Word: script
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After more stories and another novel, Sayles went to work in Hollywood for B-movie king Roger Corman, churning out such scripts as Piranha, a low-budget rip-off of Jaws. His idols, however, were independent filmmakers like John Cassavetes. In 1978, having saved $40,000 from script fees and book royalties, Sayles struck out on his own; he recruited a cast of actor friends and made the film that would become The Return of the Secaucus Seven...
...best, Naked Hollywood puts a human twist on the familiar tales of Hollywood mass production and megalomania. One sequence tracks the relay team of writers hired by producer-director Ivan Reitman to massage the script of Kindergarten Cop. ("I felt he was somewhat written out," says Reitman of original writer Murray Salem. Says Salem: "He was not that friendly to me.") James Caan recalls career missteps that included turning down the lead roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Kramer vs. Kramer...
...beautiful place to be lost in. Nichols, as always, is terrific at suggesting worlds without words. The camera catches a glance from a pretty lawyer at Henry's firm, and we know in that instant that she has had an affair with the old, nasty Henry. But then the script insists that these epiphanies be spelled out in illuminated capital letters; and Nichols, a jaunty yachtsman of a director, must trawl through treacle. Strings swell at the merest emotion. And -- lordy! -- dog-reaction shots! By the end, when the pooch trots into a school chapel, you may want the animal...
...line. He has invested about $80 million in Morgan Creek and has attracted $200 million from outside investors. "If studio executives lost 25% of their own money on a film," he says, "they'd make better movies." Robinson spent only 20 hours considering whether to buy the Robin Hood script for $1.2 million, and even less time deciding whether to hire Kevin Costner to play the lead for $7.5 million. Deriding some studio executives as dithering bureaucrats, he declares, "I'm never going to have to ask some guy who makes $250,000 a year if I can make...
Robinson is a demon for details, beginning with a movie's script. "A lot of companies start with an imperfect script, which is like drawing a road map while on a trip," he says. Other steps get just as much scrutiny, from choosing a director to arranging a sound track. "You don't know how good your movie will be, but you can avoid making a bad one," says Robinson. He tries to avoid the movie industry's all-consuming politics. "People don't go to the movies to see pitches and deals, they go to see good films...