Unoptioned FD3 script
I went to a writer's retreat in the summer and we were discussing our 'nearest misses' and I mentioned I'd almost landed a deal to write one of the tie-in novels for the Final Destination movies.
One of the retreat leaders caught up with me later and told me that he'd actually co-written a script for FD3 that had made it to the "last four or five" at the studio.
His idea was quite dark, but very interesting. It centered around one of the FBI Agents from the first film (the one who said he almost believed Alex). Since all of that, he'd become paranoid and fixated with the case.
He has an obnoxious son in a private school. On a field trip, a girl in the same class has a premonition that a madman will open fire at roadstop. It comes true, several of the students are saved by her meltdown as usual.
The rest of the script apparently unfolds largely 'to spec' with grim deaths, he said they included somebody falling on to a covered pool and drowning, someone falling on to an opened dishwasher cutlery compartment thing that has several knives in it, and a guy hanging off some scaffolding whose arms get severed, letting him fall to his death (he said that one was inspired by Total Recall).
However, the FBI guy's son is one of those to die, leading to a darker place than the films go: One person becomes very religious while the others play with a spirit board to try and get answers. He said it was going to try and delve into the force that is death, rather than just go from death scene to death scene. There would be a lot about theology, faith, and mortality than usual.
When I asked why it wasn't picked up he said the studio wanted to go more 'teen' than FD2, and as the lead was a 40-something man that killed it, plus the gunman idea was too controversial, he thought.
Still, it sounded like a pretty good idea to me so thought I'd share it (he didn't mind, he said he was 'done with Hollywood').