Plus the writer, Alex Felix, chimes in on what it was like getting the script made. An insightful look into the development and production process of Hollywood!
Genre: Drama/Crime
Logline: (from IMDB) A social worker assigned to the care of the daughter of a single mother intervenes when the dad returns from prison and lures them into a life of crime.
About: Almost a decade ago, I read a script that blew my socks off called Where Angels Die. I still remember being up at 4 in the morning, exhausted, opening this script up, and getting taken on this wild kickass ride. The script then began a long journey familiar to many in Hollywood known as development hell. Well, finally, the movie has been made as The Gateway (renamed because it’s now set in St. Louis, considered the “gateway to the West”). Today, I review the movie as well as get some deft insight into the film’s journey from the writer himself, Alex Felix.
Writers: Alex Felix Bendaña and Andrew Levitas and Michele Civetta
Details: 90 minutes, directed by Michele Civetta
I watched two things this weekend – The Gateway and Y The Last Man. If there ever was a reminder that you must be in this business for the long run, these two projects are it. Both have taken almost a decade to get made. And while you can still recognize the original material in each, a lot was changed over the course of their development.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way for Where Angels Die. The project had a chance at getting made quickly. Here’s writer Alex Felix explaining what happened:
“Shortly after you gave the script a glowing review, I got repped and my agents began sending the script around town. While that was happening, someone else had sent the script to Adrián Guerra at Nostromo Pictures and he reached out almost immediately. He wanted to option the script for Rodrigo Cortés, a director who he had worked with and who I was a big fan of. I loved what Rodrigo had done with BURIED and RED LIGHTS and met with him to discuss his vision for the project. He said that if I gave him a shot, that he’d be interested in taking it to Ryan Reynolds, who he had worked with on BURIED.
I went back to my team and told them about Adrián and Rodrigo and was immediately shut down. They said they were out to A-List directors and talent and that there was no way we were going to lock the script up so soon. At that point in time, I had just secured representation, and with zero experience under my belt, I decided to listen to them. If I’m being honest, I was worried that if I didn’t listen to them, that they would let me go as a client. Looking back, this was the biggest single mistake I’ve ever made in my time in Hollywood and the hardest lesson I’ve ever had to learn.”
I’ve seen this happen many times myself. Agencies want to do things their way. They have a system they follow. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong. CAA puts a ton of projects together. But they can be dismissive when an outside package is presented to them that doesn’t align with their master equation.
To Alex’s credit, he kept pushing and would eventually get some help.
“I kept networking and I did land a few big writing assignments but I still really wanted to get WHERE ANGELS DIE made, and so I re-approached Adrián and Rodrigo. Unsurprisingly, they were busy with newer projects, but Adrián did have some script doctoring work he needed done and so I worked on a few really cool projects with him and we remain good friends to this day.
Later on, I met a producer named Anna Halberg who I instantly clicked with. She absolutely loved ANGELS and asked if she could help me try to get it made. Looking back, there is no doubt in my mind that the reason the project actually became a film is as a direct result of all the hard work Anna poured into the project and because of her unwavering belief in the script.”
For those who haven’t seen The Gateway, it’s about a social worker, Parker, who’s become close with one of the families he was assigned to. He helps take the daughter to school when needed and is a shoulder to cry on for the mother, Dahlia. But then Dahlia’s convict boyfriend, Mike, gets out of prison and throws everything out of whack.
After Mike reunites with his buddies and steals a bunch of drugs from a drug house, Parker makes the decision to excavate Dahlia and her daughter from Mike’s clutches, getting his hands on the drugs Mike stole in the process. Since Parker knows Mike will follow him to the ends of the earth to get his family back, he offers Mike the drugs if he’ll leave them alone. This results in a big final shoot-em-up where not everyone is left standing.
Watching this movie was a bit of an out-of-body experience. You have this very exciting memory from your past and then this movie comes along that gives you a direct line into that memory, but does so from a completely different point of view. All of the details are different. And the details, it turns out, are what made the memory so powerful.
For example, I remember this crazy stapler attack scene from the script. It was a big moment that really stayed with me after reading it. When that scene appeared in The Gateway, it was much softer, much quicker, less original. This would happen a lot while watching the film. The moments I remembered didn’t have the teeth those original scenes did. Jaws were replaced with dentures.
It was a reminder of how brutal the system can be. You move mountains to get an A-list director or actor on your project because if you do that, it’s like having a Michelin star chef cook your meal. You don’t just get the chef. You get the gorgeous restaurant, the best location, the best cuts of meat, all the freshest ingredients. People like that can turn a meal into an experience.
If no A-listers bite, you can still make a great meal. Hell, I’ve had a slice of pepperoni pizza from Village Pizzeria that was just as good as the Margherita pizza at Osteria Mozza. But the odds start working against you. B-List actors mean B-list money. That means you have less days to shoot. That means you have less money for sets and locations. You have less money for actors. You have less money for music.
As I’m watching The Gateway, I kept thinking, “if they just had a little more money.” What I remember about the screenplay is that it would strategically creep along, building tension, before hitting you with these WHOPPER moments. Those moments are less frequent in the film. Instead, they focus on the smaller quieter exchanges.
