Petition asks BenDavid Grabinski to read prison screenplay

More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from  BenDavid Grabinski (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system

BenDavid Grabinski – Talent Agents
– Writer, Producer, Director – Happily (2021), Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2019), Shoot ‘Em Up (2007), Skiptrace (2016) – Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Praveen Pandian – Kaplan / Perrone Entertainment, Sean Perrone

Dumbass, Con Ed, The How-To Guide for Saving the World, Archer & Armstrong

BenDavid Grabinski & 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 BenDavid Grabinski at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Praveen Pandian last week.

In the open letter to BenDavid Grabinski, 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 BenDavid Grabinski 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.”

Writer, Producer, Director, BenDavid Grabinski, has not responded to the petition. Nor has Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Praveen Pandian 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.”

BenDavid Grabinski 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.

BenDavid Grabinski is a Writer, Producer, Director known for Happily (2021), Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2019), Shoot ‘Em Up (2007), Skiptrace (2016) and is represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Praveen Pandian.

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Jack vs. the bomber in an L.A. subway. Jack wins and gets the girl!

(Notice in the scene where the SWAT guys realize the money’s moving that Jack DOESN’T wait to be given orders, he bursts out the door and pursues the bomber = Jack’s the leader!)

Jack’s NOW strong enough emotionally to go head-to-head with the bomber and win.

ACT III

This recreation and reliving of a past trauma is a staple of drama for a reason. A lot of psychologists would say that that’s the human condition, the “repetition compulsion,” Freud called it: we all unconsciously seek out people, events, and situations that duplicate our core trauma(s), in the hope of eventually triumphing over the situation that so wounded us.

I mentioned that it’s a classic pattern of drama that the hero/ine has a wound from the past —a traumatic event, a lost love, the death of a friend or family member, alcoholism or another addiction, the loss of faith — that continues to haunt her or him in the present and which s/he will be forced to confront in living color in the course of the story, generally in the climax of the story. As we will discuss in depth, in Chinatown, protagonist Jake Gittes gets involved with a case that takes him metaphorically and physically right back into Chinatown, where his big past trauma occurred. Clarice Starling’s wound is her trauma over witnessing the slaughter of the spring lambs as an orphaned child, and being unable to save the lamb she tries to kidnap. In the climax of The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice must fight a psychotic killer to save a young woman from being slaughtered.

THE HERO/INE’S GHOST OR WOUND

This all goes to emphasize one of the main underlying points of this book: different genres have very different story structures, and you need to study and understand the classic tricks and expectations of your own genre. That’s why I so adamantly advocate creating your own, personalized story structure workbook. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that if you think you might be writing a Mysterious Stranger story, then you should make a list of Mysterious Stranger stories, and take a look at the patterns of those stories and what other storytellers have done with them. It will give you no end of interesting ideas for your own story.