The Official Movie Plot Generator

This site was originally created to promote the The Official Movie Plot Generator.  Eventually the domain registration of the site expired and puff, no more visibility on the web. The new owners of the domain decided to keep some of the original content since they wanted more folks to enjoy / play with the ideas from the The Official Movie Plot Generator book. Content is from the site's archived pages.

In the spirit of Magnetic Poetry, The Official Movie Plot Generator is part humor book, part game, part creative tool. It offers 27,000 hilarious movie plot possibilities you create, spanning every genre of cinema from feel-good family fun to hard-boiled crime drama. Just flip the tabs until you find a combination you like.

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An aside:
For movie fans or anyone who likes to laugh a lot with little effort, The Official Movie Plot Generator is a perfect gift and an irresistible, offbeat diversion. Great at parties or family get togethers, to say the least. This is one example my siblings and I came up with. Movie plot scenario: Living on the lower East side close to the East River. A major hurricane strikes with a 10 foot tide surge. Inundated basement apartment. Desperate to clean up for disapproving parents arrive from Europe to check up on the daughter, heroine hires a water damage / restoration service company who is supposed to provide emergency cleaning and restoration services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their immediate response, they say over the phone, is to help minimize the damage and reduce the cost of restoration and cleaning. What follows in the plot is a comedy of errors until a second NYC flood damage restoration company is called in. They actually know what they are doing and indeed do restore the apartment, just in time before the heroine's parents arrive. The outline sounds terse, but the enactment is hilarious. 

My siblings and I used this plot line one weekend when we went to visit my mother who is staying at Hart Heritage Estates in Forest Hills, Delaware, located just north of Bel Air. My Mom is s movie buff and is very intuitive regarding where a movie's story line is going. We all thought she would get a kick out of our NYC movie plot. We all grew up in NYC and two of my siblings still live there. However, we decided to move my mother closer to where I live in Maryland when she really needed an assisted living situation. It has work out well for all of us. My mother loves the Hart Heritage Estates facility as well as the staff and I can easily drop in once or twice a week to visit. Well, I digress. But I do want to say, my mother got such a kick out of our plot. She added a few comic twists which were perfect.

Get the book and find out if your movie writing potential is for real.

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Publisher: Brothers Heimberg Publishing
Title: The Official Movie Plot Generator
Subtitle: 27,000 Hilarious Movie Plots
Author: The Brothers Heimberg
ISBN: 0-9740439-1-5
Category: Humor
Length: 30 pages (3 panels per page)
Retail Price: $15.95
Format: Hardcover (concealed spiral)
Pub Date: Summer 2004

About the Authors:

Jason and Justin (The Brothers) Heimberg are professional screenwriters who have written for Disney, Paramount, and Universal Studios, and have collaborated with producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer and Gary Ross. Jason, 32, is the creator of The Panda (in development with the Cartoon Network). Justin, 30, is the author of numerous humor books including the best-selling Would You Rather...? series.

Interview Ideas:

Two of Hollywood’s most unique and engaging funnymen, The Brothers Heimberg are available to liven up any articles, programs or shows you are planning. They can discuss:

  • - The real, inane, and often ridiculous inner workings of Hollywood (what “inspired” this book)
  • - Secrets to successful script and movie development (and the pros and cons of collaboration)
  • - How to break into the movie writing business
  • - Games to play using The Official Movie Plot Generator (acting out/improving movie scenes you create, coming up with titles for combinations, using the book to practice the “pitch” (all of which can be performed live)
  • - How to start your own publishing company and small business

The Brothers Heimberg are experienced improvisers, quip-men, and savvy media subjects
who can generate hilarious content for your needs on the fly. They can also explain ways for
you to use The Official Movie Plot Generator as a game on your show with your audience or
selected staff members.

 

The Brothers Heimberg Biography and Credits

Justin, 30, co-created The Official Movie Plot Generator after witnessing the formulaic process of movie development while working as a professional screenwriter. The MPG is a giant step in his life-long effort to write a book with as few words as possible in it.
Justin is the author of five comedy books
including the best-selling Would You Rather...? series (over 140,000 books sold) He has served as a humor writer/editor for men’s magazines including Details Magazine, MBA Jungle, and Maxim. He is a long-time performer for the Award- winning Improvised Documentary at Improv Olympic.

