The Raven... uh, ok.

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  • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

    Originally posted by Sinnycal View Post
    That's my point.

    A writer can't sell a concept. There was a time it was possible, so long as you were already a hot commodity named Joe Eszterhas or something like that. A writer spends tons of energy building and nurturing story concepts and most have at least a handful filed away that maybe haven't been fully worked into scripts, but nobody wants to hear about them and certainly nobody would buy them. As a writer, you have to flesh out every aspect of the concept and PROVE that you can turn it into a viable feature before anyone will even look at it.

    And if you do that and it is fantastic? Maybe they'll toss it in a drawer and hire you to write Slinky: The Movie.

    But if you can make neato digital effects on your Macbook, suddenly Hollywood is into throwing money at concepts?

    Where's the disconnect?

    It boggles my mind that any writer would be thrilled with Hollywood moving in yet another direction that marginalizes writers and the spec script. First it was the endless remake obsession, and then all the adaptations of storyless properties like View Master or Erector Set, and now they're busy snatching up every shiny tech-demo that goes viral.

    It's like Hollywood is run by kittens and writers are the only people without laser pens.



    It's a nifty concept that countless people have come up with before this guy used it in a short. It's not remotely original, so I don't see why you would need to buy the rights to the concept from him if you wanted to be the 276th person to use it.
    You are buying his execution. Re-read the part where I mentioned the investment in a new filmmaker.

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    • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

      I agree. It's in the execution. It demonstrates the talent of the filmmaker. And, imo, PIXELS is a well-made short that showcases the filmmaker's talents and potential of his concept.

      When I saw the Tetris blocks demolish a few floors of the building, I thought that'd be a really cool scene in a movie when fully realized. It got the neurons firing in my brain. I think they're on the money with this. Reminds me of EVOLUTION.

      Comment


      • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

        Originally posted by Why One View Post
        I agree. It's in the execution. It demonstrates the talent of the filmmaker. And, imo, PIXELS is a well-made short that showcases the filmmaker's talents and potential of his concept.
        So they're buying a "concept" because they were impressed with the digital compositing.

        Like I said pages ago to a bunch of pish-poshing.

        It's like Hollywood will line up to buy "story concepts" from anyone other than people whose job is to come up with story concepts, and for any reason other than actually demonstrating a fully-realized story concept.

        When I saw the Tetris blocks demolish a few floors of the building, I thought that'd play out a really cool scene in a movie when fully realized. It got the neurons firing in my brain.
        Yeah, I thought that eight years ago, the first of many times I can recall seeing that exact same thing on the internet.

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        • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

          Originally posted by SBScript View Post
          You are buying his execution. Re-read the part where I mentioned the investment in a new filmmaker.
          How does buying the rights to a short with a ubiquitous concept and a bunch of properties the filmmaker doesn't own constitute an investment in the filmmaker?

          If they think the guy is a good director, then hire him to direct something. Don't buy his storyless, characterless tech demo to turn into a feature.

          Has anyone explained yet how it could be possible for writers to be excited about this trend?

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          • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

            I think The Gift is a considerably more realized story/concept/world than the others discussed in this thread, and the work certainly shows more artistry and imagination than the one with the telekinetic guy.

            Still, though, I'm not sure I see it and think "that short should be a feature" so much as "that filmmaker should make a feature."

            That's the thought process I believe is ass-backwards with this trend.

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            • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

              Here's to me how the deal with PIXELS went down. Some producer saw PIXELS on the internet. Thought it could be a movie. Pursues it. Just like how a writer might pursue a movie idea based on some article they read. Ain't nobody bagging on you for doing it.

              Producers buying into features based on shorts is nothing new. It's not a new trend. Writers aren't suddenly getting marginalized because of it. They've always bought into shorts to turn into features -- usually finding them through festivals. Now the internet has become a new source. SAW had its inception from a short. As did NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE. And countless of others. I'm pretty sure XENOGENSIS helped James Cameron in some way sell THE TERMINATOR.

              Regular people who saw XENOGENESIS might say, "Where's the story in that? It's just some dude getting chased and attacked by a robot." But maybe producers saw much more in it -- enough to give Cameron a shot.

              I just realized I typed INCEPTION somewhere in my post. Hmm, really looking forward to that movie. But that is for another thread.

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              • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                Originally posted by Sinnycal View Post
                How does buying the rights to a short with a ubiquitous concept and a bunch of properties the filmmaker doesn't own constitute an investment in the filmmaker?

                If they think the guy is a good director, then hire him to direct something. Don't buy his storyless, characterless tech demo to turn into a feature.

                Has anyone explained yet how it could be possible for writers to be excited about this trend?
                Maybe they like the idea enough to believe they can obtain rights to VG characters and make it work. Why do you think they bought it? Because they're too stupid to know better?

                And btw, what the hell does "bought" even mean. You have no idea what they paid and neither do I, it may have been a relatively symbolic amount intended to generate some more buzz and see if they might have a viable project there.

                I don't know why a writer would care about people being excited by directors or why that would be a bad thing.

