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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB – Jan 9

Can you smell the quiet?

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45 Responses to “BYOB – Jan 9”

  1. bipedalist says:

    You mean on this blog?

  2. Noah says:

    With the strike impacting the Golden Globes and probably the Oscars, I wonder if that might affect the box office of those films that might ordinarily get a boost from an Oscar nomination or win. If there isn’t a whole big show devoted to the movies, showcasing a Best Picture winner, do you think the winners might not necessarily receive a bump? Or will the ads in the papers and on TV still do the job?
    Also, wouldn’t this be such a downer for Oscar pundits? If the entire seasons leads to nothing except a list of winners?

  3. Anyone around here attending Sundance? I’ll be there Jan 17th-21…just enough time to not hate it…or get sick (hopefully). There’s also some good titles this year.

  4. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    why bother going to Sundance. Are you really hankering to see dross like the below?
    WHAT JUST HAPPENED? / U.S.A. (Director: Barry Levinson; Screenwriter: Art Linson)–A comedy about a desperate movie producer who is trying to survive a crazed director, a shameless actor, a clueless executive, a battered agent, and above all a broken second marriage while struggling to maintain a shred of dignity. Cast: Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro. World Premiere
    Hey Barry – haven’t you made this shit before?
    It even has the balls to put a BRICK knockoff into competition. But must admit I am looking forward to TRANSSIBERIAN.
    Rumour has it that Gilmore has an excel spreadsheet with updated Q values next to the films cast lists. He then adds up the value to decide whats in competition.

  5. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    And this is either the dumbest or the most ingenious idea for a movie. Do ya ink it’d be there without QT presenting though? Do ya really punk?
    HELL RIDE/ U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Larry Bishop)– Quentin Tarantino presents this bloody, sexy tale of motorcycle revenge. It’s a modern-day take on 1960s motorcycle flicks, with bikers who hit the road to avenge the death of one of their “old ladies” at the hands of a rival motorcycle gang. Cast: Larry Bishop, Dennis Hopper, Michael Madsen. World Premiere

  6. Well, the truth is, I’m going to cover films for Film Threat. The honest answer is, I love going to film festivals! It’s the only chance I get to talk and be involved with film in the “real” world. For me nothing is better than discovering a gem of a flick and helping get the word out. I will say I’m a bigger fan of SXSW and Cinevegas, but those are few months away.

  7. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Look forward to seeing your thoughts on FT.

  8. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    btw How come the nifty TIME CRIMES is screening at Sundance when it already screened at Fantastic Fest. I mean have they screened other midnight films after a US preem before?

  9. Hopscotch says:

    The Strike has now moved into the “old news” category, which is a big blow the WGA(s).
    And the sympathy factor is going to start evaporating soon.
    Two friends of mine got laid off this week in non-direct result of the strike. One at a talent agency, which now have no cash flow because they’re clients aren’t working. And another as an asst. to a producer. it’s not just folks working on a set. People with jobs in offices are starting to feel it.

  10. The strike (and I haven’t really been following what’s happening….or not happening closely if at all) seems like a waiting game in which the studios are simply able to outlast the writers. Which is a bummer if true. It’s definitely “old news” too in the sense that I just don’t think people outside of the ones involved financially care any more.

  11. Chucky in Jersey says:

    Warner Bros. has announced layoffs due to the WGA strike. “Narnia” company Walden Media is doing the same.
    So much for the strike being “old news”.

  12. IOIOIOI says:

    This strike remains one of the more ridiculous moments in recent pop-culture history. May the wake the hell up, settle, and move on towards actually writing something in the future. If not, here’s to more pithy WGA retorts and more Studio and Producer silence.

  13. Tofu says:

    So the studios have lost, what, three times the amount of revenue they would have had to pay out to the writers by now? Must’ve seen breaking the union as more cost effective for the long run, a practice few other industries bother to look at in these fiscal quarter by fiscal quarter times.
    The Globes cancellation isn’t heating any homes, but it is keeping a unified strike, huh?

  14. IOIOIOI says:

    Tofu; who freakin knows? This entire strike is a mess. It’s nothing more than a mess. It didnt work out as planned (as if there was a plan), the studios love losing money, and people are getting laid off because of this pithy shit. I am almost wondering if the Studios want POPCULTURELYPSE 2008 this Summer? It seems likely by the way these fuckers are going.

  15. So the dude at my local video store said that HD DVD has thrown in the towel and it’s all Blu Ray from here on out. Is that true???

  16. doug r says:

    Anyone going to Sundance, please, some info about “Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?”

  17. IOIOIOI says:

    Peta; it’s on the way to being phased out. It all depends on what Paramount and Universal decided to do: stay with a sinking ship or swim to the blu-ray shore? I would reckon that Heat and Harry Knowles would have some nice HD-DVD player paperweights by the Summer, but this is only speculation on my part.

  18. I just read an article that said there’s a DVD player hitting the market like, next month that plays ALL DVD’s (blu ray, hd, regular) and it’ll only be $600.

