"Changeling" is my first wager on Best Screenplay Based on Pre-Existing Material

[Plot Device]

I haven't seen the movie. Nor have I read the entire script. But I am convinced this script WILL get an Oscar nomination.

This one script is a living lengend in Hollywood. It was original written by up and coming screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski about 20 years ago. He frequently used it as a sample script and constantly impressed people with it at all levels of Hollywood. And then in the mid-1990's when he wrote his very own how-to book on being a scriptwriter, The Complete Guide to Scriptwriting, he included JUST the first 10. And baby! It was a PHENOMENAL first ten! Very rarely have I ever read anyone's first-10 and just been salivating for the remaining 100.

That book was one of the first screenwriting books I ever read (upon the reccomendation of a fellow screenwriter at another message forum) and I am grateful for having read it. I highly reccomend it myself.

That first-10 showed us the following: rich characters, a credible and historically accurate background of life and work in 1920's Los Angeles, vibrant believable dialogue, a touching mother-son relationship, a heart-wrenching plot development of her son going missing, and then in the final page of just that 10 we saw her frantically running through the evening streets of Los Anegles seeking out her boy. And we were even given a cleverly disguised glimpse into her inner thoughts as she ran-- her thoughts were written in such a way as to be camouflaged as describing the sights and sounds of the streets, but it was really all about her and her anxiety. And then the first-10 came to an end. Wow! Give me more!

The book The Complete Guide to Scriptwriting is used in a lot of college film courses as the primary textbook. So that first-10 has been read by thousands and thousands of Hollywood screenwriters, and at least a few of those have surely made it into the Academy at this point in time. You'd be hard-pressed to find a screenwriter in Hollywood who hasn't at least heard of that first-10.

So ... here's my early prediction for an Oscar nomination.

[ManyAk]

I'm a bit confused. This movie came out in 1980, and was not written by J. Michale Straczynsky. I am probably misunderstanding something here, so help me out, heh.

[Rainy Night]

I'm a bit confused. This movie came out in 1980, and was not written by J. Michale Straczynsky. I am probably misunderstanding something here, so help me out, heh.

You're looking at the wrong film... you need the 2008 Clint Eastwood / Angelina Jolie one.

I agree, it's going to be a strong Oscar contender this year... I'll bet you Angelina gets a nod for best actress and Clint for director.

I think you're also going to see the Oliver Stone film W. at Oscar time also.

[Plot Device]

I'm a bit confused. This movie came out in 1980, and was not written by J. Michale Straczynsky. I am probably misunderstanding something here, so help me out, heh.

I should clarify that the original title of Straczynsky's script was The Strange Case of Christine Collins. This new title unfortunately makes some people think it's a supernatural thriller.

You're looking at the wrong film... you need the 2008 Clint Eastwood / Angelina Jolie one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0824747/

I agree, it's going to be a strong Oscar contender this year... I'll bet you Angelina gets a nod for best actress and Clint for director.

Word.

[IceCreamEmpress]

This movie is called Changeling. The 1980 movie was called The Changeling. Hence ManyAk's confusion, perhaps?

[Plot Device]

This movie is called Changeling. The 1980 movie was called The Changeling. Hence ManyAk's confusion, perhaps?


Sorry. My bad.

On "Jeopardy" they wouldn't have dinged me any points, but on "Wheel of Fortune," I'd have lost the whole match for that error.

[Plot Device]

CALLING CHRIS AND/OR DEREK

Can one of you guys pretty please change the title of this thread to eliminate the word "The"??

[Joe Calabrese]

Done.

[Kosh]

Not only do I have The Complete Guide to Scriptwriting, but also J. Michael Straczynski's comics and all the seasons of Babylon 5. I got my hands on the screenplay, but won't read it until after I've paid the ever rising price to watch it in theaters.

But, seeing as how this script was optioned decades ago, it kind of makes the "what you sell may never be produced" more real; and JMS is prolific, having written in so many different forms of media. I don't just want to sell, but get produced.

Oh, and I did just a bit a skimming just to make sure a line from the portion I've read years ago was still there; it's that line that pops up on Babylon 5 a bit.

[zeprosnepsid]

Yeah, JMS rules. I have also read the book, read pretty much all of his comics and seen all of B5 as well as having seen all his episodes of Murder, She Wrote =)

I've met him a couple times and he's always very gracious about talking to new writers. He often mentors young comic writers.

[Plot Device]

Done.

Thank you, Joe. :)

[icerose]

I went and saw the trailer online to see what that movie was about. Nothing like I expected based on the title, that could either hurt or help them. It looks like it could be okay for a drama (not a drama fan) and it will probably turn out excellent even for my tastes, but just not anything at all like I was expecting. For me the title hurt because it was misleading and had nothing to do with the actual story from what I saw.

[mario_c]

This will piss you off. From The Phenom (http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=3360) by Shira Gotshalk: J. Michael Straczynski’s first feature screenplay, Changeling, is the proverbial golden egg -- directed by Clint Eastwood, produced by Ron Howard, starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich. And that’s not even the best part: It was shot from his first draft. Only one word was changed between his agent’s desk and the set. Oh, and he wrote it in 11 days.

This fantasy chain of events would suggest a fairy godmother waiting somewhere in the wings if Straczynski hadn’t already paid his dues with nearly 20 years in the TV trenches, most notably on Babylon 5, and another 14 as a journalist. Combine that with another decade of award-winning writing for DC Comics and you come up with a very driven, wildly adaptable scribe. But that's not all, friends. Got writer's block? Here's what he thinks of you wimps: I write 10 hours a day, every day, except for Christmas, New Year’s Day and my birthday. I have roughly since I was 17 years old. Someone said once that I am a very disciplined writer, but actually, when you have a compulsion, discipline isn’t necessary. I am just a compulsive writer; if I am not writing, I get nervous.

During my first marriage, when we took our first vacation in, like, 10 years (and it’s been 20 years since that vacation), my wife said, “Now, we are just going to go to England and you are not going to write. You are going to leave your stuff behind, and we are going to have a good time.” And within two days of being there, I was vibrating so badly from withdrawal that I went to a pharmacist and bought a spiral bound, pocket-sized notebook and a pen and was in the bathroom at night working on my next novel. You know, she would come knocking on the door, “What are you doing in there?” “Nothing!” And by the time I got back, I had outlined my next novel. My 2 centimes:
Directors and A-list actors working off a spec like a classical orchestra and conductor, a la Juno and this movie, will probably get more common in the future. The process of getting feedback via sites like this or peer groups, and the constant vicious competition for fewer and fewer jobs, will yield a much better spec market, maybe a third Golden Age of film. Producers must know they're paying for much better ideas than they can come up with, and so the bad old days where a producer insists on feeding bad ideas to his writers might go away in time.
What do you think?