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
“But there is a real chance that DGA will make a small inroad on the DVD deal that was taken off the table by WGA six weeks ago, this could lead to WGA getting the same, devaluing the internet obsession, and break the logjam.”
Obsession? That sounds negative. More like necessity. Isn’t the internet issue basically why they’re on strike in the first place? If they agree to some lesser (or non-existent) internet deal because they’re getting a few more scraps from a slowly dying format (DVD), then they really deserve the pain they’re going through. I can’t believe their “leaders” (as misguided and lost as they are) would agree to any deal that replaces DVD residuals with potential internet residuals.
Then again, like you said, expect the worse. Nuts.
The rest of the indusry who are losing their jobs are getting more and more pissed off every day, unfortunately.
Yeah, it was cute for a while, but people are out of work and need to start making money soon. My friends in IATSE do not get residuals.
Aris – By taking DVD off the table – for now – and focusing mostly on internet, they have quite clearly positioned potential internet residuals over DVD residuals… since the much bigger money is still in DVD, even as it declines.
A .1 percent increase in the DVD residual is clearly worth a lot more cash money that the entirety of what is being asked for on the web. And that increase should naturally go to internet downloads as well, since the DVD rate has been applied to purchased internet downloads by AMPTP companies already.
But the guild should get both… some movement on DVD/paid downloads and some reasonable rate for free streaming repeats.
Logically, there will never be a deal where the residual for a downloaded movie is 8x the residual for a DVD. How could that happen? It would be as silly for AMPTP as it has been for WGA for more than a decade.
There is no chance that internet will match DVD in the next five years. In my opinion, the failure of the union’s position would be to bargain as though they can never strike again.
Yes, there should be an internet deal… and DGA has claimed that the will not sign without one. But the money is still in DVD by 20x to 30x revenues right now and will be for years to come.
More importantly, where does the guild go if the AMPTP companies come up with an alternate delivery system that is also not covered under this deal in clear terms. The biggest question is how they will deal with self-dealing, which is the biggest problem of the moment.
Yes, I think the internet drum has been overbeaten. It is the thing “we’re not going to lose,” but in being that, it is the too narrow long-view danger.
David I agree with you about sacrificing the DVD money for hoped for Internet money.
The contract is only for three years. I think it would have been better to really push for a better DVD cut now while there is still some life left in the medium and look to settle for a more modest gain in Internet residuals. Even if the Internet money takes off in unforeseen ways and becomes much larger than anticipated the contract will be over in three years and there will be room to negotiate next time.
“Yeah, it was cute for a while, but people are out of work and need to start making money soon. My friends in IATSE do not get residuals.”
No, but their pension and health is paid for through a residual-like structure that’s based on the residual rate that the WGA, DGA and SAG get.