Happy Holidays

I hope everyone is traveling safe, and is having a good holiday season.

I'll be out of touch for a few days while my DSL gets re-routed to the new apartment. We're still moving, and I'm still struggling with the ankle.

Next year is the year I sell a script. All y'all, too. If this damn strike ever gets settled.

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Weekend Box Office #63

So it's going to be a very busy weekend at movie theaters this weekend, as everyone who has gotten their holiday shopping done (and some that haven't) escape the cold and/or the holiday stress and see a flick.

Along with holdovers I AM LEGEND and ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS, which should both easily break $25 million for the weekend, these films are opening wide:

NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS (3832 theaters). Early buzz is that it's better than the first (which I never saw, but which did pretty well at the box office), and it seems like the kind of breezy comic adventure that people are in the mood for. $49.7 million.

WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY (2650 theaters). An article in yesterday's LA Times said that this and the next two movies would be battling for fifth place this weekend, and that none might break $10 million. I think WALK HARD will beat them handily. $18.9 million.

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (2574 theaters). Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are appealing actors, but I'm not sure Universal has figured out quite how to sell this yet. Still, it should do around $13.0 million.

P.S. I LOVE YOU (2454 theaters). It's a big weekend for punctuation in titles. Even though this movie looks like it might ultimately be uplifting, I'm not sure people will flock to see a film about a woman getting over a dead loved one during this holiday season. $6.9 million.

SWEENEY TODD (1249 theaters). I think that there is a big wanna-see factor with this, though the screen count is pretty low. Still, figure $14.2 million.

And then opening wide on Christmas Day are THE WATER HORSE (2772 theaters), ALIEN VS. PREDATOR - REQUIEM (2563 theaters) and THE GREAT DEBATERS (1164 theaters). And JUNO is expanding to 994 theaters.

Anyone that sees any of these, report in; there are a lot of choices to make, and a lot of movies that will be seen or missed.

If you see me limping around a theater, say hi. Though I may have to find an unpopular movie, so I have a place to put my crutches.

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Recovering... slowly.

After a long weekend of swollen-foot blues, I saw another doctor today, who said that I was healing, that there don't seem to be any tears, but that I sprained a ligament badly and it's still going to be another few weeks before I'm walking around.

And that the pain I was feeling on the side of my lower leg was the brace rubbing, and not the actual injury.

Which is all good news, and he gave me a better brace. He also rolled his eyes at the urgent care doctor I saw last week, particularly the fact that the guy had given me the completely-conflicting advice of not putting any weight on the ankle and yet trying to get me walk with a cane (I couldn't, naturally, and went to crutches instead).

The biggest pain is that we still have to move in the next few weeks, which is going a bit slowly, since I am unable to do simple things like carry boxes out to my car and carry them in to the new place. So I've been enlisting people, including my aging mother-in-law, who helped bring over a couple of laundry baskets full of DVDs today on the way to bringing me to my doctor's appointment.

(In terms of mothers-in-law, I'm a very lucky man).

So my immediate focus is limited to packing, healing, moving and Christmas. I did a smidgen of writing the other day, but the whole hour-a-day bit is on hold again. I have a few scripts to read for people, but industry work has shut down, more due to the season than the strike at this point.

Anyhow, anyone who wants to help me move boxes this week, send up a flare. Lunch is on me.

********

I AM LEGEND made a huge $77 million for the weekend. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS made a scarily-good $44 million (imagine if had been a good movie?).

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY made only $2.2 million, in 1307 theaters. Compare that to JUNO, which made $1.4 million in only 40 theaters.

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Weekend Box Office #62

So the big question this weekend is how much I AM LEGEND will make. Will Smith in a movie is becoming about as automatic as it gets.

I AM LEGEND (3606 theaters). They are selling this well, without giving much away about the story after the first half-hour. It'll be huge. $52.7 million for the weekend.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS (3475 theaters). This looks like it is skewing really young, though there's not that much competition for the family audience, other than Christmas shopping. $17.9 million.

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY (1307 theaters). This looks a lot like THIS CHRISTMAS, which is still playing in almost 2000 theaters. $5.3 million.

Also opening, in limited release: THE KITE RUNNER and YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH.

JUNO continues its expansion. Someone e-mailed me what must be an early version of the script, because the "homeskillet" line is said by a teenage girl and not the Rainn Wilson character. I didn't want to read it until I saw the movie, but I started looking at it, and read 9 pages before I pulled myself away.

As much as some may whine about Diablo Cody getting too much press for her stripper past, she's a pretty good writer.

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Ouch (Pt. II)

(Which sounds like a classic Little Richard song. Go ahead, sing a few bars.)

So I went to see the doctor today, just to make sure that there were no broken bones. X-rays reveal that there don't seem to be, which is good, though the doctor was concerned because I had sore spots on both sides of my ankle.

It's likely I sprained/strained (not sure what the difference is) ligaments on both sides, though worse on one side than the other. Hopefully I didn't tear anything, though if things don't improve in 10 days, they may do an MRI.

I tried to rock the cane, but I still can't put any weight on the ankle, so the cane wasn't rocking. So I got a pair of crutches. My wife is currently out buying Aleve, IcyHot and fluffy sponges to tie around the top of the crutches, because they are already killing my armpits.

It's going to be a long week. But it is feeling better than it did yesterday, and I have always been a pretty quick healer.

And fortunately there's no reason that I can't spend the next week cocooned in the apartment, reading scripts, watching TV and healing for the move.

But wow, do I hate this staircase, more and more each day.

Thanks to everyone who sent advice.

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Ouch

Strike news is so depressing that I prefer to talk about myself instead.

So the good news is that the wife and I found another apartment, and signed the lease yesterday. This one's in North Hollywood too. Nice little place, and they gave us two free weeks of rent.

Which is cool, because we have three weeks of overlap on both apartments for the move.

So the move will be easy-peasy. Except --

Last night, I went to drop some stuff off at the new place, since it is just up the road from where my Monday night group meets.

So I was late to the group, and had to park three blocks away.

Then, dumb me, I decided to jog, so I wouldn't be late. Down a dark, apparently cracked sidewalk.

Bad move. Because I did something to my ankle, and felt it when I did it.

It went this way, then that way.

I settled down into a limp, and initially it seemed okay, a bit tender, but crisis averted. Went to the group. Some discomfort, no pain.

At the coffee break, roughly 90 minutes after it happened, I walked down the street to a cafe with another writer. The ankle was a little swollen, but I could still walk on it without any real trouble.

When we returned to the theater, a few other people ran next door and got me some ice. So I iced it and elevated it for the next 90 minutes.

And then couldn't put any weight on it.

Got a ride to my car, and drove home (it was my left ankle, fortunately). Hopped to the apartment.

Spent the night in some pain, icing it with a big bag of expired frozen broccoli, and sitting on the couch because the bed was too uncomfortable. Didn't sleep much.

The worst thing is that though we handily have some rolling chairs to move around in, we live in a townhouse. The couch and the TV are downstairs, and all the toilets are upstairs.

The stairs feel really long when you have to hop/crawl up them.

So the swelling seems down a bit this morning, and I can wiggle my toes and everything. I'm torn about going to the hospital, because I have a feeling they'll just tell me to stay off it and give me some crutches, and though the latter would sort of be helpful, they'd still only minimally help in this apartment.

Unless I should go to the hospital if something might be wrong that isn't going to heal by my sitting around and letting it heal.

So if anyone has some knowledgable advice/horror stories, roll them out there. Meanwhile, since I'm upstairs now typing this, I'm going to crawl into bed.

And hope this gets better fast enough not to impede the whole packing/moving process.

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Weekend Box Office #61

The only thing opening wide this weekend is THE GOLDEN COMPASS, in 3528 theaters. It's obviously going to do well, but how well is the question.

I'm not sure enough people are familiar with the books, while since it doesn't come across as as much of a family movie as NARNIA, I'm not sure it is hitting any audience dead-on.

Still, a lot of theaters, a lack of new competition... call it $34.1 million for the weekend.

Opening in limited release is a slew of new movies, including ATONEMENT (32 theaters), JUNO (7 theaters) and GRACE IS GONE (4 theaters).

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Greedy Landlords Suck

Last Saturday, we went out hunting for a new apartment; we have to be out of this place by the end of the year, because the whole complex is being renovated.

So my wife printed out a bunch of good places from Westside Rentals, made a few calls, and we headed out last Saturday to see a few apartments (as well as scout out the neighborhoods they are in).

The second apartment we saw was in North Hollywood, and we thought we struck gold. The living room was smallish, but the two rooms upstairs were huge, with big walk-in closets. And it had a big two-car garage. The rent is around the upper limit of what we wanted to spend, but the neighborhood was perfect, and the lady who owns the place (Maria) seemed very nice.

We applied, and Monday she called, to tell us it's ours. We made arrangements to meet in a couple of weeks to sign the lease and drop a big cashier's check on her.

Cool. Great. A place to be excited about, and now we don't have to worry about finding a place, so that hassle is eliminated.

Not. So. Fast.

Today Maria calls, and says that her "partner" (someone she'd never mentioned before, and who I'm not entirely sure exists) thinks the apartment is worth more, and now the rent is $100 more.

Bait and switch much?

I told my wife when she came home for lunch, and she was pissed. Because though we wanted the place, and could probably swallow the extra bucks, who wants a landlord like this?

Particularly since -- get this -- the apartment has been sitting empty for a year because she was using it for storage.

So we reported her to Westside rentals, and this weekend we get to go out and search for another place in the same general area.

Sigh.

I hope her new higher-paying tenants turn out to be the tenants-from-hell. Because that would be karma.

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I Need To Write More

For a while this fall I was really in a groove. I wrote at least an hour a day for several months.

Recently, not so much. At all.

I'm not really sure why. One reason was because I finished the low-budget thriller I was working on, and tried to segue into the script I'm writing with a (long-distance) friend, and that's not clicking all that well (both the script and the writing partnership). Plus the project is really a tough one to crack and figure out the right tone and story, and I think we're just barely starting to get there now. Though we're trying.

So it's inching along, but since the last time I brought it into my screenwriting group (2 weeks ago) I haven't done much work on it.

