Actually, contrary to the low hopes in this thread, I could see a “Monsters” prequel working. All it took was half an hour of racking my brain with the process of reverse-engineering the characters of Mike and Sully. And I’d like to share my process on this thread.
Before I begin, the question arises: why reverse engineer? Because in order to understand how a character goes through a dynamic growth, you must know where they’re going to end up at the end of the story. If a character starts out selfish, he must become selfless by the end of the story (Cars). If he starts out overprotective, he must become trustful by the end of the story (Finding Nemo). If she starts out blindly obedient, she must become self-deciding by the end of the story (Wall-E). See where I’m going with this? That’s how a story works. For a prequel, it’s simply a matter of going backwards in a character arc. Now we can begin.
Let’s start with Sully. In the movie, he began as a confident and highly effective scarer. He was a gentle giant type who put honesty first in all his interactions with the characters around him. Sure, he had his differences with his roommate in their apartment, but what solid and healthy friendship doesn’t have that? Besides, they were minor differences that they could easily iron out over the course of the story.
Hits the “Reverse Engineer” button
What could be Sully be in a college setting? Something that is polar opposite of what how his sociological and psychological components were portrayed in “Monsters”. The prequel could start with him being this phony tough, all-bark-no-bite student of scareology (or whatever his major is) who wants all the fame but none of the hard work that goes into achieving that level of greatness. As far as social interaction goes, the only friends he has are fair weather friends with no discernable goals or direction in life. Sound like somebody you know?
From the character, the story can spring forth. It is the writer’s job to put obstacles in the way of the character and take him from selfish to selfless, from greedy to charitable, whatever.
More to come…