An inventor story made for the big screen.
Quirky characters. Corporate boardrooms. A 400-pound prototype parked next to a dumpster. Marko has watched the movie version of his life play in his head for years. Now he's looking for the right producers/investors to creatively thread his official product launch into a feature film, streaming premiere, with 1-800 lines open at the film's ending.
Infomercials are not entertaining human narratives. They are just old, hackneyed, corporate direct response marketing scripts focused on repeating the same ol' simplified themes and product features for the non-discerning, neurotypical masses.
Part Joy, part Tin Men, all heart.
A hyperactive, plant-based, green-minded inventor spends a third of a century trying to convince the fitness industry that two flywheels beat one.
He goes up against focus-group-obsessed executives, in-house engineers and "not invented here" thinking, armed only with a patent, a prototype and an unshakable belief in his inner signals. He gets knocked down to the canvas over and over, and he gets back up laughing every time.
Marko prefers quirky, character-driven films to action movies nine times out of ten. His story is full of characters.
A scene that writes itself.
"With great lucidity, I still recall the exact and funny way that former Bowflex CEO, Brian Cook looked when he made a cheesy or nerdy remark. Evidently, he amused himself as he replied to questions (even if trite) with what he probably inwardly thought of as witty retorts or a clever high-brow quip as he'd pat his flaccid belly, while feigning animated self-satisfaction and childlike delight. Much like the Pillsbury doughboy. Heh heh.
Years later, when I was still watching mainstream corporate TV news, I looked at MSNBC's Chris Hayes on the TV and I burst out in loud obnoxious laughter. At that moment, a potential film scene screened (streamed) direct into my imagination retention center. There are several more (scenes made for the big screen) too, esp., the Ladies of Bowflex and Finding the CycleClimber postcard models.
Even though he is not an actor, I think Chris Hayes could pull off playing the former Bowflex CEO on the big screen, with the right make-up staff of course, to get the CEO Cook look down to a tee. Ha."
Excerpt from The World's Most Disrespected Inventor by Marko Hansen.
Moments Marko says were made for the big screen
5:22 AM, Motor Avenue
A lanky 34-year-old grinds up a brutal hill on his pre-dawn commute and sees a vision of a machine that climbs into the sky.
The drill press
A 400-pound steel monstrosity sits next to an apartment dumpster. The ex-Marine bartender next door is not impressed.
The Ladies of Bowflex
A licensing deal at last, followed by boardroom characters straight out of a comedy, and a cancellation that sends him back to square one.
Finding the postcard models
The search for the perfect faces to sell the CycleClimber. Let's just say it took a while.
Married in Kaifeng
Asian adventures, and a 50th-birthday wedding where the groom was actually 49, thanks to the time difference.
The bounce
An old clip, a framed photo of his parents, and a box of coil springs. Eureka #3, and the machine finally becomes the ClimbROCKER.
The source material is ready.
The whole story, warts, wins and all, is in Marko's eBook. And if you'd like to own a breakthrough fitness product along with the film rights, he's open to that conversation too.