Miramax/Dimension

[superwriter123]

Is anyone else floored that Disney is set to give the Weinstein's their walking papers?

Is Michael Eisner now completely insane? I think he drank some tainted Kool Aid.

[Carlton Redford]

Read the fascinating background to this story here:

newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/ news/people/features/9985/index1.html

[zz9]

Intresting reading. And there was a space in the URL so it didn't work. Try newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/9985/index.html (http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/9985/index.html)

[junkyardawg1]

That article was a great read.

Thanks for posting the link.

dawgy

[zz9]

At least I know that when I'm meeting Harvey next year because he loooves my script not to offer him some M+M's. Or wear my "I heart Bush" button.

[I framed OJ]

This is an excerpt from the article.It takes Weinstein several minutes to settle in. First he sits down. Then he gets up to take off his blazer. Then he sits down again, but not before taking two soft packs of Vantage cigarettes out of his pocket and throwing them down on the table. He pulls out a cigarette and places it down on the table, too. He gets up, walks over to the bathroom, gets a glass, fills it with water, sits down, lights his cigarette, flicks some ash into the water, and starts to speak. I’ve barely said a word. The interview has begun. One of the differences between writing a script and journalistic articles. The way the journalists write down all these little actions that the person they're talking to do. "Sits down..takes off his blazer...walks over to the bathroom..." All this stuff. As if these actions endow the interviewed person with such importance as to lift them to mythic status.

Yeah - in a script, action helps define character. Thats because in a script, we create the actions for the characters, therefore we make every action stand for soemthing. But this is an interview!! Not everythig a person does speaks volumes to their state of being.

What. A bunch. Of crap.

So frickin pretentious. Just tell me what the guy said.

[zz9]

This sort of description in a magazine or newspaper article helps set the 'tone' of the person, and the interview, and I think adds to the article.

An article such as this is the 'end product' that is seen by the mass audience. A script is never meant to be seen by Joe Public but is a technical document for movie professionials to work from. In a script we'd say "Harvey enters. He fidgets for several minutes before saying anything or acnowledging the prescence of the reporter" and the actors and the director would flesh out how it looks on screen. Just as the script for Taxi Driver said "Travis looks at the mirror"

An article like this has more in common with a novel than a script. Words spoken can easily be taken out of context in print, without the writer reporting the mood or tone of the speaker it would be easy to misjudge what is actually being said.

[RoloTamossy]

Being a journalist and a screenwriter, I can understand both your POVs. In an article, setting the scene and describing a celebrity's actions, behaviors, apperance, etc., helps to establish the celebrity's frame of mind in context with the article. I think it adds depth to the story. What I hate is when there's too much emphasis on a celebrity's action in relation to the reporter, as if adding the reporter into the article will add some hidden truth or revelation about the celebrity.

[Evil Elf the One and Only]

I think it's fair to say this is more about Harvey than about the interviewer. That's what makes it journalism, rather than autobiography. Using novelistic techniques to describe factual events is nothing new; it's been standard-issue new journalism since Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe in the early sixties, and it's added an incredible depth to each profile.

I Mooned The Poet Laureate! (http://terminalcity.diary-x.com)

[The Phantom Scribe]

It's slightly over-worked, but it's just as much a character piece as it is a business story, so I can cut it some slack.

My favorite part is at the very end when he starts to go off on his boy for not having the Kerry ads done--just after he's finished his spiel about how he's changed.

I'd love to work for the guy just for the sheer drama, temper and all. I even have my line ready for when he gets medieval on my ass..."Here Harv, have some M&Ms and chill the f*ck out."

[zz9]

"Here Harv, have some M&Ms and chill the f*ck out."

Might not be worth joining the Miramax pension scheme on your first day then....

[BeefMissile]

Miramax is named for the parents(Miram and Max). I didn't know that before now. If Disney does not like the way the prodcos are run or if they are not turning profits then of course, Disney will drop Miramax. The Weinstein Bros are super rich anyway so it will not be a big problem for them.

:p

[superwriter123]

Somehow I don't think you'd want to work for an ass like that.

I've worked for egomaniacal jackasses in production companies before, and it's hell.