I've seen FEVER PITCH three times now since it came out in 2005, the year after the Red Sox won their first World Championship in 86 years. As a Bostonian, it is the one movie that I feel is absolutely and quintessentially Boston. There would have to be a movie made about clam chowder to come closer to the Bostonian's real lived experience. Every time I see it, I am more certain in my belief that it is the ultimate love letter to Boston. While many movies have captured the feel of Boston - think THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE or MYSTIC RIVER or GOOD WILL HUNTING - everyone knows that Boston follows its beloved baseball team more passionately than just about anything else: the Farrelly brothers captured a piece of our soul in their depiction of Ben Wreitman's love affair with the Red Sox.
From the opening narration when Al Waterman - he of Waterman Sponge fame - tells about the first time Ben's Uncle Carl took him to Fenway, we know we are in for a special treat. I can remember, in vivid technicolors, my first trip to Fenway with my late grandfather, Joe Murray. Pop was an executive at the American Tobacco Company and, as part of his sales territory, would sometimes hand out cigarette samples out on Landsdowne Street outside of Fenway (my own son was conceived during the 2004 World Series and born nine months later in a spike of "Red Sox babies" reported at local hospitals). In the film, the loyalty goes beyond the team to the almost mystical attachment to the ballpark itself and the ethos of the team. "Careful kid," Waterman tells Ben (Jimmy Fallon) at that first game, "they'll break your heart."
When Ben meets Lindsey Weeks (Drew Barrymore), it's clear that his obsession with the Sox is not something immediately understandable to those outside of "the Tribe"... She falls in love with him in wintertime, but when summer rolls around...well, he's a different animal. He lives and breathes Sox, agonizes over the team's every move, whips himself into a frenzy when they're playing the Yankees. "Ben," Lindsey says at about this point in the season, "I didn't realize how big the Red Sox thing was for you..."
Well, they are that big a deal. And, when Ben mans up enough to sell his season tickets to keep his relationship alive, it suddenly dawns on Lindsey how much he loves her (ah, happy endings!).
The Sox are in 2nd place now -- two games behind the dreaded Yanks. Since 2004, the new generation of Sox fans coming up only knows a championship team. For those of us whose formative years were spent following a Greek tragedy called the Boston Red Sox, we will always have FEVER PITCH, the ultimate love letter to the team and its fans.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Handling Dissapointment
The title of this post may seem a little strange. After all, screenwriting is a rejection-oriented business. Writers will get turned down 99% of the time. Even if an option on a script is secured, the odds of the film getting produced are low. So how does one handle the constant disappointment of projects that don't work out? There's no easy answer, but one must keep one's head up and keep going.
The Sages have written about our period, epic screenplay about the 19th century Irish revolutionary Thomas Francis Meagher. We have been working with an LA-based management company on the script for the past year. We were introduced to these managers about two years ago after a trip to LA. Over the the first year, they read some of our material and concluded that a large, epic script with commercial appeal would be something we should pursue. The story of Meagher is akin to "Braveheart" and something we had long had interest in so off we went to do research and write a treatment. Over the last year, The Sages, working with the managers, wrote three drafts of the script--each one getting better and tighter. The managers were consistent in that they told us it would be a tough sell and hooking a big name actor would be the key to getting the project sold.
The climate for spec scripts is very tough right now. And even tougher for period pieces. So our eyes were wide open going into this, but after a year working with the managers on this script we thought they'd be a little more game to get it out there. Alas, a call with them last week revealed they were not willing to take it out to studios and actors. Too tough a climate they said.
It was difficult to hear. A year's worth of work and an unenthusiastic response. There are disappoinments and then there are blows to the stomach. This was perhaps in between. How do we handle it? How do we move on?
The small silver lining was that the management team said we should do legwork and feel free to use them if we need submissions to high level producers or studios. This may come in handy, and it has been great working with these managers. We got what we believe is a strong script and a great contact in this management team. Still, it feels like small solace.
But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We must do what we've always done, aggressively market ourselves, make new contacts, expand our network, and keep writing. Five years ago, we would not have had the opportunity to work with a management team such as this. The screenwriting game is, more often than not, a long slow climb up a steep hill.
Where are we on the hill? Always climbing and always hoping to reach the top. If there's one thing a screenwriter must learn --and learn well-- it's how to handle disappoinment and keep going despite it...
