Cinco and Ken's Way to Put Off Actually Writing

Wo ist Fred???

2006-10-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you the website for the German version of our screenplay Special. Check out the trailer. I don't understand German, but it looks like they stuck extremely close to the script. Closer than any Hollywood production we've ever been involved with has.

http://www.woistfred-film.de

It's premiering November 16th. Just in time for Academy Award consideration. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Cinco's Quote of the Day

2006-09-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

"They really need to make a Singing in the Rain video game."
-Cinco Paul

Love Is Groovy!

2006-09-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

Cinco here. Last year I recorded an album using Apple's GarageBand program, and I've finally figured out a way to get it online.

Just click on the link below--you can download all of the songs for free. You can also review them. That would be nice. Then maybe a major label will sign me and I can quit this screenwriting grind.

Cinco Paul on Download.com!

Tom Cruise IS Jerry Maguire!

2006-08-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

"You are hanging on by a very thin thread and I dig that about you!" Rod Tidwell, to Jerry Maguire (screenplay by Cameron Crowe)

I've always been a fan of Tom Cruise. And Jerry Maguire is one of my favorite movies of all time. But I think Tom may be taking his role as Jerry a little too seriously.

Remember the movie? First there was the memo (or mission statement) that really shook things up at the sports agency. The parallel in Tom's life has to be his Scientology, his views on treating depression with medication, his couch jumping.

The memo got Jerry fired. And Tom's memo just got him fired.

So what did Jerry do? He went into business for himself! Who needs a big agency? And what did Tom just do? He went into business for himself! Who needs the movie studios?

"But if anybody else wants to come with me, this moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together!" Jerry Maguire (screenplay by Cameron Crowe)

But Jerry didn't go it alone. No, he had a girl with him. A puffy-cheeked girl who loved him unconditionally. Dorothy Boyd, played by Renee Zellweger. And Tom's not going it alone either. He's got his own puffy-cheeked girl who loves him unconditionally. The lovely Katie Holmes.

I have to say, I was rooting for Jerry Maguire, and I'm rooting for Tom Cruise in the same way. Sure, he's acted a little crazy, but he hasn't done anything illegal, and movie stars have exhibited much worse behavior and been forgiven.

So, Tom, I hope you don't do what everyone thinks you're gonna do, which is flip out. I hope you find your Rod Tidwell.

By the way, I hear you're looking for a comedy...

"What will we be seeing from you next?"

2006-07-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

I've been asked this question quite a bit lately. It's a question every screenwriter without a movie currently in production dreads. The last movie Ken and I had in theaters was SANTA CLAUSE 2 in 2002. We've been working steadily, but to those outside of the movie biz it appears to be quite a dry spell. So I thought I'd list all of our current projects, their status, and my guess at their odds of being made. Welcome to Hollywood!

HORTON HEARS A WHO

Studio: Fox (CGI animation by Blue Sky)
Attachments: Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino (Directors), voice talent being kept under wraps
Status: Animation begins next month.
Odds of being made: 1:1. This one's definitely happening. Unfortunately, it won't be released 'til Spring 2008. But it's going to be great, take my word for it. The Seuss movie we've all been wanting to see.

SPECIAL

Status: This is the first script Ken and I wrote together. About a guy pretending to be disabled in order to get an autographed football for his fiancee's son. It was optioned by MGM, but we got it back. Unfortunately, much of what we wrote was used in a film which came out last year called THE RINGER.
Odds of being made: 1:1. A German production company bought the script and made the movie last year (substituting basketball for football). It's being released in Germany in September of this year, and it looks like they really stuck to our script. Here's the link to the IMDB listing: Special
Odds of being made in America: 1,000,000:1

BAND OF GOLD

Status: This is the first script I ever sold, way back in 1994, about a doctor who's about to get married and accidentally sews up his fiancee's family heirloom wedding ring inside a patient. It was set up at Sony, with Mike Binder directing, but then fell apart. A company called Middle Fork owns it, but is now open to letting us do what we want with it. There's a bit of interest in it.
Odds of being made: 40:1.

