Genre: Drama
Premise: Three corporate men must deal with the specific challenges of getting laid off during a recession.
About: The Company Men debuted at Sundance with many impressed smiles, despite its downbeat subject matter. Many are calling it, “The film Up In The Air should’ve been.” Man, are we already committing verbal terrorism on the 37,000 foot Clooney vehicle? Well, I certainly had problems with it, but this isn’t the time or the place to get into that. The Company Men stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, and Kevin Costner. Its writer, John Wells, is also its director. Wells has spent the majority of his career executive producing such films as Infamous, One Hour Photo, I’m Not There, and over a dozen more. He’s also written and produced a ton of TV, including that tiny passing fad on NBC known as ER. This is his first feature writing and directing project.
Writer: John Wells
Details: 120 pages (January 2, 2009 draft)

Affleck will play Bobby

Being an executive producer for over a decade, I’m betting John Wells has read a thousand scripts. Looking through his resume, the man clearly thrives on risky independent fare, and you have to respect him for it, because producing films that sunbathe on the indie circuit more often leaves you with a bright red sunburn (both literally and in the old bank account) than a bronzy head-turning tan. I suppose residuals from ER even it all out though. That pedigree of limitless TV work, and not just reading tons of scripts, but reading tons of scripts that actually strive to be different and good, gives Wells a huge advantage on his first trip to the big screen as a writer-director.

I have no idea if this is Wells’ first feature script or simply the first one he’s done something with, but The Company Men suffers from a technical style that, combined with its technical subject matter, makes for a tough read. As always, it should be noted that this is a writer-director script, which means he’s writing it just as much for himself as for others (namely actors he’s trying to lure). Combine that with the fact that this seems to be a shooting draft, and I’m prepared to excuse at least some of the clinical storytelling. Still, there’s so little warmth, in both the style and subject matter here, that I felt it difficult to connect with the material.

The Company Men follows three employees on different rungs of the company ladder. There’s Bobby, the 30 year old “corporate warrior” with the pretty wife, the two kids, the mortgage, the Porsche, and the membership at the most expensive country club in town. There’s Phil, the aging “Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross” type whose difficulty keeping up with current trends may be why he can’t pull in the same mega-deals he used to, and then there’s Gene, one of the few corporate men who still has a heart, trying to save as many employees as he can, at the expense of the bottom line.

Jones will play Gene

All of these men work for a huge company called GTX, a sort of “does-it-all” super-corporation whose divisions are vague enough that I can’t remember any of them. This is one of the first things that turned me off of The Company Men. The company, in its vagueness, obviously acts as a stand-in for every mega-corporation in the U.S.A. Which would’ve been fine, except we spend an enormous amount of time discussing the boring specifics of how the company operates and what’s going on inside of it. I wasn’t sure if I was reading a screenplay or hanging out with Warren Buffet.

When the script gets hunkered down in this discussion about stock shares and sub-divisions and conglomerate theories, it almost enters the realm of anti-entertainment. I didn’t understand any of it which means I had to work twice as hard to enjoy the story. And the problem is that Phil and Gene’s stories through the first half of the screenplay are stuck inside this world. So it’s nearly impossible to get into them.

The good news is that the script has a saving grace. And that grace is in the man who saved our planet from an asteroid. Or at least, the actor who’s playing that part saved us. Bobby’s (Ben Affleck) story isn’t about stock shares or consulting tactics or board room politics. It’s simply about a guy with a family and a mortgage who loses his 120,000 dollar a year job and quickly begins to freak the fuck out when he realizes he may not find another one. Every time we’re with Bobby the script feels like it’s been lifted out of molasses, because it becomes about something. Bobby hasn’t hit any roadblocks in his life before this. He’s one of those people who assumed the good life would just keep on being good. So when his shiny cars are threatened, when his country club membership is threatened, when the very bed he sleeps in is threatened, he refuses to accept it. He goes into Stage 4 denial and simply keeps on living the life he’s used to living. But it doesn’t last. It can’t last. And watching his meltdown is depressing but also the most entertaining part of the script.

Costner will play Phil (now “Jack”)

Unfortunately, Bobby only pops up every once in awhile, his story getting wedged between Phil and Gene’s redundant boardroom politics and backroom parties. And we have to tread through all that molasses to find that little bottle Bobby’s hiding in again, if only for a few minutes or a couple of scenes. Eventually, the Gene and Phil storylines take on a less technical tone, and focus more on the personal side of their journeys, and while it’s a desperately welcome change, it’s too little too late. I had a hard time caring by that point.