The Sages have written about our period, epic screenplay about the 19th century Irish revolutionary Thomas Francis Meagher. We have been working with an LA-based management company on the script for the past year. We were introduced to these managers about two years ago after a trip to LA. Over the the first year, they read some of our material and concluded that a large, epic script with commercial appeal would be something we should pursue. The story of Meagher is akin to "Braveheart" and something we had long had interest in so off we went to do research and write a treatment. Over the last year, The Sages, working with the managers, wrote three drafts of the script--each one getting better and tighter. The managers were consistent in that they told us it would be a tough sell and hooking a big name actor would be the key to getting the project sold.
The climate for spec scripts is very tough right now. And even tougher for period pieces. So our eyes were wide open going into this, but after a year working with the managers on this script we thought they'd be a little more game to get it out there. Alas, a call with them last week revealed they were not willing to take it out to studios and actors. Too tough a climate they said.
It was difficult to hear. A year's worth of work and an unenthusiastic response. There are disappoinments and then there are blows to the stomach. This was perhaps in between. How do we handle it? How do we move on?
The small silver lining was that the management team said we should do legwork and feel free to use them if we need submissions to high level producers or studios. This may come in handy, and it has been great working with these managers. We got what we believe is a strong script and a great contact in this management team. Still, it feels like small solace.
But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We must do what we've always done, aggressively market ourselves, make new contacts, expand our network, and keep writing. Five years ago, we would not have had the opportunity to work with a management team such as this. The screenwriting game is, more often than not, a long slow climb up a steep hill.
Where are we on the hill? Always climbing and always hoping to reach the top. If there's one thing a screenwriter must learn --and learn well-- it's how to handle disappoinment and keep going despite it...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ode to the Capitol Theatre
When I moved to Arlington, MA, in early 2001, my wife and I chose the neighborhood based on our sense of it being a vibrant residential area close to the city of Boston. For me, personally, there was another draw: Arlington's Capitol Theatre was a short walk from my new condo in a converted two-family home. Over the next seven years, the Capitol Theater would be my secret get-away spot on a night when my wife and I had a fight or during a sweltering summer evening when I just had to escape the heat. I would use the theatre as therapy on those occasions and I came to love the place.
Since moving to the other side of Arlington, I no longer have the old theatre located conveniently across the street from my home. But, tonight I brought my son to the theatre to see SUGAR, a wonderful art house film about a Dominican ballplayer's struggle to make it pro in America. It was a spectacular independent film that broke your heart even as it entertained you. And it's the kind of film that makes its way sooner or later to the screens of the Capitol.
It's hard to explain what makes the Capitol so special. Part of it is the history that breathes in every crevice of the building. Opened in November of 1925, the Capitol Theatre's evolution parallels that of the entertainment industry of the last century. Like the Somerville Theatre just down the rode in Davis Square and owned and operated by the same family - the Locatelli family - the Capitol hosted all kinds of vaudeville shows and other live entertainment. Enormous pipe organs played on both sides of the cavernous main auditorium. It was the crown jewel of the neighborhood theatres and entertained area residents with prize nights and other attractions during the bleak days of the Depression.
In time the classic theatre had to be 'multi-plexed', but it was done in a way that completely honored the original look and feel of the single-screen theatre. It debuted in 1989 and Theatre 1, still houses the main stage and the grates where the pipe organs were located.
There are times when I miss my old neighborhood, and, in particular, I miss being able to run out and see movies like SUGAR across the street!
Since moving to the other side of Arlington, I no longer have the old theatre located conveniently across the street from my home. But, tonight I brought my son to the theatre to see SUGAR, a wonderful art house film about a Dominican ballplayer's struggle to make it pro in America. It was a spectacular independent film that broke your heart even as it entertained you. And it's the kind of film that makes its way sooner or later to the screens of the Capitol.
It's hard to explain what makes the Capitol so special. Part of it is the history that breathes in every crevice of the building. Opened in November of 1925, the Capitol Theatre's evolution parallels that of the entertainment industry of the last century. Like the Somerville Theatre just down the rode in Davis Square and owned and operated by the same family - the Locatelli family - the Capitol hosted all kinds of vaudeville shows and other live entertainment. Enormous pipe organs played on both sides of the cavernous main auditorium. It was the crown jewel of the neighborhood theatres and entertained area residents with prize nights and other attractions during the bleak days of the Depression.
In time the classic theatre had to be 'multi-plexed', but it was done in a way that completely honored the original look and feel of the single-screen theatre. It debuted in 1989 and Theatre 1, still houses the main stage and the grates where the pipe organs were located.