I’m guessing they had to do this because they didn’t have the money. I’m sure they would’ve loved to have shot in an opera house. But, due to budget constraints, they shot in a tiny bar with three patrons instead.
Stories need balance. The small personal moments are what drive the emotional through-line of your movie, yes. But they need bigger flashier moments to balance them out. If it’s all small all the time, the movie starts to feel monotone. It starts to feel generic.
A good comp would be a movie like Good Time (it seems like Civetta is inspired by the Safdie Brothers). Good Time has small intense moments between the two brothers. But those moments were balanced out by a crazy chase scene. Or a random tweaked-out dude who would show up in their car and tell them a wild ten minute story about how he ended up there.
The Gateway tries its best, but even the big featured set-piece – the bad guys storming the drug den to steal money – felt muddled and unclear. As it was happening, I said to myself, “Wait, what’s going on right now? Why are they coming here?” It wasn’t explained well.
“Why is there a kiddie pool in the middle of the floor? Why is there a guy riding a bike inside the warehouse?” It was like the director wanted to do some Boogie Nights inspired weirdness but forgot to organically tie it into the story, something I thought Alex did a great job of in the original script. Every crazy moment from the script felt designed. Felt like it had a purpose.
Despite all this, the movie had its moments. Almost all of them come from Shea Whigham, who’s dialed into the role of Parker throughout. Him sharing a fun moment with the daughter. Him staring Mike down in his doorway when they first meet. It was cool to see those moments come to life because you read these scripts when they’re digital paper and you never know what’s going to come of them, then ten years later you’re seeing it acted out with real actors and a real crew and the production level that even a small Hollywood production can bring to the table and, I’m not going to lie, I got a little choked up. I saw those flashes of the script I read and, for a brief moment, I was experiencing the same thing I experienced that Friday morning at 4am.
I don’t think there’s enough ‘different’ going on in this movie to draw in the average viewer but if you’ve been following Where Angels Die from the beginning here on Scriptshadow, you should definitely check The Gateway out.
[ ] What the hell did I just watch?
[x] wasn’t for me
[ ] worth the stream
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: Today’s lesson comes from Alex. “If I can pass on just one piece of advice to aspiring writers out there, it’s this: if you ever get the opportunity to get your project made by a director whose work you like and respect and/or a producer with a great track record who is enthusiastic about your project, take it. For an unproduced writer, getting a project made is literally like winning the lottery. Think about it this way: If you found out that you won a million-dollar lottery, and someone told you that instead of cashing in your winning million-dollar ticket, they wanted you to forfeit it in order to put it back into a smaller lottery pool for a one in a hundred chance to win one hundred million dollars, would you do it? Would you trade a guaranteed million dollars for a one in a hundred chance to win one hundred million? Because that’s essentially what you’re doing at that point, and unfortunately, it’s what I did. Sure enough, all of the A-List prospects that my reps were out to dried up as time went on. I went on a ton of general meetings and did some great networking, but I completely blew my shot at getting my movie made with what would have been an absolutely fantastic team. I want to be clear that I don’t blame my reps for taking the position that they did, and I understand why they insisted on waiting. They gave me the advice they thought was in the best interest of the project, which I just so happened to disagree with. My only regret is not going with my gut, and the only person I blame is myself.”
And here’s a little more from Alex…
Pretty soon, she (Anna) got the script set up at Radar Pictures, and they sent the
project out to directors and actors they had worked with. As time
marched on, Anna and I realized that it looked like they were really
busy with some other projects they had that were further along and that
ANGELS probably wasn’t going to happen with them, so we respectfully
parted ways and there were no hard feelings on either side. Radar had
had the script for quite some time, but Anna kept hustling and we soon
found a new possible producing partner for the project along with a
director who was interested.
I had never heard of this director but I met with him and he seemed
passionate about the project. By this time, years had gone by and I was
afraid the project was going to die on the vine so I decided to give him
a shot at the material. We took the project back out with this new
director, but as time went by, we were unable to attach talent to the
project, which I can only assume was because he was a newcomer and
relatively unheard of. Luckily, he decided to step down as director but
stayed on as a producer, which meant that Michele Civetta, who had a
great background doing music videos, commercials, and indie films, was
able to board the project. Shortly after that, Shea Whigham signed on to
play Parker, then Olivia Munn signed on to play Dahlia and the rest of
the cast quickly followed.
In the end, I feel incredibly grateful to have finally seen this project
get made. I learned so many hard-fought lessons along the way and made
mistakes which I’ll never make again and which I hope other writers can
learn from, but without a doubt, the most important lesson I learned was
to never let anyone stand in the way of you getting your project made.
Whether that be an agent or a producer or a manager, it’s up to you as
the writer to do everything in your power to protect your project. This
project almost died because I made that mistake so early on, and
although I was new to the industry and had no idea what I was doing, it
took me many years to fully forgive myself.
I was incredibly lucky to find a producer who believed in and fought for
the project the way Anna did. She stuck with it through all of the ups
and downs, and I can’t stress enough how important it is to find someone
like that, someone who is as passionate about your project as you are
and who is 100% committed to seeing it through to the end. I also want
to tip my hat to Michele, who I thought did a fantastic job making this
movie on an indie budget. I liked a lot of the creative decisions that
were made on his part, and I loved the ensemble cast he put together.