  19. anghus says:

    Has Ian Sinclair been seen lately?
    Seems like ages since ive seen him post.

  20. scooterzz says:

    the word is that paramount is going to go blu (which will pretty much be the final nail in the coffin)….the fact that ps3 has sold over a million units between black friday and now has been a major influence……
    what no one seems to be taking into consideration, however, is that back in the vhs/beta war days the deciding factor was the decision of the porn industry to go vhs….it wasn’t a question of quality but, rather, price and storage……
    now that porn is so readily available on the web, i’m not sure that industry’s choice would have the same influence…but it might….just a thought…..

  21. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    scooterzz.. I thought the vhs/beta battle was lost solely by a decision to go with a 60m standard instead of 90/180m – as the majority of people wanted to tape movies. it was definitely a storage issue. porn cemented it.

  22. scooterzz says:

    jbd — that was kinda my point….porn cemented the decision (i just don’t think that porn has the power to cement this one…or does it?)…. but i find your ‘vhs/beta battle was lost’ statement to be interesting…..
    was it a ‘lost’ battle?

  23. THX5334 says:

    What I just heard about the strike:
    I can’t comment who was told or who said what specifically…but a friend of mine in the know at ABC/Disney says that the execs are mumbling behind closed doors that they are quite happy getting rid of all the writers for good and just plugging the airwaves with Reality style programming and game shows and news pretty much indefinitely.
    They feel it’s just cheaper to make and they are making huge money selling this crap to foreign territories and through alternative distribution methods (i.e. XBox Live)
    And they don’t give a fuck about making a deal at all and are willing to let the strike go on indefinitely because they have reality.
    Let me be clear, this is nothing but a rumor and I have nothing to substantiate it.
    But if that really is the suits mentality…
    Very depressing, IF true.
    Also, how much of a square-douche does Ben Silverman look like with his Globes/Prom comment?

  24. jeffmcm says:

    No, that sounds about right. As long as the ratings hold up, they have no reason to complain. Has anyone bothered to check if there’s been any downturn or change at all in TV ratings in the last two months? I’m assuming not.

  25. Just how many people are gonna be pissed about the Oscars being scrapped if they are. Doing that will just make people hate the writers even more. Valid cause or not.

  26. Jonj says:

    Thank God for the Cinema Audio Society. How else is crap such as “Species: The Awakening” and “Bring It On: In It To Win It” going to get in the awards mix?

  27. Martin S says:

    12% of the entire is union, dropping a few points every decade. Independent contractors/consultants are dominant in every temporal workforce.
    Now let’s talk Cloverfield. What’s the word? Why the January date?

  28. Martin S says:

    That should read “entire U.S workforce”.

  29. ManWithNoName says:

    I’m positive the major studios/networks are completely fine dropping all dramatic or comedic programming in favor of reality TV. I’m not sure this is that big a deal though. For people still without cable, sure, but for the rest of us, the quality TV has been on cable (FX) and pay TV (HBO, Showtime) for the past several years. Outside of ‘Lost’ and ’24,’ I rarely watch the networks anymore. They cancel anything even remotely interesting after 2 or 3 episodes.
    On a related note, do you think we’ll ever get to the point where we get direct-to-DVD series? You always here about these great cancelled shows selling millions of boxed sets. Why not just go that route directly and save yourself the strife of dealing with network interference?

  30. ManWithNoName says:

    For Noah:
    NBA player declares “Zodiac” one of the worst movies of 2007. 🙂
    http://aol.nba.com/features/davis_sts_index.html?

  31. bipedalist says:

    Uh-Oh, I think I smell a “blings” post on the way.
    I liked his choices and his comments. Way to tell it like it is, buddy. But I think, the GREAT Denzel notwithstanding, American Gangster was too dull for my tastes. Sadly.

  32. ManWithNoName says:

    Surprisingly, I liked almost all of his top choices (“Norbit” excluded – I haven’t seen it but doubt I missed much). His top 10 of all time is actually a good representation of classics in different genres.
    Agreed on AG, though. I liked it well enough, but it didn’t really blow me away.

  33. Noah says:

    I absolutely love Baron Davis. The Warriors might be the most fun team to watch in the NBA right now and he has such a great sense of humor and always plays hard.
    That being said, it’s hard for me to take someone’s opinion seriously when he claims that American Gangster is one of the ten best movies of ALL TIME. That being said, he knows what he likes and since he lives in San Francisco now, I wonder if that colors his view of Zodiac.

  34. luxofthedraw says:

    Porn isn’t going to decide the high def war. I’ve read some fascinating articles on how porn accelerated internet growth but as some of you can imagine, porn stars don’t look very good in high def. So they’ve been slow to adopt any format and high def apparently won’t have attractive margins for quite some time.

  35. ManWithNoName says:

    Noah:
    Agreed (slightly). But, c’mon, anybody that includes City of God on their list has to have some taste!
    And it bears repeating — Zodiac wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. It’s the American Gangster of serial killer/procedural flicks! (Think they’ll put that quote on the Deluxe, Super, Special Edition DVD?)
    But what do I know?

