As readers here know, I am a huge fan of two writers known particularly for their unique approaches to dialogue. One is known for girls what kill vampires and mad scientists with penchants for blogging and singing. The other is Aaron Sorkin.
I've been waiting patiently for something Sorkiny since the end of his rather flawed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and his pretty good Charlie Wilson's War. Eventually, he popped up on FaceBook with some falderol about writing a movie about FaceBook. At first, I thought it was a hoax. Then it was apparently confirmed by the industry rags. I was still doubtful. Now, I've had at the script about the social network, imaginatively titled The Social Network. I'm still not entirely inclined to believe that Sorkin's doing this.
It seems reasonably Sorkiny. It plays that way in my head. I might be bringing my expectations to the reading though.
The dialogue was fairly dull and sometimes just went on in the worst case of talking heads I've seen maybe ever. Pages and pages with nary a direction of any kind. Then, at other times, it kicked into life again. At 162 pages, it could maybe do with some culling.
I'm waiting for hisTrial of the Chicago 7. That sounds more like it's in his wheelhouse, you know.
In the meantime, comes this news, that he's going to do a rewrite on Moneyball. This is also a non-fiction flick, based on a book about Oakland A's manager Billy Beane. This script's had a little history going on after director Steven Soderbergh took Steve Zaillian's script and dulled it up. Apparently Soderbergh took out anything that didn't really happen, down to even cool dialogue.
The studio thought that sucked. I think they're probably right, as the subject matter...much like the FaceBook flick, doesn't really lend itself to film at first glance. It's basically about baseball scouting, not playing baseball...finding people to play it and how Beane did it differently from everybody else at that time.
So now, Sorkin, I guess, is going to go through and undull it. This could work. Recall Sports Night. He can make this stuff interesting.
Here's the thing that's really buggin' me about the stuff Sorkin's doing. None of it is really coming out of his head. It's all adaptations and rewrites and mostly all non-fiction. There's an IMDB credit for Follies, based on a Sondheim music, but again...it's not pure Sorkin. Not like A Few Good Men, The American Presidentor any of his TV series.
Aaron...go write a pilot. Get back in the game. All this adaptation stuff feels like playing it safe after taking quite the drubbing over Studio 60.
The latest production of Mastermind (v.2.0) has now come to a close. The city (and the internets) are safe once again.
The experience has been astounding in many ways.
Firstly, the experience, as I have written previously, of handing over my work to be interpreted - filtered through he vision of a director and the performances of two actors that I did not really have (or for that matter offer) input on. I was very fortunate to have the awesome Susan Lee stage the piece and the extremely talented Brad Wilcox and Beth Ricketson portraying the two leads, and being that they're the only two people in the play, there's a lot of heavy lifting to be done there and they did it effortlessly. Well, not effortlessly...I know they put a lot of work into it, but it looked effortless.
Opening night was pretty cool. The performance was solid. The house was not at fullest capacity, but it was close. One of the audience, at my invitation was a TV exec and she really inflated my ego comparing the play, favorably, to the works of a certain Joss Whedon.
And a big thanks to John Rogers, executive producer and co-creator ofLeverage (the absolute coolest crime and cons show you're gonna see) for plugging the show on his site that opening weekend.
A film producer, invited by premiere Mastermind evangelist, Josh Weiss-Roessler (thanks Josh!), attended on Sunday (the third performance), and while I missed her at the theatre, we had a good meeting later in the week. She was also blown away by Brad's performance and is looking to utilize him in one of her upcoming projects.
I didn't go last Friday night (fourth performance), but Emily did.
The following night however, was a full house. Extra rows were set up and the sheer number of bodies made it a little extra toasty in the house. Among those in attendance, fellow supervillain creator, Emmet Furey (Fury of Solace). It was also, like, screenwriting blogger (many of those listed in the sidebar) night. Shawna's review is here. Some of my writer's group attended and friends I don't get to see nearly enough. And another producer hook-up resulted from that night. Most importantly, the night ended with pie at Four & Twenty.
Sunday, the final performance, was a packed house once again. Fortunately, I was situated directly beneath the air vent. David Anaxagoras made the trek out, for which I am immensely grateful, as he had to slog through two counties worth of traffic to get there. Check out his review.
The manager made it out and her first words to me after the show were "when do I get the feature version of this?" Yeah, already on that. "That's what I like about this one," she told her assistant. "He's always one step ahead of me." She's been on me to write a feature, but I just haven't really been motivated...until now. TV, though...is still where my head is at.