So when a friend from my screenwriting group called 2 days ago and begged me to take one of her slots last night, I said yes, even though I didn't have anything new to bring in.

So I bravely brought in something from 5 years ago, a script that I liked a lot of, but which never worked. A fantasy-comedy-drama sort of in the genre of the mediocre Nic Cage movie "Family Man" (though I actually thought of this idea first, and it's not THAT similar).

And the reading went well. The actors had a lot of fun with it, and some of the humorous bits played pretty well (I was a lot funnier five years ago). I actually thought that maybe it worked better than I thought.

But then the writers tore it apart.

Bless them, because they were right about the key things that simply don't work. I'm much, much better at seeing the flaws in someone else's work than my own.

But now I think I found a jumping off point to make it work.

But I still want to nail this writing project with the friend.

But time is going to be crunching. Because the building I live in is doing renovations, we're moving at the end of the month. I hate moving.

We found a new place in North Hollywood, which means that we'll actually be living near people. Plus there's better parking, which was a nightmare in Woodland Hills.

So locals can expect more socializing. And poker.

But man, I have to write. An hour a day, every day, even during the move. Today is day 1.

******

The past weekend at the theaters was fairly blandly predictable. ENCHANTED made $16.4 million, and nothing else made more than $8.2 million (BEOWULF). AWAKE did only $5.8 million.

Things should be picking up this weekend; among other things, JUNO opens in limited release. I was interested to see that they turned the Sherman Oaks Galleria multiplex into an Arclight; has anyone been there yet?

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Weekend Box Office #60/Strike Stuff

So though the AMPTP submitted their much-ballyhooed new offer yesterday, word has it that the offer is terrible, and really hasn't moved negotiations any closer to a settlement. In fact, negotations are off until Tuesday, when the WGA will present its new offer.

There doesn't seem to be any real motivation for AMPTP to want to get this settled before the New Year. Given the holiday break coming up, there wouldn't be much TV filming in December anyway, while apparently AMPTP has its eye on using force majeure to get out of some deals they don't want to be in.

Plus, let's face it: the AMPTP wants this strike to hurt. They don't want the writers looking back on this strike with fond memories in the future, to justify another strike.

Fingers crossed that it settles in January, but who knows at this point.

******

Meanwhile, only one movie opens widely this weekend. The first weekend of December is considered a dead week in theaters, with moviegoers still recovering from Thanksgiving and thinking about shopping.

Though given that Thanksgiving weekend is such a big movie-going time, the following week is always going to look bad in comparison. Especially if you don't actually release good new movies.

So AWAKE opens in 2020 theaters. The ads seem fairly effective; it should do about $8.3 million for the weekend. Though look for ENCHANTED to more than double that, and finish #1, while nothing else will likely break $10 million.

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An Interesting Exercise

I'm trying to come up with a good what-if scenario for this question. Let's try it this way --

Suppose you find yourself stuck in a parallel universe, where they have movies, but not the same ones we do.

You have a chance to pitch a movie you want to write to a parallel universe studio head, and you realize that you have the entire history of our world's movies to draw on.

Setting aside the dicey moral question of rewriting (or copying) someone's work from this world to present in this parallel world, what story would you choose?

Or, rephrased, what movie that has ever been made seems to be the one that you'd choose to get someone (who is unfamiliar with all movies) to instantly want you to write it?

What movie has the perfect hook, the wanna-see factor, the perfect representation of all things that everyone is currently looking for in a movie?

I think it's an interesting question, because it really goes to the heart of the issue of the kinds of things people should write if they really want to break into the business in a big way.

So now you're in parallel-world-land, you have a meeting with me, and you need to pitch something. The fate of Earth is at stake (somehow, just to up the ante. Ticking clock). What do you pitch?

Go.

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Back In The Saddle Again

So I've returned to the (relatively) sunnier climes of California, after a five-day visit to my parents on Long Island, New York.

This year my mother-in-law tagged along with the wife and I, which could have been an awkward proposition, but it worked out well. And though it was cold, it didn't rain until the last day.

Though getting through airport security was a happily-quick process (we got there way early, and killed lots of time in the terminals as a result), we flew American Airlines, which is one of the airlines that is trying to cut costs by charging extra for the bad food they serve.

They also charge $2 for the "headphones" to watch the inflight programming, though the headphones now consist of some remarkably-uncomfortable earbuds. They say you can keep them and reuse them, but it's hard to believe that anyone would want to.

On the way there, they showed an episode of "The Big Bang Theory", and then they showed "High School Musical 2", which I think the entire plane pretty much ignored; I didn't see anyone between the ages of 5 and 20 on the plane anyway.

My wife kept putting her earbud in, tuning into a few minutes of the movie, and just shaking her head.

Flying back was moderately better; I actually invested in the uncomfortable earbuds to watch "No Reservations" (completely formulaic and predictable, but not terrible) and an old episode of "How I Met Your Mother".

And a million commercials.

Which of course begs the question of whether the writers are getting paid for any of it, particularly the TV episodes. Because the $2 is for the headphones, and the commercials are just sort of there.

And I can see the AMPTP arguing that the airing of "How I Met Your Mother" was "promotional".

Word has it that the negotiations yesterday went well, but they were basically just catching up on all the stuff they had already pretty much agreed on. And that today is the big day, because today is when they start wrestling over the other stuff.

Though, according to some sources, groundwork has already be laid, and progress has been made.

Here's hoping it gets settled this week.

******

I was almost dead-on with my ENCHANTED prediction; it made $49.0 million in its first 5 days. Other movies, I wasn't so close.

THIS CHRISTMAS quietly made a very-impressive $26.3 million. It's interesting that black movies seem to have largely taken over the genre of amiable family comedy-dramas.

HITMAN made a solid $21 million, though I thought it would do more. THE MIST only made $12.9 million; I thought it would do a lot more, though I don't think they did a very good job selling it.

AUGUST RUSH somehow beat The Mist, taking in $13.2 million. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN did a very strong $10.7 million, in only 860 theaters.

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Weekend Box Office #59

It's a five-day holiday weekend, which makes box office predictions difficult for the new releases. Still, I'll give it a shot --

ENCHANTED (3730 theaters). This is getting surprisingly good reviews -- surprising to me, anyway, because the commercials look so dippy. But it looks primed to hit big; it seems perfect for this weekend. $49.7 million for the five days.

HITMAN (2457 theaters). It's nice to see Timothy Olyphant getting a chance to star in things, and this should be the choice of a lot of guys home for the holidays. $27.6 million.

THE MIST (2423 theaters). The fact that Frank Darabont wrote and directed this makes it interesting, while the fact that (like his THE GREEN MILE and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) it is based on a Stephen King tale will help. This will definitely be the lesser of those three works, but look for it to do about $26.1 million.

AUGUST RUSH (2310 theaters). The commercials really don't make this look very good at all. $6.1 million.

THIS CHRISTMAS (1858 theaters). In contrast, the commercials for this make it look very solid. $18.6 million.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (expanding to 860 theaters). Hitman and The Mist might steal some of the mainstream audiences away from this, but it should perform fairly well. $9.3 million.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Travel safe.

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The Doldrums

From my limited POV of the movie business, I can verify this: there don't seem to be many scripts circulating at all.

Because I work for a bunch of clients, mostly production companies and some small studios, and no one has anything for me to read.

It is the holiday time, when things are usually slow; every year, December is (by far) the slowest month for me.

But still, business is deader than dead out there.

It's not a big deal, yet, because I'm heading to New York with the wife tomorrow to visit my parents for the holidays.

And hopefully when I come back late Monday, it will be to some good strike news. We can dream.

Meanwhile, my $60 notes offer is still very open. Get those scripts done and take advantage of me while you can.

Otherwise, I took a revamped first act of my new script (the one I'm co-writing) into my group one night, and they still tore it apart, though I think it helped me learn some things about it. Mostly that we still haven't quite figured out the tone yet.

Tentpole film in 2010, though.

*******

For once, my weekend estimates were pretty close. BEOWULF made $27.5 million. MR. MAGORIUM made $9.6 million.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA flopped, though, with only $1.9 million from over 800 screens. You'd think they'd know that basing a movie on a beloved book is only going to work if the movie is actually good.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN made a very solid $3 million from only 148 screens, an average of over $20,000 per screen. MARGOT AT THE WEDDING pulled in $80,000 from only 2 screens.

The new Brian DePalma film REDACTED tanked with only $25,000 from 15 screens.

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Back to the Negotiating Table

So it was announced late last night that the WGA and AMPTP will start negotiating again, on Monday, November 26.

Hopefully both sides will make every effort to settle this thing.

The encouraging thing is that apparently this came out of a session last night at the home of CAA partner Bryan Lourd between WGA pres Patric Verrone, WGA chief negotiator Dave Young, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, Fox #2 man Peter Chernin and others.

I like to think they were sitting around Bryan's living room in their pajamas drinking 40s and watching "Friday Night Lights", when they realized that they wanted to see how all of the show's story arcs were going to come out.

More likely, Big Media is realizing that they need TV to be a viable medium, and that the strike is just going to push people closer to the day when other new media -- which they don't control -- starts really taking over.

Hopefully they found some middle ground, and they'll get something done after the holiday break. Meanwhile, the strike continues.

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Weekend Box Office #58

A few wide openings in this pre-holiday weekend, all of which got fairly negative reviews in today's LA Times:

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM (3164 theaters). As much as I like Natalie Portman, this looks like it is skewing very, very young (and it's G-rated, to boot). I'm not sure the audience out there is as huge as they hope it will be. $9.7 million.

BEOWULF (3153 theaters). Well, 300 made a fortune, and this has 3D in a thousand or so theaters, while apparently Angelina Jolie (or an animated Angelina Jolie) is naked. So boys will see it. $27.8 million.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (852 theaters). Would make for a weird Javier Bardem double feature with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. $5.1 million.

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Who Are They Lying To?

United Hollywood keeps making these great YouTube videos, and theirs is a website worth checking regularly for strike stuff.

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The Future is Now

So I've been fighting some sort of severe cold/flu thing the past 4 days, and I haven't been able to get back out on the picket lines. Which I really wanted to do (and which I will do in the future).

