p>Just got back from Spokane for the Democratic State Convention.
What did I learn? I learned that politicians’ stump speeches are actually pitches
to the voters. It’s all very similar to our story/screenplay pitches where
we need a solid hook with a concrete beginning, middle, and end, a repeated
theme, a focused delivery, and emotional impact.
Yesterday, I finished the rough draft of my next script. Of course it’s short
18 pages and my beats are all over the place, but Blake Snyder says that’s
normal. Tomorrow I’ll sit down to punch up my scenes, set-up my protagonist
better, deepen the B-Story, and amp up my midpoint. All in a day’s work? Sheesh.
Gonna try and see WANTED tomorrow. The film is based on the
graphic novel/comic book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones (published by
Top Cow), which I’ve read and own. This is the English-language debut of Russian
filmmaker, Timur Bekmambetov of Night Watch fame (the highest grossing Russian
film of all time). I’ve read that book and seen the film too. Both are slightly
overrated. I guess it’s all relative to what’s come before you.
For those of you who don’t know, they’ve taken the Catwoman-esque, African-American
assassin role, The Fox, and rewrote it for Angelina Jolie. It’s bad enough
she was in A Mighty Heart. On top of that, Morgan Freeman plays Sloan, a character
that didn’t exist in the original. He
shows the ropes to the protagonist, Wesley Gibson, played by James McAvoy,
which was the job originally held by The Fox.
So they’ve replaced a strong
female, African-American role with a white woman and a black man. I know
they have to get talent attached who can open a movie, hence AJ and MF, but
it’d be nice to see more roles for people of color beyond Morgan Freeman mentoring
someone, again. I love the guy, but you know what I mean.
