Wo ist Fred???

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

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

Love Is Groovy!

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!

"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?"

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?

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!!!

Go Katharine McPhee!

We love you!

Sing your heart out!