I opened my email yesterday morning to find missives from people I don't even know telling me how much they enjoyed the show and how they wish they could tell their friends to go see it, but alas...the run, it is done. My favorite comment was "you should try and create the piece as a television series. I have to say, and my friends agree, that it is a show I would miss work to watch."
I'm keeping my eyes open for future opportunities for production. Now having seen it done twice in two very different ways, I'm interest to see how else it can be done. So, if you or someone you know is in theatre and are looking to do a one-act, lemme know. Mastermind is available. There's still a Canadian performance pending for later in the year.
Also, this production specifically. It's likely not the last you'll see of it, but that's all I'll say of that for the moment.
And thanks to Kira Snyder for the advice when I set out to write this one-act and for letting me read some of her fantastic one acts.
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The new play festival at the Eclectic Company Theatre is not over, however. There are still six more productions through the rest of the summer. I intend to hit them. So should you.
Shooting has begun on the first season of the Matt SmithDoctor Who, as showrun by the ridiculously awesome Steven Moffat (who's take on Sherlock Holmes has now been greenlit by the Beeb for six eps).
With that, the first shot of Smith's look for The Doctor has leaked. The revealing a new Doctor's look has always been exciting for me, but this one is a bit of a throwback. He's looking just a little Troughtonish. Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor. While his look was always classified as hobo-like, Smith's has similar lines (see here) but more of an academic look. Fifties academic.
Also notable in the accompanying shot is that the TARDIS has had a makeover. It too is more of a throwback the same era. Note the apparent reappearance of the St. John's Ambulance badge on the door opposite the phone box. This goes back to the Hartnell era. I've got no problem with this. I do not, however, like the white trim on the windows. Overall, the TARDIS looks a little less realistic as a Police Box. It seems more like the TARDIS props used in the black and white era, which weren't always great and, of course, were designed for black and white.
So, I think I approve of the Doctor's new look and I'm looking forward to Smith's take on the character. Judging him by his own demeanor, I think it could be good. I'm not digging the TARDIS though. Regardless, looking forward to more Moffat.
I received an email, the entirety of which will be reprinted below, with interjected commentary.
Let there be no question, Millenniumis one of my favorite series...particularly the Morgan & Wong--showran(?) second season which transformed the show from serial killer of the week to a demon and angel themed conspiracy show. Then, the third year it became a whole other third thing.
In fact, the poster you see here hangs in my...officeish room.
The main point of the letter is to seek support for a fan-spearheaded effort to get a Millennium movie made. These things tend to strike me as a little delusional, but the involvement of the biggest names connected to the show earns a little respect and the more that I think about it, a Millennium flick just might be viable as a direct-to-DVD release, especially if it can be dual-marketed as just an awesome movie and also to the niche of Millennium fans. And maybe it shouldn't actually be called Millennium.
So it goes as thus:
Dear Michael,
Please forgive me for impeding upon your valuable time and allow me to thank you in advance for taking the time to read this letter.
Ha! He thinks my time is valuable.
I am writing to you on the behalf of a group of Millennium fans who have pooled their efforts into a campaign to raise awareness of the depth of feeling with regards to a potential Millennium Movie. We have created a website that we are currently publicizing to serve as a campaign hub for the letter writing campaign we have devised.
Oh, dear...I have a rather dim view of these fan-based campaigns. Sure, it got Star Trek a third season last century. Fan support got Serenity greenlit..well, DVD sales did. Occasionally they might be a factor in pushing a series that's close to death to go on for one more "retooled" season that is not what the fans wanted anyway. Or they result in lots of Subway sandwiches (Yeah, Chuck fans, you can't stop buying the sandwiches because the show got renewed, you have to keep eating BMTs until it's dead and gone.
We are proud to have secured the support of Frank Spotnitz and additionally delighted to have had the opportunity to interview Lance Henriksen, Kristen Cloke, Sarah Jane Redmond, Klea Scott, Trevor White, Doug Hutchison, Tobias Mehler, Tucker Smallwood, Frank Spotnitz, Stephen E. Miller, Juliet Landau and many more in written, audio and video format.
I suppose that's better than catching Henriksen at a convention and just getting a "sure, kid, whatever."
We are proud, thus far, to have been championed by the likes of award winning horror authors, John Muir and M. R. Sellars
Who, now?
...and we have been promoted in articles by such respected entities as Fangoria Magazine, Fangoria Radio (Live Interview with Lance Henriksen which focussed on our campaign) Black Magazine, SciFi Now Magazine, Rue Morgue Magazine, Zone Horror Satellite Channel, X-Files News, LA Times, Rue Morgue and countless podcasts, blogs, websites and social networking profiles.
