What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

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  • What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

    Writer of the new CONAN THE BARBARIAN, Sean Hood, writes this great and honest piece about the move flopping: http://www.quora.com/Whats-it-like-t...fice?srid=uMjy
    Twitter: @WriterLe

  • #2
    Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

    I don't know. He seems to disparage the writers that came before him in this paragraph. Almost blaming them.


    "I myself know that given the difficulties of rewriting a script in the middle of production, I made vast improvements on the draft that came before me. But its still much like doing great work on a losing campaign. All anyone in the general public knows, all anyone in the industry remembers, is the flop. A loss is a loss."

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    • #3
      Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

      Originally posted by Otis View Post
      I don't know. He seems to disparage the writers that came before him in this paragraph. Almost blaming them.


      "I myself know that given the difficulties of rewriting a script in the middle of production, I made vast improvements on the draft that came before me. But its still much like doing great work on a losing campaign. All anyone in the general public knows, all anyone in the industry remembers, is the flop. A loss is a loss."
      I totally agree this part could have been left out.
      Twitter: @WriterLe

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      • #4
        Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

        I don't understand how someone involved in the movie can really not have an idea on how it's going to perform. I mean people on movie boards and even casual movie fans typically have a good idea on what is going to succeed or bomb.

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        • #5
          Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

          It should've been left out but he's totally right.


          Something I worry about is how much a screenwriter's career is damaged by flops. It's scary because no matter who you get on board the film it's still mostly a crap shoot, you never know how it'll turn out. I do know some guys who've had a string of flops at the start but still went on to have very active and successful careers.

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          • #6
            Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

            Mostly, I intend to sell my specs and then take the money and run. If it takes off in the market, I can still take primary writing (at least "story") credit. If it bombs after others rewrote it, I don't have to share as much, if any, blame. If they don't rewrite it at all and it sells or bombs, I'll take all the credit or blame!

            My story (script) is my art and my accomplishment. The movie is the spin-off. So many things can go wrong, yet not very often do they make a great movie from a lousy script, obviously. The film simply wouldn't have been made at all if the underlying material wasn't very good!

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            • #7
              Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

              That was a really sh!tty thing to say.

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              • #8
                Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

                Perhaps not the best choice of words.

                A few years ago I did a rewrite of a script he originally wrote (not a big studio feature), and was subsequently replaced after a couple of drafts. I felt I added a lot to the project, and I'm sure the guy who replaced me felt he vastly improved my draft. He actually said so in an interview. I didn't take it personally, other than a few bouts of uncontrollable sobbing.

                I don't know Sean but I know people who do and they say he's a good guy. I'm pretty sure he didn't intend anything malicious.
                "There's one way to guarantee something won't be in the movie: put it in the screenplay."
                -Dan O'Bannon

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                • #9
                  Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

                  If you read the entire article & the entire quote, it doesn't sound so bad. He's not ripping the previous writers as much as the director & other decision-makers. I don't think he was overly harsh.

                  I don't know where Otis got his quote, but I got this one from the linked article:

                  "Unfortunately, the work I do as a script doctor is hard to defend if the movie flops. I know that those who have read my Conan shooting script agree that much of the work I did on story and character never made it to screen. I myself know that given the difficulties of rewriting a script in the middle of production, I did work that I can be proud of. But its still much like doing great work on a losing campaign. All anyone in the general public knows, all anyone in the industry remembers, is the flop. A loss is a loss."


                  Movies are huge, expensive projects. They need good management. If the right decisions aren't made all the way down the line, you get what you have here. Hood seems to be saying he was working on the script during production. That's a huge problem right there. It's common practice, but incredibly stupid, to go into production w/o a finished (good) script. So much is at stake. Without a locked down script, you're just asking to be fvcked up the ass at the BO, IMO.

                  "Trust your stuff." -- Dave Righetti, Pitching Coach

                  ( Formerly "stvnlra" )

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                  • #10
                    Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

                    Originally posted by stvnlra View Post
                    I don't know where Otis got his quote, but I got this one from the linked article:
                    They changed the text.

                    My guess? He asked them to because of blowback from the quote.

                    As BDZ said- it was poor form.

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                    • #11
                      Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

                      Yeah, I think they changed the text.

                      Generally, it's a good idea to not criticize your colleagues & the projects you've worked on.

                      "Trust your stuff." -- Dave Righetti, Pitching Coach

                      ( Formerly "stvnlra" )

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                      • #12
                        Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

                        Originally posted by Popcorntreect View Post
                        I don't understand how someone involved in the movie can really not have an idea on how it's going to perform. I mean people on movie boards and even casual movie fans typically have a good idea on what is going to succeed or bomb.
                        When you're working on a project, the only voice that matters is yours. Though the Internet has given a voice to movie fans, the thing is 95% of them are talking through their butts and have zero idea on how a film's produced. I mean, when a fan bitches about a comic book character's film costume, I just roll my eyes back.

                        It's hard to make a movie without being picked apart by message boards, Twitter and Facebook nowadays, but as a filmmaker, you're in charge, be the finished product a hit or a miss.
                        "A screenwriter is much like being a fire hydrant with a bunch of dogs lined up around it.- -Frank Miller

                        "A real writer doesn't just want to write; a real writer has to write." -Alan Moore

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                        • #13
                          Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

                          Originally posted by Madbandit View Post
                          Originally Posted by Popcorntreect
                          I don't understand how someone involved in the movie can really not have an idea on how it's going to perform. I mean people on movie boards and even casual movie fans typically have a good idea on what is going to succeed or bomb.
                          When you're working on a project, the only voice that matters is yours. Though the Internet has given a voice to movie fans, the thing is 95% of them are talking through their butts and have zero idea on how a film's produced. I mean, when a fan bitches about a comic book character's film costume, I just roll my eyes back...
                          ha ha, I agree. The last places I go for facts are forums. The first places I go for opinions, however, are. And that's fine, because some of them are so darned funny!

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                          • #14
                            Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

                            Originally posted by BattleDolphinZero View Post
                            That was a really sh!tty thing to say.
                            Agreed.

                            BTW, I know writers who have gotten original specs produced and the films themselves performed poorly. But they still have managers and agents. And you know what else? The work still flows in for them.

                            EDIT: And they don't become whining b!tches when the film they wrote/polished/rewrote doesn't perform how they wanted it to.

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                            • #15
                              Re: What's It Like To Have Your Film Flop at the Box Office?

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                              Last edited by AJ_FIN; 06-08-2020, 11:37 AM.

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