Producing : A couple of projects, each for one studio only by Judy Klass

Hi, Judy... Ok. So... The WB script. You've kind of backed yourself into a corner here. Studios generally won't look at a screenplay based on a property they own other than as a spec or writing sample because, let's face it, if they realized they were sitting on any undeveloped IP from their vault that they thought could make money, they'd hire someone like Jane Goldman or Damon Lindelof to take a shot at it. Unfortunately, that script is likely one you'll have to hold onto until your career takes that big leap and someone, somewhere, asks you what you'd like to tackle next... then you can drop the script on the table in front of them and say, "here it is. WB owns it. Let's get it made." Regarding the story sold to Uni... do they still own it or have the rights reverted to you or your family? Ask your reps to check on the material and see what the status is. A studio doesn't necessarily control it forever, and even if they have it in turnaround, if you can get it to another studio (or mini-major), they may be able to buy it from Universal. You mentioned that they couldn't crack the story in terms of making it an exciting screenplay. Do you know why? Who took a crack at the draft and how have you figured out the problem? Can you track the CE at the studio who initially was on the project? Sorry for all of the questions, but your situation is pretty unusual. As for the future, my advice would be to write original material that isn't subject to the terms of people you have no connection to or rights that you don't control... it'll make your life a lot easier. Best of luck!

Hi, Shaun. Thanks for writing back. Yes, I know it's silly to write a spec script only one studio can make. I've got lots of other, original scripts that I can pitch, and I do -- I was just looking for advice about these two because of the weird situation. The old WB movie involves a priest and a gangster who were childhood friends. When the gangster gets out of jail and returns to his old neighborhood, the priest is worried that he seems so glamorous to the local kids. I made the characters a Harlem minister and a gangsta rapper. WB had someone read my script who said I had written it really well but they are not looking to do an "urban" version of this classic title of theirs. So, they keep hiring people, over the years, to write it with the characters still white . . . and it doesn't work. There is no way to update it, I firmly believe, other than the way I've updated it -- and if I could get a cool producer associated with WB (or a well-known African-American actor or a director) interested, I think they might take another look. I'm afraid Universal did not just option my uncle's short story; they bought it outright, with no reversion clause. He was a Golden Age of SF writer. He came along before Philip K. Dick but had a similar sense of irony and social satire, particularly in this story. It's about men who serve their prison sentences for years, in advance, and then come home to commit murders; it's set in a future society where that is allowed. Universal hired writers to take a shot at it, but they wound up concluding it was more a morality tale than an action movie. I saw a way to make it work -- to have the first two acts show the men being taken out to a penal colony on Titan, and the scary, horrible conditions they live through (some don't make it) and then have most of what happens in the story happen during the final act of the film: when the men come back to Earth. My script had my uncle's blessing before he died -- but I don't think Universal is even aware that they own this long short story anymore. It's tucked away in a drawer somewhere. The guy at Universal who was excited about it went to another studio -- if he's still in the business. This was a number of years ago . . .

Wow. Both sound excellent. Especially your Uncle's story. Wicked premise, serving your time in order to do the crime. As for the one based on the old WB gangster movie - could you tweak it enough to make it wholly original separate from the basic premise? I mean, AVATAR is THE LAST SAMURAI is DANCES WITH WOLVES is POCAHONTAS, you know? We've seen these stories a million times. It's the subtle (and sometimes substantial) tweaks that make them work anew. If you can leap off from that longline, you could probably get it done at Screen Gems or something.

Thanks for the encouragement. The WB film was ripped off to some degree in the '70s blaxploitation film Black Caesar -- a lot of those old gangster movies were. I saw that one after I'd written my script. And when the bio pic on Biggie Smalls came out, reviewers said it felt like an old Warner Brothers gangster movie . . . but I wrote my script as an homage to the original, taking great pleasure in retaining certain elements. I watched that thing over and over until I practically memorized it and then translated it into the modern day . . . I think I prefer just to write original scripts as original, and some have black characters and some have white characters and some have both . . . Are Screen Gems doing a lot of films with black characters now? ('Cause that can be a hard sell at a lot of studios.)

