Summer 2007 Box Office

[Renz]

I just think calling Apatow a "good writer" is just ridiculous and, well, everyone in the industry who values comedy would pretty much agree with me.

Except that Apatow wrote Fun With Dick and Jane and Celtic Pride. Those two movies decrease his "greatness" immensely, IMO.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Except that Apatow wrote Fun With Dick and Jane and Celtic Pride. Those two movies decrease his "greatness" immensely, IMO.

apatow was a hired hand who got credit for a polish on an already spiraling out of control mess. the entire story of that film is almost legendaryin this town for how a star and a studio can royally screw up a project.

as far as celtic pride, yeah, there's not much of a defense there, but it was his first really big studio picture so it's likely that his original words on the page were cannibalized by the likely dumb-as-nails studio exec's who probably haven't had a job since.

honestly, i look at what people do early in their careers with a huge grain of because most people when they finally get a break are so hunrgy to do anything that they will literally... do anything. Do you think any worse of James Cameron because he wrote Pirana 2 or Oliver Stone because he wrote The Hand or Charlie Kaumfman becaus he wrote on awful sitcoms like The Edge, Ned and Stacey and The Trouble With Larry? I tend to give people breaks early in their respective careers because until one has established themselves well enough to be able to tell the suits to shove it up their ass, nothing you see on screen is really a good example of their work. especially for guys moving from TV to film.

 

[Renz]

apatow was a hired hand who got credit for a polish on an already spiraling out of control mess. the entire story of that film is almost legendaryin this town for how a star and a studio can royally screw up a project.

as far as celtic pride, yeah, there's not much of a defense there, but it was his first really big studio picture so it's likely that his original words on the page were cannibalized by the likely dumb-as-nails studio exec's who probably haven't had a job since.

honestly, i look at what people do early in their careers with a huge grain of because most people when they finally get a break are so hunrgy to do anything that they will literally... do anything. Do you think any worse of James Cameron because he wrote Pirana 2 or Oliver Stone because he wrote The Hand or Charlie Kaumfman becaus he wrote on awful sitcoms like The Edge, Ned and Stacey and The Trouble With Larry? I tend to give people breaks early in their respective careers because until one has established themselves well enough to be able to tell the suits to shove it up their ass, nothing you see on screen is really a good example of their work. especially for guys moving from TV to film.

Yeah, I was just stirring the pot. I have no idea how much credit one writer actually deserves from one project to the next.

I noticed that guys get credit for the "story" and other times they are credited as the "writer" etc. I don't know what the difference is.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Yeah, I was just stirring the pot. I have no idea how much credit one writer actually deserves from one project to the next.

I noticed that guys get credit for the "story" and other times they are credited as the "writer" etc. I don't know what the difference is.

most of the time, that's a matter of arbitration with the writer's guild when there have been numerous writers on a project. It's too tedious to go into, but believe me, anyone that gets "story by" credit is more often than not the person who wrote the original script then got re-written by about 15 other people (an exaggeration, but not that big of one).

 

[Chaplin]

Writing in Hollywood is such a mess. Scripts go through several rewrites, by several different people. The question is, how do so many people go through something and the script still comes out like crap? It's unfathomable the amount of money big studios pay writers to rewrite crap, and it still comes out crap! It's no wonder the Guilds think they have power--it's all about quantity, not quality.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Writing in Hollywood is such a mess. Scripts go through several rewrites, by several different people. The question is, how do so many people go through something and the script still comes out like crap?

I think answer lies in your question. Too many cooks spoil the soup.

It's unfathomable the amount of money big studios pay writers to rewrite crap, and it still comes out crap! It's no wonder the Guilds think they have power--it's all about quantity, not quality.

it really is ridiculous - my boss has only had ONE movie ever hit the screen (Tuck Everlasting) and has "created by" credit on Lost (but everyone knows he has nothing to do with the show) but has NEVER had anything else produced in TV or Film and yet HE'S LOADED. I mean, BEYOND LOADED. If you can crack the system and show that you can actually write and have a solid fan base among the 100s of exec.'s, you can be richer beyond your wildest dreams even if no one outside of Hollywood has ever seen a single thing you've ever written actually been spoken on screen.

 

[abomb]

I think answer lies in your question. Too many cooks spoil the soup.



it really is ridiculous - my boss has only had ONE movie ever hit the screen (Tuck Everlasting) and has "created by" credit on Lost (but everyone knows he has nothing to do with the show) but has NEVER had anything else produced in TV or Film and yet HE'S LOADED. I mean, BEYOND LOADED. If you can crack the system, as a writer you can be richer beyond your wildest dreams even if no one outside of Hollywood has ever seen a single thing you've ever written actually been spoken on screen.

Interesting stuff. What was his involvement with Lost? IMDB has him credited for 9 episodes. Did he maybe develop one of the characters?

 

[Pariah]

Interesting stuff. What was his involvement with Lost? IMDB has him credited for 9 episodes. Did he maybe develop one of the characters?

More importantly, does he know what the hell is going on on that Island??

