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
“There may be blood.”
Now that’s funny. Subtle, but funny. That’s why I come here!
What does the WGA have against people going to a party? Jesus christ. You’d almost think that the people who were nominated or won golden globes this year would want to celebrate! How dare they!
Seriously: I wonder if some — many? — Academy voters will start feeling hostile toward the WGA as this strike drags on. Obviously, since scribes nominate scribes, there won’t be much that would/could happen during the first round of voting. But for the final tabulation? This is going to sound horrible, but to paraphrase Dido, if I didn’t say it, I’d still feel it, so here goes: I would be curious to see how many ballots get returned with no choices indicated in either writing category.
Well the writers aren’t striking for anything film related (right?) so it would be understandable for at least some people to be frustrated at the WGA.
KC, I do think that it does have to do with film, mostly about the ancillary rights for DVD releases and downloads (such as on ITunes), stuff which wasn’t considered fully during the last contract negotiations. It does seem silly to make people boycott the parties since that just seems to be about fun and celebration. I’m sure that some in the industry might start showing anger towards the WGA and writers, but it’s not fully their fault… the studios and networks need to be negotiating rather than trying to show that they can get through this and survive without writers–the life’s blood of any creative industry. I’m surprised we haven’t started seeing more “Real Cancun” type projects started i.e. “reality movies.”
KC, a big part of NBC’s backup coverage was going to be of the parties. We’re talking almost two hours of coverage here. Without that, NBC has even less of a leg to stand on.
The Hills: The Movie!