Similar but different (cont’d)
I’ve talked a lot on this blog about Hollywood’s working ethos of ‘similar but different.’ We got an object lesson its continuing presence yesterday. I posted this about the spec script sale of “21 and Over”:
Per Variety, Relativity Media buys comedy spec “21 and Over” from “The Hangover” writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore:
Story centers on two college seniors who get their best friend drunk on his 21st birthday and then must race to get him to his medical school exam the next morning.
Credits for the writing team of Lucas and Moore include “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” indie bank heist comedy “Flypaper” and U’s body-switching comedy “The Change-Up,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman.
Lucas and Moore are represented by CAA.
In comments, Kendall wrote this:
So im pretty sure the spec script “21 shots” that sold a few months back is eerily similar.
And Kendall is right. From the archives of DoneDealPro:
Title: 21 Shots Logline: On his 21st birthday, a guy loses his I.D. and needs to track it down over over the course of one day. Writer: Sonny Lee Patrick Walsh Agency: International Creative Management International Creative Management Studio: Paramount Pictures Prod. Co: Montecito Picture Company, The Genre: Comedy Logged: 2/22/2010 More: Spec. Preemptive purchase. Based on an idea by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. Hurwitz and Schlossberg will produce.
But hold on, there is also this:
Title: 21 Shots Logline: Centers about a young man who loves high school. As a third time senior he falls in love with a college girl and realizes it’s time to grow up. Writer: Marjorie Wellin Manager: Vanessa Alexander Mngmnt Firm: Handprint Entertainment Prod. Co: Bel Air Entertainment Genre: Comedy Logged: 1/15/1999 More: To be directed by Dan Rosen and produced by Michael Steinberg.
That’s right, all the way back in 1999. Cue the aphorism, “There’s nothing new under the sun.”
Based on the success of The Hangover, Lucas & Moore could probably pitch the menu from In-and-Out Burgers as a movie and set it up. Moreover you have to figure that they’ve come up with some nifty variations-on-drunken-debauchery-themes to make their project significantly ‘different’ than previous ones including Hangover.
But here’s my main point. I’m not saying ‘similar but different’ is good. I’m not saying ‘similar but different’ is bad. I’m just saying that ‘similar but different’ is there. And it ain’t goin’ anywhere anytime soon. Why? It’s ingrained in Hollywood’s DNA. Also there’s the not insubstantial point that marketing movies that are ‘similar but different’ — where the new one ‘drafts’ off the general cultural awareness of the old one — is considered to be much easier than marketing a completely new movie.
Takeaway: If you want to work as a writer in Hollywood, at the very least you have to be comfortable with the ‘similar but different’ mindset that permeates the thinking there. And if you’re willing to dive in headfirst, you enhance your chances of getting a lot of screenwriting work.
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