Voices
BARRY
LEVINSON
[SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE]
Cut To: Int. Writers’ Room - Day
HEAD WRITER: I looked over the
script. The story is a little too
nuts for me. I don’t buy it.
WRITER: It’s based on a real
case. This is what went down
back then.
The Head Writer looks
over his notes.
HEAD WRITER: A man stalks a
young kid. Is warned by a 911
operator not to follow the kid.
He goes ahead and follows him
anyway. The kid is on a cell
phone and says to his friend
that he’s being followed by
some stranger. The friend hears
the kid say, “Get off, get off!” A
struggle happens, and the kid is
killed. And you write this like
it’s a self defense case??
WRITER: Exactly.
HEAD WRITER: But the man was
pursuing the kid. How could it
be a self defense case? You gotta
create doubt. An audience watching this is not going to believe it.
We’re going to lose our viewers
before the commercial break!
WRITER: Don’t you see? The guy
was struggling for his life. The
kid pushed him to the ground.
He had to pull out a gun and
shoot the kid.
HEAD WRITER: But you have the
guy attending Mixed Martial
Arts classes. Three times a week
he goes to his gym. Two hours a
session. For an entire year. And
the kid gets him on the ground
just like that?
WRITER: Our guy was a bad
student.
HEAD WRITER: Bad student? How
bad can he be?
WRITER: They say he was not very
athletic.
HEAD WRITER: Six hours a week
of martial arts training for one
year and he can’t even push a kid
away? And the kid weighs almost
50 pounds less than this guy?
Impossible. You have to change
that. No one will believe it.
WRITER: Okay, I’ll cut that out of
the script.
HEAD WRITER: And then in a
flashback scene, you have the
guy, working as a bouncer, getting
fired for being too aggressive
with the patrons.
WRITER: All right, I’ll cut that
out too.
HEAD WRITER: And on page 38,
after the 911 operator tells the
guy to stop following the kid, the
HUFFINGTON
07.21.13