OK, dude...why, for fuck's sake, would you bury the L.A. time near the end of a list of obscure genre mags and not lead with that?
We have recently assisted in the promotion of a book signing event featuring Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz and Matt Hurwitz which we worked with Palace Press Publishing and the LA Times to organise.
I would have liked to hear about that when it happened. I'm in goddamn L.A. and, y'know...I like Carter, so...
At present we are in the progress of working closely with Lance to explore the possibility of Convention appearances to maximize the potential of the campaign. Lance contributes to the campaign as much as he can and is exploring new ways with us to raise our credibility and further awareness of us as well our expand our podcast releases which have most recently had guest appearances from Frank Spotnitz, Mark Snow and Klea Scott.
OK, good. Except for Klea Scott having time for podcasts because she's not tied up making more Intelligence episodes. Dumb Canadian TV execs.
Sir we wondered if our campaign would be something you feel would be of interest to you readers. We have a large fanbase of supporters, many within the industry, and we would return any promotion of us and bring our supporters to the attention of your work also.
I'm nothing if not an attention whore here on the internet webulation system.
On behalf of all the team at www.BackToFrankBlack.com may we extended our continued support and best wishes to you and our thanks for being part of something that means so much to so many people even today.
Yours sincerely, Mark Benjamin Hayden - UK - markbhayden@gmail.com Publicist - Promotions - Public Relations [phone number redacted] www.BackToFrankBlack.com
So, there you have it. After looking at the website and reading through their FAQ, it seems to me the best options (and this group fully supports a return of the property in any form). Is for Fox to go either direct market or to do it as a web series. It doesn't really sound entirely like all the principals would want to do that, but...hey future...it looks different and you know that even if you got everybody who ever watched the show but a ticket to a movie in advance, it's probably not enough for a theatrical release.
Lost • The Incident • ABC • Grass Skirt Productions and ABC Studios Carlton Cuse, Writer Damon Lindelof, Writer
Mad Men • A Night To Remember • AMC • Lionsgate Television Robin Veith, Writer Matthew Weiner, Writer
Mad Men • Six Month Leave • AMC • Lionsgate Television Andre Jacquemetton, Writer Maria Jacquemetton, Writer Matthew Weiner, Writer
Mad Men • The Jet Set • AMC • Lionsgate Television Matthew Weiner, Writer
Mad Men • Meditations In An Emergency • AMC • Lionsgate Television Kater Gordon, Writer Matthew Weiner, Writer
Yeah. It's the fucking Sopranos effect all over again. It sucks. Now, understand. I like Mad Men. Quite a bit, to be sure. And I believe that it should be acknowledged as a nominee, but really, only maybe two of these really deserve to be here. Maybe just one. I really think this is a case of lavishing the praise on the it series of the moment. Just as The Sopranos was frequently over nominated. There are certainly series with an episode more worthy of praise that "The Jet Set" or "Six Month Leave."
And I'm not even going to wonder about Doctor Who's eligibility or if the BBC even pursued it.
Just looking within the confines of the Outstanding Drama Series nominees, there's Breaking Bad and House. Both with one or two I can see on the list.
You know what? Don't care. Just a dumb awards show anyway. You know its fucked up when there's a danger of shuffling the show off to the cable channels when the network's don't get enough nominations.
I only care when people I like get nominated. So I'm not complaining that they pulled the same thing in the comedy category. Go Tina!
Flight Of The Conchords • Prime Minister • HBO • Dakota Pictures and Comedy Arts in association with HBO Entertainment James Bobin, Writer Jemaine Clement, Writer Bret McKenzie, Writer
30 Rock • Reunion • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Media Studios Matt Hubbard, Writer
30 Rock • Apollo, Apollo • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Media Studios Robert Carlock, Writer
30 Rock • Mamma Mia • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Media Studios Ron Weiner, Writer
30 Rock • Kidney Now! • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Media Studios Jack Burditt, Writer Robert Carlock, Writer
Inspired by my colleagues at CBR, I've decided to take their idea and give it a predictable tweak. So rather than Six Comics That Made Me Cry, here's Six TV Episodes That Made Me Get A Little Misty.
These may be a little spoilery, so don't read past the title if you haven't actually seen it.
1. HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET: "Crosetti" Detective Crosetti's dead. Found out in the water. And it was very probably suicide. Religiously, he's going to hell. Departmentally, he's not getting a police funeral.
