You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Inspired by responses to my previous post about Steve Kloves, I thought I'd share some true stories in screenwriting that might explain part of where I'm coming from with regard to Kloves. Most of you know that screenwriting is what I long to do for a living, and I have read a lot from people in that field about their experiences. It is, however, one of the more thankless jobs in the filmmaking process, even before the film reaches an audience. Here are some low-man-on-the-totem-pole stories just off the top of my head.

( That's a great speech. I'm not going to say it, but it's great writing. )

Aaron Sorkin imagines a dream sequence where Obama asks Jed Bartlett for advice.

And that alone would have been enough for me to love him. But I couldn't help noticing (because it's one of my favorite plays and films) that Sorkin tweaked two lines from The Lion in Winter in Bartlett's lines. One from King Henry II (Peter O'Toole in the film) and the other from Queen Eleanor (Katherine Hepburn).


( Cut for long-ish quotes )


This isn't the first time Sorkin has shown his screenwriting roots. He very memorably started his short-lived Studio 60 with a rant that was clearly inspired by Howard Beale from Paddy Chayefsky's masterpiece Network. But I SOOOOOO love it when writers I love so clearly love other writers I love.

Aaron Sorkin imagines a dream sequence where Obama asks Jed Bartlett for advice.

And that alone would have been enough for me to love him. But I couldn't help noticing (because it's one of my favorite plays and films) that Sorkin tweaked two lines from The Lion in Winter in Bartlett's lines. One from King Henry II (Peter O'Toole in the film) and the other from Queen Eleanor (Katherine Hepburn).


( Cut for long-ish quotes )


This isn't the first time Sorkin has shown his screenwriting roots. He very memorably started his short-lived Studio 60 with a rant that was clearly inspired by Howard Beale from Paddy Chayefsky's masterpiece Network. But I SOOOOOO love it when writers I love so clearly love other writers I love.

I am sadly delinquent in movie-watching, for me, as can be seen in my Movies Watched in 2008 list. This is mostly because I seem to be watching more of MSNBC (and occasionally CNN) than anything else lately. Darn election, sucking my brain. :P

But I did manage to see Persepolis today, which was excellent. I'm still rooting for Ratatouille for Best Animated Film, but I'm now sad that Persepolis is not up for Foreign Film, because I think that would have been an interesting choice. It cracks me up to see people complaining about its simplistic style, as if to say that they too could draw as well as that. Perhaps so, but they probably wouldn't have such a personal and timely story to go with their artwork.



In other news, I think I'm starting to understand why so many writers have lives full of pain and alcohol. I always seem to get writing ideas when I've had some sort of emotional upheaval, and I got another one of those today. We'll see if this one goes anywhere. :)

I'd also like to take this opportunity to apologize if I got anyone's hopes up prematurely the other day by declaring the writer's strike to be OMG OVER. It is not over yet, but it's closer to being over than it has been since the start. An agreement has been reached by those negotiating, but it is being presented, even as I type, to the body of writers in the WGA East, and in a few hours will be presented to the writers of the WGA West. This is intended to be a discussion, and all WGA members have been strongly encouraged to attend, to think very carefully about what is being proposed, and to speak their opinions, whatever they be. IF the mood of these two meetings seems overwhelmingly positive regarding the proposed deal, THEN the strike will be called off, and the writers could be back to work as soon as Monday. This is what is widely expected to happen, but it is by no means guaranteed. And even if the strike is called off and the writers go back to work, there is still a chance that the new contract will not be ratified by the membership at large and the strike will resume. This is not considered to be a likely eventuality, but if it happens the strike would then probably extend until at least June, because the WGA is not expected to go back to the negotiating table until the Screen Actors Guild does their contract haggling in June.

I hope that's more informative. :)

I am sadly delinquent in movie-watching, for me, as can be seen in my Movies Watched in 2008 list. This is mostly because I seem to be watching more of MSNBC (and occasionally CNN) than anything else lately. Darn election, sucking my brain. :P

But I did manage to see Persepolis today, which was excellent. I'm still rooting for Ratatouille for Best Animated Film, but I'm now sad that Persepolis is not up for Foreign Film, because I think that would have been an interesting choice. It cracks me up to see people complaining about its simplistic style, as if to say that they too could draw as well as that. Perhaps so, but they probably wouldn't have such a personal and timely story to go with their artwork.



In other news, I think I'm starting to understand why so many writers have lives full of pain and alcohol. I always seem to get writing ideas when I've had some sort of emotional upheaval, and I got another one of those today. We'll see if this one goes anywhere. :)

I'd also like to take this opportunity to apologize if I got anyone's hopes up prematurely the other day by declaring the writer's strike to be OMG OVER. It is not over yet, but it's closer to being over than it has been since the start. An agreement has been reached by those negotiating, but it is being presented, even as I type, to the body of writers in the WGA East, and in a few hours will be presented to the writers of the WGA West. This is intended to be a discussion, and all WGA members have been strongly encouraged to attend, to think very carefully about what is being proposed, and to speak their opinions, whatever they be. IF the mood of these two meetings seems overwhelmingly positive regarding the proposed deal, THEN the strike will be called off, and the writers could be back to work as soon as Monday. This is what is widely expected to happen, but it is by no means guaranteed. And even if the strike is called off and the writers go back to work, there is still a chance that the new contract will not be ratified by the membership at large and the strike will resume. This is not considered to be a likely eventuality, but if it happens the strike would then probably extend until at least June, because the WGA is not expected to go back to the negotiating table until the Screen Actors Guild does their contract haggling in June.

I hope that's more informative. :)

* I couldn't bear the sight of the lonely little Barnes & Noble gift card sitting in my purse, so I spent it. On Sorcery and Cecelia and Heyer's The Grand Sophy.

* I watched one episode of my Muppets DVD last night. Pure joy. And I've been singing "Muh-nah-muh-nah!" all freaxing day.

* I have a new plot bunny, but this time it's not for Harry Potter. *points at icon and whistles innocently* I'm going to have to check out some Firefly communities, though, to see if it's the most done-to-death idea ever.

* Speaking of Firefly, I finally consumed all the DVD contents. I loved pretty much every episode - standouts were War Stories, Our Mrs. Reynolds, and Heart of Gold. Best commentary award goes to Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk for War Stories ("Look at that gun! That belongs in a purse!"). I'm normally in awe of anything that comes out of Joss Whedon's head, but I was actually a bit disappointed in the Objects in Space commentary. It's a great episode, though. I grow more and more impatient for September 30.

* I couldn't bear the sight of the lonely little Barnes & Noble gift card sitting in my purse, so I spent it. On Sorcery and Cecelia and Heyer's The Grand Sophy.

* I watched one episode of my Muppets DVD last night. Pure joy. And I've been singing "Muh-nah-muh-nah!" all freaxing day.

* I have a new plot bunny, but this time it's not for Harry Potter. *points at icon and whistles innocently* I'm going to have to check out some Firefly communities, though, to see if it's the most done-to-death idea ever.

* Speaking of Firefly, I finally consumed all the DVD contents. I loved pretty much every episode - standouts were War Stories, Our Mrs. Reynolds, and Heart of Gold. Best commentary award goes to Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk for War Stories ("Look at that gun! That belongs in a purse!"). I'm normally in awe of anything that comes out of Joss Whedon's head, but I was actually a bit disappointed in the Objects in Space commentary. It's a great episode, though. I grow more and more impatient for September 30.