The pressure must be incredible
Lawrence Kasdan has moved from just being a consultant on the Star Wars Episode VII film to being one of the two major writers of the screenplay. He is probably the best person to be involved with the project, given that he wrote episodes V and VI.
That being said, I'm pretty sure the pressure on him is enormous. The fans (and we are legion) of the original trilogy second-guessed every single decision that was made in writing the three films that comprise the second trilogy. Every choice he and director J.J. Abrams make in writing this script will be subject to exacting scrutiny. Every choice Abrams makes in directing the film will be examined under a microscope.
On the IMDB website, there are categories within each movie for trivia, for goofs and more. The goofs section of Episode IV has 108 entries. One of these entries is that a trumpeter "overblew" a note. There are 236 trivia items. One of those items is that Carrie Fisher's breasts had to be taped down with gaffer tape because her costume didn't permit lingerie to be worn beneath it. (BTW, Titanic's page lists 215 goofs).
People will talk a lot about whatever finally comes to the big screen when Star Wars VII is released. I think writing this script may be the most heavily scrutinized job in Hollywood in decades. And I'd give my eyeteeth AND right arm to have it.
* * *
I'm extremely flattered that a number of students from other classes are now attending mine. It isn't a knock on my fellow instructors. They are all excellent. Maybe it is nothing more than the fact I've taught this class for more years than any of them. It just feels good.
What bugs me are the students who just drop out and don't respond to my inquiries as to why. If they claim personal reasons, other than to see if those are something we can work around, I'd ask no more. But if I don't know why they choose to leave, I can't know if we as a company, or I as a teacher, failed to meet their needs and expectations.
* * *
There has been a lot of talk about the fact that Senator Ted Cruz is calling for members of Congress and their staffers to get their health insurance through the exchanges set up by Obamacare; while he himself gets his insurance through his wife's employer.
The flaw in Cruz's assertions isn't that he wants other to get something he already gets for free, the flaw is that he wants members of Congress and their staffers to get health insurance like the public does. The fact is, they already do. Most of the public gets insurance through a group plan, most of which are provided through employers (some group plans are available with membership in a group like the National Association for the Self Employed). So the membership and the staffers are getting their coverage like the public is.
As to the reports that Goldman-Sachs is paying over $40,000 a year in premiums in order to provide this "Cadillac" plan to Cruz's wife, Cruz himself and their children, so what? Come 2018, the portion of those premiums that Goldman-Sachs is paying in excess of $27,500 will be subject to a 40% excise tax. Add a quick $5,000 in excise taxes to their annual cost for every employee with this plan.
I actually believe we should alter that tax. Charge the employers just 25% in excise tax on the excess premiums above the allowable premium amount. Then make the premiums taxable income to the employee themselves. Employers are able to pump up compensation packages for employees by giving them generous healthcare plans because the employee doesn't get taxed on that plan.
Under current tax law, if the employer is providing group life insurance to employees and paying the premiums, premiums for coverage amounts above $50,000 are taxable income to the employee. Why should health insurance be any different?
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The Hooters Girl who is claiming that she was fired over highlights in her hair because she is African-American is just plain wrong. The employee manual for Hooters girls is very clear in pointing out the need to be "camera-ready" and to have only specified hairstyles.
Bubba the Love Sponge, a Florida DJ who filmed his wife having sex with Hulk Hogan is announcing the presence of "sexual predators" in neighborhoods with big signs. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
Should Mark Zuckerberg be worried that Twitter is now more important than FB, on average, to his most important market? That would be teens of course. The ones who will grow up and use the social media platform they are most comfortable with.
Jon Cryer's ex-wife is being criticized because she's asking for almost $89,000 in monthly child support from the actor. I don't see this as a problem...if what she says about the original order for support was based on her having custody only 4% of the time and now she has custody 50% of the time. It adds up if you do the math. Of course she could always take him out of Buckley so he doesn't have to be tortured by seeing how the rich kids live.
The biggest non-news item of the week is that Bruce Jenner wasn't invited to the engagement soiree held by Kanye West in San Francisco.
In announcing the end of their marriage, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr said "...they love, respect and support each other..." and while it may be true in their case; it is the same mantra we hear from every celebrity couple who is splitting up. How often is it actually true? I have a few good stories, but I can't share them.
