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
So do you think marketing films on social networks is effective or not?
I’m thinking it is as long as there is a sustained and coordinated effort.
I also think it’s silly that everyone’s ignoring MySpace even though it is still the second biggest social network in the world.
Any more insight/updates on this?
More Disney
Not a happy answer for current staff (especially those let go today) at Disney… but not many surprises in the most recent shift either.
The one question that remains is who takes the top marketing job. It smells like there will be another non-movie person coming in. But if they are looking for the top available players…
1. Valerie Van Galder – She just left the worldwide marketing top slot at Sony and is not likely to be anxious to jump into another one where she would have to build from the ground up.
2. Terry Press – She could quickly recreate the DreamWorks team after having shown a lot of skill building the DreamWorks Animation brand as well as the main studio. On the other hand, a bit old school and carries a lot of studio relationship baggage, for better or worse.
3. Megan Colligan – Can she get out of Paramount? Her position was threatened at different points over the summer, but she, her co-president Josh Greenstein and the whole team just kept delivering. Still, things are dicey over there, Colligan is young and willing to experiment, and would be ready for a big challenge in a stable environment… if her contract can be cracked.
4. Marc Shmuger – Highly unlikely… and might be seen as damaged baggage, even if a step back into marketing would be humbling and show a real interest in rebuilding his personal brand.
Did the timing of the Adam Fogelson rise at Universal – the timing of which made little sense in the context of the studio in light of the Comcast situation – have something to do with a hard charging offer from Disney? Could be. But he’s not going anywhere now. Either are Nancy Utley, Marc Weinstock, or Sue Kroll. There are always rumors about Tony Sella and Pamela Levine, but I don’t see that happening either.
Again, it smells like we’ll have a new marketing chief from the cable or broadcast ranks. Certainly, we’ll know before the princess kisses that frog.
And congrats to Oren Aviv – who by the way, came up with the concept for National Treasure – for hanging in… it looks like he will be the continuity for Bruckheimer and all the other ongoing production. He’s a sunny side up guy… and I expect he will be running – really running – some other studio before 2014.
Almost done on the exec level… bloodshed down below to come…
@sharonfranz: Twitter and Facebook are seen as more grown-up than MySpace. It doesn’t help that MySpace is now part of the News Corp. (Murdoch) empire.
Speaking of Disney, their web address for “The Proposal” redirected to a MySpace page.