Lionel Chetwynd and I shift gears a bit with the new POLIWOOD and take on the nuts-and-bolts problem of “How do you get a movie made?” We also touch on whether it really is more difficult for conservatives (marginally, but don’t dwell on it).
It goes without saying that getting a film made is an arduous task and takes passionate devotion, no matter who you are. And there are no easy tricks. Those of us who are interested in mostly making our own movies have to bring together a “package” of script, director and actor before trying to get the financing. The actor is the most important part, but, for the most part, well-known actors will not read your script without an offer on the table. Catch-22. More of this – and a possible break in this trend – on the video.
Other POLIWOODs here, some now with subscription only. That subscription (cheap now at $5/mo., $3 student) entitles you to the growing archive of all PJTV shows and supports our project. Thanks.
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6 Comments
1. Charles Williams:Your Poliwood discussion about how projects get made was excellent. I miss the classic stories that Hollywood produced for years, that only trickle out in today’s environment. It seems that I have to hold my nose and swallow hard at some point in most of the current fair, despite excellent acting, directing, writing, and production.
I would love to hear more discussions about the nuts and bolts of the process. Maybe more about how to get stories like Gran Torino produced. Who knows, it could be that the strangle hold of the politically correct could be eroded by an army of davids.
Just finished Blacklisting Myself. What a life you have led.
Mar 14, 2009 - 9:20 am 2. Minerva:Wish on Oscar Night the Academy would hand out free laptops to a number of actors, particularly ones who started as child stars, and ask them to write about their show business memories. Publish and raise money for the Old Actors Home.
Mar 14, 2009 - 1:26 pm 3. Mike_K:“Go tell the Spartans” is the second line of Simonides’ epitaph and was not Homer. Other than that, it was an excellent session.
I do have a comment on the influence of the times on movies, though. If you watch Depression era movies you see a theme that resembles the Superman fantasy of all teenaged boys. Boys imagine themselves as being secret supermen even though they look like Clark Kent in real life and that was always the attraction of that genre. In Depression movies there is a recurring theme of the poor guy walking down the dusty road who somehow ends up with the rich family or beautiful girl and is secretly an author or some other modest hero. That’s why It Happened One Night was so wildly successful. Gable was every poor guy’s dream of success. Also, the rich were shown as lovable fools, like Topper. It is very characteristic of Depression movies as entertainment. Later, when the worst was over and it wasn’t so painful, you had Grapes of Wrath.
Few now see those old movies but in the early days of TV they were on all the time showing they had a deeper appeal.
Mar 14, 2009 - 5:13 pm 4. Gerry:How to get a movie made today? Take an old classic and screw it up.
Mar 14, 2009 - 9:25 pm 5. Mike K:We watched a great movie on DVD last night. It was called Broken Trail and was made by AMC. Roger, it seems to have been a joint venture between Robert Duvall and the screenwriter. It had two episodes so seems to have been a mini-series. I even stayed up until midnight to watch the end. Aside from the standard historical myth of the whites using smallpox as germ warfare, it was pretty straight and seems to have been based on some real history. Good movies are being made but I guess you have to search to find them.
Mar 15, 2009 - 10:38 am 6. storm:This discussion was classic, I still think its hard to make in movie today and look back 10-15 years time and call it classic, new hollywood releases all look the same.
Mar 21, 2009 - 7:04 am