Wall Street—Just Crying to Be Revisited

By Guest Contributors - Sep 08 , 2009

By James Cruickshank

In 1987, Oliver Stone and Stanley Weiser wrote the screen script for the movie Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas. The best scene was Douglas wearing red suspenders and shouting “Greed is Good!” to a group of investors. Well, never has there been a better time than now for writers to dramatize such a world of shifty, greedy backroom deals in the halls of power.

For years, the subject of finance and the economy in general was utterly boring to most readers and moviegoers.

But now, eighteen months into the biggest financial shake up since before World War II, the time is ripe. Every talented, aspiring writer should be delving into the world of corporate greed, putting their all into spinning intriguing, entertaining, probable tales of the myriad emotional dramas so barely exposed by the current devastation on Wall Street and in worldwide banking.

The public has become acutely suspicious of all the greedy activity that must have gone on in high finance. They are primed to read intriguing tales that simply must have been behind the most widespread shock to financial portfolios and worldwide human happiness in eight decades.

All human emotions are there—some good, some bad, some pathetic, some mind-boggling, some gut-wrenching, some beamingly joyful: triumphs and betrayals, schemes and dreams. Every aspect is fascinating to a new breed of audience hungry for details of the financial turmoil that has wreaked havoc on all walks of life the world over.

Probably the greatest scoop for any prying journalist would be uncovering what prompted Bernie Madoff with the insane courage to carry through his world-shaking ponzi scheme, involving not only his closest friends but his family, too.

A new book entitled Betrayal by journalist Andrew Kirtzman delves more into Bernard L. Madoff the man, rather than what he did. The window onto human frailty and the world of guilty denial is absolutely intriguing. One such story in the book reveals that young, inexperienced government regulators were so wowed by Madoff’s ritzy Midtown headquarters that they asked about job openings and dropped off resumes instead of catching clear and very obvious signals that Madoff was running a massive Ponzi scheme.

Who can resist the spin-off story—just emerging from a woman married for 37 years—who claims to have had a 20-year affair with Bernie Madoff, an affair that began with the unforgettable Madoff chat-up line, “Would you like to get together, and discuss investment strategies?” Was he really called Winky Dink?! Madoff’s Other Secret — Love, Money, Bernie and Me by Sheryl Weinstein.

In the absence of such enthralling, impossible-to-spy-out information, many stories are just begging to be interpreted and dramatised into spellbinding books and blockbuster movies.

Oliver Stone, himself, is planning to write a sequel to his 1987 success, calling his new effort Wall Street 2, confident of another winner in the new climate of rapacious curiosity to see behind the heartbreaking headlines. A spokesman for 20th Century Fox said, “The film is timely and relevant, given the state of the world,” adding ,“It’s literally ripped from today’s headlines.”

Just news of Stone’s intentions to write another blockbuster movie should open the floodgates for more stories involving the secretive sex, the covered-up corruption, the dicey deals, the financial fiascos. The make-or-break, desperate passion behind the scenes of otherwise dignified businessmen and women provides rich ground for writers of all persuasions to grow their plausible tales.

For instance, what if——

• a 74-year-old widower was found to have taken world cruises with the sole purpose of preying on vulnerable widows, and relieving them of their new-found wealth, leaving a trail of financial devastation in his wake

• there’s a young, charming and handsome man who manages to talk his way into hotel rooms, claiming to have lost his key, and then systematically removes jewels and cash from the rooms he enters; but when he eventually meets the woman of his dreams, it is too late to cover up the fact that he has stolen jewels from his new girlfriend’s mother

Here’s an angle from a related real story—Recently in the north of England, John Darwin paddled his canoe in to the sea and faked his own death, only to resurface in Panama with his wife, who had been coerced into going along with the insurance swindle.

Is this the story of a normal couple married for 32 years, who were pushed to the brink of ruin by their very own, self-induced credit crisis? Or was it more about the fact that for five years their two sons were deceived into thinking their father was dead, whilst all the time he was living in hiding, right next door?

Who can sort out the intriguing fiction from the fascinating reality—or cash in on the captivating differences?

Are you reaching for your keyboard?