Petition asks Alexandra Billings to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Alexandra Billings (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Alexandra Billings – Talent Agents
– Actress, Soundtrack, Producer – Transparent (2014), Socket (2007), Eli Stone (2008), Paddleton (2019) – Artists & Representatives – Billy Miller Management, Billy Miller
Alexandra Billings & 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 Alexandra Billings at Artists & Representatives last week.
In the open letter to Alexandra Billings, 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 Alexandra Billings 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, Soundtrack, Producer, Alexandra Billings, has not responded to the petition. Nor has Artists & Representatives 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.”
Alexandra Billings 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.
Alexandra Billings is a Actress, Soundtrack, Producer known for Transparent (2014), Socket (2007), Eli Stone (2008), Paddleton (2019) and is represented by Artists & Representatives.
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LET THE HERO INTRODUCE THE GENRE
An example is the film While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock where we’re introduced to the main character as a child. Once the comedy is established, the story starts and we move to present day where the story plays out with the character as an adult.
Another technique to establish genre is to introduce the back-story. The trick to this technique is not to overuse it. Only give us enough back-story to clearly setup the genre.
USE BACKSTORY
There are scenes throughout the film that are deliberately designed to show how clever Jake is as a detective; these are some of the most memorable bits in the movie. Jake places a watch under the tire of Mulwray’s car so it will break to record what time Mulwray leaves the drainage pipe. He takes business cards from Yelburton, the Deputy Chief of the Water Department, and uses one of those cards later to gain access to a crime scene at the reservoir. He understands, instantly, that something is fishy about a drunk drowning in the bone-dry L.A. River bed. He delights in torturing Yelburton’s secretary with his whistling and humming and wandering around the office and relentless questions until she caves and lets him in to see Yelburton. He steals the page he needs from a map in the Hall of Records by borrowing a ruler from the snippy clerk, and then laying the ruler across the page and coughing to cover the sound of the page tearing. These often comic scenes are endearing and also make us admire and empathize with Jake. It’s a good idea to start becoming aware of how actors and filmmakers and novelists build character through this kind of business, and then ask yourself what kinds of scenes you could give your own protagonist to let his or her personality shine through.
· The storytellers give the protagonist clever “business.”
Part of the eerie power of Chinatown is the relationship between Jake Gittes and Hollis Mulwray: the man Jake is initially hired to follow and whom he never actually meets. But Jake doesn’t just follow in Mulwray’s footsteps while on the case. He actually takes the same journey that Mulwray does: both investigating the water scam that’s going on and trying to help Evelyn and her daughter/sister. And both men are equally doomed. Mulwray is Jake’s doppelganger, or double. It’s a mesmerizing and haunting technique that gives this film a mythic resonance and makes Jake more than just an ordinary hero, but a tragic figure.
· There is a character that is the protagonist’s doppelganger.