexpensively,

like a vine

wrapping around somebody. You

just roll the camera with the

vine already wrapped around

them. And then

you pull it off of them and you

play it in reverse. Like this

is, this is something that's

been done for

generations. Yeah. That's not

that hard. You want to shoot a

barb out of the plant. You tie,

you have a, like you have

fishing line attached to the

barb. That's like ready to go

in like the vine.

You do a shot of the barb

flying out. You do a shot of

like it being stuck in the

person's neck

and you use VFX to erase the

fishing line. Yeah. It's just,

this is, look, this is gold

here.

We're, we are telling you, you

can make this movie for $12

million. All right. You make

the movie for

$12 million. You advertise it,

you know, using grassroots

advertising. Like you, you pay

some

YouTubers. You invite all the

big TikTok influencers that are

into horror films and B films

to like a

special screening and they go

nuts and talk about it. And

they'll, they'll come for free

because you

know, they want it for the

content. Like you're just like,

you send an invite to all of

the horror film,

TikTokers and Instagrammers and

red letter media. Oh yeah. And

you got to have red letter

media,

like do an interview with you,

you know, and maybe for the

visual effects, like for the

times that you

are using them, because you

will use them, give the raw

footage and the complete

breakdowns of how you do

everything to corridor digital.

Yeah, obviously. Or better yet,

hire corridor digital to do the

effects

for you and work with them.

Well, to help do the effects

anyway. Yeah. To help do the

effects.

Obviously you need a good like

onsite, like effects team as

well to do like the latex and

stuff

and to make the vines and

whatnot. But look, this is a

low budget movie. I mean, you

play your cards,

right. You can get, like I said,

10 times, maybe even more,

maybe 15 times your initial

investment. Of

course. And this idea can be

yours for the low, low costs of

$3.25 million. Uh, plus, you

know,

5% of the gross. Yeah. Yeah. I

think that's, I think that's

fair. You know, we've workshopped

this

for you. We've come up with all

the characters. We've come up

with a lot of the design

aspects.

We've really done all of the

work. We might even have some

more design aspects in the, in

the

picture for this podcast. Yeah.

So again, Charlie's Arboretum.

Charlie's Parlor. Charlie's Parlor,

Charlie's Arboretum. Yeah. You

know, we like this. Uh, we, we

think that this could be a huge,

huge

deal for, you know, independent

film in Hollywood. And, uh, we

really think that even if a

small studio

were to pick this up, it would

be a huge success. Yeah. I mean,

you make bank. You make bank. I

mean,

we start production, pre-production.

Now we start the planning and

the storyboarding and all that.

We start that now. We could

have this out by, uh, October

of 2026. Easy. Yeah. And just

to give you an

idea, I mean, we're recording

this in August of 2025. So, I

mean, you know, you've got just

over a year of

leeway on this before the

release date. You get us

together with the right people.

You get the right

team put together. You can make

this happen easily. Yeah. There's

not going to be like a huge

amount of

dialogue. There's not going to

be like, this is just a good

old fashioned beef though, you

know? Yeah.

But it will make a lot of money.

Make a lot of money. So,

speaking of money, if you get

any value

out of our crazy ideas and what

we talk about with this podcast,

please feel free to show equal

value

in return by going to ko-fi.com/nontopical .

I mean, if you, if you get a

dollar of entertainment, shoot

us a dollar. If you get more

than that, shoot us whatever

amount you want.

Come up with funny numbers. We

appreciate the funny numbers.

Yeah. But I mean, granted, we're

doing this for fun. We just

chat while we walk and

occasionally we come with an

agenda, but most of the time we

don't. And we eventually

stumble upon something that's

fun. So if you're having fun

with us, please let us know.

And one of the ways you can

show us value is by sending us

feedback. It costs you

absolutely nothing except for a

few moments of your time.

feedback@nontopical.com .

So, with that, Charlie's,

Charlie's Arboretum or Charlie's

Parlor comes to a close. Yeah.

And we hope that you enjoyed

this, this brand new V-film in

Hollywood. Like, if you're

listening, just think about how

inexpensive we are compared to

all of the focus groups and

everything else that you're

doing, you know? We're working

on the cheap. You know, we're

here for you. So, until next

time.

Roll credits. Roll credits. Kit,

do you have anything else to

say? We love Charlie. Yes, we

love Charlie.

Alright everybody, thanks. Have

a great rest of your day,

evening, or whatever. We'll see

you next time. Bye!

Bye!