Pembleton has problems with both. He's losing his faith in God and won't go to the church for the service, but when the funeral procession makes it's way (on foot, New Orleans style) past the station house, Pembleton's standing out front, along, at attention in his dress blue and crisp white gloves, giving Crosetti the last salute he deserves. Screw the church. Fuck the department. Don't have faith in things, have faith in people.
2. DOCTOR WHO: "Family of Blood" Doctor Who, believe it or not, can do this. Because it is so fucking well written and benefits from dwelling in the darkness that seems to be required and expected of modern science fiction. I decided, though, to only highlight one from this series and it's good one, because it keeps kicking you when you're down. And that's "Family of Blood." At the end, the Doctor sees the life he'll never get, the one he gave up. He says good bye to the woman he could love, but invites her to join him on his journeys and perhaps rediscover John Smith in him. She says no.
Then he visits the boy who's life he eventually saved in World War I with the gift of a watch..at the end of that boy's life, at a veteran's remembrance in the our present, he remains in the distance as Martha pins a poppy on his lapel...and the look of wonder, recognition and comfort in that old man's face...sniff.
3. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: "The Inner Light" Picard gets the life he never had, but it never really happened...not to him. Zapped by a space probe from a dead world, Picard learns about their civilization in the best way possible, by living the rest of his life in it.
His life was a happy one, but his planet is dying
4. HOUSE: "Wilson's Heart" If you've lost someone, or even just fear it...there's a certain element of unexpectedness. Maybe someone's died in a car accident and they're just ripped away. Even when someone has a terminal illness, it goes on for a bit, and though you knew it was coming, when they finally pass...it still seems sudden. It's easy and painful to put oneself in Wilson's situation. You're in love with this woman. You get her, she gets you. It works. And she's going to die. Not like she's going to die sometime soon...she's going to die in the next five minutes. You have five minutes.
After losing someone, you think that you'd give anything for five more minutes. Those five minutes are going to hurt.
This is one of the best kind of story. it's intensely personal and emotional and explores character so well, though entirely impossible means. This one's though time travel and possible futures. Jake Sisko spends the rest of his life, from teenager to old age (older Jake played so fucking perfectly by Tony Todd) trying to save his father, who after an accident, is hurtling through time.
His father, Captain Ben Sisko, periodically and tantalizingly, has appeared to Jake. For a minute or two, they're together again. Maybe this time, he'll stay. He'll be free of the time anomaly, but then he vanishes.
Jake realizes he's tethered to Jake though time and that the only way he'll break free is if Jake dies. Ben appears to Jake one last time and Jake has given himself a lethal hypospray and advises Ben to dodge the accident that happened decades ago. Elderly Jake dies in the arms of his father.
I recall, some years ago, there was a TV guide poll as to the best episode of all the Star Trek series. Surprisingly...or maybe not...this one came out on top.
6. OZ: "A Day in the Death..." Though, yeah, he killed a guy, you can't help but to empathize with Cyril, who is scheduled to doe tonight. Why, because since he committed that crime, he suffered a brain injuries and know has the mind of an eight year-old. He doesn't even understand that he's going to be executed. And his loving brother (and fellow inmate), Ryan, can't do a fucking thing about it.
You got one? That you'll admit to?
And as a bonus...not TV, but watch this. This can be used as, like, a cry weapon or something.
And here's the thing - I fully admit - I was not sure of it's rawkitude until last Saturday. I was hoping for the best, to be sure, but I handed over my script and it found it's way into the hands of a director. It could have been a crap director who decided to stage it full of absurdist symbolism, with Liz played by a man dressed as a giant opium-smoking hamster.*
Luckily, this is not the case. Susan Lee is directing and with actor Brad Wilcox have devised a version of the main character I had not previously imagined. Wilcox, who reminds me, in turns, of both a young Scott Bakula and a whatever-his-current-age Nathan Fillion. And this is appropriate, because if you dig the Firefly aesthetic, then you're gonna dig the look of this version of the titular super-villain.
It's a little scary handing over your work to be interpreted, but then if you're looking to make a career of out of scriptery, that's exactly what's gonna happen (unless you're all auteurish or something). It's fucking thrilling though when the results surprise you favorably.
The latest production of 
I received an email, the entirety of which will be reprinted below, with interjected commentary.
OK, the drama writing nominees.
1. 
5. 
And here's the thing - I fully admit - I was not sure of it's rawkitude until last Saturday. I was hoping for the best, to be sure, but I handed over my script and it found it's way into the hands of a director. It could have been a crap director who decided to stage it full of absurdist symbolism, with Liz played by a man dressed as a giant opium-smoking hamster.*
