Max Landis article on Deadline

[UpandComing]

Originally Posted by castilleja32

Just wanted to put in a good word for John Landis, who's getting beat up a bit on this thread. Made some great movies that hold up really well.

"The Blues Brothers" and "Trading Places" are two of my favorite comedies of all time. And let's not forget he directed "Thriller"!

[ProfessorChomp]

I'm certainly not bashing John Landis - I love the guy's movies. Who doesn't? I and others were simply saying that the Landis last name isn't enough (in 2016) to cause studios to go into a feeding frenzy and buy a script from his son they normally wouldn't buy, let alone for a whopping 4 million bucks.

[figment]

Originally Posted by ProfessorChomp

I and others were simply saying that the Landis last name isn't enough (in 2016) to cause studios to go into a feeding frenzy and buy a script from his son they normally wouldn't buy, let alone for a whopping 4 million bucks.

I don't think any person's last name is enough to create a feeding frenzy to buy a script for 4 million dollars. I don't think anyone is saying that. I think his more recent sales are more about having attachments like Bradley Cooper than his name being Landis.

I think for his 4 smaller scripts that haven't made back their budgets -- to even get some of those read to begin with or considered as viable projects, or to have reps decide to push those into the marketplace -- yes, I think his name helps. Simply because others' reps don't seem to make this happen or even remotely try to. I could be wrong -- for those here that have reps, are your reps doing this for you? Pushing scripts that are maybe not the "biggest" or "best" or "have heat" for you? So you, too, can get the paychecks, and the hype in deadline, and start to have a name? It doesn't seem to be that way for other writers. So in that regard, I believe his last name had a lot to do with those particular scripts getting sold.

Anyway, the whole point of the original question was not to see if people think Landis is "worthy" of his success -- sure, why not -- but if his gain of influence trickles down to other writers in general. I guess it doesn't, though?

[ProfessorChomp]

Originally Posted by figment

I don't think any person's last name is enough to create a feeding frenzy to buy a script for 4 million dollars. I don't think anyone is saying that. I think his more recent sales are more about having attachments like Bradley Cooper than his name being Landis.

I think for his 4 smaller scripts that haven't made back their budgets -- to even get some of those read to begin with or considered as viable projects, or to have reps decide to push those into the marketplace -- yes, I think his name helps. Simply because others' reps don't seem to make this happen or even remotely try to. I could be wrong -- for those here that have reps, are your reps doing this for you? Pushing scripts that are maybe not the "biggest" or "best" or "have heat" for you? So you, too, can get the paychecks, and the hype in deadline, and start to have a name? It doesn't seem to be that way for other writers. So in that regard, I believe his last name had a lot to do with those particular scripts getting sold.

Anyway, the whole point of the original question was not to see if people think Landis is "worthy" of his success -- sure, why not -- but if his gain of influence trickles down to other writers in general. I guess it doesn't, though?

Reps & companies giving your smaller/lesser scripts fresh consideration does happen when you have heat, especially the ultimate heat from writing a hit movie. It's all relative. I had a smaller victory this past year being on the Black List. Suddenly in meetings, people weren't just saying "What new ideas do you have?", they were saying "Any hidden gems collecting dust in your drawer?" If you write Chronicle, you bet your ass people are going to dig back into your catalogue. They're already written, why wouldn't they? And if a studio exec adores one and wants to push it up the ladder, she can tell the top dog "It's from the writer of the hit movie Chronicle!". That carries more weight in studio circles than "It's from the son of a director". Heat (especially hit-movie heat) getting your older/lesser stuff read is a naturally-occurring phenomenon. I've got a movie shooting in 2 weeks from an 8 year-old script that was collecting dust. It wasn't that my reps pushed it - Blumhouse read something of mine, liked the writing and asked what else I had stashed away. Turns out I had something they liked. Not a slam-dunk, brilliantly written, studio spec sale type script hot off the presses, a tiny little thriller that nobody else wanted. It happens.

So for those in the back, HIS NAME DID HELP. I'm not saying it didn't. But it doesn't get you repeated, continued, sustained success. Coming up with good ideas and marketing the sh*t out of yourself does. As for the original question... to be honest, I don't even remember what it was. I entered this discussion in response to negativity that was being directed toward a fellow writer for reasons I felt weren't necessarily deserved, and that he was being held to a possibly-unfair standard by some. "Writer X wrote a hit movie right out of the gate and has been successful ever since - good for him!!" "Max Landis wrote a hit movie right out of the gate and has been successful ever since - pff, it's his name."

[tuukka]

Originally Posted by mgwriter

All debatable except #6.

There's strong evidence that Michael Jackson was the greatest entertainer who ever lived. We can list all of his milestone achievements and record breaking stats as evidence. But does that make it a fact? No. Elvis fanatics might disagree. It's debatable.

Ranking Max's attributes in that order is no different than a fan ranking the attributes of their favorite football player. You really don't know. All this so called evidence you're posting of the greatness of Max only demonstrates that you are a FAN of Max, and there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when fans promote the superiority of their favorite player as fact. It's not. It's a highly biased opinion.

Basically your argument is that Max is great in the same way someone argues their favorite sports hero is great. How can you not see that's debatable even when you cite their achievements as evidence of greatness?

I'm not here to protest your fandom of Max Landis. Max is awesome, whoopee! Not going to affect my life either way. The thing that bothered me was when people started making stuff up as though they were right there every step of the way at the outset of Max's career. How do you know John Landis has no pull in Hollywood anymore? How do you know the Landis name ONLY opened a few doors to get read? You don't know. But some of you are creating this narrative to make a stronger case for the greatness of your hero. And now you're blurring the line between quantifiable facts vs things you believe to be true about your hero. It's understandable. Most fan-atics take an irrational approach when discussing their heroes.

