Petition asks Laura Niemi to read prison screenplay

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

Laura Niemi – Talent Agents
– Actress, Producer – This Is Us (2016), Jobs (2013), Justified (2010), The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) – Brady, Brannon & Rich Talent (BBR) – The Arlook Group, Kieran Maguire

Dumbass, Babycakes

Laura Niemi & Adam Sandler’s film company targeted by Texas petition

Will Hollywood just rollover and let prisoner’s suffer?

EXCLUSIVE

More than 2000 women have signed an open letter to Adam Sandler calling on Laura Niemi and Hollywood to take “movie action” to tackle injustice against men and women in the wake of revelations that Texas has more prisoners incarcerated than the Soviet Union’s gulag system had. Texas currently has over 290,000 inmates housed at 580 facilities.

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 Laura Niemi at Brady, Brannon & Rich Talent (BBR) last week.

In the open letter to Laura Niemi, 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 Laura Niemi 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.”

Actress, Producer, Laura Niemi, has not responded to the petition. Nor has Brady, Brannon & Rich Talent (BBR) responded with a comment.

Alan Nafzger/caption]

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.

During the winter’s deep freeze, the The Marshall Project, exposed the horrible prison conditions, “Inside Frigid Texas Prisons: Broken Toilets, Disgusting Food, Few Blankets.”

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.”

Laura Niemi has not commented on the script, thus far. 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.

Adam Sandler of Happy Madison Productions has expressed interest in the screenplay.

Laura Niemi is a Actress, Producer known for This Is Us (2016), Jobs (2013), Justified (2010), The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) and is represented by Brady, Brannon & Rich Talent (BBR).

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Here are the primary areas to consider when writing in the horror genre:

A supernatural horror involves ghosts, demons, witches and other things that go bump in the night. It may or may not have a protagonist, who may or may not have an arc. However, this type of horror is more psychologically demanding and works best as a commercial product if the protagonist has an arc. See films like Mama, The Haunting and Boogeyman.

THE SUPERNATURAL HORROR

A monster flick involves a physical creature who presents a threat to the story’s characters. This type of horror usually has a protagonist who defeats the monster at a great physical and emotional price. See films like Godzilla and Lake Placid.

In darker stories, instead of bonding scenes, the storytellers may show the hero/ine pulling away from people and becoming more and more alienated, as in The Godfather, Taxi Driver, The Shining, Casino.

In Act II:1 we will also see scenes of BONDING WITH ALLIES, and LOVE SCENES. This is one of the great pleasures of any story: seeing the hero/ine make lifelong friends or fall in love. Besides the more obvious romantic scenes, the love scenes can be between a boy and his dragon, as in How to Train Your Dragon; or between teammates, as in Harry Potter and Jaws; or a man and his father or a woman and her mother (some of the most successful books and movies, like The Godfather, How to Train Your Dragon, Terms of Endearment, and Steel Magnolias show these dynamics). Bonding scenes between allies often happen during the Training Sequence.

I’d also like to point out that if you happen to have both an Assembling the Team and a Training sequence in your second act, that can add up to a whole fourth of your story right there! Awesome! You’re halfway through already!

And the fairy tale version of Gathering the Tools is a really useful structure to look at. Remember all those tales in which the hero or heroine was innocently kind to horrible old hags or helpless animals (or even apple trees), and those creatures and old ladies gave them gifts that turned out to be magical at just the right moment? Plant/Payoff and moral lesson at the same time.