Jason, 32, actually graduated from The George Washington Law School in 1998. Making good use of the 3 years of intense legal education and $60,000+ spent on tuition, he moved to LA to pursue comedy screenwriting.
Jason is now a professional working screenwriter. In addition to writing feature films with his brother Justin, Jason is the creator of the Cartoon Network show Decker The Panda (in development), following the exploits of three friends: a cuddly panda, a giant lavender clam, and a drunk train engine.
High school activities: Racquetball 1,2,4 Medical Careers Club 3

The Brothers Heimberg currently have six scripts in development:

  • -“Unnatural History” at Disney; Jerry Bruckheimer is attached to executive produce
  • - “Kingpin 2” (the sequel to the 1996 Farrelly brother’s film “Kingpin”) with 2929 Entertainment
  • - “Leisure World” at New Line; Jim Carrey was recently attached to star
  • - “T&A” with Outlaw Productions and Intermedia Film
  • - “Open Season” with producer Gary Ross at Universal
  • -“Shock Jock” at Paramount with Alphaville Productions

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“With this book, I can finally do what I’ve always wanted- get rid of the need for screenwriters!”

– Russell Hollander, Bigtime Hollywood Producer

“No longer do I have to struggle to find creative ideas. Now I simply flip the pages of ‘The Official Movie Plot Generator’ to find the plot for my next million dollar script. A must for any aspiring screenwriter or film buff.”

– Jeff Sank, Hollywood screenwriter

“I’m expecting 10% of these book sales.”

- Justin Silvera of Broder, Webb, Chervin, Silberman Agency (Jason and Justin’s agent)

 

Reviews and Press Coverage

CNN Entertainment News - You, Too, Can Write a Screenplay!

Listen to the Brothers Heimberg speak with Susan Stamberg on NPR's All Things Considered.

Newsweek - A macho NFL quarterback discovers a hidden talent for dance in a rousing adaptation of the Broadway musical. It could be a pitch to a Hollywood screenwriter, but it's not. It's one of thousands of movie plots created in "The Official Movie Plot Generator." The book, self-published by two Hollywood screenwriter brothers, Justin and Jason Heimberg, was created to lampoon the biz--and get a few laughs. The coffee-table masterpiece (for sale at movieplotgenerator.com and in stores next month) contains 30 pages of three flaps, generating 27,000 permutations of some really bad movies. Some are probable: "A cop who doesn't play by the rules becomes a nanny for an aristocratic family in the feel-good comedy of the year." (This was actually pitched to them following the book's publication.) Others are less likely: "The ultimate crime-fighting indestructible cyborg raises a baby and, in the process, learns the true meaning of Christmas." ("We'd call it 'RoboPop'," Justin says. "It'll be made within the next five years," Jason predicts.) Wait. Didn't that one star J. Lo?

Esquire - Featured as one of "The 9 Most Remarkable Things in Culture."

Publishers Weekly - "Screenwriter or not, anyone will get a kick of this simple but creative guide to coming up with movie plot ideas."

Failure Magazine - "allows the user to make plot lines that are...beyond even the most twisted studio executive."

Script Sales - "guaranteed to make you bust a gut. A unique item for the coffee table or a stocking stuffer..."

New York Press - "pushes the concept of page-flipping to a higher level."

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The Brothers Heimberg

Justin

Justin Heimberg is a professional screenwriter in Los Angeles, where people make up for rampant back-stabbing, constant lying, and endless false promises by offering you a beverage before each meeting.

Jason

Jason Heimberg also lives in Los Angeles working as a comedy screenwriter. He plans on one day moving to northern Minnesota, becoming a recluse, and making a fortune in the stock market while training for the next Iditarod.

 

More Background on The Official Movie Plot Generator

 

MoviePlotGenerator.com is a niche but culturally memorable website that once promoted and supported an unusually inventive creative product: a humor-driven, mechanically interactive book known as The Official Movie Plot Generator. Although the website is no longer an active commercial platform and has changed owners over time, it occupies a unique place in the history of digital creativity tools, especially those that predate the rise of modern artificial intelligence. It represents an early, analogue-based reimagining of how storytelling prompts can be automated—before automation became synonymous with algorithms and machine learning. Its origins, purpose, and cultural trajectory reflect both the playful spirit of independent creators and the broader fascination with Hollywood storytelling formulas.

