Butler's Script Sale of the Week...
February 25th, 2002
Weekly Highlights
I'm glad to hear Mike Newell has come on board to help John Milius write his UNTITLED WESTERN, but I have to admit, when I heard of this $100 million project the first thing that popped into my head was "HEAVEN'S GATE".
The David Ambrose novel COINCIDENCE that Artisan picked up sounds pretty cool, especially since Billy Bob Thornton signed on to star in the adaptation.
Neil LaBute is a machine. His film adaptation of his play THE SHAPE OF THINGS only recently got the greenlight and he's already setting up another project. It'll be great to see Renee Zelwegger back in the writer/director's hands as she takes the starring role in his adaptation of the Amanda Filipacchi's novel VAPOR.
I never thought I'd be happy to hear that Macaulay Culkin is returning to the big screen, but I think he's perfectly cast in the recently acquired PARTY MONSTER. It's based on the non-fiction book Disco Blood Bath by James St. James and concerns a sleazy club kid who thinks he can get away with murder. Cute little Macaulay has grown into a rather creepy looking adult and I think he's got a real future in sinister character roles. Honestly.
SALE OF THE WEEK
If you're interested in selling screenplays - ignoring quality and such for the moment - then the first thing you need to do is come up with a killer idea.
J. Barton Mitchell did.
To file in the "Damn, I wish I thought of that" category is the idea for Mitchell's SILVER STRIKE, which he sold to Fox 2000 for a cool mid-six figures. The idea: "BLACKHAWK DOWN with werewolves".
Bastard.
Mitchell's supernatural spec script concerns a team of werewolf hunters, who we can only imagine get involved in a very nasty bloodbath with their lycanthropic foes. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather see the mass slaughter of some digitally enhanced monsters than some impoverished Somalians, but, hey, call me crazy.
I really hope Mitchell has written an excellent script to back up his deviously simple idea. The writer of IBM user guides had previously sold his spec TIME SHIFT to Warner Bros. back in November 2001, so chances are he's not your average hack.
The Fox 2000 execs, however, probably don't give a flying wolfman if the overall script is quality or not. As long as they end up with enough spectacular shots of gung ho werewolf hunters fighting evil creatures to cram into their trailer and TV adverts and thus insure a HUGE opening weekend, then they'll be happy.
And if you're interested in selling screenplays, that's all that really matters.
-- Edward Butler
I'm glad to hear Mike Newell has come on board to help John Milius write his UNTITLED WESTERN, but I have to admit, when I heard of this $100 million project the first thing that popped into my head was "HEAVEN'S GATE".
The David Ambrose novel COINCIDENCE that Artisan picked up sounds pretty cool, especially since Billy Bob Thornton signed on to star in the adaptation.
Neil LaBute is a machine. His film adaptation of his play THE SHAPE OF THINGS only recently got the greenlight and he's already setting up another project. It'll be great to see Renee Zelwegger back in the writer/director's hands as she takes the starring role in his adaptation of the Amanda Filipacchi's novel VAPOR.
I never thought I'd be happy to hear that Macaulay Culkin is returning to the big screen, but I think he's perfectly cast in the recently acquired PARTY MONSTER. It's based on the non-fiction book Disco Blood Bath by James St. James and concerns a sleazy club kid who thinks he can get away with murder. Cute little Macaulay has grown into a rather creepy looking adult and I think he's got a real future in sinister character roles. Honestly.
SALE OF THE WEEK
If you're interested in selling screenplays - ignoring quality and such for the moment - then the first thing you need to do is come up with a killer idea.
J. Barton Mitchell did.
To file in the "Damn, I wish I thought of that" category is the idea for Mitchell's SILVER STRIKE, which he sold to Fox 2000 for a cool mid-six figures. The idea: "BLACKHAWK DOWN with werewolves".
Bastard.
Mitchell's supernatural spec script concerns a team of werewolf hunters, who we can only imagine get involved in a very nasty bloodbath with their lycanthropic foes. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather see the mass slaughter of some digitally enhanced monsters than some impoverished Somalians, but, hey, call me crazy.
I really hope Mitchell has written an excellent script to back up his deviously simple idea. The writer of IBM user guides had previously sold his spec TIME SHIFT to Warner Bros. back in November 2001, so chances are he's not your average hack.
The Fox 2000 execs, however, probably don't give a flying wolfman if the overall script is quality or not. As long as they end up with enough spectacular shots of gung ho werewolf hunters fighting evil creatures to cram into their trailer and TV adverts and thus insure a HUGE opening weekend, then they'll be happy.
And if you're interested in selling screenplays, that's all that really matters.
-- Edward Butler
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