BTW, did you know Miranda Kerr is a practicing Nichiren Buddhist and chants "nam myoho renge kyo for several hours, daily?
Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson had breakfast at Wendy's Place in El Segundo? How cool is that? I love that place.
If Tori Spelling's and her husband can't afford to pay for him to have a vasectomy, either they are broke, or they're seriously short-sighted. Save the $4,000 now and spend how much more on another child?
* * *
October 24th in History:
69 – Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.
1147 – After a siege of 4 months crusader knights led by Afonso Henriques reconquered Lisbon.
1260 – The Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
1260 – Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt, is assassinated by Baibars, who seizes power for himself.
1360 – The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
1590 – John White, the governor of the second Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.
1648 – The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War.
1795 – Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided among Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.
1851 – William Lassell, discovers the moons Umbriel, and Ariel, orbiting Uranus.
1857 – Sheffield F.C., the world's oldest association football club still in operation, is founded in Sheffield, England.
1861 – The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.
1901 – Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls, in a barrel.
1911 – Orville Wright, remains in the air 9 minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider, at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo concludes with the Serbian victory.
1917 – Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat by the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany on the Austro-Italian front of World War I (lasts until 19 November - also called Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo).
1926 – Harry Houdini's last performance, which is at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 – "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.
1930 – A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."
1931 – The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic.
1943 – The Provisional Government of Free India formally declared war on Britain and the United States of America.
1944 – World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku and the battleship Musashi are sunk by American aircraft in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
1945 – Founding of the United Nations.
1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.
1947 – Walt Disney testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
1949 – The cornerstone of the United Nations Headquarters is laid.
1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam.
1957 – The USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
1960 – Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100. Among the dead is Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash
1964 – Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony until the next year, with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence)
1973 – Yom Kippur War ends.
1977 – Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)
1980 – The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
1986 – Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi is helped by Syrian officials.
1990 – Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army, which was implicated in false flag terrorist attacks implicating communists and anarchists as part of the strategy of tension from the late 1960s to early 1980s.
1992 – The Toronto Blue Jays become the first Major League Baseball team based outside the United States to win the World Series.
1998 – Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
2002 – Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
2003 – Concorde makes its last commercial flight.
2004 – Arsenal Football Club loses to Manchester United, ending a row of unbeaten matches at 49 matches, which is the record in the Premier League.
2005 – Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in Florida resulting in 35 direct 26 indirect fatalities and causing $20.6B USD in damage.
Famous Folk Born On October 24th:
Isabella of Portugal
James S. Sherman
Rafael Trujillo
Jack Warner
Marjorie Joyner
FBI Agent Melvin Purvis
Bill Carr (won 2 gold medals at the 1932 Olympics in track)
Bob Kane
Denise Levertov
Y. A. Tittle
The Big Bopper
Sammy Petrillo
Bill Wyman
Stephen Resnick
F. Murray Abraham
Kevin Kline
Kweisi Mfume
Steven Greenberg
Brad Sherman
Vincent K. Brooks (first African-American to be Cadet First Captain at West Point, now a 4-star general)
Brad Johnson
BD Wong
Mary Bono Mack
Movie Quotes today come from "The Emperor's Club", an early look at some young actors who went on to bigger and better things, and one of today's birthday people, Kevin Kline:
William Hundert: Great ambition and conquest without contribution is without significance. What will your contribution be? How will history remember you?
#2
William Hundert: Sir, it's my job to mold your son's character, and I think if...
Senator Bell: Mold him? Jesus God in Heaven, son. You're not gonna mold my boy. Your job is to teach my son. You teach him his times tables. Teach him why the world is round. Teach him who killed who and when and where. That is your job. You, sir, will not mold by son. I will mold him.
#3
William Hundert: [discussing 41 specific emperors] Can you, please, name any of the subsequent emperor's whom we've been discussing? There were 41.
Sedgewick Bell: I only know 7.
William Hundert: Very well...
Sedgewick Bell: Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey...
William Hundert: Seriously thought, can you in fact name any of the emperors?
Sedgewick Bell: I know 4.
William Hundert: Very well.
Sedgewick Bell: [in an English accent, counting off his fingers] John, Paul, Ringo
[closes all but the middle finger]
Sedgewick Bell: and George.
#4
[Sedgewick cheated at the Mr. Julius Caesar competition]
William Hundert: Why, Sedgewick? You knew the material.
