Jim Jarmusch, Atom Egoyan - NYC events with the Museum of the Moving Image

Two amazing-sounding events sponsored by the Museum of the Moving Image were announced today:

An Evening with Jim Jarmusch
Thursday, April 23, 8:00 p.m.
Cantor Film Center, NYU
36 East 8th Street (Between University Place and Broadway)

Jim Jarmusch, whose brilliant and laconic style has made him one of America's most distinctive filmmakers since his debut with Stranger than Paradise in 1984, will participate in a conversation with clips moderated by Chief Curator David Schwartz. In addition to an exclusive look at scenes from his remarkable new film The Limits of Control (being released by Focus Features in May), which was photographed by Christopher Doyle and has an ensemble cast including Isaach de Bankolé, Paz de la Huerta, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Bill Murray, the evening will include scenes from Stranger than Paradise, Mystery Train, Night on Earth, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Warrior, and Coffee and Cigarettes.

Tickets: $12 Museum members/Free for Sponsor-level and above/$18 public. Order tickets online or by calling 718.784.4520.

Jim Jarmusch! Woot.

Aaaand...

PREVIEW SCREENING
Adoration
With Atom Egoyan in person
Monday, April 27, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
At AMC Loews 19th Street 6, 890 Broadway, Manhattan

2008, 100 mins. 35mm print courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. With Arsinée Khanjian, Scott Speedman, Devon Bostick. The latest film by Canadian director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica) is a compelling drama about family history, technology, and the modern world. When a high school French teacher asks her class to translate a news story about a terrorist who plants a bomb in the airline luggage of her pregnant girlfriend, the assignment has a profound effect on Simon, who imagines that the news item is his own family’s story. In the resulting turmoil, a mystery is solved and a new family is created.

Tickets: $12 Museum members/Free for Sponsor-level and above/$18 public. Order tickets online or by calling 718.784.4520.

Atom Egoyan! Woot #2.

You can purchase tickets for either of these shows here.

What Makes A Good Movie?

Yesterday The Screenwriter’s League got into a bit of an interesting discussion about what it meant to make a good movie. Here’s our convo…

Onyx:
Question. Would you rather people cramming to get inside, eager to see your movie and having a great time. The movie is panned by critics, but makes a ton of money. Or would you rather win an oscar, but hardly anybody goes to the movie and it doesn't stick with viewers. Trying to think of a comparable movie. I guess something like The Reader, even though I've never seen it.

Backer:
I'd rather entertain the audience

DOA:
Same, I think the general crowd liking the movie is more important...not that Oscar winning films AREN'T good, it's just not what people want to pay money to see on a Friday night...the thing is, do you think film companies are more likely to rehire you if your movie did well in the box office, or if the movie got great reviews?

Blades on the Brain:
But would you rather your script mutilated by producers but enjoyed by millions, or a work of art that not everyone 'gets'

Cake Man:
Writers who can either: win a company awards, or make a company a ton of money will get hired.

Backer:
Yeah, no kidding. The writer and director (of Fast and Furious), talented or not, definitely solidified their careers. Every studio in Hollywood is gonna want a piece of their magic.

F&F5 got greenlit BEFORE the opening. It's going to take place in Europe. Lovely.

"Hangover Sequel" the sequel to "Hangover" (opening June 5) has already been picked up. Guess someone's expecting that to do well, too.

Onyx:
I'm still hung up on how we can define a "bad" movie. There's really no argument with something like Battlefield Earth. It was a bad movie and it made no money, one of the companies that backed it went under. It was just bad. But if a movie does it's job and entertains the masses and makes 300 million dollars for the company, can it really be called a bad movie?

Blades on the Brain:
We are a culture that defines a good movie by monetary gain since what is 'good and bad' is subjective. But money is objective! That's super interesting/depressing.

Cake Man:
But I think the question of a "good" movie or not is more simple. A good movie is one that entertains (perhaps) and works, technically. A successful movie entertains (probbaly) and makes a lot of money (or gets awards).

OK, that wasn't so simple. But I think there's a distinction between good and successful.

Baker:
I'm not sure if the question is good vs. successful. I think the question is, does successful mean it's good.


This is where our conversation ended! Alas, it is incomplete. What does everyone else think???

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 66 - Fired My Manager

The phrase “Fired My Manager” seems a bit harsh to me. It is essentially what people do when they change representation, but it makes the whole action seem much more hostile than it is at times. Nonetheless, that’s basically what I did this week. I was surprised to find so little info on how to go about doing this, so hopefully this post can be of some help to any of you in a similar situation.