Hi Judy, Stories get better the more they are told. Each telling changes something and eventually a new story has emerged. Why are you so set on just regenerating something which exists? If you want a direction where to go with it, send me a link at tom.rooney@btinternet.com and I will steer you in a different direction with it.

Thanks, Alle -- I will give you a shout. Tom -- I consider writing an original story to be a very great pleasure. But adaptation, translating a work from one genre, or one culture, or one time period, or whatever -- that's a different pleasure, and I invested a lot in doing that well on these two projects. The WB one has a bit more melodrama in the script than I would usually dare put in, 'cause it's based on a 1930s gangster film, though I've tried not to be corny -- I've tried to make it timely. If WB is hesitant because virtually all the main characters are black -- other studios might be also, and at least with the two leads characters, that's pretty key to the story I'm telling. I may as well keep it in the form that makes me proud of the job I've done as adapter/translator -- at least for now.

Hi, Alle. I appreciate you reaching out to me, and I understand that it's a long shot, and it might not turn out to be a project where you feel you can help . . . could I correspond with you about this via email? My address is JudyKwrites@aol.com. Let me know the kinds of info you'd need -- I could send info about my uncle but also a synopsis of my script or a treatment, for instance . . .

No problems Judy, good luck with it.

Screen Gems have always been in the business of "Urban Films." Look up their stuff and you'll see.

That's good to know . . . You don't suppose they'd ever "partner" with another studio like WB?

They're linked to Sony, so WB is a long shot.

Okay, thanks.

Hi Judy, I merely skimmed your post so I might have missed an important detail. I was a studio exec at Universal, and I'm proud to say they have an extremely sophisticated Lit Props database. I bet you money that they are aware they own your uncle's short story. If they are truly not doing anything with the short story, they may allow you to buy it back from them with either your money or a third-party financier's money. If you are prepared to put your money when your mouth is, it can't hurt to have an entertainment attorney (or your agent if you have one) approach them to see if they're willing to sell it back to you.

As for the WB project, they are within their rights to send you a "cease and desist" since it appears that you have no right to write that script.

Thanks for contacting me, Regina. After I started this thread, someone wrote to me in a private exchange and asked about the gangster movie. I said it was Angels With Dirty Faces. She said that Angels With Dirty Faces is in the public domain, and offered this link: https://archive.org/details/AngelsWithDirtyFacesTrailer An agent I know said great, it's public domain now! Then a studio exec I pitched to said no, WB probably still has re-make rights. I wish I knew how to find out for sure. As for my uncle's story -- should I just call Universal, and ask them? Ask for the Literary Department, or some such?

Hi Judy, I'm not a copyright attorney, but I believe that WB would have been able to renew its copyright. In terms of Uni, like I said, I recommend that you have an entertainment attorney contact them so there is weight behind the request. Not trying to strong-arm them with a lawyer, just a polite official inquiry. Allow them to know that you should be taken seriously, that you are committed to purchasing the property from them if they have no interest in further development, that you have the funds (or a plan to acquire the funds) to purchase the property, and that you hope they will grant you permission to acquire the short story. If Uni has no plans to further develop, they may welcome the chance to be reimbursed for their costs to date. Or they may decide that they want to hold onto the property so they have the option to redevelop in the future.

Additionally, you if feel like you have a viable gangster movie, ask yourself if it can stand on its own, without the WB movie. FIFTY SHADES OF GREY was initially conceived as TWILIGHT fan fiction, then re-conceived to stand on its own.

Thanks, it's been suggested -- but I love that old movie, it's a classic, part of the pleasure of writing the script for me was the process of updating it, because it does work very well, nearly eighty years later and in a slightly different context -- and I don't feel like changing the story from the one I adapted.

Respectfully, you're choosing to preserve your favorite version of a script that can only sit on your shelf because you don't have the rights to have written that script, instead of changing it and owning a script you have the right to sell. To each her own.