The weird thing is, I didn’t feel much sympathy for any of these characters, despite their sympathetic situations. I mean, it’s not like these are high-school flunkies working at Wal-Mart, getting fired from the only job they know how to do. That, to me, is the true definition of a catastrophe. These men all have nice houses, ‘59 Corvettes, and VIP memberships at every establishment in town. I mean, they’re pissed at their company’s outrageous overspending which resulted in their termination. But they’re just as guilty, lavishly overspending in every aspect of their own lives. Who makes 120 grand, 300 hundred grand, 1 million dollars a year, and isn’t smart enough to put a big chunk of it away in case things get bad? And maybe that’s what Wells is trying to say. That we all live above our means and haven’t shit-proofed enough of our fans. But I wanted to root for these characters and their stupidity gave me enough pause to think twice about it.

I guess people are now saying that Up In The Air is “The Company Men for Dummies.” But I’d switch that around. I’d say The Company Men is “Up in the Air For Rocket Scientists.” It’s so entrenched in corporate-speak and CNBC’isms and the technical details of what’s happening at the top, that unless you’re familiar with that world, it’s a tough story to get lost in. It’ll be interesting to see if the movie stresses those things, or focuses more on the personal aspect, which is the where the focus should be.

[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[x] wasn’t for me
[ ] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: The Company Men was a huge reminder of how important it is to focus on your characters and their relationships. Whatever subject matter you choose to tell your story in, it’s obviously important to give us enough of the details that it feels authentic. But if you go overboard, you’re going to lose your general audience, the ones who don’t know enough to be able to follow the specifics of that subject matter. Never forget that the thing your audience cares about is your characters’ journey. We don’t walk out of a theater remembering how GTX fucked over Phil by stonewalling his stockyard division by cutting a secret deal with the Koreans. That’s not what stays with us. What stays with us is an embarrassed Phil having to tell his daughter she can’t go on her school trip to Italy because he can’t afford it. Never forget that. It’s always about the characters.

Wanted to give a congratulations to everyone associated with Buried, the risk-taking trapped-in-a-coffin project that had a big night this weekend, becoming the first film sold at Sundance, when Lionsgate picked it up (for between 3-4 million). I always saw this as something that could light up the independent circuit, but the strong word of mouth from the festival as well as the Lionsgate pick-up means this project could have much more ambitious goals. Check out some of the reviews from Aint-It-Cool , Firstshowing, Variety, as well as Slash-Film. You can also go back and read my original review of the script back in June, as well as my interview with its writer, Chris Sparling. To this day it remains the second most downloaded script from the site (the first is Source Code) and I truly believe you guys helped build the pre-buzz that made sure a lot of eyes were on the film when it debuted this weekend. I’m telling you, this is the new way to get buzz for your film. Get your script out there. :)

Should be a fun week. With Sundance going on, I decided to review a couple of popular scripts from the festival. Make sure to sign up for my Twitter or Facebook (links to the upper right) so you can be informed when those reviews go up and maybe snag copies of the scripts. Don’t know how long they’ll be up so act fast. I also have an interview coming from a recent Top 25 writer. He gives some great advice so you’re going to want to check that out. And finally, expect a review of a flick opening this Friday by one of the biggest writers in town, William Monahan. Right now, Roger brings us that rare genre mash-up, the vampire western! Let’s see if he liked it.

Genre: Western, Horror
Premise: Wanted in their home state of Texas, a brother-and-sister gunslinger duo lie low in the Old West town of Bone Orchard. When the “Coolies”, Chinese immigrants slaving away on the Transcontinental Railroad, summon an ancient Chinese vampire to avenge their collective mistreatment, the gunslingers are forced to form an uneasy alliance with the Texas Ranger who hunts them if they want to survive.
About: Optioned by U.K. based production and development company, Red Sparrow. John Landis (An American Werewolf in London, Animal House) is attached as director. Russel Brand and Mila Kunis are said to be circling.
Writer: M.D. Presley

I can see why “The Bone Orchard” appeals to John Landis. Like me, he obviously shares a love for the Genre Mash-up. Not for the faint of heart, mashing two genres together is an alchemical balancing act of irony and contrast. Not only do you have to understand the intricacies of each of your chosen genre’s conventions, you have to have a bit of the lunatic in you to even attempt such a narrative feat. In the early 80s, financiers thought John Landis’ werewolf script (a little screenplay called An American Werewolf in London) was too frightening to be a comedy and too funny to be a horror film.