                Comment


                • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                  Originally posted by SBScript View Post
                  Why do you think they bought it? Because they're too stupid to know better?
                  Well...

                  Yes.

                  Pretty much.

                  Exactly.

                  The 276th person to use an idea wouldn't pay the 275th person who used the idea if they were aware of the fact that 274 people already used the idea before him.

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                  • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                    Originally posted by Sinnycal View Post
                    Well...

                    Yes.

                    Pretty much.

                    Exactly.

                    The 276th person to use an idea wouldn't pay the 275th person who used the idea if they were aware of the fact that 274 people already used the idea before him.
                    As SB has said, it's in the execution. Just because you come up with an idea of some guy being locked in a vacant room with a saw first, doesn't automtically land you a deal. You have to demonstrate it with a solid form of execution.

                    I bet there are people sneering at SAW, claiming to have come up with the idea before James Wan's short film. In fact, the idea of SAW wasn't exactly new.

                    James Wan has said that the primer for SAW came from the scene in MAD MAX where Max cuffs a Biker's leg to a car leaking gas and tosses him a hacksaw before explaining how long it takes to cut though a leg vs the iron leggings.

                    So, where are the other 275 well-made PIXEL-like short films?

                    Comment


                    • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                      Originally posted by Deion22
                      http://www.collider.com/2010/04/08/c...lm-adaptation/

                      "THE GIFT" would make a sick ass movie. Hollywood Studios need to play nice with PHILLIPS, and buy the rights to that project. That sucks for the director, that PHILLIPS owns the project, because I could see a MAJOR BIDDING WAR over that project between studios.
                      This short was awesome! The PHILLIPS TV border was off putting. Looking foward to a Part 2.

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                      • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                        Originally posted by Why One View Post
                        As SB has said, it's in the execution. Just because you come up with an idea of some guy being locked in a vacant room with a saw first, doesn't automtically land you a deal. You have to demonstrate it with a solid form of execution.
                        What was executed, exactly? Some nifty digital effects?

                        Comment


                        • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                          Originally posted by Sinnycal View Post
                          Well...

                          Yes.

                          Pretty much.

                          Exactly.

                          The 276th person to use an idea wouldn't pay the 275th person who used the idea if they were aware of the fact that 274 people already used the idea before him.
                          No offense, but you just don't get it. There is a cool idea there. The filmmaker is obviously very talented. The concept to movie translation is clear (ghostbusters with video game characters), worth paying to get into business on it. No one has made this movie yet, even if there are lots of pieces of media out there on the web that may touch on it.

                          Comment


                          • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                            Originally posted by SBScript View Post
                            No offense, but you just don't get it. There is a cool idea there.
                            A cool idea that I've seen countless times before this short.

                            The filmmaker is obviously very talented.
                            Obviously.

                            Which means that, like I was saying pages ago, they've misidentified the value of the short.

                            The concept to movie translation is clear (ghostbusters with video game characters), worth paying to get into business on it.
                            Good lord, really? Ghostbusters? People have been trying for decades to make the next Ghostbusters, and you're ready to just presume that it is hidden in this glorified tech-demo?

                            I can't believe I would have to explain this, but Ghostbusters isn't Ghostbusters because "let's use ghosts" was such a brilliant idea. Not a single thing that would make for the next Ghostbusters is present in this short.

                            Comment


                            • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                              Originally posted by Sinnycal View Post
                              A cool idea that I've seen countless times before this short.



                              Obviously.

                              Which means that, like I was saying pages ago, they've misidentified the value of the short.



                              Good lord, really? Ghostbusters? People have been trying for decades to make the next Ghostbusters, and you're ready to just presume that it is hidden in this glorified tech-demo?

                              I can't believe I would have to explain this, but Ghostbusters isn't Ghostbusters because "let's use ghosts" was such a brilliant idea. Not a single thing that would make for the next Ghostbusters is present in this short.
                              And I can't believe that I have to explain this, but Ghostbusters is Ghostbusters because of the writing, the acting and the director. Just like Pixels could be the next Ghostbusters because of the writing, the acting and the director.

                              If you had just pitched an idea about three guys trying to stop a bunch of ghosts from running amuck in NY, then guess what, it could go either way. It could be pedestrian crap, or it could be ghostbusters. But, what makes sense is identifying a good concept, and then paying to get an amazing script on the page, and then paying to get the right actors in it. And that is what they are doing, i.e., they are at step one. Which, again, you really don't seem to understand. It's a good concept. It could be a great movie, but it's up to them to get it there.

                              Comment


                              • Re: The Raven... uh, ok.

                                Originally posted by SBScript View Post
                                And I can't believe that I have to explain this, but Ghostbusters is Ghostbusters because of the writing, the acting and the director. Just like Pixels could be the next Ghostbusters because of the writing, the acting and the director.
                                What a meaningless distinction.

                                I just got done dropping a load in the toilet that could be the next Ghostbusters if we assuming that Ghostbusters-level writing, acting, and directing will be attached to it.

                                Unfortunately for me, it turns out that writing the next Ghostbusters is the hard part. Who could've guessed?

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