There are times when I miss my old neighborhood, and, in particular, I miss being able to run out and see movies like SUGAR across the street!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Peering Into Our Crystal Ball
The Sages had a nice meeting the other day with Irene Wachsler of Tobolsky & Wachsler CPAs. This firm is an independent auditor for individuals and companies seeking to expedite tax credits on qualifying film and television productions in Massachusetts.
The Sages were seeking to gain a greater understanding about the use and applications of film tax credits in the State, but a funny thing happened on the way to that forum: we realized what kind of creative economy we now have in Mass. Ten years ago, could the Sages have met with an accountant seeking to expand her business in supporting film and television productions in the Bay State?
The simple answer is no. But where do things go from here? And how far?
Will writers, actors, crew, and others be able to earn a steady living in Massachusetts and New England from working in the movies?
This area will likely never be Los Angeles, but can it be Vancouver or Toronto? That is, a medium-sized city with a strong and consistent homegrown entertainment community? Much of that probably depends on the proposed studios for Massachusetts. At last count there are five: Plymouth, Weymouth, South Boston, Lowell, and Western Massachusetts. If one or several of these entities can flourish here, the ripple effects for everyone will be visible and tangible.
Peering into our crystal ball, what do the Sages see for the future of New England and the entertainment industry? Perhaps that's the wrong question. Perhaps it should be, what do we see now? Returning to our meeting from the other day, we see men and women with jobs and aspirations long ago thought impossible in this sector of the economy in this State.
We like what we see, and we hope to see more of it going forward. We invite others to peer into their crystal balls and tell us what they see...
-Randy
The Sages were seeking to gain a greater understanding about the use and applications of film tax credits in the State, but a funny thing happened on the way to that forum: we realized what kind of creative economy we now have in Mass. Ten years ago, could the Sages have met with an accountant seeking to expand her business in supporting film and television productions in the Bay State?
The simple answer is no. But where do things go from here? And how far?
Will writers, actors, crew, and others be able to earn a steady living in Massachusetts and New England from working in the movies?
This area will likely never be Los Angeles, but can it be Vancouver or Toronto? That is, a medium-sized city with a strong and consistent homegrown entertainment community? Much of that probably depends on the proposed studios for Massachusetts. At last count there are five: Plymouth, Weymouth, South Boston, Lowell, and Western Massachusetts. If one or several of these entities can flourish here, the ripple effects for everyone will be visible and tangible.
Peering into our crystal ball, what do the Sages see for the future of New England and the entertainment industry? Perhaps that's the wrong question. Perhaps it should be, what do we see now? Returning to our meeting from the other day, we see men and women with jobs and aspirations long ago thought impossible in this sector of the economy in this State.
We like what we see, and we hope to see more of it going forward. We invite others to peer into their crystal balls and tell us what they see...
-Randy
Friday, June 12, 2009
Great Interview on Screenwriting...
http://simborgpeanutgallery.blogspot.com/2009/05/awesome.html
See the above link for a great interview on the craft and business of screenwriting with Terry Rossio, one of the most successful writers in Hollywood today. It's a little long, but there are a lot of great nuggets in this. Enjoy...
-Randy
See the above link for a great interview on the craft and business of screenwriting with Terry Rossio, one of the most successful writers in Hollywood today. It's a little long, but there are a lot of great nuggets in this. Enjoy...
-Randy
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Is It the Writer's Fault When...
A big budget film's script is lacking? This question came to mind recently after seeing the newest chapter in the "Star Trek" opus. The movie was certainly a spectacle, with great visuals and exciting action sequences. However, I found the story and the script lacking. A friend of mine in Los Angeles who works in the biz was more partial to it, and we exchanged a few emails about the merits and shortcomings of the movie.
I won't go into what I found lacking in Star Trek. Perhaps I was expecting something more in line with the old films and the TV series. Whatever it was that did not strike me right got me to pondering the question: can we say the writer executed poorly when a big budget film does not work story wise? It's one thing on a spec script or in an indy setting if the script is not up to snuff, but when hundreds of millions are going into a movie and the writer is being directed by producers, studio executives, a director, and so on to make many changes and go in different directions, can it be said that the writer is to blame if the script does not turn out to be gangbusters?
I guess part of it might stem from how one views the film in question, but I don't think (and maybe this is being generous) I'm an old curmudgeon who does not like blockbuster or big action films. On the contrary, I do. I was quite fond of the first X-Men movie, and I thought WALL-E was one of the best films of 2008. These movies were high budget and worked in my opinion. So when other big budget films don't turn out as well as those, can we fault the writer?