So here’s a feature I hope will become a regular thing on Scriptshadow, where we run down the major events in the writing world each week. It may even one day replace the Friday review. But don’t worry, I’d add another supremely awesome feature to offset that – namely a quick synopsis of a script too hot to review traditionally (like, say, a PTA script). Anyway, I’d like to introduce you guys to Jessica Hall, who will be providing us with this feature. Let me know if this is something you want to see more of…

Just a week after SPIDER-MAN 4 was officially scrapped, it’s back on again with a new director and a slew of [false] casting rumors. Marc Webb ({500} DAYS OF SUMMER) is set to direct the franchise reboot geared towards teens and tweens. Rumors about Robert Pattison and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt were quickly quashed in favor of a yet to be determined cast of relative unknowns. New storyline will center on a teen struggling with the knowledge that he could have saved his uncle. Working from Jamie Vanderbilt’s (ZODIAC) script, shooting is expected to start this year with a budget of around $80M. (http://bit.ly/5uRhDn)

Lots of news this week about writer Michael R. Perry. It’s rumored that Ben Stiller is circling his 2009 Black List script THE VOICES (ScriptShadow says it’s “Impressive”). Meanwhile, Perry has signed on to write Paramount’s PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 with Kevin Greutert to direct.

The Duplass Brothers (BAGHEAD) are set to write and direct JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME with Jason Reitman producing. It’s about a stoner who sets off on an elaborate search for wood glue.

THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT attached Marc Forster (QUANTUM OF SOLACE) to direct and Peter O’Brien (2008 Black List script UNLOCKED) to adapt from Robert Ludlum’s novel. Previous drafts have been penned by Allessandro Camon and Michael Seitzman. O’Brien is also writing the game story for the Microsoft game “Halo: Reach.” Marc Forster is also set to direct MACHINE GUN PREACHER, which Gerard Butler is circling. (http://bit.ly/6ibAcG)

Summit continues their fascination with the undead, hiring Jonathan Levine (THE WACKNESS) to write and direct zombie love project WARM BODIES. (http://bit.ly/57AmJD)

DreamWorks added attachments to two projects. DJ Caruso (EAGLE EYE) signed on to direct I AM NUMBER FOUR from a script by Gough & Millar while Ronald Harwood will write UNTITLED MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BIOPIC. Harwood, who hails from South Africa, won an Oscar for THE PIANIST and was nominated for THE DRESSER and THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY. Caruso is also attached to direct THE DEFENDERS for DW and Kurtzman/Orci. (http://bit.ly/6qzM8l; http://bit.ly/8IS4Fl)

British director Andrea Arnold is the third director to attach to WUTHERING HEIGHTS. She replaces Peter Webber, who replaced John Maybury. This is the first time Arnold has not directed from her own material instead working from Olivia Hetreed’s (GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRINGS) script. (http://bit.ly/5zhxif)

PROTECTION has replaced its lead actor and director with director Patrick Alessandrin (District 13: Ultimatum) and actor Clive Owen. Brandon Noonan, who wrote the script, also has ARROW set up at WB with Rob Cohen attached to direct. (http://bit.ly/83Pjck)

Sundance has arrived and Paramount Pictures has claimed the first acquisition of the festival. Studio plans a fall release for Davis Guggenheim’s new doc “WAITING FOR SUPERMAN. This time around, Guggenheim (AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) tackles the crisis in public education. (http://bit.ly/6FvC5z)

Genre: Paranormal Love Story
Premise: An odd twist-filled love story set in New York City.
About: Robert Lawrence Productions optioned T.M. Wright’s novel, “A Manhattan Ghost Story,” in 1990, then sold the rights to Carolco Pictures, who exercised the option in 1993, but not before paying Ron Bass a record amount, 2 million dollars, for an adaptation. In 1996, Disney bought the rights to the script in the Carolco bankruptcy sale, for 1.7 million. This script is known these days for basically one thing. I’d tell you what that thing was but it’s too big of a spoiler. What I’ll recommend you do is read the script first, then come back here and read the review, because in the review, I’ll be getting into all the spoilers. I’m really interested to hear what people who have no prior knowledge of this script will have to say.
Writer: Ron Bass (based off the novel “A Manhattan Ghost Story” by T.M. Wright)
Details: 123 pages (1996 spec draft)

