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Peter Bart On Redrafting The System: What Joe Eszterhas & The ’80s “Writers Rebellion” Say About Today’s Screenplay Malaise
Peter Bart on redrafting the system: What Joe Eszterhas and the mid-'80s "Writers Rebellion" say about today's screenplay malaise.
Eszterhas has long since retired to quieter pastures, but given the discontent pervasive today in Hollywood’s writing community, some writers for film and TV might do well to re-examine that period for clues in resolving the present malaise. “The screenwriting industrial complex is dysfunctional,” asserts Bruce Feirstein, an accomplished writer and editor whose credits include James Bond pictures as well as video games. Feirstein notes that a screenplay submission, embodying a writer’s hopes of fame and fortune, is treated like “a tenuous first novel” and must be accompanied by several components including a “script deck” – a sort of PowerPoint that discloses logline, potential budget, locations and cast.
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