May 7, 2024
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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
I would agree on “the big picture” view to a certain extent. However, I would ask who is decrying runaway production? The studios don’t really care. It’s the unions and associated businesses that care. All the below the line people that aren’t going to be transported to location care.
The problem with your asssesment of location shooting is that it seems focused on the principles (i never can remember right spelling). North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, New York, Boston all have good (and experienced) crews that can be hired locally.
So, is it in California’s best interest to see that a craft services company in Los Angeles gets paid or a location craft services company gets paid?
I don’t think the general concern is ‘all production will leave California’ as much as it is ‘that one production that’ll pay my bills this year will leave California’. From the macro to the micro.
there’s a lot of work on the east coast, and as a guy who makes his money off of ‘runaway’ production, let me say ‘let them run’.
it’s america. competition is fair game. we pass incentivies, get them to bring over smaller productions. It’s been working great for the carolinas and louisianna who can barely seem to fill the positions sometimes. to be fair, this area rarely gets massive productions. we get small to midsize films looking for a break.
The Strangers, Nights in Rodanthe, HBO’s forthcoming Little Britain U.S., Good Old Fashion Orgy, The Mark Pease Experience, Feast 2 and 3, Pulse 2 and 3…
You rarely see huge films come out this way. The Patriot is the one that pops to mind, and that was almost 10 years ago. There’s enough for everyone, though i see the trend continuing with productions in L.A. still costing so much.
Pulse 2 and 3? Jesus.
Shooting cheap Sci-Fi and comedies in BC means some productions get made that wouldn’t otherwise. Canadian productions seem to be more edgy as well. I don’t think Battlestar Galactica would have gone as close to the Iraq occupation or the “Coming Home” episode of Masters of Horror have been as edgy had they been shot in the U.S.
And don’t forget X-files!
i haven’t read the piece yet (gotta go to work in a sec), but I’ve always found it a bit rich when people from LA cry foul about losing their jobs to runaway productions. Don’t the people who are getting jobs in the cities they’re “running away” to deserve jobs, too? Like the Ugly Betty situation. Especially considering the show is set in NYC, why shouldn’t NYC crews get the jobs?
Kami:
I don’t think it’s a matter of “crying foul.” Nobody is saying runaway production is unfair. But considering the budget crisis in California, you’d think the people in charge (in both the Executive and Legislative branches) would be interested in keeping the money in California.