MAJOR SPOILERS START NOW

So as people familiar with the plight of Manhattan Ghost Story (a title play, of course, on “Manhattan Love Story”) know, this is the script that thought up the “main character is a ghost” twist before M. Night wrote The Sixth Sense. In fact, I remember reading an article on AICN back in the day which brought up the notion that M. Night flat out plagiarized Manhattan Ghost Story. With this script selling in 1996 and The Sixth Sense selling in 97, it would be difficult to argue that Night hadn’t at least checked out the script. But there’s one major difference between these two stories. Night executes his version of the idea into one of the best spec screenplays of all time. And Bass executes his into a passable diversion which leaves more questions than answers. At the very least, it’s a great exercise in seeing how two people can have the same idea and take it in two completely different directions.

Manhattan Ghost Story stirred up memories of one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, which ironically, was a huge spec sale of its own. I’m talking about David Benioff’s “Stay” (1.8 million – note: I’ve actually never read the script, so I can only go on the movie). This movie spent its entire running time showing us weird people doing weird things that made no sense. It was supposed to build suspense and mystery. And hey, if you do five minutes of that then yes, it is intriguing. But 2 hours of it is akin to stabbing your brain repeatedly with an ice pick. All of this was to be tolerated because each script had an ace in the hole – its “twist ending.” But that’s the problem. They relied so heavily on their big “oh my gosh” moment, that they forgot what it is in a screenplay that requires the most attention: the actual story.

The good news is, Manhattan Ghost Story isn’t nearly as bad as Stay. After the laborious first 40 pages, a story starts to emerge. Aaron Cray, an unassuming photographer, is going to be living in New York for a few months while he does some photography work. Strangely, an acquaintance he never got along with named Paul DeGraff has allowed him to stay at his apartment. Which, you know, makes no sense whatsoever. When Aaron gets to the apartment, he’s surprised to see the beautiful but mysterious Julianne Potter there. Julianne is Paul’s old girlfriend. But right away she starts flirting with Aaron for some reason. There’s an odd sexiness to this woman. But it’s complicated by a detached sleepwalking quality, as if she’s not really there. In fact, there’s a detached sleepwalking quality to everybody in this script, which is part of the reason it takes so much effort to get into.

Well, it’s on page 40 that we learn that Aaron sees dead people. He’s been given a gift, like few others have been given, where he can see the dead walking around with the living. He learns, unfortunately, that Julianne is one of those dead, and that therefore he’s fallen in love with a ghost.

Through the help of a psychic, Aaron learns the rules of the ghost universe. Ghosts can only hang onto the real world through emotional attachment. The less emotions they feel, the more they fade away. When all of their emotional attachment is gone, they disappear completely. The two most dominant emotions are love and anger. So all of the ghosts still living in Manhattan are either really angry or really lovesick. That’s why Julianne can be seen so clearly by Aaron, because of her love for him.

Click for the novel on Amazon.

Carrying on a relationship with a dead person isn’t easy, but Aaron puts his best untagged foot forward. They figure as long as their love remains strong, Julianne won’t disappear. This dreamy scenario is ruined, however, when Paul tumbles back into the picture. You remember Paul, right? He’s the one who lent Aaron the apartment, the one who used to date Julianne, and, oh yeah, the one who MURDERED HER. Paul still isn’t over his ex-living gf. And, in fact, is pissed off that she’s still partly alive. I mean how have you murdered someone if they’re still walking around banging other guys? In Paul’s mind, he has to kill her. Again. And this is his plan. If he kills the person she loves (Aaron), her love will die and she’ll disappear. Which will make her really truly dead.

So Aaron and Julianne go running around, trying to avoid Evil Paul, but they can only hide for so long (they do happen to live in his apartment) and Paul’s finally able to corner them. He moves to kill Aaron, only to watch his weapon *swing through him*. Wait a minute. What??? We learn that, gasp, Aaron’s been dead this whole time too! And hence, the same “twist” as The Sixth Sense (albeit before Night thought of it). But here’s where things get loco essay. Because unlike The Sixth Sense, the twist doesn’t answer all our questions, but brings up a boatload of new ones.