WALTER THE FARTING DOG

Studio: New Line
Status: Out to directors. We did a pretty big rewrite on this...hopefully they'll get a director soon. Then it will go--it's not a cast-contigent movie, and the studio is really behind it. It's based on the best-selling book about a dog that farts. A lot.
Odds of being made: 3:1.

PLANET TERRY

Studio: New Line
Attached: Brian Levant (Director)
Status: Pretty much dead--they got a lot of passes from actors, which took the wind out of the project's sails. It's based on a comic book proposal about a family man who finds out he's actually an alien here on Earth as part of the Intergalactic Witness Protection Program.
Odds of being made: 25:1.

CAR WARS

Studio: Warner Bros.
Attached: Dustin Hoffman, Dax Shepard (actors)
Status: We believe it's dead, but we're out of the loop. It's about a Mercedes dealer who has a used car dealer who worships him open up a lot across the street. The used car guy destroys the Mercedes dealer's life. We did a big rewrite on it, some of our best work. Many directors were close to signing on, including Shawn Levy and Chris Columbus. But if it gets made now it probably won't look much like our script.
Odds of being made: 30:1.

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS

Studio: Dreamworks
Attached: Sasha Baron Cohen (actor)
Status: Most likely dead. This was an adaptation of a French movie, Le Diner de Cons. I think this is one of the best scripts we've written. The execs at Dreamworks didn't agree, and hired a Simpsons writer, Jon Vitti, to rewrite it. Haven't heard anything about it since.
Odds of being made: 35:1.

LET IT RAIN

Studio: Fox
Status: This is a live-action singing animals movie (Babe meets Moulin Rouge) which we sold to Disney as a pitch several years ago. One of our favorite projects of all time. Fox acquired it from Disney in turnaround, and they say they want to make it, but things are moving slowly...we'll see.
Odds of being made: 5:1.

12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

Studio: Universal
Status: We did a big rewrite on the original draft by Thomas Lennon & Ben Garant. It's a Christmas movie about how Santa and the reindeer came to be. We were really put through the wringer on this one, so it's hard to be enthusiastic about it. But it may actually have a chance of getting made as a CGI movie.
Odds of being made: 30:1.

And there you have it. Only time will tell if some (or any) of these projects defy the odds and actually get made. We're not holding our breath. See you at the movies!

Which Celebrity Said This to Us?

2006-07-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Ken and I were pitching our take on a movie idea that this celebrity had. The idea was about a Broadway critic who hated musicals waking up and finding himself stuck in a musical. We pitched our little hearts out, singing and dancing and selling for all we were worth. And then, when it was over, this celebrity stared at us in silence for a bit, then said, "Eees good. Eees good." And the meeting was over. We never saw the celebrity again. And we quickly realized that "eees good" actually meant "eees not good." So...which celebrity was it?

We've Got the McPheever!!!

2006-05-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Go Katharine McPhee!

We love you!

Sing your heart out!

Seven Artists Cinco Loves

2006-05-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

MARK BODNAR

I actually have this painting hanging in my house. A twisted cartoon sensibility with an undeniable sense of fun (even the toast has a face). Check out his website, http://www.markbodnar.com

SHAG (aka Josh Agle). A cool retro feel, with amazing colors. His website is http://www.shag.com

MARION PECK. I love this painting, which is called "Cow." If you do, too, check out her website:
http://www.marionpeck.com

JOE SORREN. Joe lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and is responsible for the giant mural downtown. I love his work, but it freaks out my wife. If it doesn't freak you out, check out http://www.joesorren.com

NOUAR. You will either respond to this painting, or you won't. I love her stuff. Twisted, with the look of those old Fleischer cartoons. Her site is
http://www.noirnouar.com

GRANT WOOD. He's most famous for "American Gothic," but his Iowan landscapes are my favorites. Here's a page with a bunch of his paintings: Grant Wood

ROBERT LADUKE. Another Arizonan. Most of his painting are of trains and 40's cars pulling trailers. But I love this one of a house, called "Popcorn." Check out more of his art at http://www.robertladuke.com

So now you've seen the seven artists, let me know what you think. Vote for your favorite. Or suggest one of your own.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2006-05-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

Today's quiz: can you identify this character?