But it has given me a lot of time to wander around the Internet, reading about the strike and the issues at hand.

There seems to be the thought floating around out there that somehow the writers have erred by going out too early. That though it is right to be concerned about getting a piece of the Internet pie, that it is too early to tell what kind of pie it is going to be.

Baloney.

Yeah, there are new technologies every year, and who knows what we'll be watching TV shows and movies on in the future.

But it boils down to this:

Either people will be paying to download movies and TV shows over the Internet -- and the writers deserve a fair percentage of that money -- or Big Media won't be charging to view content over the Internet, and instead will be making money off ads attached to it. Which the writers also deserve a piece of.

And both of these things are happening already. You can pay to download movies and TV shows now, but the problem is that AMPTP's (reluctant) highest offer for residuals on this is the same lousy .3% that writers get from DVD sales.

And TV shows are also available to view online for free, and many have unskippable commercials in them. But AMPTP views these (and other web content that TV writers wrote without being paid for) as "promotional", despite the fact that they are full-length episodes with paid ads in them.

A good current example is The Daily Show. This is a TV program that is too topical to be rerun on TV. But the show has a website rife with clips and episodes for the show -- and also rife with a lot of advertising. Which the writers get 0% of.

The real problem here dates back to the 1940s, when screenwriters gave up copywright ownership of their material; copywright is why songwriters and book authors always get a cut of any sales of their work.

To counteract this, the studios agreed to pay residuals. And now they are trying to roll it back.

20 years ago, the WGA unwisely agreed to the .3% home video rate, because it cost a lot to make home videos, and no one was sure what the future was. The rate was supposed to be revisited, and should have been, since DVDs are much cheaper to produce (and downloads are infinitely cheaper).

But AMPTP has no interest in revisiting that rate discussion.

Historically, the writers haven't fought hard enough in battles like this. But now, with the basic Internet issues here -- residuals on paid downloads, a cut of ad rates -- it's time to draw a line in the sand, for writers, directors and actors to get a fair cut of new media.

The future is now.

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So Wait, Maybe There is Money To Be Made In This Internet Thing --

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Weekend Box Office #57

Meanwhile, movies keep coming out.

It's sort of interesting that I haven't heard anyone suggesting yet that people boycott TV and movies until the strike is settled.

I guess the idea is that no one wants to really pee on the industries that, in the end, both sides still need to stay healthy because livings need to be made there. Can't risk chasing the audience off.

And the effects of a boycott would be hard to measure, because box office numbers are so fluid. If there was a boycott this weekend, and FRED CLAUS "only" made $35 million, who's to say how much more it would have made without a boycott? Both sides could easily claim different things.

So keep going to theaters. Hopefully this thing will be settled soon. Meanwhile, I'm going to start listing the writers on every film, something I should have been doing a year ago.

FRED CLAUS (3603 theaters). It's opening wide, they have been advertising the hell out of it, and families have to be sick of BEE MOVIE and THE GAME PLAN by now. Written by Dan Fogelman. Prediction: $39.2 million for the weekend.

LIONS FOR LAMBS (2215 theaters). Reviews have been definitely mixed; word is that this is talky, talky, talky and a more than a bit heavy-handed. It's also only 90 minutes long. Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan. $9.7 million for the weekend.

P2 (2131 theaters). I've seen the commercials, and I feel like I have seen the movie. Written by Alexandre Aja, Franck Khalfoun and Gregory Levasseur. $6.4 million.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN also opens, in only 28 theaters, while AFTER DARK HORRORFEST 2 opens on 323 screens.

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There's a Petition To Support The WGA

In case anyone is interested, it's here.

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Walking The Line

So today I went over to Warner Brothers, and joined the picketers.

I chose WB because two of my production company clients have offices there, I've been on the lot probably a hundred times, and so it felt appropriate.

I started out at gate 2, grabbed a sign, and joined the mass of protestors there. I soon bumped into a friend who was heading back from moving her car (the one downside, since one can only park on area streets for two hours), and joined her as she moved to her regular post at the next gate down, clockwise.

The group there was smaller (fluctuating from between 15-30 people) and very friendly. I spent 4 hours holding up a sign, getting passing drivers to honk (which a very large number did) while also chatting with the writers there.

And the community is definitely supporting the strike. In the period of time I was there at this one, small, almost-negligible gate (we had some luxury cars go in, but no trucks at all), a restaurant brought over five bags of food (sandwiches, chips, salads), Taco Bell dropped off several bags, someone dropped off a half-dozen pizzas. A guy in a pickup truck dropped off food. There were snacks sent by TV fans, and people bringing by water and candy.

The writers there are definitely determined, but they weren't starving, though all the food was much appreciated.

The vibe there was good, too. Some groups chanted, others waved signs or crossed back and forth across the street. Spirits were high. Friendships were made.

No one gave us the finger, at least that I saw.

There were even a few celebrity sightings. Legendary long-lost blogger Josh Friedman (who finally posted a blog entry today, after 10 months of nada) was holding court in one corner of the sidewalk, though I didn't get a chance to talk with him.

Justine Bateman came out later and was picketing for a while, with no entourage whatsoever. I exchanged the briefest strike-related chitchat with her, and managed not to blurt out a confession of the crush I once had on her.

There were a lot of SAG members out on the picket lines today in general.

People appreciated that I was there despite not being in any of the unions, though no one seemed to know what to do with the news that I'm actually a reader.

Tomorrow all the picketers are supposed to picket the Fox Studio en masse. I think I'll skip that, but I plan to return to the WB picket line on Monday. Anyone who wants to join me, go for it; your presence will be appreciated.

Unless the strike is settled this weekend. Which would be better.

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The Strike Explained

I've seen this posted on other blogs, but it's concise and clear enough that everyone should see it.

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We're in a Strike World Now

So the writers' strike officially started yesterday, and apparently over 3000 WGA members hit the picket lines, aided by a lot of SAG actors as well.

On of the better websites to keep up with what is happening is Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily. She updates it regularly, so even when she posts rumors that turn out to be untrue, they soon get corrected.

Given the often-skewed reporting by the news media (way too much of which is owned by the same conglomerates that own the studio) which tends to paint the writers as being greedy, it was nice to see that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards all came out in support of the striking writers yesterday.

Though I'm not a WGA member, I plan to hit the picket lines sometime this week. More on that when it happens.

******

So I brought the first chunk (22 pages) of the comedy I am writing with the friend into my screenwriting group last night, and it didn't go well.

Though, from another perspective, it went great. Because though it's always nice to believe that a piece of work is going to be perfect, this one has huge flaws (and hell, we wrote most of it over the weekend), and the notes from my fellow writers are going to go a long way in addressing the problems.

The basic flaw was because of a decision I made. The world of this script (he said vaguely) has characters early on speaking another language, but because I didn't want there to be 10 pages of subtitles right off the bat, I came up with a logical way for them to be speaking English throughout.

Language problem solved, but unfortunately that single decision completely undercut the humor and tension of the piece. Oops.

Plus there's also the problem that it's unclear whether the intended audience is children or adults.

And the problem that it's not that funny. Yet.

Back to the drawing board, though I'm up again next week (a fellow writer swapped me for my slot next month), so it's a good chance to rework the material and get it back in the hands of the actors and writers while it is fresh in everyone's mind.

******

Over the weekend, American Gangster surprised everyone by finishing #1 with $43.6 million, beating Bee Movie, which only did $38 million (not that that's chopped liver).

Martian Child did an underwhelming $3.3 million. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead did an okay $370, 542 in 43 theaters.

Otherwise, artsier, more serious movies continue not to do well at the box office. Among the movies that are tailing off, and are going to wind up making only $10-$15 million for their whole theatrical run, are Into the Wild, the Darjeeling Limited and Rendition.

In the Valley of Elah made less than $7 million. Jesse James, Things We Lost in the Fire, Lust Caution and The Jane Austin Book Club aren't going to make $4 million.

Sleuth has only made $205,000 in 4 underwhelming weeks. Lars and the Real Girl isn't breaking out.

Neither is Wristcutters: A Love Story, which has gotten a lot of solid reviews (and which I want to see), but which only averaged $1200 per screen in its expansion to 91 screens.

Is it because audiences are only going to movie theaters for spectacle, and saving the smaller fare for DVD rentals?

It's a concern.

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Weekend Box Office #56

The box office should be picking up immensely this weekend, with two big movies opening:

BEE MOVIE (3928 theaters). Today's LA Times review wasn't great, but the commercials make it look like fun, and it should hit a wide swath of audience. $42.2 million for the weekend.

AMERICAN GANGSTER (3054 theaters). Solid reviews, and it should be a solid performer. $29.5 million.

MARTIAN CHILD (2020 theaters). I have no idea what possessed them to open this the same weekend as Bee Movie, which is going to crush it. They have been advertising this a lot, though, and Cusack's presence will help -- a little. $6.3 million.

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So Yeah, This Strike Is Going To Suck

Needless to say, I'm in one of those jobs that is going to be negatively-affected, bigtime, with any sort of long work stoppage.

Obviously I'm torn, because someday I hope to be a WGA writer, and take advantage of gains in residuals for new media, etc, etc.

But this just seems like it is going to be a train wreck for everyone. It's easy to see this being half a year of hell in which everyone on both sides loses lots of money, before finally coming to an agreement that they could have made yesterday.

Hopefully it all gets resolved soon. But somehow I doubt it.

Meanwhile, I'm revving up my $60 notes offer. It's a bargain, and I've gotten very good at it.

******

My streak of days doing something personally screenwriting-related for at least an hour finally ended Sunday, at 76 straight days.

It was sort of an accident. I did some paying work in the morning, took off for the afternoon with the wife and saw a couple of movies, went out to dinner, and intended to write when I got home.

But then I found a rush notes job that I needed to do, and I did that instead.

Still, it might be good to back off for a little while, and see if I can stay disciplined without it.

Though eventually, I'm going to try to break 100.

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Wallowing In Movies

When I lived in Manhattan, in my bachelor days, I used to have days in which I'd do nothing but see movies, knocking off two or three at a clip. One day I saw 6 -- in 6 different theaters -- still a personal record.

Now that I'm married, and always have stuff to do, such days rarely happen.

