Oh, wait.

Okay, back in high school, my best friend Kari and I had an imaginary companion. This is not as strange as it sounds, and I don’t actually recall how it got started. But his name was Fred–Fred Frinklefrof, to be exact. (There was later to be a Fred who either went to our high school or was involved in drama at one of the other schools…Hmmm. Can’t remember. Just that he had dark hair, was cute, we both had mild crushes on him, and it cracked us up that his name was Fred.) At any rate, we would mention Fred (the Frinklefrof version) whenever something went wrong (it was Fred’s fault). We would send messages to each other from Fred. I’m pretty sure I have a program from one of our high school plays in which “Fred” bought ad space to leave a message.

In other words, Fred was an active–albeit imaginary–member of our little circle.

And yet it never occurred to me (or, presumably, to Kari) to dust him off and use him as fodder for fiction.

Those of you not into screenwriting may not be familiar with the Hollywood Blacklist. As the list itself describes it, it’s a “most liked” list of screenplays that crossed execs desks in Hollywood during a given year. And on this years Blacklist, Ricky Stanicky by Jeff Bushnell. The logline: “For years, three lifelong friends have used an invented character named Ricky Stanicky to get out of sticky situations. When their wives demand a meeting with
Ricky, the friends hire an actor to portray him.”

I haven’t read the script, but it sounds like a blast, and I’ll definitely see the movie (apparently it was picked up by Summit, and James Franco is attached).

But that, folks, is a true, “WHY didn’t I think of that?” moment

Honestly, Fred. You coulda said something……