Top Ten Ways to Put Off Blogging

2006-04-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

So come to find out, we have already come up with several ways to put off posting on the blog. Which is of course already a way to put off writing. It's not easy, but here's how we do it.

10. Discuss how much we love/hate Katharine McPhee.

9. Blame each other for stinking up the office by not removing Baja Fresh salsa.

8. Halo 2. (see March 31st post)

7. Watch the classic grape-stomper video over and over again. Yeowwch!

6. Steamy, soothing bubble baths. (Cinco only)

5. 4 8 15 16 23 42

4. Trash talk about previous day's Halo 2 game.

3. Mumblety Peg

2 Search eBay for a life-size remote control R2-D2. (Ken only)

1. Long walks on the beach.

Cinco's Secret

2006-04-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, in an earlier post, Cinco let out my big secret. I like action figures. Yes, I am a geek. As a kid I used to go to fantastic worlds where I was the hero and saved the universe and I guess I still like to go there. Now, it's time to expose Cinco. He loves frogs. Yes, you read it right. He loves frogs. Not only does he love frogs, but I am fairly certain that deep down, he wishes he could be Kermit. How do I know this? Well, let's take a look at some of the items Cinco has on display in the office.

This is just a small sample of what can only be described as a shrine to all things frog.

The most disturbing item is an actual dead frog holding a guitar.
All of this along with the several frog themed T-shirts he wears regularly make it perfectly clear that the world Cinco escapes to is infinitely different from mine. Let's take a look...

Cinco at home

Cinco at work

Cinco in love.

Cinco's first born.

Yes, this is Cinco's world. I don't understand it. I don't pretend to. Sometimes I wonder how we can even work together. I guess that's the great thing about our partnership. Even though we are so different in so many ways, we seem to be able to make it work.

Which Celebrity Said It?

2006-04-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

One of these celebrities we've hung out with said to Cinco's wife Amy:

"Take care of the man."

Who was it?

UPDATE: and the answer is...FABIO! Congratulations to the lucky winners!

Shelly's Brother

2006-04-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

To many people Cinco is known as Shelly's brother.

Click Here to Find out Why

Celebrities we've hung out with: Jack Black

2006-04-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Cinco here. Jack Black was Disney's first choice for the lead in BUBBLE BOY. He had just finished a scene-stealing role in HIGH FIDELITY, and they were very high on him. At one point we were told to make Jimmy the Bubble Boy play guitar because Jack Black was also a guitarist. Ken and I didn't know Black's work very well, but they showed us some Tenacious D stuff which was very funny. We were in (although frankly it didn't really matter to the studio what we thought--we were the writers!). Now the goal was to get Jack signed on. A dinner meeting was set up: Jack, Ken, myself and Disney co-presidents of production Nina Jacobson and Todd Garner.

We met Jack at a sushi restaurant in Century City--he was there waiting when Ken and I arrived. We smiled. Punctuality is very important to us. Then Nina and Todd showed up and the fun began. Black said he thought the script was cool. But he wasn't sure he could play the part. All of us assured him he could. This is the part he was born to play! No one else could ever do this part! I wish I had crazy anecdotes to share, but Black was pretty serious. He seemed a little uncomfortable, not sure what was expected of him. And completely uninterested in success or stardom. My most vivid memories are of Todd sharing a story about strippers in Vegas and Nina getting very excited--"Strippers? What about strippers?"--and of a later incident between Ken and Jack Black in the restroom. I am a gentleman, so I will leave Ken to elaborate on what happened there.

