Many years ago, someone posted on FR asking for ideas for movies. I wrote back “You know what would make a great movie? The story of Paul Rusesabagina, who saved many people’s lives in Rwanda.” I never heard back from the poster. A few years later, “Hotel Rwanda” was made. 99.99999 percent chance that was just a coincidence, but you never know.
Here’s a sitcom idea they would never take: a National Guard unit in a rural setting. You could do something like M.A.S.H. (just not as liberal) where they mix the serious and the comedy. My Navy reserve unit had many comic moments, although we were pretty serious about our mission.
When Rescue Me was on firefighters would email Dennis Leary things that had happened in real life. Hubby emailed one and it actually showed up as part of an episode on the show.