It turns out Julianne had been cheating on Paul in real life with Aaron. So Paul murdered both of them and, I believe, killed himself. The only way for Paul to stay “present” in this world as a ghost was through emotion. Since he didn’t have the emotion of love, his only chance to stay was to utilize his emotion of hate. So he set the two up again, which is why he gave them his apartment (His apartment is still empty even though he’s dead?), so he could continue to experience his rage-filled hatred, so he could stay alive in the ghost world.

Now stay with me here. Cause I’m just as confused as you.

How was Aaron able to have a photography job with a boss who greeted him every day? How was she able to see him if he was a ghost? Good question. I don’t’ know. Something about how Aaron died recently so his presence was still strong with her. Why can’t ghosts remember how they died? It seemed the only answer was that it was convenient for the plot (if they could remember how they died, we wouldn’t have a story). There’s a bunch of other questions that popped into my head. Like why would Paul attack Aaron, trying to end his life, if he knew Aaron was already dead? It would have to mean that Paul was pretending to end his life (he knows he’s dead so he knows the weapon won’t harm Aaron). But since Paul knew that would end the façade he’d set up in order to stay angry, wouldn’t he be threatening his own existence, since he couldn’t be “angry” anymore? And how do you “set up a scenario” so that you’re angry in the first place? Aren’t you either angry or not angry? Ugh, I don’t know what’s going on.

But I’m glad I read the script because I think it helps illustrate just how genius The Sixth Sense was. When the big twist comes at the end, we *get it*. There’s no backtracking to explain huge plot holes. There’s no head-scratching accompanied by endless questions, “But then how…” It’s just: boom. Understood. Ironically, in all the rest of Night’s movies, he made the exact same mistakes that Manhattan Ghost Story did (anyone remember The Village). It’s the true test of if a twist works. When the twist comes, do we *get it* or do you have to start explaining everything? If you have to start explaining, go back to the drawing board and start again. Your twist doesn’t work.

Another thing to learn from this script is to be careful whenever you’re creating a new world that you don’t overburden it with rules. The more rules you have to bring into your story, the more you’re asking your reader to remember, which puts too much of the burden on them. Instead of you doing the work (and simplifying it), you’re making them do the work. And you reach a point where you’ve over-ruled your script. A certain part of the reader’s mind has shut down, either voluntarily or involuntarily (they simply can’t remember anything), and so even though “technically” speaking everything makes sense, it doesn’t make sense to them because they haven’t been able to keep track of it all. Always err on the side of simplicity. If your rules are too convoluted, back up and either get rid of some or simplify them. You’ll be doing the reader and the story a huge service.

Ultimately, this was a frustrating experience. The story doesn’t work without the twist. And the twist is too convoluted to make the story worthwhile. Some of the relationship stuff is okay, but hampered by the odd “ghost-speak” the characters are forced to use.

[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[x] wasn’t for me
[ ] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: The key thing I learned from Manhattan Ghost Story is to never depend on your twist too much. The greatest twist stories will work whether you add the twist or not. That’s what makes the twist so great in fact, is that the audience believes the movie is over, but then BAM, there’s one final surprise. That’s why The Sixth Sense worked so well. Had you never shown the twist, it still would’ve been an enjoyable story. A therapist finally finds redemption from being responsible for one of his patient’s suicides by helping a boy overcome his unique curse. Stop it right there and we’re satisfied. Take out the twist in Manhattan Ghost Story, and you don’t have a movie at all. Take out the twist in Stay and you don’t have a movie at all. Never depend too much on your twist!

So why did it sell?: I’m not sure why this sold. We have to view it in the context of pre-Sixth Sense, and that’s not easy to do. I suppose a story, however well executed, where the main character is revealed to have been a ghost the whole time, would’ve been quite an awesome surprise to read at the end of a spec, much like Remember Me was somewhat average when you read it, but then was elevated by its surprise ending. Bass himself was a huge writer at the time, with impressive credits like Sleeping With The Enemy, Dangerous Minds, and Rain Man. So I’m sure his track record played into it. It’s just really hard to imagine how this script would’ve resonated had I never seen The Sixth Sense before. I’m sure I would’ve thought it was much cooler though.