The dinner seemed to go well, but eventually we realized we had failed. Jack Black didn't end up doing BUBBLE BOY. He chose to do another movie called SHALLOW HAL instead (SHALLOW HAL box office: $70M; BUBBLE BOY's: $5M--we'll let you decide whether or not he made the right choice).

He's now a huge star. But Jake is also a huge star. Since then we have had dinner with one other star. He didn't sign on to our movie either. Hollywood, take note: don't let Cinco and Ken have dinner with actors you want to star in their scripts. They are poison.

What's the connection?

2006-04-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

What is the connection between these two pictures? Please post your response.

UPDATE: all of the answers were excellent...but the one I was looking for was--

"I am I said/To no one there/
And no one heard at all/Not even the chair." Neil Diamond

Thanks for playing!

Celebrities we've hung out with: Jake Gyllenhaal

2006-04-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

Cinco here with the first entry of a new weekly series in which Ken and I share stories about the celebrities with which we've rubbed elbows during our adventures in Hollywood. I'm going first, so I get Jake.

We first met future-cover-of-Entertainment-Weekly-gracing Jake Gyllenhaal at a table read for Bubble Boy. The reading went really well, but there was one problem: Jake read the Bubble Boy's lines as if he were mentally retarded. We all tried to disabuse him of this, and for the most part it worked, but there are still vestiges of it in his performance. A performance, which, by the way, made the movie.

We were on the set every day during the shoot, and got to know Jake well. It was easy--he wasn't a star yet! Nobody even knew who he was! We'd tell people the star of our movie was Jake Gyllenhaal and get blank stares. He was "that kid from October Sky."

Anyway, here are my impressions of Jake. He is a very serious, sensitive young man. Just look at that picture. He took the role seriously, he took life seriously. He was college-age and thought deep thoughts. This is not to say he had no sense of humor. He did. But there was a thoughtful quiet to him. Again I refer you to the picture.

And he didn't like dialogue. Maybe it was just our dialogue, but he really didn't want to say many of the lines. Felt he could say what he needed to with his eyes. And let's face it--those puppy dog eyes of his speak volumes. So the Bubble Boy became a boy of few words. The pivotal line of the movie--"I'd rather spend one minute holding you than a lifetime knowing I never could"? He hated it. That's why when he says it in the movie it comes out like one word.

By the way, in articles about Jake now there is no mention of Bubble Boy. It may be a condition set by his publicist.

Anyway, I saw Jake recently at a screening. He was the biggest star there. He smiled and asked what Ken and I were up to, was as sweet as always. He was a couple of weeks away from being nominated for an Oscar for that cowboy movie. You know the one where he says that line, "I wish I knew how to quit you"? Clearly and distinctly? Carefully enunciating each word?

It's no "I'd rather spend one minute holding you than a lifetime knowing I never could." But it seems to have caught on somehow.

My blog entries are better than Ken's blog entries

2006-03-31T10:41:00.000-08:00

I'll come right out and say it: Ken and I are a bit competitive. Most of that competition has found a healthy outlet in video games. First with Combat, which we played on Ken's old Atari system. It's a simple game, but the battles got very intense. And frustrating. Some days we really felt like killing each other. So naturally, we wanted more.

Next came Ready 2 Rumble, which we played on a Sega Genesis I got on eBay. This game was better because we were able to beat each other to a pulp. It was a virtual pulp, but I believe Ken actually punched me one time, he got so frustrated. Clearly, this was starting to get out of hand. So we took the next logical step.

We got an Xbox and a game called Halo. We were no longer punching each other. We were killing each other with shotguns and rocket launchers. Not only has the weaponry been taken up a notch, but so has the trash talk. Here's a typical exchange:

Cinco: Wow, I really destroyed you. (concerned) Are you okay, Ken? Should we take a break?