Sedgewick Bell: Why not?
That being said, I'm pretty sure the pressure on him is enormous. The fans (and we are legion) of the original trilogy second-guessed every single decision that was made in writing the three films that comprise the second trilogy. Every choice he and director J.J. Abrams make in writing this script will be subject to exacting scrutiny. Every choice Abrams makes in directing the film will be examined under a microscope.
On the IMDB website, there are categories within each movie for trivia, for goofs and more. The goofs section of Episode IV has 108 entries. One of these entries is that a trumpeter "overblew" a note. There are 236 trivia items. One of those items is that Carrie Fisher's breasts had to be taped down with gaffer tape because her costume didn't permit lingerie to be worn beneath it. (BTW, Titanic's page lists 215 goofs).
People will talk a lot about whatever finally comes to the big screen when Star Wars VII is released. I think writing this script may be the most heavily scrutinized job in Hollywood in decades. And I'd give my eyeteeth AND right arm to have it.
* * *
I'm extremely flattered that a number of students from other classes are now attending mine. It isn't a knock on my fellow instructors. They are all excellent. Maybe it is nothing more than the fact I've taught this class for more years than any of them. It just feels good.
What bugs me are the students who just drop out and don't respond to my inquiries as to why. If they claim personal reasons, other than to see if those are something we can work around, I'd ask no more. But if I don't know why they choose to leave, I can't know if we as a company, or I as a teacher, failed to meet their needs and expectations.
* * *
There has been a lot of talk about the fact that Senator Ted Cruz is calling for members of Congress and their staffers to get their health insurance through the exchanges set up by Obamacare; while he himself gets his insurance through his wife's employer.
The flaw in Cruz's assertions isn't that he wants other to get something he already gets for free, the flaw is that he wants members of Congress and their staffers to get health insurance like the public does. The fact is, they already do. Most of the public gets insurance through a group plan, most of which are provided through employers (some group plans are available with membership in a group like the National Association for the Self Employed). So the membership and the staffers are getting their coverage like the public is.
As to the reports that Goldman-Sachs is paying over $40,000 a year in premiums in order to provide this "Cadillac" plan to Cruz's wife, Cruz himself and their children, so what? Come 2018, the portion of those premiums that Goldman-Sachs is paying in excess of $27,500 will be subject to a 40% excise tax. Add a quick $5,000 in excise taxes to their annual cost for every employee with this plan.
I actually believe we should alter that tax. Charge the employers just 25% in excise tax on the excess premiums above the allowable premium amount. Then make the premiums taxable income to the employee themselves. Employers are able to pump up compensation packages for employees by giving them generous healthcare plans because the employee doesn't get taxed on that plan.
Under current tax law, if the employer is providing group life insurance to employees and paying the premiums, premiums for coverage amounts above $50,000 are taxable income to the employee. Why should health insurance be any different?
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The Hooters Girl who is claiming that she was fired over highlights in her hair because she is African-American is just plain wrong. The employee manual for Hooters girls is very clear in pointing out the need to be "camera-ready" and to have only specified hairstyles.
Bubba the Love Sponge, a Florida DJ who filmed his wife having sex with Hulk Hogan is announcing the presence of "sexual predators" in neighborhoods with big signs. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
Should Mark Zuckerberg be worried that Twitter is now more important than FB, on average, to his most important market? That would be teens of course. The ones who will grow up and use the social media platform they are most comfortable with.
Jon Cryer's ex-wife is being criticized because she's asking for almost $89,000 in monthly child support from the actor. I don't see this as a problem...if what she says about the original order for support was based on her having custody only 4% of the time and now she has custody 50% of the time. It adds up if you do the math. Of course she could always take him out of Buckley so he doesn't have to be tortured by seeing how the rich kids live.
The biggest non-news item of the week is that Bruce Jenner wasn't invited to the engagement soiree held by Kanye West in San Francisco.
In announcing the end of their marriage, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr said "...they love, respect and support each other..." and while it may be true in their case; it is the same mantra we hear from every celebrity couple who is splitting up. How often is it actually true? I have a few good stories, but I can't share them.
BTW, did you know Miranda Kerr is a practicing Nichiren Buddhist and chants "nam myoho renge kyo for several hours, daily?
Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson had breakfast at Wendy's Place in El Segundo? How cool is that? I love that place.
If Tori Spelling's and her husband can't afford to pay for him to have a vasectomy, either they are broke, or they're seriously short-sighted. Save the $4,000 now and spend how much more on another child?
* * *
October 24th in History:
69 – Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.
1147 – After a siege of 4 months crusader knights led by Afonso Henriques reconquered Lisbon.
1260 – The Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
1260 – Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt, is assassinated by Baibars, who seizes power for himself.
1360 – The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
1590 – John White, the governor of the second Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.
1648 – The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War.
1795 – Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided among Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.
1851 – William Lassell, discovers the moons Umbriel, and Ariel, orbiting Uranus.
1857 – Sheffield F.C., the world's oldest association football club still in operation, is founded in Sheffield, England.
1861 – The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.
1901 – Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls, in a barrel.
1911 – Orville Wright, remains in the air 9 minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider, at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo concludes with the Serbian victory.
1917 – Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat by the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany on the Austro-Italian front of World War I (lasts until 19 November - also called Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo).
1926 – Harry Houdini's last performance, which is at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 – "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.
1930 – A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."
1931 – The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic.
1943 – The Provisional Government of Free India formally declared war on Britain and the United States of America.
1944 – World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku and the battleship Musashi are sunk by American aircraft in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
1945 – Founding of the United Nations.
1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.
1947 – Walt Disney testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
1949 – The cornerstone of the United Nations Headquarters is laid.
1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam.
1957 – The USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
1960 – Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100. Among the dead is Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash
1964 – Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony until the next year, with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence)
1973 – Yom Kippur War ends.
1977 – Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)
1980 – The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
1986 – Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi is helped by Syrian officials.
1990 – Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army, which was implicated in false flag terrorist attacks implicating communists and anarchists as part of the strategy of tension from the late 1960s to early 1980s.
1992 – The Toronto Blue Jays become the first Major League Baseball team based outside the United States to win the World Series.
1998 – Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
2002 – Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
2003 – Concorde makes its last commercial flight.
2004 – Arsenal Football Club loses to Manchester United, ending a row of unbeaten matches at 49 matches, which is the record in the Premier League.
2005 – Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in Florida resulting in 35 direct 26 indirect fatalities and causing $20.6B USD in damage.
Famous Folk Born On October 24th:
Isabella of Portugal
James S. Sherman
Rafael Trujillo
Jack Warner
Marjorie Joyner
FBI Agent Melvin Purvis
Bill Carr (won 2 gold medals at the 1932 Olympics in track)
Bob Kane
Denise Levertov
Y. A. Tittle
The Big Bopper
Sammy Petrillo
Bill Wyman
Stephen Resnick
F. Murray Abraham
Kevin Kline
Kweisi Mfume
Steven Greenberg
Brad Sherman
Vincent K. Brooks (first African-American to be Cadet First Captain at West Point, now a 4-star general)
Brad Johnson
BD Wong
Mary Bono Mack
Movie Quotes today come from "The Emperor's Club", an early look at some young actors who went on to bigger and better things, and one of today's birthday people, Kevin Kline:
William Hundert: Great ambition and conquest without contribution is without significance. What will your contribution be? How will history remember you?
#2
William Hundert: Sir, it's my job to mold your son's character, and I think if...
Senator Bell: Mold him? Jesus God in Heaven, son. You're not gonna mold my boy. Your job is to teach my son. You teach him his times tables. Teach him why the world is round. Teach him who killed who and when and where. That is your job. You, sir, will not mold by son. I will mold him.
#3
William Hundert: [discussing 41 specific emperors] Can you, please, name any of the subsequent emperor's whom we've been discussing? There were 41.
Sedgewick Bell: I only know 7.
William Hundert: Very well...
Sedgewick Bell: Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey...
William Hundert: Seriously thought, can you in fact name any of the emperors?
Sedgewick Bell: I know 4.
William Hundert: Very well.
Sedgewick Bell: [in an English accent, counting off his fingers] John, Paul, Ringo
[closes all but the middle finger]
Sedgewick Bell: and George.
#4
[Sedgewick cheated at the Mr. Julius Caesar competition]
William Hundert: Why, Sedgewick? You knew the material.
Sedgewick Bell: Why not?
posted by me at 3:53 PM
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