But yesterday I took most of the day off. After checking out possible areas worth renting an apartment in in the Studio City area (we're out of our current apartment at the end of the year, because they are renovating all the apartments in the complex), we headed over to the multiplex.

And saw two movies. Not only that, but two very different, very good movies.

*** No Spoilers ***

"Dan In Real Life" is being sold as a family comedy; the commercials all seem to feature the scene in which Steve Carell is freaking out because his teenage daughter is driving badly.

Not only has this scene been cut from the movie, it makes no sense that it was in the movie in the first place, given when the story between Carell and his older daughter boils down to. But I digress.

The movie is more of a comedy for grown-ups, and I'm not even going to talk about the main storyline (since none of the ads bother to). Suffice it to say that Carell is put in an impossible romantic situation in the middle of a shore weekend involving his whole family, and how he deals with it is full of humor and pain and a lot of satisfying moments.

Writer-director Peter Hedges (who wrote What's Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy, and if you like those two movies you'll undoubtedly like this one) has a perfect feel for awkward moments between people, and for breathing life into characters and relationships -- even minor ones -- in just a few strokes. Tonally, this is pitch perfect throughout, and worth seeing.

Then we wandered into (okay, we snuck into, but we dropped $10 on the concession stand, so win-win for everyone except the studio that released it, but since I do work for them I should be seeing this for free anyway) Michael Clayton, which is also a good movie, though an odd one to pair up with Dan in Real Life, because it's hard to imagine the character of Michael Clayton and the character Steve Carell plays even having a conversation in real life.

But George Clooney inhabits Clayton well, and the story, which essentially explores people who do shitty things because they get paid well for it, is involving throughout. The plot falls a little short here and there (the ending in particularly feels a little rushed), but the performances are dead-on, and writer-director Tony Gilroy nails most of it.

Both films are the kind of movie that Hollywood should be making more of.

********

Over the weekend, SAW IV made an impressive estimated $32.1 million, while DAN IN REAL LIFE did a solid $12 million.

MICHAEL CLAYTON is hanging in, dropping only 24% while making another $5 million, though its per-screen average is under $2000 now.

THE DARJEELING LIMITED expanded, but didn't do all that well; the $1.7 million it made was only an average of about $2400 per screen. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL did almost a million, but it only averaged $3200 per screen, not that great.

The Kevin Bacon-starring RAILS AND TIES only made about $10,000 total in 5 theaters, while the Anthony Hopkins-directed SLIPSTREAM made only about $6000 in 6 theaters. So they won't be coming soon to a theater near you.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD made a very solid $73,000 in two Manhattan theaters.

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Weekend Box Office #55

Just a couple of movies opening wide this weekend:

SAW IV (3183 theaters). Pretty much an unstoppable force, and it should win the weekend handily. Figure $30.2 million.

DAN IN REAL LIFE (1921 theaters). The commercials don't have much of a hook, other than to make it look like a genial comedy with Steve Carell in it. But the reviews are pretty good. $10.7 million.

Also, THE DARJEELING LIMITED is expanding to 698 theaters, and apparently all the prints now have the tied-in short "Hotel Chevalier" running before the film. More Natalie Portman.

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Swamped

So there are all these articles out now about how all these writers are pounding away, trying to get drafts done before the strike looms.

But the frenzy extends to readers as well.

Apparently no one is sitting around doing nothing this week. Everyone has scripts that need to be read, and read now.

All of which has been exascerbated by the fact that, earlier this week, I agreed to do a very (very) low-paid, semi-official, no-credit rewrite of a script for a production company that I occasionally do work for. But even that has to be done before the strike hits.

It's writing, which is cool, and on some levels I'm enjoying just banging out a pass. But the rewrite is turning out to be more extensive than I thought. Particularly for the money I'm getting.

Not complaining, just swamped.

Anyhow, don't expect a huge amount of posts from me this week, though I'll knock out one about the weekend movies tomorrow.

Let's hope there's not a strike though, because that's not going to help anyone.

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The Corpses of Movies Litter the Multiplex

So it really wasn't a good weekend for new releases.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT did do about $16 million, though that was below some expectations, and mediocre for this kind of movie. Solid, but not spectacular.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS did an impressive $5.1 million in only 564 theaters.

THE GAME PLAN and WHY DID I GET MARRIED? continued to do well. MICHAEL CLAYTON dropped only 32%, which is encouraging.

Otherwise, carnage.

GONE BABY GONE made only $6 million, despite playing on over three times as many screens as NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

THE COMEBACKS made only $5.9 million, averaging only about $2000 per theater. Awful.

RENDITION completely tanked, with only $4.1 million from 2250 theaters. Huge bomb. So was THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE, which despite playing in over 1100 theaters made only $1.6 million.

The biggest flops were SARAH LANDON AND THE PARANORMAL HOUR and the animated TEN COMMANDMENTS, which made about $560,000 and $480,000 -- averaging a respective $499 and $578 a screen.

If they had done five times as much business, they still would have been flops. As it is, they are two of the worst-performing wide releases of all time.

RESERVATION ROAD tanked on only 13 screens, while WRISTCUTTERS averaged an encouraging $12,000 each in three theaters.

What's the message learned this weekend? People don't want to see dour dramas, bad comedies, family movies without a hook, or cheesy-looking animated movies with Christian Slater(!) doing the voice of Moses.

******

I saw WE OWN THE NIGHT over the weekend, for one of the best/worst of reasons: the wife and I went to the multiplex to see INTO THE WILD, it was sold out, and WE OWN THE NIGHT was only movie starting in the next 45 minutes that we remotely wanted to see.

I liked the movie. It's melodramatic and hamfisted in spots, and Joaquin and Mark Wahlberg mumble too much, and there are a slew of dumb story points. But I got drawn into the tale anyway, and there are some great sequences here, particularly a car chase through the rain, which is one of the most visceral, harrowing things I've seen in a long time.

Worth checking out if it's your kind of thing, though the climax doesn;t really work that well.

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Weekend Box Office #54

There's a pile of movies opening wide this weekend; if you consider INTO THE WILD (which is expanding wide), there are a record 8 movies opening on at least 500 screens, with the other 7 opening on over 800. And if you count A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3D, that's 9.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2855 theaters). This should be the big movie this weekend, even though the one review I saw (in the LA Times) was underwhelmed. Look for it to do about $18.7 million this weekend, and then drop a lot next weekend when SAW IV opens.

THE COMEBACKS (2812 theaters). The commercials for this just look really, really stupid. People will go see it in hopes that it'll be funny, but I think it'll underperform. $8.2 million.

RENDITION (2250 theaters). It has a great cast, and Reese is plugging the heck out of it, but it looks depressing and dramatic, and reviews have been okay without really raving about it. Figure $7.9 million.

GONE BABY GONE (1713 theaters). It has a catchy title and Morgan Freeman, though I'm amused that the ads aren't playing up the fact that Ben Affleck directed it. $8.4 million.

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE (1142 theaters). The script for those was one of those supposedly-great scripts circulating around Hollyhwood, though I never read it. Reviews are fairly solid, and the cast is good, though this isn't many screens. $6.1 million.

SARAH LANDON AND THE PARANORMAL HOUR (1115 theaters). I have no idea what this is, or how it might hook in its intended teen audiences. Maybe they'll buy a ticket to this and sneak into the vampire movie. $1 million.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (830 theaters). A cheesy-looking animated version of the classic Biblical tale. It'll be interesting to see if it can draw a religious family audience, or whether they'll just go rent some DVDs instead. $2.4 million.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3D (564 theaters). Could do a little something. $2.1 million.

Also opening is RESERVATION ROAD on 13 screens, which is getting mixed reviews. WRISTCUTTERS (3 screens) is getting some good reviews, but I'm not sure it'll ever go that wide.

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Choosing The Movies We Choose To See

So buried in the comments in the post below, which largely center on whether it is racist to have never seen a Tyler Perry movie, is a larger-arcing question -- why do we choose the movies we choose to see?

When I was younger and living in Manhattan, I literally saw 12-20 movies a month in theaters, which pretty much encompassed anything that had any possibility of being good.

Now I'm down to 1-2 a month in theaters, maybe more in the early summer and the end of the year, when there is stuff crying out to be seen. In other words, I've sort of morphed into an approximation of an average filmgoer.

And pretty much my pool of movies I want to see is this:

1) Movies that are supposed to be at least very good, or entertaining, or just plain really funny. But the bar is fairly high here.

2) Movies starring people I like, or from directors I like, or with subject matter than might interest me, or which promise to be funny enough to counter their not being that good, or in which Natalie Portman is naked. In all of these instances, the bar is lower -- I might go see a mediocre (or worse) example of one of these films.

When it comes to Tyler Perry movies, it isn't a matter of race. It's a matter of their not being good enough to break into category #1 (so far) and because he hasn't made a movie that really hits my #2 yet.

Not because it's full of black people, but because of the subject matter. I'm not big on wacky movies about men dressed up as women (Tyler Perry's usual m.o.), unless they are great. The current WHY DID I GET MARRIED? is about couples getting together to talk about their marital problems. Cast this with white people, and it would probably be horrific -- hell, I'm more likely to see it with the current cast.

The problem with Hollywood is that they know about the #1 and #2 thing, and I think too often they see #1 as elusive -- they won't want to count on their movie being great, or even very good. So that's why they fill their movies up with stars, or remake TV shows or movies that people are familiar with, or go for the big spectacle stuff, because they are trying to hit as many people's #2 as they can. Unfortunately, again, in this category, films don't need to be great to make money.

The day that audiences just stick with #1 -- only seeing movies that are great, or at least very good -- is the day Hollywood will change the way they do business. But it'll never happen.

*******

Weekend autopsy:

Give WHY DID I GET MARRIED? credit though; it made $21.3 million over the weekend, to get first place in a runaway. Though the reviews (when they finally came; they didn't screen the film for critics) make it clear that this isn't the Perry film that is going to make many people's #1 category.

THE GAME PLAN did $11 million to take second; it's another #2 category type hit. People will see mediocre if it brings enough funny.

Despite good reviews, WE OWN THE NIGHT and MICHAEL CLAYTON each did between $10 and $11 million; again, quality isn't everything. Sadly.