In order to follow along, here’s a short timeline of how things went down. For courtesy’s sake, I’m not going to name my manager or the companies he worked at. Let’s just call him Z. Z signed me when he worked at Company 1. He was excited to push my script in what he thought was a good chance of a sale. A month and a half later, he got a pass on my script, and soon found himself moving companies, to Company 2. He submitted my script to nine production companies, yet after two months, I still hadn’t heard from him. He also failed to tell me that he moved to Company 2 (I knew he left the first company, but a friend had to tell me where Z moved). I found the lack of information from him – regarding the move, and, in particular, his destination company – especially unprofessional. On top of that, Company 2’s homepage specifically says that it is not the right company for screenwriters. Big problem. When I asked Z about Company 2’s reputation, he said that it's based on his credentials, and was therefore a great reputation.

I still have a few contacts in the film industry whose opinions I value. Those contacts have agreed with me that my manager’s responsiveness and his answers to questions that I’ve asked have been less than professional. I’m relatively new to this, I won’t lie about that. However, I know enough to know what desired behavior from a manager is and what isn’t. My manager (unlike others) did not try to get me an agent, did not get me any sort of meeting, and left me without updates for months at a time. My initial excitement gave way to restlessness, disappointment, and ultimately frustration. I knew that if I reached a point of no-return with how I felt toward him, it would be overwhelmingly hard for him to climb back into my good graces. Perhaps I should have tried to clam myself. Maybe I could have given him more time to get his stuff together, but since he technically represented my career, I thought it unwise to remain with someone that I did not feel pleased or comfortable with.

So, I sent him an email, asked for an updated submission list, and after letting the weekend come and go, told him that I no longer needed representation from him. The initial email was somewhat short – I thanked him for his initial excitement and told him that it was invaluable to me as a young writer, but that I would be moving on. When he asked what had led to that decision, I decided to answer gracefully but honestly. I knew I was not obligated to offer an answer, but part of me wanted to get my frustrations off my chest; another part of me felt that, for some reason, I owed it to him. I have no hard feelings toward him now, and do not want to sound as if I'm attacking him here. This is just part of the journey we've sworn to document here at The League.

I understand that many of reading this might feel like I’ve made a huge mistake, or made mountains out of molehills. I’m well aware that a newbie writer is fortunate just to land representation. The last thing one wants to do is appear needy or to have unrealistic expectations. But there’s a saying (which I know I’ll fudge and can’t remember who to attribute it to) that goes something like: it’s better to have no manager than a bad one. If something isn’t working, regardless of how new to the business or risky a client you are, you have to know when to cut it off. At least, that’s my take on things.

Coming In on the Sly

I recently started a new job, which is amazing in itself considering all the shit that has been hitting the American flag lately. What is even more amazing is that this job is the job I wanted: It’s an assistant to the Executive Producer of this really cool kids show, “The Electric Company.” (www.pbskidsgo.org) It’s produced at Sesame Workshop, which means I get to spend my days walking through the brightly colored, stuffed animal clad hallways of Sesame. Of course being an assistant means all of organizing someone else’s life – but my boss is so cool and zany that I am really into it!

I’m on week two of my job. Last week was nothing but fast paced and exciting. From a writing stand point, also really inspiring. I was not only asked to read a few short scripts and give my boss my notes on them, but I was allowed to sit in on a script meeting! I am trying to let everyone in the office know that I am and want to be a writer and am good at it – without being a dick about it. I have fared well so far:

One thing I learned from being in the Dramatic Writing program at NYU is that if you’re the newbie in a room full of people who have been working on a show, you have to keep your mouth shut. No one wants the new person to be cocky or loud mouthed, because everyone else in the room does know more than you do. I failed a little and said three things total during the script meeting. Interestingly, the script coordinator, who is the official note taker of the meeting, wouldn’t even write down what I said. That is, until the third time when the head writer told her to.

We were done reading this first draft, and the script supervisor was going page through page, asking who had notes. We came to page 10 and I asked a question, “I was wondering why x wasn’t in the script,” (which is a better tactic instead of saying, “this is wrong but I know how to change it”). Everyone paused and told me to go on with my thought. I did, and the head writer said, “That’s really smart. Put it in the notes!”

So wahoo! I got my note in the page of notes to be given to the writer, which he’ll use to revise. Of course, who knows if he’ll do anything with it – but being called smart by the head writer was totally a thrill! Now the next hurdle would be to be invited back to the meeting. I don’t want to seem too entitled and assume I get to go back. But I would love recognition that I have smart things to say, and that I could be of use to the show. Because I would be! But who knows…

Trailer Trash XLI: Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)

"Warning! The sexual transformation of a man into a woman will actually take place before your very eyes!"

Why are there so many horrible, b-movie takes on Dr. Jekyll? It's a favorite sub-sub-sub-genre of mine here on Trailer Trash, and you can go back and check out my entries on the classic schlocker Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde, or the even worse Daughter of Dr. Jekyll. Is it because they're not all that hard to come up with? You really only need to fill in one little piece of the equation:

Dr. Jekyll + potion = ______.

