Last chance to vote for bad screenplay!
Per this:
If you go here, you can see some suggestions by GITS readers for a bad screenplay to be the subject of the live September 5th ScriptChat discussion. Some of the suggestions:
The A-Team
2012
The Bounty Hunter
Dune
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
Crash
Each is an interesting choice:
The A-Team, as noted, had 11 writers on it, so it would be interesting to read with an eye toward continuity in terms of character and plot.
2010 is one of those epic adventures for which Roland Emmerich is noted and there a big challenge is creating interesting characters with at least some depth to go along with the spectacle.
The Bounty Hunter was just featured in this Maureen Dowd column as an example of “why [current] romantic comedies reek.”
Dune is an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel and that writing process has its own set of nagging issues, some of which emerge in the movie.
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is also a book adaptation, a movie that only grossed $1.4M in domestic B.O. and created some controversy including allegations that the movie promoted a culture of rape.
Crash is interesting because it won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and yet some posters disliked the movie for its “forced” premise and “on-the-nose” dialogue
So I say we vote on it. Please cast your choice in comments and, if you’ve got the time, why you think we should read and analyze that particular script. The ‘ballot box’ will remain open through Sunday, August 8th at 9 PM EDT / 6PM PDT (U.S.).
The voting thus far:
Dune and 2012 tied for first
The Bounty Hunter next
I’m extending the voting through tomorrow at 9PM EDT / 6PM PDT (U.S.). Please vote in comments or via email.
UPDATE: In comments, Matt Latham makes an interesting point re Crash:
Definitely Crash.
Just think: what’s gonna be the better learning experience? With all the other movies, it’s easy to see why they’re bad. Those movies fooled no one.
Even as a person who despises Crash, I have to admit that it’s effective at generating emotion. It’s the only one that’s not OBVIOUSLY bad, as the Oscars it won demonstrates.
It’s also probably the only one that doesn’t suffer from lazy writing. It is a very active and fairly well thought out script that uses plenty of techniques/tricks to get people to feel a lot while ultimately being engaged in a meaningless experience. There’s a lot going on there for one to study.
And several other people have voted that we read and analyze Crash as well. This could spark a lively debate as I’m sure there are fans of the film as well. Unless I hear some other line of reasoning to persuade me otherwise, I think we should read Crash for the Sept. 5th ScriptChat event.
For those of you who recommended Dune, 2012, and The Bounty Hunter, how about this: What if the GITS community reads and analyzes each one of them? We could do one in October, one in November, and one in December. Is that a reasonable compromise?
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