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE opened with a disappointing $6.1 million. THE FINAL SEASON did a horrific $664,000 in over 1000 theaters.

In limited release, SLEUTH didn't do very well. I'm not sure why not.

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Weekend Box Office #53

Another passle of movies opening this weekend, some looking pretty good.

MICHAEL CLAYTON (2511 theaters, up from 15). This is opening wide, and I have a feeling that it'll be number one; it has a vibe of a must-see movie that the others don't have as much. Call it $17.5 million for the weekend.

WE OWN THE NIGHT (2362 theaters). This is getting solid reviews, but the vague good brother/bad brother storyline seems very familiar. It should do about $11.8 million this weekend.

TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED (2011 theaters). Tyler Perry is a force of nature; he has his fan base, who apparently don't care that his movies aren't actually all that good. Figure this one will do about $12.7 million for the weekend.

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (1951 theaters). I actually saw ELIZABETH with my wife on our first date, so I guess we should see the sequel. Feels too serious to pull in really big numbers though. $10.3 million for the weekend.

THE FINAL SEASON (1011 theaters). There is a dearth of family films out now, but it's hard to believe that too many people will care about this baseball tale, which has no real hook to it. $2.7 million.

In limited release, the remake of SLEUTH opens in 9 theaters, while LARS AND THE REAL GIRL opens in 7.

Notable expansions are ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (from 364 theaters to 954), JESSE JAMES (from 61 to 163), INTO THE WILD (135 to 153) and THE DARJEELING LIMITED (19 theaters to 95).

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Screenwriting Book

For the past few days, to fulfill my hour-a-day-of-screenwriting pledge (while waiting for my Internet co-worker to lob back some more brainstorming notes on our evolving structure), I have busied myself by reading a book on screenwriting.

Yeah, it counts. My rules.

Every year or so I do this, because I find it helps. I look for good screenwriting books, and then read them at the perfect time -- when I'm brainstorming a new piece, working out the structure, and looking for things to help inspire me along the end.

This current book is perfect.

It's called Writing Drama, by Yves Lavandier, and it's probably not for the beginning writer. It's a dense book, that essentially covers everything about the nuts and bolts of drama and screenwriting.

Lavandier has read all the other really good books that you should be reading and haven't read yet, though he doesn't really distill them as much as accumulate a lot of good ideas -- this book is almost 600 pages long.

I'm hamstrung a bit because I haven't seen a lot of the movies he talks about along the way, yet that turns out to be a minor point, because he makes it clear what the references indicate.

The book was originally published in France, but Lavandier isn't a pro-European film, anti-Hollywood guy. Instead, he believes in storytelling, in great stories told right, and he thinks that generally Hollyhwood has figured out how to do it better.

It's a good read, just because as I pore through it, I'm thinking about the script I'm writing now, and what it is lacking, and what it needs, and what about the structure already works.

Worth seeking out, if you are into a little self-education.

59 straight days, through yesterday.

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Jesse James

So I drug my bones out to a movie theater this weekend, and I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Which I guarantee probably isn't getting spelled out on many marquees.

The title is accurate though. The movie is long. Long. Long.

In many respects, it's also a great movie. It's a beautiful-looking film, the acting (particularly Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck) is very sharp, and the tale manages the difficult task of weaving an involving tale out of the intersection of these two characters, even as we know where it is heading.

But boy, does it take a while to get there. The movie is about 2 hours and 40 minutes long, and in no hurry. I largely enjoyed it, but I still looked at my watch a half-dozen times.

Writer-director Andrew Dominik (Chopper) has clearly made the movie that he set out to make, and it's clear why it is getting some good reviews. It's really not for all audiences though. It's one of those movies where most people, though appreciating the filmmaking, simply aren't going to have the patience to wait out a tale that could have been told in an hour's less time. At least 10 people walked out of the showing I was in.

It's still an interesting effort though, and it's worth checking out. Though you've been warned.

*******

The Heartbreak Kid only brought in an estimated $14 million over the weekend, about half of what industry expectations for it were. It didn't even win the weekend, coming in behind the Game Plan.

One problem is that the movie honestly didn't look like it was going to be much fun.

Still, it fared better than The Seeker, which only made about $3.7 million, the second-lowest total ever for a movie opening in over 3000 theaters. (The record-holder is a movie called Hoot, which did about $3.3 in May 2006).

Feel The Noise only did $3.4 million, though on a third of the screens that The Seeker had.

In limited release, Michael Clayton opened strong prior to going wide this weekend. The Darjeeling Limited is also doing well, bringing in over a half million dollars from only 19 theaters. Lust, Caution averaged over $21,000 each in 17 theaters.

Into the Wild is expanding well; it made almost $1.3 million, on only 135 screens. Jesse James did okay, not great.

Across the Universe is holding okay, though The Jane Austen Book Club's expansion went poorly, averaging only about $1250 a screen. In the Valley of Elah only averaged $1394.

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Weekend Box Office #52

Last weekend I didn't see anything. This weekend I'm determined to change that.

Opening wide:

THE HEARTBREAK KID (3229 theaters). On the plus side, it's the Farrelly Brothers going back to R-rated comedy. On the downside, the commercials look a bit one-note, and reviews haven't been great. I think it'll do a solid but somewhat-disappointing (given that the expectations are higher) $18.9 million for the weekend.

THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING (3141 theaters). I guess there are fans of this young-adult book, but the commercial has no real hook, and the reviews have been unenthusiastic. Still, this is a lot of theaters. $10.4 million.

FEEL THE NOISE (1015 theaters). The scariest words I've ever seen on a film ad: "From producer Jennifer Lopez". Didn't screen for critics. $4.1 million.

*******

In limited release, IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH is still pushing on, expanding another 213 screens to 975, despite mediocre numbers so far. THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB is taking its shot, expanding from 41 theaters to 1187. Look for Jane Austen to struggle to make $3 million, Elah to struggle to make $2 million.

INTO THE WILD jumps from 33 screens to 135. JESSE JAMES goes from 5 to 61. THE DARJEELING LIMITED expands from 2 to 19.

MICHAEL CLAYTON is opening in 15 theaters, and is getting very good reviews.

My current shortlist (limited to films in my neighborhood that I might see this weekend): Into the Wild, In the Valley of Elah, 3:10 to Yuma.

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Taking Notes

So aside from giving notes on other people's scripts, I also take them on mine.

In theory, it's something of a paradox. If I'm such a great note-giver, then how come I can't immediately see the flaws in my own scripts?

The answer is that I can see some, but not all of them. Even I need a fresh eye, or lots of eyes, to tell me what's not working.

Monday night, I brought the third act of my thriller into my screenwriting group. The rules there are simple: the actors read the pages, and afterward the other writers throw out thoughts.

It's something of an iffy process, especially with third acts, because the other writers aren't as familiar with what has come before. Even though I included a recap, there's a lot of new stuff in act 2 that no one has seen.

Like everyone, on some level I went in Monday night hoping that all the writers would be so mesmerized by my climax that they'd have no notes. That they'd just look at each other, admit it all worked, and go on to the next thing.

Didn't happen. At all. They tore it apart. Which is course is really what I'm glad happened.

Though Monday night was tough in that I got a slew of notes that conflicted with each other. You see, the thriller ends with a pair of quick reversals and then a huge twist.

Some of the people didn't like the twist, because they think it invalidates too much of the script that came before it.

Some people like the twist, but thought more characters needed to die off before the third act. There was a lot of disagreement over which characters should be around at the end.

Most hated the way I handled the reversals. Too out of the blue, not enough motivation for things that were happening.

The rule in the group is that the writer doesn't talk during all these notes. He doesn't defend, or argue. He just sits there, and writes everything down, whether he agrees with it or not.

It's a great rule.

Because even though I didn't agree with all the notes -- I knew I'd set things up that writers were complaining hadn't been, because they hadn't seen those pages -- I wrote every one of them down.

Because every note has value. Every note reflects something that isn't clicking with someone. And even if the person giving you the note has misunderstood something, that could be a problem too.

So over the last few days, I've distilled the notes, and run them through my brain. Tried to figure out what it was that people weren't responding too, where my intentions were falling short, and whether maybe indeed the climax would work better if I did C and D rather than A and B.

I filtered the notes through what I wanted to do with the script. Not following them blindly, or ignoring them blindly, but taking everything into consideration.

The rewrite is going well.

It's nice being on both sides of the process. I think it has improved my writing immensely.

My string of consecutive days screenwriting for at least an hour a day is up to 52, through yesterday.

*******

I also caught up with special edition DVDs for two older films, through my DVD reviewing gig.

THE GRADUATE, which I hadn't seen in a while, still holds up extremely well. Though it's amazing how little real plot the film has (and the original trailer, included on the DVD, gives away every single major plot beat), every single scene has memorable touches, while Mike Nichols' visual sense adds so much. It's also amusing how many memorable things in the movie (detailed by Dustin Hoffman in the extras) were just accidents or things randomly discovered along the way, rather than being planned out.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Al Pacino movie CRUISING, which was lambasted when it came out for its superficial treatment of the gay leather bar lifestyle. But the bigger problem is that the murder mystery at the heart of it isn't interesting, Pacino's undercover investigation into it really doesn't contain any detective work on his part, while it is completely unclear what is going on in Pacino's head at any time during the film.

It's awful -- and William Friedkin, who wrote and directed it, really could have used some notes.

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Lameness

So I was tagged by Kristen with yet another meme.

This one asks: List 5 things you do, did or like that some may consider "totally lame", but that you are totally proud of.

Yikes. That's my whole life.

1) In high school, I was a mathlete. Not only that, but I won awards, four plaques which I still have. One year I was first place in Suffolk County, Long Island, sometime in the faraway past. We may not have gotten laid, but we did have fun.

2) I used to play bridge, a lot. In high school, I'd get together with the guys, and drink wine coolers (a lameness category all its own, but that was a phase) and play bridge in the basement of twins Martin and Norman. In college, I taught everyone in the commuter room how to play. The funny thing is that I wasn't a particularly great player, so now there are lots of people out there playing bad bridge because of me.

3) I keep up with pop culture, way too much. I watch "Best Week Ever" and "The Soup" every Friday, just to see what crap celebrities did during the week that they can make fun of. Did you hear that Britney lost custody of her kids?