We might not be able to fault anyone in reality. There are so many competing forces in big budget films, and so much is at stake. From the producers to the distributors to the advertisers, perfect storms can become perfect disasters, and it can be hard to tell which link in the chain was the weakest.
Joe and I were working on an action script last year. It was not our strongest genre, but we liked the idea and the producer with whom we were working so we gave it a go. We were pretty much following orders and trying to please the producer most of the time, but we were not mindlessly regurgitating everything the producer asked for. We tried to bring our own voice and style to the script, but in the end it was the producer's idea, and he was the one taking it to the marketplace so why not try to get it the way he wanted it? Looking back on it, I don't think it was that great of a script, so was it our fault?
Sometimes I find a useful way to judge a film by asking: would I use the film in one of my screenwriting classes to instruct beginners in the art of story telling? So maybe 'fault' is the wrong word to use when any film's script doesn't work, and I'm hesistant to say that Star Trek doesn't work (it's box office receipts alone might contradict this assessment). Nevertheless, it's an intriguing topic to explore, and we invite others' opinions and comments.
-Randy
I won't go into what I found lacking in Star Trek. Perhaps I was expecting something more in line with the old films and the TV series. Whatever it was that did not strike me right got me to pondering the question: can we say the writer executed poorly when a big budget film does not work story wise? It's one thing on a spec script or in an indy setting if the script is not up to snuff, but when hundreds of millions are going into a movie and the writer is being directed by producers, studio executives, a director, and so on to make many changes and go in different directions, can it be said that the writer is to blame if the script does not turn out to be gangbusters?
I guess part of it might stem from how one views the film in question, but I don't think (and maybe this is being generous) I'm an old curmudgeon who does not like blockbuster or big action films. On the contrary, I do. I was quite fond of the first X-Men movie, and I thought WALL-E was one of the best films of 2008. These movies were high budget and worked in my opinion. So when other big budget films don't turn out as well as those, can we fault the writer?
We might not be able to fault anyone in reality. There are so many competing forces in big budget films, and so much is at stake. From the producers to the distributors to the advertisers, perfect storms can become perfect disasters, and it can be hard to tell which link in the chain was the weakest.
Joe and I were working on an action script last year. It was not our strongest genre, but we liked the idea and the producer with whom we were working so we gave it a go. We were pretty much following orders and trying to please the producer most of the time, but we were not mindlessly regurgitating everything the producer asked for. We tried to bring our own voice and style to the script, but in the end it was the producer's idea, and he was the one taking it to the marketplace so why not try to get it the way he wanted it? Looking back on it, I don't think it was that great of a script, so was it our fault?
Sometimes I find a useful way to judge a film by asking: would I use the film in one of my screenwriting classes to instruct beginners in the art of story telling? So maybe 'fault' is the wrong word to use when any film's script doesn't work, and I'm hesistant to say that Star Trek doesn't work (it's box office receipts alone might contradict this assessment). Nevertheless, it's an intriguing topic to explore, and we invite others' opinions and comments.
-Randy
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Life Is a Dream, Anime, and Animation
"La vida es sueno" the great Lope de Vega of Spanish Golden Era fame titled his most famous play: Life is a dream. His words were reverberating in my head yesterday as I stumbled upon the Anime Convention at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston: GI Joe and Little BoPeep... Vamps and Vixens... Maids and Mistresses of the night... They were out in force for the Anime Convention. Most were around high school age.
At first, as I appraised the Thor figure, and the Purple horse lady, and the Japanese school girl dressed as a Japanese school girl, I couldn't honestly figure out what sub-group from high school I was observing. They all wore passes around their necks and I was able to ascertain from their credentials that they were aficionadoes of Anime, the extremely eccentric, often violent cartoons originally originating out of Japan, but now - apparently - popular with fans the world over.
The Anime conventioneers had literally taken over the Copley Plaza mall where the Hynes Convention Center is located. At the mall food court, there were Wood Nymphs queuing for Cashew Chicken and Musclemen ordering pizza. In the restrooms, Sci-Fi geeks applied mascara and racy, transgendered Anime figures adjusted their thongs. In the plaza courtyard, all and sundry posed for pictures. The folks at the mall who were not of the convention had the best day of voyeurism ever. One staid couple with a child approached a group of conventioneers outside of the Copley Post Office in the mall and asked what it was all about. "Oh, we came in from New York," a pastoral African-American BoPeep replied. "We come here and dress up. There's a ball tonight. It's a lot of fun."
