The Screenplay So Far

Will Ross from the Film Formally podcast joins us on our discussion of Steven Soderberg’s Solaris. Ghost dogs and fake wives a-plenty. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter.

This is our 50th episode. A cause for joy! An occasion to celebrate! And we’re doing so by announcing our hiatus. After next week’s Off Script, Ron and Bram will take a little time off, to regain some perspective and recollect their thoughts. We will be back, don’t you worry about that, we’re just simply unsure about the capacity or shape or form in which we will return. So, for now: we’ll see. In this episode we discuss the creative process, its difficulties and the pressures of creating content for the internet. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye (for now)!

Sean Connery runs around a mining facility on one of Jupiter’s moons, trying to unravel a conspiracy which causes the crew to become suicidal. Outland crawls at an almost contemplative pace to give its viewer all the time to really see these fantastic sets through these fantastic compositions. This time, Ron and Bram are joined by critic and filmmaker Scout Tafoya to help them gush over Sean Connery’s hunky hotness. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye!

Bram went out of his way and rewrote all the scenes we’ve had so far, whilst adding two more scenes, whilst getting all the Arabic wrong. Luckily, there’s Ron to touch up and rewrite the rewrites which have been rewritten. Loads of fat being stripped and fluff being thrown out in this greasy new episode. You can read this week’s scenes here (PDF). Ron’s touched up version can be found here (PDF). If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye!

A day on the job with Averie, a physical carrier of digital goods. We meet her right-hand Raniya (although only by voice), we meet her parents, and we enter skyscrapers, one thriving and one unfinished. And all the while we have an itching that Averie might be quite done with being a glorified USB-drive. You can read this week’s scene here (PDF). If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye!

The second and final adaptation of a William Gibson text was seen by even fewer eyes than the first. The fact that it features Christopher Walken, Willem Defoe and Asia Argento (a cursed threesome) hanging around in beige hotels did not help. Ron and Bram are joined by critic Kaj van Zoelen to make sense of its tumultuous production history (it is directed by Abel Ferrara after all) and why it is largely forgotten in the annals of film history. Sources: an interview with Abel Ferrara right around the release of New Rose Hotel and a video interview from 2012 in which Ferrara discusses his 1998 film. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye!

For our third and final brainstorming episode we are joined by Rami Ismail (50% of Vlambeer) to discuss the misrepresentation of the Arabic language, culture and Islamic religion by Western media. Is the Pyramid of Giza actually surrounded by a desert? How accurate is the yellow filter? Does anyone get to finish their prayer ever? And what is up with these mountains everyone keeps talking about? All this, and so much more, to better understand the world we are building. Sources: Not Arabic is a website where Ramsey Nasser collects instances of wrong Arabic. A Guideline of Performing Ibadah at the International Space Station can be found here (PDF). If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye!

A lone whisperbike carries our heroine Averie over the tarmac of a desert highway, a setting in which introduces some advanced water technology. All because Ron went extracurricular on last week’s set-up and gave our film its very first scene. You can read this week’s scene here (PDF). (Please bear with Bram’s audio quality this week as we had a malfunctioning recorder.) If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye!

The very first adaptation of a William Gibson property was highly anticipated. Directed by a visual artist and music video director and adapted by the father of cyberpunk himself, this film could’ve, at the very least, been a singular piece of cinema. But there’s a reason why Johnny Mnemonic is not the film that comes to mind when you combine the words Keanu Reeves and science-fiction. With their LoTek dreads and face tattoos on fleek, Ron and Bram travel down to The Free City of Newark to fight the corporations (they rule) and tackle the age old question: what the fuck is going on!? If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. Jesus Time!

And so it all starts with a scene that has been floating around in Bram’s head for half a decade. A new screenplay, a new saga. This time, we’re discussing the origins of cyberpunk via William Gibson and Ridley Scott, and how we would like to go into a different direction with our (you’ve guessed it) science-fiction epic. Except, it’s not quite an epic. You can read this week’s scene here. And the video for the Google Assistant AI Ron mentioned is sourced from here. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We love you, goodbye!