4) I'm the only straight man in the world who likes Broadway showtunes.

5) I hang onto underpants too long. I have some pairs that probably date back decades, though my wife tries to throw them out when I'm not looking. Hey, if they aren't stained and they give my boys a home, what's a hole or two?

At this point, Kristen is probably sorry she tagged me.

Share. What's some lameness in your life?

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Congratulations

This year, I know not one but two of the ten Nicholl Fellowship Finalists.

One is Brett, over at A Bucket of Love, who will undoubtedly be more insufferable than usual now ;-) I did give him notes on this script, once upon a time, though who knows if any made it into this draft.

The other is Lisa Gold, who is in my scriptwriting group. I can't take any credit for hers; though we have been tearing it apart in group for months, the draft that got her this far is the pre-torn-apart one.

If you've looking for an edge for next year, both scripts are essentially period dramas; both have WWII combat sequences.

Of course, what they both have in common is that they are very well-written. Good job, both of you.

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Somewhat Depressed

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm a New York Mets fan. Since about 1972.

I grew up going to Mets games for my birthday. In my post-college years, living in Manhattan, I used to take the 7 train out regularly (and yeah, sometimes I read scripts on the train. Or in my seat in the stadium, if I was alone).

I suffered through a lot of bad years, and some very good ones. But this year is the worst.

18 days ago, the Mets were in first place by 7 games. No one had ever blown a bigger lead in September. No one had ever blown a 7-game lead with fewer than 20-odd games to go.

The Mets promptly went out and lost 13 of their last 17 games.

In the final week of the season, with 7 games to play against teams with losing records, 3 wins turns out would have won them first place. 2 wins would have at least gotten them into a one-game playoff against the Phillies.

Instead they only won 1 game. Most of the games they lost weren't even very close.

The pitching staff collapsed. Future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine got only one out yesterday, before being pulled after letting 8 of the first 9 hitters reach base. The bullpen was appalling. All-world leadoff man Jose Reyes forgot how to hit.

Even today's LA Times has a photo of a depressed Mets fan on the cover.

Oh well. I'm getting over it.

Go Cubs. Go Indians.

******

THE GAME PLAN wound up being number 1 for the weekend, validating the fact that Americans will go see anything if they think it might be funny. It did an estimated $22.7 million for the weekend.

THE KINGDOM made a solid $17.7 million. FEAST OF LOVE flopped with only $1.7 million.

In limited release, INTO THE WILD continued its solid expansion, averaging over $20,000 in 33 theaters. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE had a decent per-screen average of a little over $6000, bringing in just over $2 million in 339 theaters.

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH only averaged $2000 a theater, and probably won't expand past the 762 screens it's on now. JESSE JAMES did another $18,000 per on its five screens.

THE DARJEELING LIMITED brought in over $140,000 from just two Manhattan theaters. LUST, CAUTION made about $61,000 from a single theater.

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Weekend Box Office #51

I really need to see something this weekend. I haven't been in a theater in over a month.

This weekend's wide openers:

THE GAME PLAN (3103 theaters). This looks fairly horrifying. Is anyone over the age of 11 really interested in seeing this? Are fans of The Rock interested in seeing this? Still, there's a dearth of family movies around, and I'm sure it will do well. Figure $18.8 million for the weekend.

THE KINGDOM (2792 theaters). This has gotten a lot of solid reviews, though there also seems to be a backlash starting, of the "it's good but not THAT good" variety. Still, it's on my short list, and should beat The Rock. $21.8 million.

FEAST OF LOVE (1200 theaters). This will be an interesting test, to see if ensemble romantic tales like this (think LOVE ACTUALLY) can make money. The fact that it is only being released on 1200 screens isn't a particularly good sign though. Figure $5.3 million.

Among the smaller openings are TRADE (90 theaters), THE DARJEELING LIMITED (2 theaters) and LUST, CAUTION (1 theater).

INTO THE WILD is jumping from 4 to 33 theaters, though THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES is taking its time and holding in its 5 theaters for now.

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH is taking what could be its last shot, expanding from 317 to 762 theaters. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE does a smaller expansion, from 276 to 339.

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No Country For Old Men

Badass indeed.

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Still Truckin'

So my determination to screenwrite for at least an hour a day is still going strong. Today makes 45 straight days.

The rules are pretty simple. Actual typing of screenplay counts. Reading over screenplay and scribbling all over it with a pen counts. Concentrated brainstorming and jotting down notes counts.

Doing arm curls with a stack of screenplays doesn't count. And no roll-over minutes. I write for two hours one day, I don't get to take the next day off.

Progress?

In 45 days (of rarely writing more than 90 minutes a day, tops) I have:

-- Taken a TV spec (which I had written the first half of), wrote the second half, and polished it all up to a shine.

-- Taken a low-budget thriller spec (that I had 50 mediocre pages of and some general notes on the rest), totally reworked those 50 pages to work, and finished the second half as well. The current draft, which I'm putting the finishing touches on tomorrow, is clocking in at a satisfying 95 pages. And it all feels good.

-- Done some substantial brainstorming on a comedy, which I'm supposed to be writing with an online buddy (we came up with the basic idea a year or so ago), though it's time for him to step up to the plate.

-- Brainstormed some other notes I had made on other projects, and rewrote them in an official "ideas" log.

Not bad for six and a half weeks in which I never had enough time to actually grab half a day to do nothing but write.

But set aside an hour a day, and the pages pile up. Plus the stuff is fresh in my head, and I'm constantly suddenly coming up with a fix for a particular scene. (Off the clock, of course).

Feels good.

What are you waiting for?

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Art House Wars

So this is the time of year when the "good" movies come out, the ones that actually need strong reviews and to build word of mouth to really succeed.

The ones that open in a handful of theaters, usually in Los Angeles and New York. If they do well in those runs, they expand to more markets and theaters; if they don't, they quickly disappear, and show up three months later on DVD.

Sadly, one of the season's earliest casualities is John August's THE NINES, which despite some very good reviews just never found an audience. It won't be coming to a theater near you.

Currently, there are a lot of good and semi-good movies in art houses/prestige theaters, fighting to be the one to get its chance to jump to thousands of screens. This past weekend was a big test for many.

The biggest success was INTO THE WILD, which averaged over $51,000 per theater, in only 4 theaters.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES averaged a solid $28,800 per theater, in 5 theaters.

Everything else pretty much tanked. There are a lot of movie corpses littering the landscape today.

EASTERN PROMISES expanded to 1404 theaters, and did $5.7 million, an average of just over $4000 per theater. Not terrible, but not good.

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH expanded to 317 theaters, and only did about $1.3 million. Its chances of expanding much farther are pretty grim.

Headed for oblivion is THE HUNTING PARTY, which jumped from 40 to 329 theaters, but only averaged about $1000 per screen. Gone.

KING OF CALIFORNIA jumped from 5 to 18 screens, but only averaged $2000 per screen. Gone.

FIERCE PEOPLE jumped from 5 to 25 screens, but only averaged $1000 a screen. Gone.

DEDICATION jumped from 2 to 8 theaters, but only averaged about $1200. Gone.

Moderately more successful was ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, which did over $2 million in only 276 theaters, an average of over $7000 a theater. Still, that movie has gotten enough bad reviews to make its future prospects a bit dubious.

The same goes for THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, which opened in 25 theaters, but only averaged a little over $6000 per screen. Those aren't numbers that will get anyone excited.

****

Among the big openers, RESIDENT EVIL did a surprising $24 million. GOOD LUCK CHUCK did a solid $14 million. SYDNEY WHITE managed $5.3 million.

Look for all three to fall off big next weekend.

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Weekend Box Office #50

The new wide releases aren't all that impressive, but some good movies are starting to expand, and others (like THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES and INTO THE WILD) are opening in a few theaters, in preparation for bigger runs in a few weeks.

This weekend's new films:

RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION (2828 theaters). Somehow, I have the feeling that even people who missed the first two won't have trouble figuring out what's going on. I'm sure this has its audience, but I won't be there. Estimate: $16.9 million for the weekend.

GOOD LUCK CHUCK (2612 theaters). The irony is that this script originally sold because it has a high-concept hook -- it's about a guy who gets the reputation of being the guy you are with before you meet Mr. Right, and women seek him out so they can dump him. The commercials pretty much ignore this, however, in favor of endless shots of Jessica Alba being cute and clumsy. I'm not sure that will be enough, but it'll do something. $11.1 million.

SYDNEY WHITE (2102 theaters). Amanda Bynes, in a riff on Snow White set on a college campus. Instead of the seven dwarfs, it's the seven dorks. Laughing yet? $4.8 million.

EASTERN PROMISES (expanding to 1404 theaters from 15). This is supposed to be good, but I'm not sure what the hook is to bring in audiences who haven't heard that. Call it $5.1 million.

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Old Movies and Other Stuff

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the AFI is going to show 11 classic movies at the Arclight in Hollywood, on October 3, with each movie to be introduced by one of its stars or filmmakers.

The catch is that each movie starts at 7 PM, so you can only see one. Tickets are $25 (including popcorn and soda), with proceeds going to benefit AFI. Tickets on sale tomorrow.

The 11 movies, and their presenters:

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (Julie Andrews)
BONNIE AND CLYDE (Warren Beatty)
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... (Billy Crystal & Rob Reiner)
SPARTACUS (Kirk Douglas)
UNFORGIVEN (Clint Eastwood)
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (Morgan Freeman)
THE BIRDS (Tippi Hedron)
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Angela Lansbury)
STAR WARS EPISODE IV (George Lucas)
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (Jack Nicholson)
ROCKY (Sylvester Stallone)

I'm not sure if I'll go, or what I'd see. I guess I'm leaning towards Cuckoo's Nest.

What will/would you check out?

******

I've been wrasslin' with my thriller. I thought I had it pinned a few weeks ago, but it threw me again, and for a while it was giving me head noogies.

Then, over the weekend, I made a major breakthrough on the character side, spinning a single relationship backstory, which suddenly made everything click.

36 straight days of screenwriting at least an hour a day, through yesterday.