In its early form, MoviePlotGenerator.com served as an online hub for information about the physical product and its creators. The site provided background on the authors, offered examples of randomly combined plots, linked to press coverage, and framed itself as a hybrid between a humor novelty and a storytelling training aid. Today, the history of the site is preserved primarily through archived snapshots and references to the book itself. Yet its influence continues through the ongoing popularity of plot-generator tools and the enduring appeal of humorous takes on Hollywood tropes.

Origins and Development

The concept behind MoviePlotGenerator.com originated with two Hollywood-based screenwriters, brothers Justin and Jason Heimberg, known professionally for their comedic approach to writing and for their work across major studios. They developed The Official Movie Plot Generator as a way to poke fun at Hollywood’s formulaic storytelling, drawing from their own industry experiences. The book’s structure—using three vertically segmented flaps that users could flip independently—allowed for more than 27,000 unique plot permutations.

The website was designed primarily to support this physical product. In its earliest phase, it functioned as a promotional platform, offering information about the book’s mechanics, background on the authors, and examples of the humorous plots the generator could produce. It was not an AI tool, nor did it process user input. Instead, it acted as an online extension of the physical generator, encouraging visitors to engage with the playfulness of plot generation through analogue means.

At some point, the domain expired and was later acquired by new owners. These owners preserved portions of the earlier content but did not continue development in any substantial way. The site became less a functional generator and more a historical archive of a one-of-a-kind humor product that had captured attention within entertainment and publishing circles.

Product Structure and User Experience

The Official Movie Plot Generator—the core product promoted by the website—was a mechanically simple but conceptually sophisticated flip-book. It had three stacked panels on every page:

  • Top flap: typically described a protagonist or lead character

  • Middle flap: described an action or conflict

  • Bottom flap: offered a situational twist, setting, or genre variation

By flipping different segments into new combinations, a user could construct a complete movie plot in seconds. This approach combined aspects of magnetic poetry, classic writing prompts, and parodies of cinematic clichés.

An example of how it worked:

  • A tough, no-nonsense detective

  • Is forced to pose as a babysitter

  • During a high-stakes international peace summit

Not only was this process humorous, but it also tapped into recognizable patterns of Hollywood storytelling, making it both a parody and a legitimate brainstorming tool. The simplicity of the flip-book format was key to its appeal: unlike software-based generators, it required no technology, no algorithms, and no interface beyond physical interaction.

Website Purpose and Features

During its most active period, MoviePlotGenerator.com served the following functions:

Promotion of the Book

The site showcased the features of The Official Movie Plot Generator, explaining how it worked and why it appealed to film buffs, aspiring writers, and humor enthusiasts.

Examples of Generated Plots

A collection of sample plots demonstrated how bizarre, hilarious, or surprisingly coherent the combinations could be. This helped visitors understand the format and encouraged them to explore further.

Background on the Authors

The site featured biographical profiles of the Heimberg brothers, describing their screenwriting careers, studio collaborations, and humor writing backgrounds.

Media Coverage and Reviews

The site highlighted major media mentions, offering validation from well-known publications and broadcast outlets. Although the site itself became inactive over time, these reviews helped establish the product’s cultural footprint.

Purchase Information

The site once linked to retailers and distributors where the book could be purchased. Over time, these links disappeared as the site became dormant.

Popularity and Cultural Visibility

While MoviePlotGenerator.com never reached mass-market status, it gained significant cultural visibility thanks to the novelty of its concept and the pedigree of its creators. Several mainstream media outlets featured articles or segments discussing the flip-book and its humorous critique of Hollywood. Among the notable responses:

  • Newsweek highlighted how the generator captured the repetitive nature of studio pitches and embraced the absurdity of Hollywood narratives.

  • Esquire included the generator in a list of distinctive and culturally notable items.