  36. Aris P says:

    Anghus, it’s the small things we should be thankful for.

  37. Ben C says:

    What the hell happened to SON OF RAMBOW?
    Great notices from Sundance and Toronto, and then, poof. Into the ether.

  38. pchu says:

    Son Of Ranbow is scheduled to come out in May, I saw it in Toronto, and thought it’s very good. I compared it to Millions, the Danny Boyle film that came out a couple of years ago.
    Anyway, it’s a crowd pleaser, I hope it can make some money.

  39. I live in the Bay Area and am a BIG Warriors fan (plus, ALL our other sports teams suuuuuck) but Baron needs to lay off the movies and stay in shape! No wonder he always reports to camp all porked out.
    The dude simply cannot wait to be a Laker. he keeps importing celebs to watch him play in Oaktown….we had cold fish Jessica Alba in the stands last week and Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson jumped on the playoff bandwagon last year. Go Warriors!

  40. Working AD says:

    Regarding the ABC/Disney “mumblings”, this sounds like the same gossip that got posted on Nikki Finke’s rumor center. I wouldn’t put much stock in it. It may well be true that some angry execs are saying this, particularly if they know it might get back to the writers. But I seriously doubt that the networks wish to contemplate a fall season with no scripted shows. And reality TV and game shows don’t actually translate that well to other areas. The future of TV entertainment is not XBox Live, although it will be internet-related.
    If ABC/Disney really intended to take that course of action, they would terminate the contracts on all their showrunners, including Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Mark Cherry, David E. Kelley, Shonda Rhimes, etc., and have the various productions scrapped rather than holding all the sets, stages and equipment. They would also terminate the contracts on all those expensive cast members who now must be paid to wait until the strike is over. (The half pay idea could only work for 6 weeks and then they are compelled to put the casts back on full rate or let them go.) If we hear about massive firing of showrunners and casts, and about major series being cancelled, then that rumor would have some foundation. Until then, it doesn’t.
    Right now, the ONLY movement happening is in the beginnings of negotiations with the DGA. Once formal discussions start (and they’re already delayed), we’ll all be waiting for the new contract to set the pattern for the end of this strike. I had thought the DGA contract would take until March, and it’s looking more and more like that’s the case. Then we’ll see who the AMPTP talks to next.

  41. anghus says:

    Finke’s blog is really starting to grind my gears.
    The lead story today is about some Fox employee bumping into a Law and Order showrunner in some kind of confrontation.
    I realize how one sided Finke is in all of this, but this kind of propaganda is laughable. I’m waiting for her next story about Jeff Zucker eats babies and Rupert Murdoch’s harem of 10 year old Phillipino boys.
    Is a shouting match at a gate really news? Does it hold any relevance to the issue at hand? Does it further any kind of positive discussion towards resolving the conflict?
    Or does it just throw more gasoline onto a fire that is already raging?
    Do you think Finke thinks she’s helping the cause, or does she realize that she’s one of the biggest pawns in this game?
    This tabloid style stuff is starting to rub me raw. It’s a shame what passes for reporting these days.

  42. frank delsa says:

    The funny thing is that she ignores the two real strike-related news of the day, so far:
    1. TWC getting an interim deal.
    2. Les Moonves saying that he feels “guardedly optimistic” the strike will end “within a few months”, and that steps that will bring to a resolution are being taken.
    Apparently, Moonves hinting at a possible reopening of back channel talk isn’t newsworthy enough.

  43. Working AD says:

    Nikki Finke is clearly trying to enhance her own career through her “coverage” of this strike. She has repeatedly printed rumors that were not true, made nasty comments about individuals, and generally gossipped about events that were either nobody’s business or, like the latest headline, irrelevant. All of this is designed to get people to think she somehow has her finger on the pulse of what’s happening.
    And it is true that she has done a lot of things that are helpful to the WGA, such as posting the Speechless videos and the “Why We Write” opinions. But nobody should be fooled into thinking she is pro-WGA. Nikki Finke isn’t pro-anyone other than herself and her own career. I know people who dealt with her more than 20 years ago, and her behavior and attitude was pretty much the same then. Her actions on her blog should be viewed as anti-mogul, but not pro-anything. By posting those materials, she’s trying to embarass and tweak the moguls. Her continual rants at the moguls about “don’t they understand they’ll have to work with these writers again?” or trying to put all the responsibility on the moguls, is not a measure of support for the WGA but instead a measure of her venom against the studios and the networks. And when this matter is finally settled, I full expect her to post attacks on the WGA for “caving”. That allows her to continue to claim superiority over both sides. We should keep in mind that she’s not an authority on these matters – she is the Hollywood gossip columnist for the LA WEEKLY, position she will continue to hold long after the strike is over and we’re all back at work. Hollywood is full of people with long memories, and I truly hope they remember her behavior in the years to come, when she tries to tell her story in a rosier light.

  44. Tofu says:

    Finke is valuable for once in her career. Too bad it won’t last.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon