Petition asks Norman Lloyd to read prison screenplay

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

Norman Lloyd – Talent Agents
– Producer, Actor, Director – Dead Poets Society (1989), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), Spellbound (1945), The Age of Innocence (1993) – –

Dumbass, Daddy’s Girl, Ep.3, Ignorance or Hate

Norman Lloyd & 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 Norman Lloyd 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 Norman Lloyd at last week.

In the open letter to Norman Lloyd, 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 Norman Lloyd 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.”

Producer, Actor, Director, Norman Lloyd, has not responded to the petition. Nor has 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.”

Norman Lloyd 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.

Norman Lloyd is a Producer, Actor, Director known for Dead Poets Society (1989), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), Spellbound (1945), The Age of Innocence (1993) and is represented by .

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In a suspense thriller, a teaser often involves setting up a mystery, preferably in the opening scene. Perhaps show a murder victim with a knife sticking from his chest.

Movies often open with a teaser to establish genre. In the horror The Ruins the teaser shows a woman trapped in the ruins. Something stalks her in the dark, then she screams and the story begins. We have no idea where she is, who or what is stalking her. The story continues on a bright, sunny beach with young adults. The opening teaser established the genre, then moved to the story.

OPEN WITH A TEASER

Ways to Establish Genre

A lot of Jake’s BACKSTORY, GHOST, INNER and OUTER DESIRE are dramatized through the character of Lieutenant Escobar. Escobar is Jake’s mirror: the man he could have been, in the position Jake could have been in now, had he stayed on the police force instead of quitting to go into private investigations. Escobar got out of Chinatown without quitting the force, and rose from there. When Jake is with Escobar, we see Jake’s regret about quitting and his longing to be doing real police work (INNER DESIRE). Escobar is a character that serves as both an antagonist, sometimes (actually dramatizing Jake’s INTERNAL OPPOSITION), and as an ally. It’s terrific storytelling that Jake’s backstory is brought to life with this character from his past.

· There is a character that is the protagonist’s mirror

But there are other, more subtle techniques going on here to define Jake.

This was a bold choice of the filmmakers (and it was not Towne’s original intention; it was Polanski who pushed for the tragic ending) and sets the story far apart from most Hollywood offerings; one might say it out-noirs most noir as well.