Tom Wilkinson goes toe-to-toe with Tilda Swinton, the new head of the fertilizer producing U-North, while George Clooney, the legal team’s fixer, tries to maintain Wilkinson’s cool as well as his own. The 2008 legal drama Michael Clayton is another one of Ron’s favourites (exhibit a: The Crack Cocaine Entry. Bram, on the other hand, is not convinced. Whoever wins, will become Shiva, the god of death. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com. We love you, goodbye!

Instead of immediately diving into our next screenplay, we decided we needed a palette cleanser. We’re going off script, if you will. And our very first detour (of many) comes in the shape of a polite bear with an unhealthy craving for marmalade who makes our heart a happier place. While Ron runs through every story beat, Bram chimes in with his thoughts on the visual language, while both agree Paul King has an unhealthy craving for paying off everything he sets up. It’s an episode fully dedicated to the cinematic event of 2014: Paddington. If you have any thought or questions, please let us know via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com. We love you, goodbye!

For this very special episode, our first season finale, we are joined by Dutch film critic Kaj van Zoelen. Together we read the final scene of the film and discuss a season worth of stumbling while sipping on some whiskey. Just like in the old days. Also in this episode: a continuation of last week’s Mad Max discussion; Ron doesn’t like musicals except for La La Land; Bram reveals the genre for season 2; Star Wars. If you have any questions or remarks, don’t hesitate to hit us up via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com. We love you, goodbye.

Ron doesn’t enjoy older things. Or not as much as he should, according to Bram. So obviously, we lead with an extensive tangent. In this episode: Winslow takes his magic flight. Over the course of 4 scenes we detail the ex-detective driving, drinking and talking his way closer and closer to Glenn Morris’ hideout. If you have any questions or remarks, don’t hesitate to hit us up via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com. We love you, goodbye.

Into the digital realm we go! It may sound different because we’re recording remotely, but it’s the same show. And it might even be better. In this episode: Winslow’s retirement takes center stage. Heart-to-heart conversations are shared with Larkin and Clement, Williamson finally gets his beer and even Shorty shows up. Lots of emotional character-work coming out of our quarantine. If you have any questions or remarks, don’t hesitate to hit us up via thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com. We love you, goodbye.

Three times is the charm in this unedited extravaganza! We reread you Ginny’s run to Paradise as well as her arrival, and then take turns in arriving there again twice but from different perspectives. All the while honing in on Brazil. With this episode we decided to give you our uncut recording. All our fumbling and mistake-making and having to reread sentences still in tact to imbue our usual program with a bit more humanity. We hope you appreciate that. If you have any questions or remarks, don’t hesitate to drop us a line over at thescreenplaysofar@gmail.com. Thank you for listening. Stay safe and stay home.

Due to everything that’s happening in the world right now we decided to not quietly miss a week in our uploading schedule. Instead here’s 15 minutes in which we give a little rundown on how we’re doing and what’s going to happen in the near future. Don’t worry, we’re still uncancelled! Thank you for listening and stay safe.

Good news, everybody. The podcast is uncancelled! Wait, was it cancelled? Definitely! But now it’s uncancelled, so you can stop worrying. Ron and Bram go on a big film-hopping tangent before asking themselves the age-old question: and now what? There’s still that unwritten second half which they’ll have to tackle one day. And that one day seems to be upon us, again.

In this episode we cast our soon-to-be-finished screenplay. A lot of these roles are knocked out of the park, some being prettier than others, but always have a presence or the necessary gravitas. So, if you enjoy our more tangential work, then this episode full of name-shouting and filmography-digging will be an absolute delight!

The final day of writing camp brings us a big meet-up at the police station, Winslow being a workaholic, Larkin being a neat-freak and Ginny saving Joe from imminent death. We have a while to go still with a little less than half a screenplay to write, but hey, at least we know where we’re going now. Onward to the mansion!