Hollywood has turned Twitter feeds ("S*** My Dad Says") and Internet memes ("Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever") into primetime entertainment. Quora, a question-and-answer website, could provide the next batch of great TV and movie ideas.
The most popular answer to the question, "If every state of the USA declared war against each other, which would win?" attracted the attention of Emmy-winning producer Josh C. Kline, the head of media and entertainment at Box, a cloud content management service, according to Variety.
He optioned the idea of a "dystopian account" of a second American Civil War written by retired U.S. Marine Sergeant Jon Davis. Kline didn't have to pay much for the idea, which he hopes to produce as a limited TV series, such as "Fargo."
"You assume the uploaded answer is going to be a literal answer and so this one generated a double take," Kline told Variety about the nearly 6,500-word response. "And then you realize, Oh, I'm not actually reading an answer to the question - I'm reading a fictional story about how it would play out if it did happen. The story just pulled me in and the guy's voice was so interesting that right away I could see it being a film project."
Davis served two tours in Iraq and now works as a full-time teacher in Oklahoma. He's working closely with Kline to turn his idea into a full-fledged piece of scripted drama, but he's not looking for screenwriting credit on the project.
"I was just really excited that people enjoyed it," Davis told Variety. "After Josh reached out and he was excited about the project, that made me really happy. I was just happy the idea got attention, and anything else from this point on is sort of icing on the cake."
Quora also has no immediate plans to profit from ideas found on the site.
"Quora is a great platform for talented actors and creators to share what they know about a creative property or about the creative process," a spokesperson for Quora told Variety. "We're happy when our writers are discovered in this way, but, no, we don't participate in these arrangements and we don't anticipate doing so in the future."