I'm not a fan of Max Landis. I've seen only one of his movies. But I know who he is, and what he does, and how he does it. Quantifiable facts.

Your writing is getting increasingly irrational.

[mgwriter]

Originally Posted by tuukka

I'm not a fan of Max Landis. I've seen only one of his movies. But I know who he is, and what he does, and how he does it. Quantifiable facts.

Your writing is getting increasingly irrational.

How do you know HOW Max does what he does? Please share in quantifiable, factual terms. Are you there observing when Max writes? Are you present at all of Max's meetings? Or are you simply guessing based on the end results you see?

Since you don't seem to understand the concept of what a quantifiable fact is, it's pointless for us to discuss this further.

[tuukka]

Originally Posted by mgwriter

How do you know HOW Max does what he does? Please share in quantifiable, factual terms. Are you there observing when Max writes? Are you present at all of Max's meetings? Or are you simply guessing based on the end results you see?

Since you don't seem to understand the concept of what a quantifiable fact is, it's pointless for us to discuss this further.

There is wealth of information about Max Landis online.

I know how many scripts he has written. I know how many he has sold. I know how many were turned into movies. I know how difficult this is, and how much it demands from a writer, on the page, and in the room.

I know what kind of personality Max has. It's hard to escape him nowadays.
I know how he has built his network.

If you bother to google, you can find answers to all of those things.
If you are too lazy to do it, I'm not going to do the work for you.

You are acting as if Max Landis is some mysterious figure we know nothing about, when the extreme opposite is true.

[ProfessorChomp]

Originally Posted by mgwriter

How do you know HOW Max does what he does? Please share in quantifiable, factual terms. Are you there observing when Max writes? Are you present at all of Max's meetings? Or are you simply guessing based on the end results you see?

Since you don't seem to understand the concept of what a quantifiable fact is, it's pointless for us to discuss this further.

It's interesting you hold us to the standard of quantifiable fact but not yourself. You credit nepotism for someone's success without any proof, but if we suggest maybe there's more to it, we need to prove it with some notarized certificate from the Billy Wilder Institute of Writerly Merit? Makes sense. If you insist on quantifiable fact, go prove with quantifiable fact that Max's dad made Chronicle a hit and got his subsequent scripts sold, and maybe we can continue this asinine discussion. Until then, it's just your opinion, no better or worse than ours.

[mgwriter]

Originally Posted by tuukka

There is wealth of information about Max Landis online.

I know how many scripts he has written. I know how many he has sold. I know how many were turned into movies. I know how difficult this is, and how much it demands from a writer, on the page, and in the room.

I know what kind of personality Max has. It's hard to escape him nowadays.
I know how he has built his network.

If you bother to google, you can find answers to all of those things.
If you are too lazy to do it, I'm not going to do the work for you.

You are acting as if Max Landis is some mysterious figure we know nothing about, when the extreme opposite is true.

None of that tells you HOW Max Landis does what he does. You can't know a person by simply reading about them online. You claimed to have factual knowledge of how Max conducts himself in meetings. Is there a video feed online showing Max in meetings or are you guessing based on the persona he uses on his YouTube channel?

People with their own vanity YouTube channel use it to make themselves appear how they want themselves to appear. It's all controlled. If Max wants to appear as someone who is a self made genius who wasn't born into success, then that's the persona he's going to create for himself on YouTube.

Also people from privileged backgrounds rarely publicize ways in which their privileged status helped them when they are trying to make themselves look more awesome, which is probably why you don't see anything online about how John Landis helped Max get where he is. And since you don't see it online, John's helping Max sustain himself and his career must not exist? Is that the logic? Gtfoh

You can google and see that Max has movies produced, but it doesn't tell you HOW he wrote them or HOW he got them made, nor does it tell WHO helped him in ways that don't show up in the credits.

1) never believe everything you read online
2) you can read about a person online, but that doesn't mean you know them or know how they do what they do.
3) just because something appears on Google doesn't mean it's factual.

[ProfessorChomp]

Originally Posted by mgwriter

None of that tells you HOW Max Landis does what he does. You can't know a person by simply reading about them online. You claimed to have factual knowledge of how Max conducts himself in meetings. Is there a video feed online showing Max in meetings or are you guessing based on the persona he uses on his YouTube channel?

People with their own vanity YouTube channel use it to make themselves appear how they want themselves to appear. It's all controlled. If Max wants to appear as someone who is a self made genius who wasn't born into success, then that's the persona he's going to create for himself on YouTube.

Also people from privileged backgrounds rarely publicize ways in which their privileged status helped them when they are trying to make themselves look more awesome, which is probably why you don't see anything online about how John Landis helped Max get where he is. And since you don't see it online, John's helping Max sustain himself and his career must not exist? Is that the logic? Gtfoh

You can google and see that Max has movies produced, but it doesn't tell you HOW he wrote them or HOW he got them made, nor does it tell WHO helped him in ways that don't show up in the credits.

1) never believe everything you read online
2) you can read about a person online, but that doesn't mean you know them or know how they do what they do.
3) just because something appears on Google doesn't mean it's factual.

And where's your hidden camera footage showing John Landis making it all happen for him? Come back with that footage, please. I mean, if we have to provide it, you should too. It's only fair.