******

Weekend postmortum:

The Brave One came in at $13.5 million, a little low. Mr. Woodcock made $8.8 million, better than I thought, but not all that solid.

Dragon Wars only made $5 million.

Superbad made another $5 million in its fifth weekend, and has made over $111 million so far. Which is good because it's a funny movie that deserves to make money, but it's bad because now every lame raunchy teen script will be dusted off and sent around again.

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Juno

On my "I want to see this" list is Juno, which came out of the Toronto Film Festival with a lot of great buzz; it opens in December sometime.

Yeah, it looks like Michael Cera is playing the exact same character he played in Superbad. But Ellen Page (Hard Candy) is one of the best young actresses out there today.

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The Cinematic Geography of Los Angeles

This is pretty cool, especially for those of us who live around here.

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Weekend Box Office #49

Coming out this weekend:

THE BRAVE ONE (2755 theaters). Though Jodie Foster obviously ups the interest factor in this, it's still another DEATH WISH knockoff, and the similar DEATH SENTENCE just tanked. This isn't getting the reviews it'll probably need; look for an opening weekend of about $14.3 million, and then a big dropoff.

DRAGON WARS (2269 theaters). I'm not sure what to make of this one; it's from an obscure company, it has no stars in it, and they aren't screening it for critics. So what looks like it has the scope of a big Hollywood movie is liable not to get much interest. Call it $6.3 million for the weekend.

MR. WOODCOCK (2231 theaters). This has been sitting on the shelf for a while, reviews are unenthusiastic, and it's hard to imagine all that many people will really seek it out, though it does have a dumb fun factor going for it. Maybe $6.2 million for the weekend.

There are some interesting films coming out in limited release, including EASTERN PROMISES, IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH and KING OF CALIFORNIA. Might be time to see if the AC in the art houses is working.

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It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

In the guilty pleasure department comes this show, on FX. Not for all tastes, but often funny. New episodes start tomorrow night; worth a sampling, to see if it clicks with you.

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College

A friend of mine sent me this photo a few days ago. It's of the college newspaper staff of Statesman, at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, in the spring of 1985.

That's me, top center, in the blue shirt. I was the editor of the arts section, naturally. Already writing movie and play reviews and trying to get other people to submit copy too (a pain, since there was no pay or course credit for working on this paper).

This photo has sunk me into a swamp of nostalgia. Thoughts going through my head in the last few days include the following:

-- I have no idea where that hair came from. Though it looks feathered, I assure you that I took no time and effort with my hair, other than washing it and parting it in the middle.

-- Though I look like a happy-go-lucky guy in this photo, I really wasn't. Well, sometimes I was, maybe. Mostly I was insecure, shy and very lonely. I had a huge self-esteem problem and an enormous lack of confidence in myself -- particularly with women -- that haunted me for a long, long time. I was smart as hell, but I had bad study habits and I was immature in many, many aspects of my life.

-- I had a mad crush on the girl in the grey shirt, two rows down from me. We were sort of friends, and I used to leave Score bars in her mailbox at the newspaper all the time, so I guess she knew I liked her. Not that I could ever do anything about it. We did go out to dinner once. She married a writer.

-- If the me now could go back and live these years again, they would have been very different. The story of everyone's life, I guess.

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Big Trees and a Million Little Tims

So the wife and I impulsively decided to head north over the weekend. She booked a room in Fresno, which is about 212 miles up, though we blew through Fresno at about 1 PM and kept going up to Yosemite Park, which is about 90 miles further.

Very cool place, if you've never been. It's a long drive, on a lot of winding roads, but the drive is a lot of the point; there's nothing like immersing yourself in nature to help get your head on straight.

Saturday night we stayed at the Radisson in Fresno (nice rooms, terrible food) and then Sunday morning we headed east, to Sequoia Natural Forest. Home of the big big trees.

Giant redwoods. Too cool for words. Has to be experienced.

Nature rocks.

*****

Like a good boy, I kept up my minimum- hour-a-day screenwriting mission even though we were on the road. Saturday (while me wife was driving up a particularly boring stretch of highway) I went through a chunk of act two of my low budget thriller, which I'm rewriting, splitting one character into two.

The character used to be named Tim. The new characters are Randy and Bull.

The problem is that even though most of the "Tim"s are now "Randy's", I can't do a find-and-replace, because it'll change all the words in which the letters t-i-m appear consecutively. Like "time", or "intimate" or "stimulation" or "Timber!".

Not that anyone ever says "Timber!" in this particular script. But you get the idea.

Stupid Final Draft.

Stupid me, for naming him Tim in the first place. I should have given him some long name that wasn't going to randomly occur elsewhere.

So this morning I sat at the laptop, making all the changes, and getting rid of every last little Tim. And then going back, and looking, and finding Tims that I missed. They're like cockroaches.

It is making me process every single line again, though. Not necessarily a bad thing.

29 straight days of at least an hour of screenwriting, through today.

*******

So 3:10 to Yuma made about $14 million over the weekend. Solid, though I thought it would have done more. I think it'll hold up well though.

Maybe some people thought the title sounded too much like it was going to be about senior citizens on a bus.

Shoot 'Em Up didn't do well, only making about $5 million.

The Brothers Solomon tanked completely, making only about half a million, about $700 per screen. That's an average of 80-90 people per theater for the weekend, which divides out to an average of about 5 or 6 people in each showing. Yuck.

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Weekend Box Office #48

A couple of interesting films coming out wide this weekend, and one dumb-looking one.

3:10 TO YUMA (2652 theaters). I know a couple of guys who have seen this already, one more than once, and they both rave about it. It probably won't open huge, but it should hold well. Call it $18.7 million opening weekend.

SHOOT 'EM UP (2108 theaters). Nice descriptive title, good cast. Probably split the audience a bit with Yuma, but it should do around $13.5 million for the weekend.

THE BROTHERS SOLOMON (700 screens). The reviews aren't good, and it's hard to believe Will Arnett has enough diehard fans to make this a hit. $1.7 million.

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Friday Night Lights

I've been watching the Season One DVD of this show, as part of my DVD-reviewing gig, one of the only DVDs I actually requested. Because I'd kept hearing that the show was good, but I hadn't seen a single episode.

It's great.

It's great in ways that are both easy and hard to quantify. One of the amazing things about this show is that, boiled down to a summary, there really isn't a whole lot going on: it's about a Texas town where high school football is the be-all, end-all of everything, and the 22-episode arc covers the whole football season.

At the same time, it's not really about football. It's about the characters in this town, whose lives might revolve around football, but they have other aspects as well. The coach, his family. The high school quarterback who is badly hurt in the first episode, his attempts to deal with his injury, the rippling effect that this has on so many people in the town.

Tonally, the episodes are dead-on. The detail of this world, of this town, the camera capturing the reality of it all, scenes that don't have to be filled with on-the-nose dialogue to bring across emotion.

The most refreshing thing about this show is that there are no good characters or bad characters; instead, everyone is real. No one is evil, no one is perfect, they are just human beings dealing with their lives, coping with the things that happen, making mistakes and dealing with the fallout.

This is where TV is a great medium. In film, you don't have the time to really develop and linger with characters like this, just being immersed in their lives. Film is plot, plot, plot.

This show has drama, but it can let the drama sprawl. It's not really a series of stand-alone episodes; randomly tune into an episode, and you won't appreciate the myriad of small character moments in previous episodes that are finally paying off in this one.

And that's probably what is going to doom this show. Because it is the kind of show that's hard to jump in on if you've missed it so far, and people who miss a few episodes might decide they've lost the emotional thread.

Hopefully not. And hopefully the DVD will help get people to jump on the bandwagon.

Worth seeking out, if you have the time and inclination.

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112 - 112 - 111

Those are the temperatures for the last three days here in Woodland Hills.

Insane.

******

So I wound up writing more on my script to get to the climax than I expected; I realized that I had so much good tension going that I could milk it for much longer.

I spent over an hour each on Friday and Saturday knocking out the pages, and finally hit my first rough draft, at an honest 91 pages.

I was prepared to toss it to the side to get some distance from it. In fact, on Sunday, while my wife was driving my sister-in-law and I up the coast to cooler climes, I curled up in the back with a notebook and did some extensive brainstorming on another project, that I friend and I once made some notes on, which we're getting ready to revisit.

I've never written with anyone, but this script has a great hook, and needs to be written.

Then, Sunday night, a friend from my writing group called, and begged me to take his Monday night slot the next evening. Never one to pass up a free slot, I said sure.

I picked up the script again. Polished pages 48-71 for the read, trimmed some dialogue here and there, added some conversations there and there. 92 pages now.

Brought in last night, where the actors read it, and they did a great job; I sat in the audience with my eyes closed, and listened to the dialogue flow, and it seemed to flow well. The guy reading the narration also gave it some great urgency.

But then my fellow writers tore it apart a bit, and most of their comments were spot-on. The story (in which I'm trying to do a lot, and need to do it better) needs more finessing, more twists, more surprises. It needs to take more advantage of the hook.

They also wanted one of the characters dead. "Kill Tim" was the mantra of the night. Never mind that he's one of the nice guys. It's a bloodthirsty group.

I need Tim for the climax, but it occurred to me that I might effectively turn him into two characters, one who gets killed along the way. This also might give me more to play with in terms of character dynamics as the script plays out.

So I'll be in a Woodland Hills Starbucks this morning, figuring out ways to reblock the storyline.

And to kill Tim.

22 straight days of writing at least one hour, through yesterday.

******

A guy I semi-know (Reed Schusterman) is looking to do a short film and is looking for a script. Under 10 minutes, in close to finished form, producible on a low budget (a few hundred dollars). He is looking for scripts with elements of action, thriller, sci-fi or fantasy; he's not looking to do a pure comedy or pure drama.

If you have anything like this lying around, send it to him at NimrodShorts@gmail.com by Friday. Pay is a copy of the film and seeing your work onscreen.

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Weekend Box Office #47

This weekend brings us Rob Zombie's unnecessary remake of Halloween. I'm not sure why anyone remakes good movies; why not redo Prom Night? Or Terror Train? Or Bonfire of the Vanities?

Rob Zombie's Bonfire of the Vanities. I'd see that.