  • Publishers Weekly described the book as a creative, entertaining resource that would appeal to both writers and general humor readers.

  • Broadcast features, including National Public Radio, spotlighted the creators and explored how the book distilled industry tropes into a playful format.

These endorsements elevated the visibility of both the tool and the website, placing MoviePlotGenerator.com within a broader conversation about how Hollywood constructs narrative formulas and how audiences respond to them.

Audience and Use Cases

Despite the humorous framing, the generator found legitimate use among several different audiences:

Aspiring Screenwriters

Writers used the generator as a warm-up exercise or creativity-boosting tool. By quickly recombining disparate story elements, writers could brainstorm new plot directions or break through periods of writer’s block.

Educators and Workshop Leaders

Writing instructors and creative facilitators used the generator as a classroom tool, helping students think structurally about narratives. The absurd combinations often led to deeper discussions about genre, character archetypes, and pacing.

Film Fans and Hobbyists

Movie buffs enjoyed the satirical element, recognizing familiar plot structures exaggerated for comedic effect.

Party and Social Use

The book doubled as a casual party game, allowing groups to create outlandish movie concepts, act out scenes, or pitch their combinations to one another.

Changes in Ownership and Website Decline

At some point after the book’s initial promotional period, the original domain expired. When the domain changed hands, the new owners did not revive the original interactive intentions of the website. Instead, they preserved fragments of earlier content, likely sourced from internet archives, but did not maintain the site as an active platform.

The decline of the site coincided with several broader digital trends:

  • The rise of AI-based writing tools

  • The shift toward algorithm-driven plot generators

  • Reduced reliance on static, promotional websites

  • The fragmentation of online creative communities

As a result, MoviePlotGenerator.com gradually transitioned from a functioning site into a semi-archived shell of its former purpose. Its historical content remains of interest mainly to collectors, media historians, and fans of niche creative novelties.

Influence on Modern Plot Generators

Even if not widely recognized as a technological predecessor, the structure and intent behind MoviePlotGenerator.com anticipated many features now common in digital plot generators:

  • Predefined narrative templates

  • Randomized combinations

  • Genre mixing

  • Character–conflict–setting structural breakdowns

  • Humorous exaggeration of tropes

While modern tools often rely on advanced machine learning, the underlying logic remains the same: breaking narrative components into discrete parts and recombining them to inspire new stories.

As more sophisticated software emerged, MoviePlotGenerator.com came to represent an early analogue version of a now-ubiquitous digital concept. Its humor-driven approach differentiated it from more traditional, instructional writing tools and aligned it more closely with the playful, community-driven culture of early internet creativity.

Cultural and Social Significance

MoviePlotGenerator.com holds enduring interest because it offers insight into how popular culture perceives the film industry. The generator exposes recurring tropes such as:

  • Cop-becomes-nanny storylines

  • Tough characters in unlikely settings

  • Fish-out-of-water comedy frameworks

  • Discoveries of hidden talents

  • Forced partnerships and mismatched pairings

These clichés become comedic when recombined in exaggerated or improbable ways, revealing the underlying formulas that shape Hollywood narratives. The generator thus functions as cultural commentary, a humorous demonstration of how certain story elements recur so often that they become predictable.

Its satirical tone anticipates the kind of commentary now found in film criticism blogs, YouTube video essays, and social media discussions that dissect storytelling formulas. Though created long before these platforms became mainstream, the generator tapped into a cultural fascination with the mechanics of narrative construction.

Lasting Legacy

Today, MoviePlotGenerator.com functions more as a historical artifact than a living tool. Its legacy endures in several ways:

  • It is cited in discussions of early creativity tools.

  • The book remains a humorous collectible for writers and film lovers.

  • It influenced the structure of later digital plot generators.

  • It highlighted Hollywood tropes in a way that still feels relevant.

Even though the site is no longer fully operational, the concept it embodied continues to inspire. Modern AI-driven story generators—now able to produce thousands of words instantly—owe a conceptual debt to early, simplified systems of plot recombination.

MoviePlotGenerator.com may not be as technologically advanced as the generators of today, but it paved the way for the playful, pattern-based storytelling tools that populate the digital landscape.

MoviePlotGenerator.com