UPDATE: 4/28/2011 — Links to “Father Knows Less” IMDb listing no longer active.
UPDATE: 4/28/2011 — All podcast links have been updated.
Okay. It’s not actually podcasting, but behold the site’s the first-ever audio links.
I’m currently rewriting a script called Father Knows Less, originally written by Aline Brosh McKenna. It’s the story of “a loving but aloof guy (Dustin Hoffman) abandoned by his trophy wife, [who] finds himself in charge of raising his young kids. In order to connect with them as their father, he turns to his children from his first marriage for help.” (synopsis by IMDb)
Tonally, it’s a dramedy in the James L. Brooks mode. More Jerry Maguire, less The Pacifier. New Line is the studio.
As it happens, Claude Brodesser of Variety has been tracking this project on his KCRW radio show The Business, and has had various members of the production on to talk about the process. It’s a refreshingly candid discussion of how a movie wends its way through development.
You can start with the initial conversation with McKenna, agent Devra Lieb, and producer Laura Hopper about the pitch, and how the project was set up. The discussion starts at 11:08.
Next, there’s a follow-up conversation with McKenna and Hopper as they start looking for a director. Starts at 2:51.
Finally, Brodesser talks with the movie’s director, who explains his decision to take the project, and the discussion about bringing on a different writer (which ended up being me). The talk starts at 9:20.