HALLOWEEN (3472 theaters). I'm also not sure why they are releasing this movie two months before the holiday. It's also the biggest ever screen opening for Labor Day weekend. Still, expect this to land in the top spot, easily. $26.2 million for the 4-day weekend.

BALLS OF FURY (3052 theaters). This opened on Wednesday, and the sliding Superbad still beat it. People like movies that are dumb fun; this might be too dumb. $13.4 million for the weekend.

DEATH SENTENCE (1822 theaters). Seem sort of similar to Death Wish? Turns out it is based on the novel that was the sequel to Death Wish. It's getting terrible reviews (it's currently at 9% on Rotten Tomatoes), though Roger Ebert liked it. Welcome back Roger. $8.3 million for the weekend.

All three of these movies seem to be made for audiences who don't want to think, which might work this weekend, when temperatures are so hot that fried brains want to get AC while resting for a while. It was 109 degrees here in Woodland Hills yesterday.

Stay cool...

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Insomnia

The good thing about writing every day is that it keeps my script in my head, always.

That's been a problem, since I read so much other stuff that my writing hasn't always been able to stake out its patch of land. My brain is like Woodstock, without the topless girls.

Okay, maybe there are topless girls.

The bad thing about writing every day is that it keeps my script in my head, always.

I found myself wide awake this morning at 4:30 AM, after a choppy five hours of sleep. Lying there, thinking about my script despite myself, I came to a realization about a big scene near the ending.

Damn it. Up I got, at around 5 AM.

I'm not a morning person, but I managed to sit at the table downstairs, make some notes in longhand for about 20 minutes, then I sat at the laptop and wrote for a couple of hours.

And -- at least in my half-awake state -- it feels like I nailed the sequence I wrote. So maybe this sleep thing is overrated.

18 straight days, screenwriting for at least an hour. Boo-yah.

Tomorrow I'm going to write one final sequence of this, my low-budget thriller (not the actual climax, because I wrote that last week, just for the hell of it) and then I'll have a fairly unrough rough draft done.

Which feels nice, except it looks like it's going to clock in at about 83 pages, which -- despite purposely being the lean, tight script I want it to be -- is still way too short. Anything under 90+ pages just looks odd.

I'm not going to try to force in extra pages, but it's nice to know I have the room if I come up with a good sequence that fits, and my structure is flexible enough to allow this. When I first started writing, my drafts would come in around 140 pages; this is better.

Worse comes to worse, I'll just add an extra space before all the scene headings, and open the top and bottom margins just a little more. Sneak up to 90 that way -- but only if the script clicks like it is now.

After tomorrow, I'll toss it to the side for a week or two, and let it settle, so I can read it fresh.

Otherwise, congrats to Brett, who made the Nicholl semis with his script. It's a good, good thing. But here's hoping you make the finals, and don't get stuck in the dead zone that the semis represented for me...

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10,002

Yeah, I crossed the barrier yesterday. My 10,000th piece of paid coverage.

I once thought that when I hit 10,000 I'd stop, and jump off a cliff or something. Fortunately I forgot I was getting close, and by the time I realized I'd hit the magic number, I'd done two more. So I guess I'll have to keep going until 20,000.

Sadly, the 10,000th script was a bit too symptomatic of the mediocrity I too often read. An attempt at a comedy, without enough originality or humor.

Its title?

"Whale Farts".

I kid you not. Can't make this stuff up.

Man, I need to sell a script.

Yesterday did the screenwriting thing for at least an hour for the 15th consecutive day. I always thought that if I had a chance to really write fulltime, I'd be prolific as hell. But I'm learning that I don't need to write for 8 hours a day; an hour or two a day, every single day, and the pages pile up.

Beats farting whales.

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Weekend Box Office #46

Slim pickings this weekend; it'sthe dog days of summer. Look for Superbad to triumph, with about $20 million or so for the weekend; maybe I'll go see it again.

New films in wide release:

THE NANNY DIARIES (2629 theaters). Scarlett Johanssen is a cutie, but this is getting pretty bad reviews. Figure it'll make about $9.1 million for the weekend.

WAR (2277 theaters). Not shown to critics. I'm sure there are fans of this kind of stuff, but how many? $6.9 million.

MR. BEAN'S HOLIDAY (1713 theaters). This is also getting bad reviews, and it's the kind of thing that needs a little buzz. $3.0 million.

RESURRECTING THE CHAMP (1605 theaters). This is getting the best reviews of any of these movies, but it's not clear what the hook of the movie is. $3.9 million.

SEPTEMBER DAWN (857 theaters). Anthony Hopkins, in a movie about Mormons massacring settlers. The reviews aren't great. $1.8 million.

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44 Interesting Movies Coming Out This Year

September is looming, which means that the time of the year in which all the quality films (read: Oscar bait) really start to come out regularly.

Though I'm sure there are some I'm going to miss (feel free to tell me), here's a list of the movies -- in no particular order -- that caught my eye as being (potentially) worth seeing:

September:

SHOOT 'EM UP. Clive Owen tries to protect a baby (again?) from bad guy Paul Giamatti and his thugs. Looks entertaining though.

RENDITION. Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep and Jake Gillenhaal, in a drama about a woman who discovers that her Egyptian husband is being held by the U.S. government. Directed by Gavin Hood, who directed TSOTSI.

THE KINGDOM. FBI operatives investigate a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia. Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. Evan Rachel Wood, who may become a star someday, in a trippy musical featuring lots of Beatles songs.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell in the first of a few westerns this fall.

3:10 TO YUMA. Another Western, this one a remake with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Directed by James Mangold.

LUST, CAUTION. Director Ang Lee makes his first Chinese-language movie in 6 years. Starring Joan Chen and Tony Leung.

INTO THE WILD. Emile Hirsch stars in the based-on-a-true-story tale (and the book by Jon Krakauer) about a young man disappearing into the Alaskan wilderness. Vince Vaughn, William Hurt, Catherine Keener and Jena Malone show up along the way. Written and directed by sean Penn.

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH. Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon and Jason Patrick, in a movie directed and co-written by Paul Haggis.

THE HUNTING PARTY. Richard Gere and Terence Howard, in what is described as a "fun film about war crimes".

EASTERN PROMISES. Just because it's directed by David Cronenberg, and stars Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen. Apparently it's a gangster tale.

October:

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE. Cate Blanchette reprises her role. Because art house period dramas should get sequels too.

RESERVATION ROAD. Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino, in a drama directed by Terry George.

MICHAEL CLAYTON. George Clooney in a legal thriller, written and directed by Tony Gilroy.

GRACE IS GONE. John Cusack in a serious role, that is getting good buzz.

DAN IN REAL LIFE. Peter Hedges co-wrote and directed this tale, starring Steve Carell, Dane Cook and Juliette Binoche.

THE DARJEELING LIMITED. Wes Anderson directs Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman as brothers on a train in India.

WE OWN THE NIGHT. Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall in another gangster movie, written and directed by James Grey.

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE. Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro and David Dochovny, in a script by Allan Loeb that was one of those must-read scripts (though I never did).

SLEUTH. A remake of the 1972 film, with Michael Caine shifting to the older role and Jude Law taking over the younger. Directed by Kenneth Branagh.

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL. Ryan Gosling stars as a guy who falls in love with a blow-up doll.

GONE BABY GONE. Yeah, Ben Affleck directs it and co-writes it, but he's got a good cast in Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Josh Hartnett stars in a horror-thriller about vampires in an isolated Alaskan outpost, during thne time of year when the sun doesn't come up.

THE HEARTBREAK KID. I can't remember the last Ben Stiller movie I actually went and saw, but at least this one is the Farrelly Brothers' return to R-rated movies.

November:

AMERICAN GANGSTER. Danzel Washington and Russell Crowe, as well as Cuba Gooding Jr, who will hopefully reign it in for once. Written by Steve Zaillian; directed by Ridley Scott.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA. Javier Bardem stars in the adaptation of the classic novel, written by Ronald Harwood and directed by Mike Newell.

CROSSING OVER. A Traffic-like multiple storyline tale about immigration, with a strong cast -- Harrison Ford, Sean Penn, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd.

LIONS FOR LAMBS. Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, and that Tom Cruise guy. Directed by Redford.

MARGOT AT THE WEDDING. Nicole Kidman, trying to salvage her flagging career. On this list because I like the work of writer-directed Noah Baumbach.

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM. Because I love Natalie Portman.

BEE MOVIE. Because it looks funny, and it's going to be huge.

FRED CLAUS. Santa's slacker younger brother moves back in, which could be dumb, but it has Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti in those two roles, along with Kevin Spacey, Rachel Weisz and Kathy Bates.

BEOWULF. Though the motion-capture stuff looks a little weird (like director Robert Zemeckis' previous Polar Express), this could be good. Written by Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman.

ENCHANTED. Though this looks light, the hook of a princess from a cartoon world finding herself in real-life Times Square could be fun, and I like Amy Adams.

STEPHEN KING'S THE MIST. Because writer/director Frank Darabont has done a good job with King adaptations before (SHawshank, The Green Mile). Starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden in Chris Owen.

December:

I AM LEGEND. Will Smith as apparently the last man alive, roaming around Manhattan until he is attacked by stuff. I'm in.

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR. Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Written by Aaron Sorkin; directed by Mike Nichols. What else do you need to know?

THE BUCKET LIST. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as dying guys hitting the road, trying to do a lot of stuff before they kick the bucket. Directed by Rob Reiner.

THE GREAT DEBATERS. Okay, it's a period drama about debating. But Denzel Washington directs and stars, and Forest Whitaker is in it too.

LEATHERHEADS. George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski, in a period football comedy directed by Clooney.

SWEENEY TODD. Tim Burton directs this musical, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Somehow, this seems like it might work.

YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH. Francis Ford Coppola's first movie in a decade; he's trying to go back to low budget indie stuff. Tim Roth and Bruno Ganz star.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson moves away from his quirky stuff in favor of a harsh period drama, based on a Sinclair Lewis novel, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano.

WALK HARD. A comedy with John C. Reilly, who stars as a musician who changes as the times do from the 1950s on. I saw the trailer the other day, and it looks really funny. Judd Apatow co-wrote and produced it; Jake Kasdan directs.

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