: I received another slasher-ish screenplay yesterday. Elliot forwarded it to me. He likes it and wants me to read it and opine. This is what makes the movie, not to mention the book and literary magazine industries so interesting and not infrequently chaotic. It's the back-and-forth, the mashing-up, the collaborating that (hopefully) makes the finished product better than the raw materials. The script is kinda... well, suffice it to say that it's a very good and interesting premise, and...
: ...the bones are good. It's fundamental problems are dialogue, as in every character sounds the same all the way down to word choices and cadence, and there are great leaps made structurally and storywise because the, as happens in early drafts, the screenwriter knows all the story and so doesn't notice when stuff's not in the script. Gotta remember audiences don't know any story at all going in, and so everything's got to be in there for them. I've got notes that we'll go over on a call...
: ...by mid-week next, and then we'll see if it's something we want to fund to develop. TBH, I am very inclined to say yes to it because the bones are there and pretty healthy. I don't know the screenwriter, though E. does, and they're well acquainted and for a goodly while. If dude wants to retain sole pen for the project, I'll will be concerned. (I'm reading its eighth draft, and that it's in the condition it's in at eight is doin me a concern.) I'm hoping their friendship doesn't short-...
: ...like the premise and the bones of the screenplay/story. I think it'd come out nicely after some in-house development. So... my fingers, they are crossed.
: ...-circuit things. It's happened before and not just with Elliot and others. (I don't mean everyone wanted to write stuff. I mean disagreements with creatives over things and where they don't look at the situation where it's someone else who is footing the entire bill but want friends/contacts to do it anyway because "We have history" and "After all we've been through" and stuff.
It's why I rarely ever do business with friends. Most of the time things go down twisted.
That said, I do...