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
Since they’ve shrunk the DVD window so severely already, putting another month on the netflix end just puts it back to a four and a half months wait like it used to be. It might benefit Netflix users as well since there could be less demand for new releases.
If I can get screeners delivered to my door, I might start thinking this is an OK thing. Otherwise, it sucks and there’s zero benefit to the Netflix subscriber.
Doesn’t WB keep EXTENDING its window?
TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE took like *seven months* from theatrical to DVD; They always delay their Vince Vaughn XMas movies like an entire YEAR; Gran Torino took forever and ever; Book of Eli was 3 months ago now, and not on the horizon DVD-wise; Other than Sherlock Holmes, which just DROPPED on disc seemingly four weeks after theaters, WARNER BROTHERS/NEW LINE MOVIES TAKE SIX OR SEVEN MONTHS TO COME OUT.
Sony has the shortest window.
I think WB’s window is all about when would be the best time to drop the film itself on video. “The Hangover” waited until the holiday season, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” was to be the Valentine DVD. This May sees “Valentine’s Day” (12 weeks after release) and that Mel Gibson movie. They go short and long.
Joseph is right, Holmes was dropped so it could be included in Easter Baskets. Movies going for older audiences seem to take longer than ones for the younger crowd, probably to account for older audiences taking their time to get to theaters. And almost all studios wait a full year for the Christmas films. Who is going to make an impulse buy of A Christmas Carol in May?
And what amazes me about the 90% of purchases in the 28 day window stat is that outside of impulse buys wouldn’t this mean that only people who saw the films in the theater purchase them? If you rented a film right when it came available and loved it, would you purchase it within the next few weeks?
And the Netflix benefits are not for the movie watchers but the people who use the streaming service to watch catalog titles and old television series. This is where Netflix knows the future is and they are getting access to a lot more titles with this deal. But I do get Josh’s frustration. Having to wait another month to watch Greenberg or Wolfman does not balance out with getting immediate access to every episode of Coach.
If I were an artist, I’d likely want my film to be released after exactly a year on video, to guarantee the theatrical had a fair shake to the last dollar, and that the opening window is ideal to that of the video release.
Tofu- The Premium Cable buyers would never allow it. Starz seems to be getting things 8 months after the theatrical release.
Once again, I am surprised that someone is surprised that anyone would buy a newly released DVD of a movie that he/she had never seen. People have bought hardcover books that way for a very, very long time. Why should it be any different for DVDs (which tend to be significantly cheaper)?
“Starz seems to be getting things 8 months after the theatrical release.”
Indeed, but allow me to also introduce out good friend SHOWTIME, whose big weekend premiere tomorrow is, yes, a mere 18 months after theatrical, QUANTUM OF SOLACE; With a very few exceptions, Showtime has an 18 month wait, whereas Starz’s big movie of MARCH was TAKING OF PELHAM 123, a mere nine months after its theatrical release (which came seven months after Quantum’s.)
Showtime loudly announced they were getting out of the usual premium cable business of paying for certain studio’s movies to go toward an FX model of a few well known original shows that would bring in the subscribers. Not sure how that is working but that’s what drove Paramount and Lionsgate to create that new cable channel whose name escapes me.
Joe- I buy movies that I haven’t seen, the practice doesn’t surprise me, but I don’t buy all of my movies that way. It’s the ninety percent of all sales in 28 days that is shocking to me, I had no idea the home video aspect was as frontloaded as the theatrical side. If that was carried over into the publishing industry would there even be a market for paperback books?