 

[Mulli]

Interesting stuff. What was his involvement with Lost? IMDB has him credited for 9 episodes. Did he maybe develop one of the characters?

has "created by" credit on Lost (but everyone knows he has nothing to do with the show)

/general cheesebeef

 

[Pariah]

has "created by" credit on Lost (but everyone knows he has nothing to do with the show)

/general cheesebeef

Yeah, I know...but he's got to have SOMETHING to do with it. I've had about enough of you and your shenanigans, Mulli.



(sorry, I really just wanted to say "shenanigans.")

 

[Mulli]

Yeah, I know...but he's got to have SOMETHING to do with it. I've had about enough of you and your shenanigans, Mulli.



(sorry, I really just wanted to say "shenanigans.")

Can I be Minister of Shenanigans in your new cabinet?

 

[Stout]

Yeah, I know...but he's got to have SOMETHING to do with it. I've had about enough of you and your shenanigans, Mulli.



(sorry, I really just wanted to say "shenanigans.")

"I'm gonna pistol whip the next person that says shenanigans."

Sorry, it's the movie forum...had to do it.

 

[Mulli]

"I'm gonna pistol whip the next person that says shenanigans."

Sorry, it's the movie forum...had to do it.

Stout, help me out, what movie that from?

 

[Stout]

Stout, help me out, what movie that from?

Super Troopers.

"Hey Farva, what's that bar you like, with the mozarella sticks, and all the **** on the wall?"

"You mean Shenanigans?"

Holds out pistol..."Ooooh!"

 

[Cheesebeef]

you guys just have to trust me.

 

[Pariah]

you guys just have to trust me.

Here's a Q: Do writers in hollywood use a screen writing program, or Word?

 

[Chaplin]

Here's a Q: Do writers in hollywood use a screen writing program, or Word?

Do yourself a favor: Do NOT waste your money on one of the $250.00 screenwriting programs. You can either create a template in Word or find one online somewhere that is just as effective.

As to your question, there is a lot of Final Draft in this town, but I wonder just how many actually use it that are successful.

 

[Pariah]

Do yourself a favor: Do NOT waste your money on one of the $250.00 screenwriting programs. You can either create a template in Word or find one online somewhere that is just as effective.

As to your question, there is a lot of Final Draft in this town, but I wonder just how many actually use it that are successful.

A few years ago I had a "free" copy of Screenwriter (I think that's what it was called), but I could never use it very effectively. I attributed it to not writing much, but your input maybe tells me otherwise.

Thanks.

 

[Chaplin]

A few years ago I had a "free" copy of Screenwriter (I think that's what it was called), but I could never use it very effectively. I attributed it to not writing much, but your input maybe tells me otherwise.

Thanks.

Sure thing. One of the big things about this town (and I'm sure cheese would more than agree with me) is that people get so caught up in the structure and the technology of everything, the quality of the stories gets lost along the way.

 

[Cheesebeef]

As to your question, there is a lot of Final Draft in this town, but I wonder just how many actually use it that are successful.

huh. I don't know anyone at my level or my bosses level who doesn't use Final Draft.

 

[Cheesebeef]

my two cents - I swear by Final Draft. I think anyone's that's tyruly serious about screenwriting and has never done it before can learn A TON just by using the program. It just makes writing extremely easy IMO especially considering that I'm kind of computer illiterate and wouldn't have a clue how to format a document to make it work like Final Draft does. From what I know, while ultimately, the story on the page is the most important thing, if something doesn't look like a script, it's going to put it in people's minds that this is someone who doesn't have a clue what they're doing right off the bat, right or wrong. People are always looking for excuses to say no out here, not having your script formatted properly is a kiss of death before people have even turned to page 2. Again, not saying that's right, but it seems to be par for the course. Hell, even I'm guilty of that mindset.

 

[Chaplin]

my two cents - I swear by Final Draft. I think anyone's that's tyruly serious about screenwriting and has never done it before can learn A TON just by using the program. It just makes writing extremely easy IMO especially considering that I'm kind of computer illiterate and wouldn't have a clue how to format a document to make it work like Final Draft does. From what I know, while ultimately, the story on the page is the most important thing, if something doesn't look like a script, it's going to put it in people's minds that this is someone who doesn't have a clue what they're doing right off the bat, right or wrong. People are always looking for excuses to say no out here, not having your script formatted properly is a kiss of death before people have even turned to page 2. Again, not saying that's right, but it seems to be par for the course. Hell, even I'm guilty of that mindset.

Totally disagree with you. Final Draft is nice, but nowhere near the astronomical amount of money it costs to buy it. I have a few perfectly good books that explain the format, and if you know anything about computers, it's fairly easy to come up with a template.

 

[Pariah]

anyone's that's tyruly serious about screenwriting

ah-ha! I think I've found my problem.

 

[abomb]

ah-ha! I think I've found my problem.

:stupid;

Ha ha. I think I got three pages out before I stopped working on it.

 

[Pariah]

:stupid;

Ha ha. I think I got three pages out before I stopped working on it.

My buddy and I are in the formulative stages of one called "The Irish Vacation." Think Greg Kinnear meets Leaving Las Vegas. That's all I can say right now; I've already said to much.