For the first time in almost a year, I’m caught up on all my writing.
Yesterday, I turned in the oft-delayed Tarzan, and this morning I emailed revisions on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Adding to the joyous feeling: this is a three-day weekend in the U.S. (Monday is Memorial Day), so I won’t hear anything back from anyone until Tuesday.
I think I’ll start watching the five episodes of Deadwood I have on the TiVo.
This site is run by screenwriter John August. Mostly, he answers reader-submitted questions about the craft, but occasionally he goes on tangents that run far afield of writing and filmmaking. You'll also find info on past, present and future projects.
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May 29th, 2004 at 11:45 am
I feel like the only person in SoCal who doesn’t think Deadwood is “all that”…sigh… It’s an HBO Original Series and I WANT to like it - I’ve tried my darndest’
May 30th, 2004 at 3:24 pm
So once these projects are done, how do you go about looking for more work? Does your agent just let studios know that you are available, or do you shake the trees regarding particular pet projects or things you might be interesting in adapting?
May 30th, 2004 at 7:25 pm
Sean: The reason I have five Deadwoods on my TiVo is that even though I think it’s a great show, it’s a helluva commitment to sit down and watch it. It’s so goddamn dark. And an hour on HBO is really a full hour. But trust me; you’re not the only one in Southern California who doesn’t think it’s all that.
Scott: Generally, an agent is always looking for new work for his client, because even if he’s not available this moment, he will be in a few months. In my case, I’m fortunate to get a lot of stuff sent my way, and I’ve passed on pretty much everything. I’m not taking any more projects for the rest of the summer, so that I can (finally) write the project I’ve been putting off for more than a year now.
May 30th, 2004 at 9:07 pm
Is the project you’ve been putting off an adaptation, or a spec? And do you find that it’s often too easy for an established writer to get away from writing specs, because there’s so much paying work out there?
June 3rd, 2004 at 9:28 am
How is the Tarzan project coming along? Will they go ahead and make the picture you scripted?
June 3rd, 2004 at 9:58 am
I’m actually going in for my first Tarzan script meeting (with producers) this morning. At this stage, you figure out whether there are any small changes you want to make before you hand it in to the studio as the “official” draft.
You’ll see WGA complaining about free rewrites, and this is the situation where that arises; there’s a narrow line dividing “a couple of suggestions” from “do this or we’ll be pissed off.” I strongly believe that the first draft a screenwriter gives to the studio should reflect his or her best vision for the project, devoid of meddling. There will be lots of other opinions inflicted on the project later on.
Assuming this meeting goes well, and we hand it in to the studio soon, we should have a good sense of how serious the studio is about getting the jungle lord onto the big screen. To the degree possible, I’ll try to keep readers informed.
June 11th, 2004 at 10:56 am
Don’t mean to be nosey, but if you can divulge, is this Tarzan project the one the Coens are reportedly talking about making?
February 9th, 2006 at 7:30 am
: Slips in and nods hello. :
My dad never liked movies all that much. He was a book guy.
The first four books he ever gave me were the first four Tarzan books. He just loved the hell outta’ Tarzan.
Getting him to take us to the movies was like pulling teeth…but they were making Greystoke the movie and the newspapers were going on and on how they were sticking to the books so close and how E.R.B. would be so proud.
So I uptalked it too and convinced my dad to take us to see it.
About twenty minutes into Greystoke my dad got up and walked out. I was 11 and I was crushed.
Since then I have just prayed someday, someone would just stick to the damn story and tell it as it is…without trying to put their twist on things and character.
I was so happy hearing you were seemingly ‘not’ going to pull any punches and be bold about the level of violence in Tarzan.
Yet when I heard about Jane being some action hero I was just sick. Tarzan is the hero. She was given as much face time in the book as she would need in the movie. He’s a GOD next to her and to have her even close to showing him up in ANY way in that environment is just a joke.
I can’t say I’m a fan of your work at all and you would have been the last person on earth I would have ever thought to let touch Tarzan.
You don’t seem to take anything seriously and the way you explained your workload, Tarzan seemed merely some distracting project sandwiched between others and hardly worth your time.
It’s historic and you think your special too and need to put your special twist on things too.
Just once…when is someone going to show it as it is?
I’m sorry. I have absolutely no faith in you.
-Kinneas