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Universal Pictures has acquired the John Phillips spec script Dirty Grandpa, for Barry Josephson to produce. ICM made the deal for Phillips, a young writer out of New York. Script’s about a recently widowed older man who gets to know his grandson who is about to marry a girl who is not right for him.
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Let’s get Hackman off his couch for this one!!
That would be great to see Hackman, but something tells me that Universal is going to botch this one like everything else they do.
Gene Hackman is the perfect actor for this… I had Thanksgiving dinner with him a few years back and he is truly a great person as well. I did Music Man at Beverly Hills High School with his daughter, Liz. His son is a great airplane pilot as well. The bad thing now is Gene isn’t into acting anymore, it going to take something big to get Fred Spector to make the call.
It’s weird and awkward to name drop on a comment board. Creep.
congrats for totally douching out.
meanwhile, Hackman’s like “who?”
Hackman family buttocks, meet Mr. Jackson’s lips.
I wish I had performed “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Tujunga Dinner Theater with the incomparable Mr. Perry King…
Just sayin’…
Kevin James in makeup
Universal botches every high concept comedy spec they touch. Just look at the comedy spec buys they’ve made over the past 5 years and how few of them get out of that dungeon alive.
There’s one spec they destroyed that broke my heart as it was one of my favorite scripts. I loved the writer when I met him when he did the rounds.
If I was John Phillips I would celebrate the sale for a few days and then get ready for about 15 pages of non-sensical notes and the eventual call that they need to bring in a “closer” and are kicking him off the project after he delivers the 1st rewrite.
Please elaborate on what happens at Universal give some actual examples if you can it’s fascinating and perhaps something for the WGA to levy sanctions against Universal for. If they are violating Guild policy even if they’re not technically violating the rules clearly something bad is going on there besides them not understanding comedy and having nobody on staff with a sense of humor. I bet Judd Apatow wishes he could blame them for his last fiasco Funny People it was horrible and completely un-funny it was the opposite of funny but that was all his fault. Go get ‘em Judd teach them how to be funny over there lecgture them on Comedy 101. They’ll take detailed notes and use your thoughts for every comedy script for the next 10 years.
I think I did elaborate on what Uni does.
If they buy a spec from a new-ish hot writer they make them chase their tails on the first round of notes all while quietly putting together lists and calling agents to submit their clients to come in and rewrite the writer who is currently working the rewrite.
I know this because an agent I worked for repped a new writer who had just sold a spec to Uni and I took the call from a Uni exec asking about another more prominent writing client’s availability for the same project the new writer was at home rewriting. I felt horrible for the new writer who was busting his ass on the rewrite for Uni.
It’s textbook there. I’ve heard of multiple instances where they give the first writer “fake notes” and have a different set of real notes for their “closers”. It’s disgusting.
When the original writer delivers the first rewrite they are usually told Uni needs to bring in the closer and then the project goes off the rails until it’s dead on a shelf. I’m too tired to sit here and list all the spec buys they did this with, but trust me it’s a lot of them and some of them were sure hits if made as originally conceived.
They’re not doing anything particularly illegal mind you. They are just the place that comedy specs go to die in my opinion.
I’ve told a few friends that if their spec goes out and you have a choice between Uni and any other studio, take the other offer even if it’s less money. Some of the other studios will give a new writer a few shots at the rewrite before tossing them aside.
Outside of Apatow’s crew and the awful SNL performers/writers who can’t write features to save their lives, Uni is just not in the business of making original comedy despite the fact that they buy it up and take it off the market. They have such a hard on for the SNL people it’s sad.
That said, I hope this writer in the article experiences something different, but hopefully he has his eyes wide open to the playbook at Uni.
Hopefully, his agent got him a few guaranteed steps so he’ll at least get paid for the rewrites they might not even let him do.
+1
Truer words never spoken.
Also, I once had Guy Fawkes Day cocktails with Mr. Maury Fitch, the world’s foremost Richard Dawson impersonator (he also does Carol Channing).
Just sayin’…
Dustin Hoffman.
As great as he is, there are plenty of terrific older actors besides Hackman. What about Philip Baker Hall? He’s hilarious (Bookman, the library detective anyone?).
Like Billy Crystal once said to me at a friend’s birthday get together, if it really happened to you it isn’t name dropping – I was 16 when I did Music Man with Mr. Hackman’s daughter he came to several of the performances… It was such an honor to have Music Man be apart of my formative years. 20 years later having dinner with one of the greatest actors of our time was a true blessing. He actually remember Music Man and how Meredith Wilson, the author and composer was at the show as well. It would be ass kissing if I actually wanted something from Gene Hackman, which I don’t.
As my like-minded virtual acquaintance Mr. Red once said on a blog comments section, you’re a “creep.” As Mr. Red’s and my like-minded virtual acquaintance further pointed out, “Congrats for douching out.”
I’m pleased to know that, in addition to spending Thanksgiving Still hanging in there, eh, Mr. Jackson?
In addition to having Thanksgiving dinner with the Hackman family, you also have friends whose parties are attended by Billy Crystal. If you did indeed meet Mr. Crystal, and if he did indeed say what you assert he said…he’s still just wrong. One is “name dropping” when one DROPS NAMES, you nitwit. The fact that one has some connection to the name being dropped IS WHAT MAKES IT NAME-DROPPING.
I could go on all day — by pointing out, for example, that the waiters at Craft have met virtually every famous person in town — but I won’t, because part of me still hopes that your posts are a subtle form of ironic performance art.
I once was a PA on film starring Alan Arkin. He was delightful and like miso soup at lunch. I would bring him the miso soup from his trailer and sit with him, so I believe we technically lunched every day. Then we would go and take a nap for the last half of lunch hour. He stayed at quaint B&B in Studio City which I drove him on more than one occasion. He was a vegetarian. And he has a son named Adam who I believe is an actor as well. Someone must alert Alan to this script immediately before Gene Hackman is pulled from his New Mexico retirement!
Name dropping on deadline?? Are you f’ing kidding me? It’s bad enough I have to read all of my hollywood douchebag friends and co-workers drop names all day on facebook. Chris, I want to let you in on a little secret; nobody gives a flying f*** about who you had thanksgiving with a few years ago. And nobody cares about who you did a play with in high school…get a life man.
Chris can’t help himself…..it’s funny actually. He probably works a ‘drop’ into every conversation. If Billy Crystal told you it’s okay,then I’m sure it’s fine. Chris: ‘Well Sean Connery told me at a luncheon once…’…
one of the funniest comments stream i have ever read. you go chris jackson. dont let anyone stop you from telling your stories. i had thanksgiving with my dad last year. i want to put his hat in the ring too. hilarious guy. plays a decent harmonica.