Todd Farmer? From Benton? The smarmy little geek that put thumbtacks in my seat in bible school? He wrote a screenplay and is now in Hollywood? That's total BS.
I cant believe this crap. I am now officially getting off my butt to write a damn screenplay that will friggin sell and make me a million dollars. This crap cant be for real. I am in bizarro world, right?
You know when I got bad grades in school my mother would say to me "Why can't you be more like the other kids? Like that Todd Farmer? He is a nice boy."
When I first saw this site I wanted to shoot myself.
I am bitter. I am a very bitter man right now.
And that is one of my avatars buddy. That evil Cheshire cat is mine. I demand that you take it down.
Anyway. Have a nice friggin day.
Farmer? Yes. From Benton? Yes. Smarmy? Most likely. Put thumbtacks in your seat? Probable.
More like~ "Yes, yes, without a doubt and absolutely."
But its not my habit to dwell on the past or harbor ill will towards my fellow man.
At least not when I'm taking my medication.
The only other memories I have of you is a joke you told about Christa McAuliffe's blue eyes. I believe the punch line was "...one blew east and one blew west," and a slow motion reenactment of Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy taking a bullet during the Reagan assassination attempt. That last still makes me giggle. You seemed to have a problem with people whos last name begain with "Mc."
I apparently made no impression on you. That might be for the best. You might not believe this but I was once something of a misanthrope.
Dwell on the past? I'm impressed your brain goes back that far. Mine don't. Although I vaguely recall the thumbtack incident. Sorry. Can you ever forgive me for something I did when I was...what...nine years old? Or shall I ever remain on your list of "People I plan to kill before I'm 40"?
Christa McAuliffe? Nothing. Nada. Hard drive search returned 0 hits. That memory must have gotten replaced or diluted by Vodka and Oreos years ago. Although, "...one blew east and one blew west..." suddenly created a creepy tune in my head that I'm guessing must be grounded in some distant reality. I remember the ass attempt but no recollection of the reenactment.
Through years of therapy I've finally been able to kick the whole "Mc" racism thing. I am now at peace with both McDonalds and McHitler.
But cut me some slack. With "thumbtacks" and "Bible school" you weren't exactly giving me alot to work with. Although I did mentioned the word "Capsule" to my wife after reading your first post. So I'm thinking I did pretty well...even though I got the spelling wrong.
And shame on your vicious lies about my avatar, a kitty I'm certain I stole from American McGee. So perhaps I still struggle with the whole "Mc" thing.
Nobody's perfect.
Although goodness gracious I'm close.
I guess the statute of limitations is up on the thumb tack attack. And I am closing in on 40 faster than you are with more than my share of people to hunt down like dogs. That and I watched Jason Voorhees bash your head in last night. It was very therapeutic.
I came across this sight looking for BBoards on screenwriting. Its something I have been interested in for a while and have decided to put in a script for this years Nicholl. I have written two screenplays, a novel and various poetry and short stories.
My first attempt was a sequel to Real Genius where Val Kilmer solves all the problems in the middle east by covering the entire region in 30 feet of pop corn. How's that for High Concept?
Anyway, I've been reading the articles you wrote and the one about people in Hollywood hating movies was damn good. It gives me hope to know that people somewhere in LA still believe in the magic behind what their doing.
The Hollywood writer has never had much respect. The feature writer that is. In TV the writer is still the man but with TV there's simply not enough time for the morons to screw it up.
But in features the writer has literally become a monkey with a keyboard. Producers and Executives run the show and they really don't care what the writer thinks. It doesn't matter that the writer has been doing this for years. It doesn't matter that the writer understands structure, plot and characters. That the writer knows what an inciting incident is. That in many case the writer makes more money. No. None of that matters. They simply want the writer to write what they want.
Feature screenplays are written by committee these days. I mean, look at the movies up for Oscar? This is the best of the best?
Where's our Butch and Sundance? Where's our Godfather?
Shoved way up some executive's butt, that's where.
Good points. I've been in a abnormally grumpy mood due to political business bs.
Sadly, if the rumor mill is true...we might get Butch and Sundance after all. But coming to us by way of Ben and Matt. Look, I cheered for their Hunting of Good Will, but come on. Stepping into the shoes of Redford and Newman. Makes my anus pucker.
But then I'm wasn't looking for another remake. I'm growing tired of them. I want some originality. And although many of the flicks you mentioned are fine films indeed. I just don't see them standing the test of time Like Butch and Godfather. Of course, I'm probably wrong.
Standing the test of time is something no one can really predict.
"The Blue Bird" of 1940 Vs "The Wizard of Oz" of 1939 is a fine example. Shirley Temple was so bankable at the time she kept a whole studio running during the depression with nothing but pudgy cheeks and a smile. Judy Garland? Who the heck was that anyway?
Now ask a 10,000 College students who was in the 1940s movie "The Blue Bird" And you'll get nothing but blank stares but everyone knows who Dorothy Gale is.
Why?
Was Oz better written? Was the music better? Was Shirley overexposed and her audience burned out on her?
Was the story of a little girl searching for Happiness to cutesy for the beginning of WW2 and everyone related better to a youth spirited away to destroy a ruthless foreign tyrant and free the "Volk." All the time learning that nothing was more important than to go home. Could that have been more relevant to the time?
Probably a lot of that, but what I think is "The Wizard of Oz" was just a better story. Simple as that.
And that is all about the writer. Everyone else needs to recognize that or at least get out of its way. Stick to their own craft.
I may be naive. I may be a wide eyed Pollyanna skipping through the demented landscape of broken dreams while I sing a merry tune about goodness and truth prevailing over all.
I might be a big schmuck.
But I believe that when I write I am a Golden Sumarian God with the power to create and destroy whole universes and bend the lives of pitiful mortals to my own divine will.
My novel is a work of pure genus so unique that its a millennia before its time. It will be dug up someday by archeologists that will naturally assume I was worshiped and adored. It is filled with creative new developments in spelling and English. Its complete lack of a main character or discernible plot is obviously inspired by the superior artists disdain for convention.
Much of my early poetry is so revolutionary I had to destroy it. It could have been used as the foundation for a religion that would have ended all live on earth. Really. L. Ron Hubbard would have come back from the Marcab Confederacy to kick my butt. It took a whole bottle of Vistaril to get him there the first time so he would have been pissed.
Where was I?
I was saying something witty and wise and I ended up being chased by a dead Sci Fi writer.
It wasn't even a good one like Heinlein.
If you find the point of this post tell it to come home because its family misses it.