Movies They Oughtta Make: Take 2

It's probably cheating to suggest films ought to be made from books. I wasn't going to do it, but then I had one thought. Bewitched. If they are so desperate out there as to need to remake old sitcoms, perhaps they can look to another medium for ideas.

I have several films in my head that could be spun from some books I've loved, but I hesitate suggesting them. Hollywood's idea of what entertains is generally very different from any author's viewpoint. (Remember the love story from Jaws?)
I realised this when I first thought of making this particular book into a film. Because theoretically it is already in development.

Hah. Anyone familiar with Julian F. Thompson's The Grounding Of Group Six knows that the "movie" synopsis of the film in development is NOTHING compared to the actual story.

Here's the film they want to make for us:

A seventeen-year-old travels cross-country to find his older brother who has escaped from a mental instituion. On the way, he falls in love with one of his brother's old friends.

WTH? The excellent JFT book tells the story of five posh teenagers and their young counselor at an exclusive camp for rich kids. Slowly they realise that their parents have sent them to this camp to be executed. At the same time, handsome "counselor" Nick comes to know the children he's been hired to kill and has second thoughts. Eventually they all band together to overturn the institution, save the day and give their parents comeuppance.

That's the classic story, and that's the book that should become a blockbuster Hollywood film.