Ken: Oh, you want me to try now? Because I was just playing around. Let me show you what happens when I actually try.

We now play Halo 2 on two Xboxes connected to two TVs. It's a long way from Combat.

You'd think this would be enough, but, sadly, we don't limit our competitions to the game console. At this point we have turned into a contest everything that can possibly be turned into a contest. When we give blood, we compete over who fills their blood bag fastest. This is sick, I know. I am not proud.

Except for the one time I got the blood services woman to admit that my blood was purer than Ken's. That was a great moment.

Quoting Cinco

2006-03-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

Ken here. Periodically I'll be posting interesting things said by our pal Cinco. Today on the way back from a meeting, Cinco said...

"Does that airplane have a mustache?"

It did.

Ken Needs Help

2006-03-29T08:47:00.000-08:00

I was going to try and keep this blog professional, but clearly Ken has other ideas. So I'm going to go right out and say it: Ken needs help.

He's in his mid-30's and plays with dolls.

This picture here? That's Ken's dream. It will probably spark several, "Seriously, is there any way to get an action figure of myself like that?" fantasies. Ken, these are unhealthy fantasies. Stop them. Now.

Remember that video that was all over the internet a while back? Of that kid pretending to be a jedi? Ken makes that kid look cool.

He buys every Star Wars figure that comes out. He hasn't liked the last three movies, but he still buys the figures. Even the one with Yoda riding on some sort of crazy flying bug. He knows it's wrong, but he can't stop. It's a sickness. Please understand that I'm not criticizing Ken in any way. I love Ken. I feel sorry for him.

And I want him to get help.

Ken's thoughts

2006-03-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

Why We Love Cinco.

By Ken Daurio

Cinco just got a cell phone. That's right, it's 2006 and he JUST GOT HIS FIRST CELL PHONE. How is this possible? How does someone live today without a cell phone connected to his or her hip at all times? Now, it's not like Cinco's a technophobe, the man has Tivo, an iPod, HDTV, he edits HD movies and records his own music on his iMac, but somehow is still willing to pull over and find a pay phone. For years I tried to impress upon him the importance of this modern miracle. How it makes our lives easier. More efficient. His response was always the same. "I refuse to become a slave to a phone". He always said it with such conviction. Such passion. I began to wonder... is he right? Am I the fool? Did I buy into the Verizon lie which made me get a sick feeling in my stomach if I left the house without my phone? He's right! Cinco is a genius! As these thoughts buzzed around my head I was interrupted by Cinco. "Hey, can I use your phone?" Now Cinco has his phone. He doesn't know how to check his messages, keep the battery charged, change the ringtone or silence an incoming call in the middle of an important meeting, but...he's trying, and that's why we love him.

Bubble Boy

2006-03-27T08:33:00.000-08:00

Cinco here. Eventually Ken will post something. Maybe. Anyway, I was going to write a little bit about Bubble Boy. It's the second script we wrote together. We sold it in '99 as a pitch to Disney. The idea originated with the producer Beau Flynn. As soon as we heard it we loved it. We pitched it to Disney execs Todd Garner and Mark Vahradian. Vahradian loved it instantly, but Todd took some selling. However, he eventually relented.

Then we had a creative meeting with Garner. His issue: the bubble. That's right. The bubble. We had to find a way to get our hero out of the bubble as soon as possible. We attempted to explain that the whole point was that he was in the bubble, thus the title. Todd said no actor would want to spend the whole movie inside a plastic bubble, and wanted him out by the time the second act started. We begged and pleaded and got Todd to accept that maybe the midpoint was better. We couldn't understand what was supposed to happen when he was outside of the bubble. Todd suggested that he be a germophobe, constantly spraying Lysol over everything, and that he could really start experiencing life. For instance, by eating spicy foods.

