I've been doing quite a lot of thinking about this book. It was the book that got me into television so that makes it notable, and I had a lot of experiences because of it. It was optioned by Procter & Gamble for a TV movie, but they couldn't find a way to make it work. Then a couple years later I worked with Mel & Ethel Brez who were the writers on the project. They were never specific as to what they felt the stumbling blocks were but since the Brezes are very clever it had to be something. Maybe it was P&G. Maybe they just couldn't see where the story was. Maybe they saw the story but P&G didn't want to go there. It's always hard to say what the problems are in entertainment. As a writer you have to juggle so many elements besides the actual writing. I'm not even sure how much the writing counts, most of the people in the business are business people not creative. It's about product not art. Some people think they are creative but they're not and they're the worst because they insist on having ideas. Usually they won't work dramatically. But they insist on them for personal reasons. Sometimes their own morality, or lack of it, gets in the way.
The entertainment business is rife with broken people. I wouldn't know that if I hadn't been there. Next time you think to yourself there are so many crummy TV shows and movies and you can't understand why, now you have the answer. These aren't whole people, they're not adults. They're bratty children in town-cars.
Happy Memorial Day. God Bless America.
No comments:
Post a Comment