Alriiiiight! Go Irish Pride!

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: You know, I'd love to see an excellent Irish Pride movie that doesn't involve alcoholic stereotypes, Ed Burns' whiny ass and/or Tom and Nicole Kidman doing terrible accents *shudder*. Plus, why hasn't anyone made a proper film about the potato famine? It's an incredible subject, and most Americans have no clue about the reality of it. It explains so much of our own history (such as the "Gangs of New York"). : I also like the Tangled Up in Blue idea -- I actually had Dylan songs in mind when I asked that question. He's such a visual storyteller it practically begs to be made. It's too bad his own film projects never panned out well. : I've never read the Gospel According to Larry, but the title is intriguing. Thanks for yapping with me. : : : : If there's one thing VA fans have in common, it's that they write more screenplays than the entire L.A. restaurant worker population, right? : : : Anyways, I got together with some old friends recently, reminiscing about back in the day and so on, and they're trying to sell me on the idea of writing a screenplay about our past together. I have to admit it would make an incredible movie; actors would kill to play these characters, and the events -- I couldn't make this drama up, people. : : : But I've never written a screenplay, dialogue ain't my strong suit, and climbing aboard the Hollywood Soul(Stealing) Train is not my idea of a fun time. : : : Thus, for anyone who's ever written a screenplay: : : : 1. It's about a man who lives in Ireland with his wife and new-born child around the time of the potatoe famine. His child falls ill and dies, then his wife dies. He comes to the US where he feels very out of place and misses his home, eventualy he gets a job in a hotel as a maintnance man and meets another girl who is from Ireland.. bla bla bla.. I knew I couldn't fit it in to three sentences, not that you're interested anyway. : : : 2. What inspired you to write it? Well, my parents came from Ireland before I was born, I have a strong sense of 'Irish Pride' and thought it would be interesting to write a screen-play. However, I could never think of an idea. One day I was reading the paper and came across an article called "IRISH ROSE". After reading that article I sat in front of my computer (it's like 11PM) and wrote three forths of the script. I finished it the day after. Since then I've done numerous re-writes (Just to make it better in my opinion.) : : : 3. Did you attempt to use proper script language and format, or did you just lay out the basic dialogue and action notes? I use final draft, it pretty much lays it out for you. : : : 4. What do you want to do with it -- sell it? I would love to do any of the above, with the exception of locking it away. : : : 5. If anyone knows... I would assume you could just change the names and the situations a little, I think that would get you out of any legal 'hot water'. But of course I'm not a lawyer, someone else on here probably knows though. : : : 6. What do you think are the relative advantages of directing your own low-tech version vs. trying to sell it to Hollywood? Well, Hollywood generaly makes shit, but they have a lot of money. If your script requires more bank than you have, I think it'd be better to sell it, that way you will allow your script to be produced the way it deserves to be. On the other hand, using Kevin as an example, could you imagine Clerks as a Hollywood feature? : : : 7. Are you finished? If so, did you find writing it to be a rewarding experience, regardless of your future plans for it? Absolutly, there is nothing like looking at your finished work and saying "I wrote that". I hope one day to do something with it. : : : 8. If you could write a screenplay based upon any book/song/folktale/urban legend/painting/other existing piece of art, what would it be? How would you change or adapt it to the screen? Well, I can think of two off the top of my head. One would be the song Tangled up in Blue by Bob Dylan.. The other would be the book The Gospel According to Larry. I really wouldn't want to change either one very much. : : : 9. If you could rewrite any existing movie that had a great concept but crappy dialogue/execution, what would it be? How would you change it? Nothing is coming to me. : : : 10. The Brian Lynch special: if you could write a sequel to any existing movie, what would it be? What would the basic plot be? I wouldn't do it (unless the money was right) I find that any sequal done by someone other than the original director/writer doesn't live up to the sequal. : : : And I'm spent. Charge me to your Visa. : : : Coming later...21 Actual Questions for Actual Kevin Smith! : : : (P.S. You missed me, right? And you love me. I know.) : : : :

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