What could we do? We wrote it that way. The first act remained pretty much the same through all drafts and even through production. In our version Act II began on a city bus, not a bus belonging to a cult (the cult idea was Michael Kalesniko's--although the idea of Gil and everyone being named Todd and Lorraine and most of the dialogue was ours). Slim the motorcycle guy was in the first draft and never really changed (except making him Hispanic once Danny Trejo was cast). Vegas was added much later. The freaks and the freak train, including Dr. Phreak, were in the original draft, although all of that dialogue got rewritten. The stupid town that thought immunities were contagious and tried to kill Jimmy was in the first draft.

The Indian ice cream man was, I believe, a Todd Garner suggestion after the first draft was delivered. We had him accidentally kill a cow, and took it from there. We also made it an "Ice Cream & Curry" truck. Sequences which got cut: Bubble Boy helps a girl win a karaoke contest...Bubble Boy helps a loser kid named Louis become cool at a birthday party...Bubble Boy escapes an attempted seduction by two obese sisters when they rescue him from a freezer car.

Pappy and Pippy were our creation. I can still remember the moment we came up with that scene, having Jimmy say "Pappy!" over and over as he realized Pappy was dead, cracking each other up.

I have to say, the original draft was more thematically cohesive. I know that sounds nuts, since most people think of Bubble Boy as a stupid movie, but at one point it was smarter. Really.

Anyway, Michael Kalesniko was hired to rewrite our script, and his biggest contribution was to make it more of a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World story--we had Jimmy meet people and leave them behind. Kalesniko turned it into an expanding chase. After the movie was greenlit we were brought back on, and rewrote the script, bringing stuff back, creating new stuff, but keeping the idea of the expanding chase. It led to a lot of fun stuff--like the decision to make Jimmy's mom Slim's Wildfire, one of (in my opinion) the funniest moments in the movie. Kalesniko also was able to convince Disney to keep Jimmy in the bubble all the way through the movie, the way he was in our first treatment.

But at some point the director Blair Hayes decided he was a writer and started to rewrite all of the scenes. This was halfway through the shoot, right around where Jimmy meets the freaks. He dumped all of our dialogue and wrote his own. That scene ended up having to be completely re-shot. You get the idea. The script and story started to fall apart. I feel like Blair did a great job with the first 30 minutes, but once he started rewriting Act II (although there were still good jokes here and there) the movie kind of fell apart. Act III he left alone, and I think it holds up pretty well.

Okay, that's enough for now. There's so much more to tell. Ken...?

Special

2006-03-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

Cinco here. The first script Ken and I wrote together was called SPECIAL, a comedy about a guy who pretends to be disabled in order to get an autographed football for his fiancee's son. The script was optioned by MGM in February 1999. Commercial director Steve Chase was attached to direct, and Luke Wilson was attached to star. But when Steve met Luke things went awry--Steve wanted to push the envelope too much for Luke's taste. Steve wouldn't compromise, so the studio let him go. Unfortunately, the damage had been done, and Luke was out as well. It languished at MGM (although they renewed the option once) and now we've got it back. We filmed a short starring Michael Rosenbaum of Smallville (here's the imdb link
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381613/) which played at festivals. The script was named one of the Ten Best Unproduced Comedies by the WGA (read the script at http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/special.pdf). And most recently a Germany company bought the rights to our script and made it. It's still called SPECIAL and is due to be released in Germany this fall ( http://www.german-films.de/archive/film_view.php?film_id=1445). So by the end of the year we will be huge in Germany. That's me pushing Ken around in the picture. He's not pretending to be mentally handicapped--that's just the way he looks.

Welcome to our blog

2006-03-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hi. We are Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, screenwriters. We've written the film classics BUBBLE BOY and SANTA CLAUSE 2. We created this blog as a way to avoid writing on the projects we're actually being paid to write. We will discuss the ups and downs of writing in Hollywood, the screenwriting craft, and what we had for lunch. Come back soon for more writing goodness!