Petition asks Arjun Gupta to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Arjun Gupta (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Arjun Gupta – Talent Agents
– Actor, Producer, Cinematographer – Bridge and Tunnel (2014), Nurse Jackie (2009), Stand Up Guys (2012), How to Get Away with Murder (2014) – The Gersh Agency, Cormac Dennehy – Untitled Entertainment, Elise Konialian
Arjun Gupta & Adam Sandler’s film company targeted by Texas petition
Will Hollywood just rollover and let prisoner’s suffer?
EXCLUSIVE
The signatories, including state senators, professors of criminal justice, social workers, family, and inmates, call for a “firm commitment” to tackle the unjust prisons in Texas. The petition has also been signed by Beto O’Rourke, and Matthew McConaughey. These two signatories might face each other in the 2022 Texas governors election. Both have expressed interest in the job. The petitions arrived for Arjun Gupta at The Gersh Agency, Cormac Dennehy last week.
In the open letter to Arjun Gupta, the 2080 women write that they are “heartbroken for first-time drug offenders many times addicts who have received extremely harsh sentences in Texas when rehabilitation has proven a cheaper and more effective solution.” The petition goes on to say their family and friends are often heartbroken for and looking for redemption and rehabilitation for the victimless drug crimes.”
The signatories, including attorneys, professors, politicians, family members, and inmates, call on Arjun Gupta for a ‘firm film commitment’ to tackle the issue of operating the Texas prison system for profit.
The petition came to light when women discovered the screenplay, a copy which was dontated to all 580 of the state’s prison and jail libraries. The existence of the petition surfaced on International Women’s Day. Women in Texas face extreme prejudice in Texas and often receive extremely harsh penalties for even a small amount of drugs, including marijuana. Marijuana is legal now in 21 states.
Inside prisons, the women are faced with such horrendous conditions… the petition demands that “filmmakers begin to take the issue seriously.” Also, the petition reminds that “even here in the USA in the 21st century citizens are not safe from government oppression.”
Actor, Producer, Cinematographer, Arjun Gupta, has not responded to the petition. Nor has The Gersh Agency, Cormac Dennehy responded with a comment.
The screenplay “Dumbass” was penned by writer and retired professor of political science Alan Nafzger.
The premise of the story is that, “Adam Sandler writes letters and saves numerous women from the monotony of prison life, and later when he gets into trouble with a drug cartel they return the favor by rescuing him.”
The film would be set in contemporary, Gatesville Texas. There are four women’s prisons located in Gatesville. And of course, Texas is famous for putting everyone in prison for a long sentences for little or no reason. The number of women in Texas prisons has tripled in the last ten years, as mass incarcerations have proven profitable to not only the state but also profitable for an array of business interests.
Writer Alan Nafzger has called on Governor Greg Abbott to, “end the prison industry.”
Recently, “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak spoke out against the Texas system and put a good word in for mercy and forgiveness out on social media. “How nice for those who have lived such exemplary lives that they can express glee when others have their lives ruined by a mistake, real or perceived,” Sajak tweeted last month.
The petition states, “Why don’t we have the ‘Adam Sandler’ character… sending letters to women in prison and being their friend and trying to help them adjust, giving them hope… and when they get out of prison he picks them up so they don’t have to ride the smelly bus back home… but his pickup truck is a junker, smoking and sputtering … worse than the bus. But his heart is in the right place… He’s the last “chivalrous” man on earth.”
Arjun Gupta has not commented on the script, thusfar. A statement is expected soon.
Professor Nafzger has made a short treatment of the project available online.
He has made the finished script available at for select filmmakers.
Jana Sandler of Happy Madison Productions has also expressed interest in the screenplay.
Arjun Gupta is a Actor, Producer, Cinematographer known for Bridge and Tunnel (2014), Nurse Jackie (2009), Stand Up Guys (2012), How to Get Away with Murder (2014) and is represented by The Gersh Agency, Cormac Dennehy.
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THE SLASHER
There are many standard screenwriting rules that horror turns upside down, making it all the more important to understand how horror works. The first thing a screenwriter needs to do when considering writing a horror is to determine what type of horror they’ll be writing. Is it a slasher? A monster flick? A supernatural horror?
Screenwriters are taught to give their protagonist an arc. In horror, a protagonist’s arc might be non-existent. If a flaw is present, the protagonist might be killed off long before he reaches an arc. The killer might be the only one left standing in a horror. What happened to the protagonist with an arc?
The horror script requires an understanding of how the genre works.
I very strongly encourage novelists to start watching movies for Plants and Payoffs (and I’ve included a whole section on the technique, Chapter 34). Other names for this technique are Setup/Reveal or simply FORESHADOWING (which can be a bit different, more subtle). Vicky Cristina Barcelona does this beautifully with the long buildup to the intro of Maria Elena, the Penelope Cruz character. Penelope completely delivers on her introduction, and I knew she was a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination for that one. (In fact, she won.)
Of course you’ll want to weave Plants and Payoffs all through the story… you can often develop these in rewrites, and it’s a good idea to do one read-through just looking for places to plant and payoff. A classic example of a plant is Indy freaking out about the snake on the plane in the first few minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The plant is cleverly hidden because we think it’s just a comic moment — this big, bad hero just survived a maze of lethal booby traps and an entire tribe of warriors trying to kill him — and then he wimps out about a little old snake. But the real payoff comes way later when Salla slides the stone slab off the entrance to the tomb, and Indy shines the light down into the pit — to reveal a live mass of thousands of coiling snakes. It’s so much later in the film that we’ve completely forgotten that Indy has a pathological fear of snakes, but that’s what makes it all so funny. (Of course it’s also a suspense builder in this case: the descent into the tomb is that much more scary because we’re feeling Indy’s revulsion.)
Very often in the second act, we will see a battle long before the final battle in which the hero/ine fails because of this weakness, so the suspense is even greater when s/he goes into the final battle in the third act. An absolutely beautiful example of this is in the film Dirty Dancing. In rehearsal after rehearsal, Baby can never, ever keep her balance in that flashy dance lift. She and Johnny attempt the lift in an early dance performance, Baby chickens out, and they cover the flub in an endearingly comic way. But in that final performance number she nails the lift, and it’s a great moment for her as a character, and for the audience — quite literally uplifting.
Another inevitable element of the training sequence is PLANTS AND PAYOFFS. For example, we learn that the hero/ine (and/or other members of the team) has a certain weakness in battle. That weakness will naturally have to be tested in the final battle. A great illustration of this is in The Empire Strikes Back: Yoda continually gets angry with Luke for not trusting the Force… then in his final battle with Vader, Luke’s only chance of survival is putting his entire fate in the hands of the Force he’s not sure he believes in. It’s a lovely moment of spiritual transcendence.