Just fill in your noun of choice. That blank spot can really be whatever you want. You could choose, say... "monster". But you wouldn't be very creative. Or "cat". Then you'd have a movie about a guy who turns into a cat. A pretty kick-ass choice would be "dinosaur" or "cyborg". Hell, even "kickboxer" would be sweet. If you filled in the blank with the word "unicorn", well, thank you for reading my blog, little girl.

See? It's easy!

In most b-movies of the 1970s, directors would choose to fill that blank with the words "black man". But not today's movie. Today's feature is about a doctor who takes a dangerous, experimental potion that turns him into a woman.



So shocking it's rated PG!

You've got to love a movie poster that tells you EXACTLY what you're going to see in the film:


For those of you whose clicking-fingers are broken and can't blow up the movie poster to read it, here's the text. (I'm guessing you can already read the word "shock"):

"This film is filled with SHOCK... victim after victim dies in throat-cutting orgy! After SHOCK... unnatural laboratory experiments performed behind barred doors! After SHOCK... once again he will change sexes and kill, kill, kill!"

Until next week, kids!

"You will deny... what you see... but you will never be sure... when you see... Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde!"

Trailer Trash is a weekly tribute to oddball, cheesy and often just plain terrible movie trailers. Writers: These movies got made... so can yours! You can read through our archive by clicking here.

Fast & Furious a.k.a. Drift from Fan-base

I attended an early screening of this movie and received a promotional item. It was a book of matches. I opened the matches to realize that it was not in fact a matchbook, but a very small condom…with Fast & Furious scrolled on the cover. It made me laugh.

In fact, many parts of Fast & Furious made me laugh. Like when the actors attempted to act. Or when the screenplay attempted to tell a story. And who can forget when the director attempted to compensate!

The story is simple. A wanted man in the states, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is brought out of hiding when a heroin importer kills his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) in Los Angeles. There, he teams with Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) in an attempt to get revenge and clear his name in the process.

With this being the original cast of The Fast and the Furious, which ended with everyone going their own way, the audience is treated to the obligatory “where did you go?”, “I thought you loved me!” scenes that reconnect the characters. And whether it’s Vin Diesel looking confused in moments of reflection or Paul Walker delivering lines with the depth of a mud puddle, we begin to realize how these actors came to be involved in a fourth installment of the series.

It certainly wasn’t because of a worthwhile script. That a story with no more than six plot points could make each one confusing and illogical is somewhat of a miracle. A racing-inspired movie contains one generic race and becomes the redheaded stepchild to Traffic. The dialogue is recycled from a bad Pennzoil commercial. And there is more than one occasion in which a character expresses a reason for doing something only to contradict himself the next line (no other character seems to notice).

Did I really expect more? Yes. I hoped for simple, stupid entertainment. What I got was one of the funniest movie-going experiences of my life. Usually that’s a good thing, but, well, let’s just say this won't have me backtracking to catch Tokyo Drift…

What, When, Where this Weekend - Sugar, Adventureland, Alien Trespass, Paris 36

What, When, Where is a weekly guide to select screenings, discussions and events in the NYC-area of interest to screenwriters. Have an event you'd like to see listed here? Give us a heads-up at info@screenwritersleague.com.

Opening this weekend...

SUGAR, written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck


Premise: A chronicle of Miguel "Sugar" Santos's experience in the U.S., as the young Dominican baseball star is recruited to play in the minor leagues.

Playing: Angelika, AMC Empire 25, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

I'm not even a baseball fan and I really want to see this one. Good reviews all around. (See here or here.)

ADVENTURELAND, written and directed by Greg Mottola


Premise: During the summer of 1987, recent college grad James Brennan takes what he thinks is a going-nowhere job at his local amusement park, only to discover it's a perfect opportunity to prepare himself for the real world.

Playing: Everywhere.

I know Cake Man wants to see this one because he's mentioned it at least fifty times since the trailer debuted. I do, too. It looks funny, I like the cast, I liked Superbad. Bring it.

PARIS 36, written by Christophe Barratier and Pierre Philippe, dir. by Christophe Barratier


Premise: In the spring of 1936, three residents of "the Faubourg," a working class neighborhood north of Paris, look to produce a musical that will bring back to life their cherished local theater.

Playing: Union Square Stadium 14

The trailer is very colorful and pretty. Is it reminding anyone else of Amelie?


ALIEN TRESPASS, written by James Swift and Steven P. Fisher, dir. by R.W. Goodwin


Premise: A sci-fi/comedy set in 1957, in which residents of a small town in the Mojave Desert make an alliance with an alien named Urp, whose ship has crash-landed on Earth and released a second creature, the monstrous Ghota, who is bent on destroying humankind.

Playing: Angelika, Clearview Chelsea, AMC Empire 25

I like that they're marketing it as a lost film from the 1950s, and readers know from my weekly Trailer Trash feature that I'm a sucker for awful movies. I'm in.

What are you doing/seeing this weekend?