Writing Movies For Fun And Profit! (38 page)

assiduous,
9
–10,
14
–17,
154
n
,
208

deadlines in,
169

description in,
170
–73

dialogue in,
156
–59,
160
,
171
,
182
,
189
,
196

location in,
170
–71

outlines in,
166
–69,
176

with a partner,
175
–77

in public,
131
–32

structure in,
147
–53,
156
,
168

style development in,
16

see also
characters; rewrites

screen rights,
201
–3

cost of,
202

“Screen Story by” credit,
125
–26,
128
,
199

script publication fees,
193

scripts:

Act III problems in,
52
,
53
,
58
,
104

backing up of,
49

coverage of,
51
–54,
79

development of,
30
,
62
,
63
–67,
105
,
180
,
184

fact-checking of,
38
,
48

final draft of,
31

first draft of,
31
,
35
,
36
,
39
,
52
,
94
,
176

formatting of,
4
–5,
38
,
40
–46

inciting incident in,
149
,
152

initial letter of characters’ names in,
153

official draft of,
38
,
49

payment for,
38
,
50
,
52

PDF version of,
38
,
48
–49,
50

proofreading of,
48

readability of,
53

registering of, with WGA,
38
,
46
,
49

resale of, to another studio,
108
–9

revisions of,
36
,
46
,
48

right length of,
38
–40,
53
,
102
–3,
156

saved drafts of,
49

shooting draft of,
39

spec,
7
,
17
,
29
,
31
,
35
,
180
–81,
210

spell checking of,
38
,
46
,
48
,
178
–79

stalled or scrapped,
77
,
101
–9

time allowed for writing of,
35
–37,
169

title page of,
38
,
46
–48

turning in of,
50
,
53
,
65

as unread by studio heads,
52
,
53
,
78
–79

unsold,
11
–17

see also
screenplays

separated rights to material,
33
–34,
127
,
128

sequels,
30
,
33
–34,
116
,
117
,
118
,
127
,
151
,
198
–200,
211
–12

jinxing of,
198
–99,
211
,
212

passive payments on,
34
,
199

ShoWest trade show,
111

Shyamalan, M. Night,
94
n

Simonds, Bob,
117
–18

Smith, Will,
30
,
58

Solondz, Todd,
54

Sony,
58
,
67

source material,
125
–26,
127
,
128

Speed
,
109

Spiderman
,
149
–50

Spyglass Films,
36

Spy Next Door, The
,
99

Starsky & Hutch
,
185

Star Wars
,
40
,
149
–51,
161

Stiller, Ben,
155
,
156
–57

“Story by” credit,
124
–25,
128

studio executives,
ix
,
7
,
29
,
30
,
35
,
50
,
85
,
117

coverage by,
51
–54,
79

dumb vs. smart,
65
–68,
93
,
95

falling asleep by,
99
–100

firing of,
67
,
90
,
106

incompetent,
92
–93,
95
–97

junior,
52
,
65
–66

keeping their jobs as goal of,
4
,
59
,
72
,
106
,
113

pitching to,
see
pitching

studio heads,
19
,
65
,
66

notes of,
72
,
77
–79,
95

pitching to,
30
,
94
–95,
96
,
97

scripts unread by,
52
,
53
,
78
–79

Summit Entertainment,
67

Superman
movies,
160

table reads,
4
,
102
–3

Tallulah Wine Bar,
134

target audience,
53
,
106
,
111

taxes,
33
,
197

write-offs of,
37

Taxi
,
x
,
116
–19

French version of,
116
,
117

Taxi
2
,
117
,
118
,
199

television,
24
,
25
,
33
,
34
,
108
–9,
111
,
193
,
211
–12

Terminator, The
,
12
,
13
,
39
,
96
,
146

test screenings,
85
–86,
117

30 Days of Night
,
127

3-D movies,
106
,
297

Three of Clubs,
22
–23

tie-ins,
87
n
,
111
–12

Titanic
,
39

Towering Inferno, The
,
167

Toy Story
,
54

Transformers
,
54

Transformers
2
: Revenge of the Fallen
,
22
,
84

true stories,
201
–3

20th Century Fox,
67
,
96
,
108
–9,
161
,
212

parking at,
55
–56

standard script formats of,
43
–44

Twitter,
125

Universal Pictures,
20
,
67
,
109

parking at,
57

Upright Citizens Brigade,
5

vamping,
171

Verrone, Patric,
25

Village Idiot bar,
132

Warhol, Andy,
167

Warner, Jack,
65

Warner Bros.,
63
,
67
,
109

parking at,
56

standard script format of,
45

Weinstein Company,
67

Welles, Orson,
5
,
5

Wilde, Oscar,
170
,
204
,
205

Williams, Tennessee,
204
,
205

Willis, Bruce,
148
,
149

Witherspoon, Reese,
157

Wong Kar-wai,
151
,
152

word Tetris,
40

work habits, disciplined,
9
–10,
14
–17,
36

Wrigley, William, Jr.,
136

Writers Guild of America (WGA),
24
–28,
31
,
33
–34,
193
–97

admission requirements of,
25
–26

Arbitration Committee of,
128
–29,
194
–95

dues paid to,
24
,
33

protective benefits of,
24
,
25

registering script with,
38
,
46
,
49

Screen Credits Manual
of,
124
–25,
195

“Written by” credit,
33
,
124
–25,
128
,
199
,
295

Written By
magazine,
125

ROBERT BEN GARANT was born in Cookeville, Tennessee. He spent the early 1990s appearing in Off-Off Broadway theaters (bars) in New York City with the comedy group The State. The State had a three-year run on MTV, then a forty-four-minute run on CBS. He then created, wrote, produced, and occasionally appeared in three seasons of
Viva Variety
on COMEDY CENTRAL.

Since relocating to Los Angeles, he has written feature film scripts for Disney, New Line, Dimension, Spyglass, Imagine, Fox, Warner Bros., Columbia, and Universal Pictures, as well as working on numerous production rewrites and punchups. His writing credits include screenplays for
Taxi, Let’s Go to Prison, Herbie: Fully Loaded, The Pacifier, Night at the Museum, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,
and
Reno 911!: Miami
and
Balls of Fury,
both of which he also directed.