Posted on 08/08/2005 4:41:15 PM PDT by future tense
The American Film Renaissance, which hosted the first-ever conservative film festival last September, is sponsoring a screenwriting competition. First place is $2,000. The judges include three Oscar-nominated screenwriters: Lionel Chetwynd (Hanoi Hilton, Ike), John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn), and Roger L. Simon (Enemies: A Love Story). They are looking for scripts with a conservative or libertarian theme. The early deadline is October 17, 2005.
There are a lot of talented Freepers out there. Get to it!!!
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly the radio
family hour was interrupted by an announcement that
James Carville had escaped and was at large. But we
all relaxed, secure in the knowledge that RoveMan
had the watch this hour ...
bttt
Too funny!!! Thank you.
Try "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. Should win hands down.
I still cannot believe no one has made a movie of this book.
Cool anti-Hollywood ping!
I don't think it's possible to create great art if you've got a political bent, and try to force a political message. Better to be true to yourself and let your situations and characters flow naturally from whatever vision of the cosmos you happen to hold, and the "message" will form itself naturally.
The idea sounds good to me!
I LOVE JOHN MILIUS!!!
I should enter my spaghetti-Western style script, which has yet to be completed. Milius would love it. He was close friends with Sergio Leone at one time.
Equatorial Guinea Pigs:
In the year 2010, after we're done in Iraq, anti-war protestors led by Michael Moore (who now weighs 600 pounds), tired of being irrelevant, create a phony war against the small African country of Equatorial Guinea so they can hold self-righteous anti-war protests. Unfortunately, because Hillary was elected in 2008, the U.S. military has been downsized to four old men and a chihuahua, and Equatorial Guinea is very angry.
Once upon a time there was an American Family.
A (male) father, a (female) mother, some kids, some grandparents.
Some bad stuff happens to this family.
But through hard work, faith and perseverence -- not whining, therapy and government handouts -- they suck it up and prevail.
The End.
(Any resemblance to "Little House on the Prairie" is strictly unintentional.)
> Try "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. Should win hands down.
> I still cannot believe no one has made a movie of this book.
Several attempts have been made, including a mini-series.
Whether the present holders of the copyrights would
allow an artistically and commercially successful
product is arguable. And that assumes that the movie
rights aren't entangled as a result of the prior initiatives.
And changes would be indicated, unless they actually
want to set the thing in 1956.
Hmmmm. Veddy interesting!
MM
You are exactly right. Keep politics out of it (unfortunately, but it's true).
How about a murder story: Once upon a time there was a park named “Marcy Park.” One evening….
Already in the works according to an interview with the director of the Ayn Rand institute that I listened to last week. According to him, they will begin shooting before the end of this summer.
Film Company to Bring "Atlas Shrugged" to the Screen POUGHKEEPSIE, NY, May 13, 2003—The Objectivist Center is pleased to announce that a new project to film Atlas Shrugged has just been launched. Crusader Entertainment, LLC, a Beverly Hills-based production company, announced on May 12 that it had acquired the film rights to Ayn Rand's great novel. The company also announced that it has signed veteran screenwriter James V. Hart, whose film credits include the ambitious adaptation of Carl Sagan's science fiction novel Contact, to write the screenplay.
"We are so thrilled to have gotten the rights to such a tremendous work," said Howard Baldwin, Crusader's President and CEO. "It is a great story that has equal parts mystery and romance and also celebrates the limitless potential of the human spirit. The time is right to bring this ageless story to the big screen. James V. Hart is the perfect screenwriter to do it." Added Hart, "Ayn Rand created extraordinary events and powerful characters over fifty years ago in her visionary novel, that are suddenly coming frighteningly true all around us every single day. This is a big, important challenge as a screenwriter and a great privilege."
Atlas Shrugged is the story of heroes who fight to preserve their world, and of their secret enemy: a man who declared that he would stop the motor of the world—and did. Set in near-future America, the novel depicts a nation whose economy is collapsing due to the growth of dictatorial government power, and the inexplicable disappearance of the country's leading innovators and industrialists. Beautiful, brilliant railroad executive Dagny Taggart is on a desperate quest to save her company—but first must solve the mystery behind the enigmatic question, "Who is John Galt?"
Rand's complex philosophical thriller dramatizes her controversial philosophy of "reason, individualism, and capitalism," known as Objectivism. She portrays the producers--including wealthy, successful industrialists--as moral heroes who are being exploited by a society of parasites. Since publication in 1957, Atlas Shrugged has attracted legions of admirers and has sold many millions of copies. Over 120,000 copies were purchased in 2001 alone, more than fifty years since its release. Its hotly debated ideas have become the basis for the libertarian political movement. They are often included in college courses and textbooks. The Objectivist Center [www.objectivistcenter.org] of Poughkeepsie, NY, the creator of this site, is one of many organizations that are developing and promoting Rand's philosophy. Today, the book is considered a modern American classic, and in 1999 a Modern Library reader survey ranked it as the number one book published in the 20th century.
Yet adapting the epic novel for the screen has proved to be a challenge of equally epic proportions. Atlas Shrugged is one of the few major novels of the 20th century that have never been filmed. Since the 1970s, three distinct projects have made it as far as the contract stage, and at least six complete screenplays have been drafted. But so far none has even been cast, let alone filmed and released.
In 1972, Al Ruddy, producer of The Godfather, negotiated to buy the film rights from Rand, but the deal fell through when she insisted upon final editorial approval. In the late 1970s, Rand signed a contract with Jaffe Productions and NBC for a TV miniseries, based on a script by Sterling Silliphant, who also wrote In the Heat of the Night. That deal was cancelled by NBC head Fred Silverman.
In 2000, Turner Network Television began work on a cable TV miniseries, with Al Ruddy producing. But TNT went through a wrenching process of reorganization when its parent company, Time-Warner, merged with America Online. TNT first cut its financial commitment, then withdrew from the project altogether. Ruddy reconceived the project as a feature film, but did not succeed in lining up talent or financing before his contract expired.
The new project was sparked when Crusader executives saw a September 2002 USA Today front-page feature about Atlas Shrugged's influence in the business community. Baldwin noticed the name of an old acquaintance: Ed Snider, head of Comcast Spectacor in Philadelphia, and a trustee of The Objectivist Center. Snider had previously held the film rights to the novel. When Baldwin contacted him, Snider put him in touch with John Aglialoro, also a trustee of The Objectivist Center, and current holder of the rights. Aglialoro, CEO and chairman of Cybex International, a manufacturer of premier fitness equipment, will serve as the film's executive producer.
"After having brought to the screen her book The Fountainhead in the late 1940s, of course Ayn Rand dreamed of seeing a first-rate movie made from her masterpiece novel, Atlas Shrugged," Aglialoro said. "I'm most pleased to see this endeavor now placed in joint collaboration with such a noteworthy management team from Crusader Entertainment."
Crusader Entertainment, LLC, is a diversified entertainment company that develops and produces a wide array of projects with universal themes geared to audiences of all ages.
James V. Hart's writing/producing credits include: Hook, directed by Steven Spielberg; Bram Stocker's Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola; Contact, directed by Robert Zemeckis; Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh as producer with Coppola and John Veitch; Jack and The Beanstalk: The Real Story, directed by Brian Henson, a Jim Henson/CBS mini-series; and Tuck Everlasting, directed by Jay Russell for Disney.
That looks like old news. Check my post #18 for a 2004 update.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.