That ol' creative parallelism

Question

I've been working on an idea for some time (among doing other projects). It was based on a conversation I had with a well-known record producer. The script was in it's second phase of re-writes when I saw "Million Dollar Baby". MDB has some key elements that are in my spec. I know that the story upon which the film was based was written some five years ago, but I can't help but think that I should be working faster to finish the ideas I have. Now I want to shelve the whole g*d-d*mn thing.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I've been working on an idea for some time (among doing other projects). It was based on a conversation I ... I should be working faster to finish the ideas I have. Now I want to shelve the whole g*d-d*mn thing.[/nq]
Someone once told me (Gary Ross? somebody who had more right to this opinion than me!) that writers ought to consider their ideas the way a tailor considers cloth--raw material. You don't keep hacking away at a suit just because you spent $50 on the wool. Though if it is a first second or third script, you may have much to learn simply by finishing it. If you don't need the practice, and it feels right to do so, set it aside "for now" if the parallels are too close.

Yeah, getting stuff done in three months instead of two years makes a person more marketable. I'm knee deep in day job, husband, short attention span and MFA (novel), so I'm just as slow as ever.

I had a decent idea for a movie about a forensic anthropologist, a troubled woman...yah, it's dead in the water as a movie because of Crossing Jordan, and my mentor who had tried to help me fix the script looked at me with that look for months after Jordan aired, that "it could have been you if you'd just worked faster and smarter and harder" look. I hate that look.

Good luck with all the rich raw material you still have left to fashion!

Mysti

Usenet · Answer

Maybe the opposite is true - now is the time for that script because of the interest in MDB.

I don't really know what elements of MDB are original in any way - we have a female boxer (like in GIRLFIGHT) and a personal story that has been done as a stageplay and film (won't mention title). We've seen all of this stuff before... but MDB was still a good movie... though I suspect it will not be a box office hit, even if it wins a pile of Oscars.

And that's something to consider. Eastwood had a bunch of problems getting MDB set up... and he's frigging Eastwood!

- Bill Free Script Tips: http://www.scriptsecrets.net

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Maybe the opposite is true - now is the time for that script because of the interest in MDB. I ... Eastwood had a bunch of problems getting MDB set up... and he's frigging Eastwood! - Bill Free Script Tips: http://www.scriptsecrets.net[/nq]
The script is what it is because of Paul Haggis, who's been an emotion-tugging writer ever since he and I started a writers club back in the 80s that met monthly. I haven't talked with him much since I quit the evil cult of $cientology, to which I think he still belongs. I always liked Paul but I just never liked his writing that much. I think it's tended toward soppy, but he's been very successful at it.

I think Eastwood had trouble setting it up because he's been on a jihad in his declining years to do more meaningful movies or something. I call Mystic River Mystic Drivel (or was it Dribble?) because I loathed the movie so much. I'd rather see Dirty Harry shoot someone in the ***, but maybe that's just me.

-- Skip Press http://www.skippress.com

You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck.

-- Manager of the Grand Ole Opry, September 25, 1954 after Elvis Presley's first performance there

Usenet · Answer

That's exactly what the problem was - WB didn't want to make MYSTIC RIVER and they didn't want to make MILLION DOLLAR BABY because neither would make much money. Eastwood had to fight to get both made..

And will be making his next film for Dreamworks.

- Bill

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]That's exactly what the problem was - WB didn't want to make MYSTIC RIVER and they didn't want to make ... money. Eastwood had to fight to get both made.. And will be making his next film for Dreamworks. - Bill[/nq]
Well, at least it's from a decent book, but the authors sensibility doesn't match that of Paul Haggis (who's writing the script) or of Spielberg. I don't know...

-- Skip Press http://www.skippress.com

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.

-- Aesop

Usenet · Answer

(in article ):
[nq:2]That's exactly what the problem was - WB didn't want ... will be making his next film for Dreamworks. - Bill[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, at least it's from a decent book, but the authors sensibility doesn't match that of Paul Haggis (who's writing the script) or of Spielberg. I don't know...[/nq]
Okay, okay... you all have a good point. I need to finish this. It's bugging the **** out of me anyway. And maybe I can figure out how to put a "make my day" line into it. Thanks for the help.

Steve

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Maybe the opposite is true - now is the time ... and he's frigging Eastwood! - Bill Free Script Tips: http://www.scriptsecrets.net[/nq]
[nq:1]The script is what it is because of Paul Haggis, who's been an emotion-tugging writer ever since he and I ... loathed the movie so much. I'd rather see Dirty Harry shoot someone in the ***, but maybe that's just me.[/nq]
No, me too; I thought it was dull, hugely and obviously manipulative, and, basically, emotionally nuts, and no amount of gloomy, doomy, deeply tortured acting could save it.

But what do I know? I'm often in the minority in disliking popular movies. SIDEWAYS, for example; I liked it well enough while I watched it, but it has dried up and blown away in my memory, prompting me to think that most of the hooplah about it is because it's an unusually sweet example of the angst-of-middle-aged-men story; and most of our prominent critics seem to be -- surprise! -- middle-aged men, or anyway they wish they still were middle-aged.

I keep harking back to the astounding work of Paul Giamatti in a true masterpiece of the observation of American life not at the top called AMERICAN SPLENDOR, which I saw only recently; so maybe my boredom with SIDEWAYS is mainly the effect of comparing masterwork with merely solid, nicely-turned work; the latter suffers badly by the camparison and fades away like the morning dew, while AMERICAN SPLENDOR shines on like a true, hot-hearted star in the mind.

-- Crowfoot

Usenet · Answer

(in article ):
[nq:2] The script is what it is because of Paul ... shoot someone in the ***, but maybe that's just me.[/nq]
[nq:1]No, me too; I thought it was dull, hugely and obviously manipulative, and, basically, emotionally nuts, and no amount of ... and fades away like the morning dew, while AMERICAN SPLENDOR shines on like a true, hot-hearted star in the mind.[/nq]
Hey, I don't know if I'll ever write something in the mainstream. I have a spec that could be a blockbuster, but when I sent it out, I was asked to write a different genre - biopic (and I'm fortunate for that). Maybe for me, it's just learning how to write a solid work.

Steve

That ol' creative parallelism

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