A friend of mine from high school who is visiting me from New York gave me the first whiff that something odd was in town. When he arrived off the bus from New York, he noticed in the Back Bay station two Asian guys dressed as Warrior Bugs with plastic shields and bug-like armor. We talked about whether in high school any of us could have possibly been part of that subgroup. My friend assured me that I had not been a wannabe Anime aficionado (Anime really only caught on in the States in the nineties and we graduated from high school in '87).
In reflecting on Anime, my friend and I realized that the Bible has epic stories and Anime does too: both are essentially a fight between good and evil. Both are about people who are struggling for the better angels of their souls to prevail... My friend reminded me of an epic story that he wrote that is ripe to be animation...if not Anime. His epic story penned in 1986 - long before we'd even heard of anime - is about a high school graduate who marries his sweet heart and the next day observes from the balcony of his large Victorian home that someone is stealing his tandem bicycle. He confronts the thief who tells him that this is not really his bicycle because it's lacking the bell with his signature snail on it. Instead, the thief was taking Max off to the war.
Max's great adventure begins on a navy ship on Fourth of July. He believes he's under attack but it's really just a Fourth of July Celebration. He ends up in the waters off the South Pacific and about to embark on an endless series of adventures. My friend then drew a picture of Max with sharp teeth and cannibalistic proclivities. "He should be on the big screen," I mentioned to him. It was at that point that I was reminded of a producer the Sages recently stumbled on. This gentleman says he is associated with an investment group that has put up $100 million for new technology and animation. I thought of how perfect a fit Max would be.
Back in our day it was PeeWee Herman's Great Adventure. Maybe nowadays Max could be written for this producer as an animation project with anime overtones. Then, maybe, this time next year I will be seeing Max figures on the T on the way to the Anime Convention.
At first, as I appraised the Thor figure, and the Purple horse lady, and the Japanese school girl dressed as a Japanese school girl, I couldn't honestly figure out what sub-group from high school I was observing. They all wore passes around their necks and I was able to ascertain from their credentials that they were aficionadoes of Anime, the extremely eccentric, often violent cartoons originally originating out of Japan, but now - apparently - popular with fans the world over.
The Anime conventioneers had literally taken over the Copley Plaza mall where the Hynes Convention Center is located. At the mall food court, there were Wood Nymphs queuing for Cashew Chicken and Musclemen ordering pizza. In the restrooms, Sci-Fi geeks applied mascara and racy, transgendered Anime figures adjusted their thongs. In the plaza courtyard, all and sundry posed for pictures. The folks at the mall who were not of the convention had the best day of voyeurism ever. One staid couple with a child approached a group of conventioneers outside of the Copley Post Office in the mall and asked what it was all about. "Oh, we came in from New York," a pastoral African-American BoPeep replied. "We come here and dress up. There's a ball tonight. It's a lot of fun."
A friend of mine from high school who is visiting me from New York gave me the first whiff that something odd was in town. When he arrived off the bus from New York, he noticed in the Back Bay station two Asian guys dressed as Warrior Bugs with plastic shields and bug-like armor. We talked about whether in high school any of us could have possibly been part of that subgroup. My friend assured me that I had not been a wannabe Anime aficionado (Anime really only caught on in the States in the nineties and we graduated from high school in '87).
In reflecting on Anime, my friend and I realized that the Bible has epic stories and Anime does too: both are essentially a fight between good and evil. Both are about people who are struggling for the better angels of their souls to prevail... My friend reminded me of an epic story that he wrote that is ripe to be animation...if not Anime. His epic story penned in 1986 - long before we'd even heard of anime - is about a high school graduate who marries his sweet heart and the next day observes from the balcony of his large Victorian home that someone is stealing his tandem bicycle. He confronts the thief who tells him that this is not really his bicycle because it's lacking the bell with his signature snail on it. Instead, the thief was taking Max off to the war.
Max's great adventure begins on a navy ship on Fourth of July. He believes he's under attack but it's really just a Fourth of July Celebration. He ends up in the waters off the South Pacific and about to embark on an endless series of adventures. My friend then drew a picture of Max with sharp teeth and cannibalistic proclivities. "He should be on the big screen," I mentioned to him. It was at that point that I was reminded of a producer the Sages recently stumbled on. This gentleman says he is associated with an investment group that has put up $100 million for new technology and animation. I thought of how perfect a fit Max would be.
Back in our day it was PeeWee Herman's Great Adventure. Maybe nowadays Max could be written for this producer as an animation project with anime overtones. Then, maybe, this time next year I will be seeing Max figures on the T on the way to the Anime Convention.
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