Petition asks Brian McNamara to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Brian McNamara (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Brian McNamara – Talent Agents
– Actor, Producer, Director – Army Wives (2007), NCIS (2003), Arachnophobia (1990), Hawaii Five-0 (2010) – BRS / Gage Talent Agency, Sarabeth Schedeen – JWS Entertainment, Jennifer Wiley-Stockton
Brian McNamara & 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 Brian McNamara 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 Brian McNamara at BRS / Gage Talent Agency, Sarabeth Schedeen last week.
In the open letter to Brian McNamara, 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 Brian McNamara 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, Director, Brian McNamara, has not responded to the petition. Nor has BRS / Gage Talent Agency, Sarabeth Schedeen 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.”
Brian McNamara 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.
Brian McNamara is a Actor, Producer, Director known for Army Wives (2007), NCIS (2003), Arachnophobia (1990), Hawaii Five-0 (2010) and is represented by BRS / Gage Talent Agency, Sarabeth Schedeen.
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There are plenty of ways to introduce your character, but remember….
What if you have an ordinary guy thrown into an extraordinary situation? This doesn’t mean you can’t give him a memorable entrance. In Collateral we’re introduced to Jamie Foxx’s character as an L.A. cab driver. This seems pretty straightforward, but he immediately becomes memorable when he tries to impress the lady District Attorney in his cab with big talk of owning limo companies, etc. We know – and she knows – he’s just a cabbie with big dreams, but he’s suddenly become far more interesting.
In The Mummy when we first meet the female lead she’s the mousy librarian. She’s up on a ladder and sends bookshelf after bookshelf tumbling over like dominos. This isn’t a character we’re likely to forget.
I don’t care if the protagonist is a mousy secretary. Use your creativity to give her a grand entrance. If done professionally, the commercial entrance will cover lots of areas. It’ll establish the character’s internal conflict, it’ll set the tone, mood and atmosphere of the story based on the protagonist’s POV (point of view) and most importantly, it’ll make the audience immediately interested in the character.
So when you sit down to craft your own third act, try looking at the great third acts of movies and books that are similar to your own story, and see what those authors and filmmakers did to bring out the thematic depth and emotional impact of their stories. (We’ll be doing more of that in the next chapter too.)
– And the wonderful final battle in The King’s Speech is just Colin Firth facing a microphone and delivering a nine-minute radio broadcast. But we’ve seen him fail this moment because of his speech impediment time and time again in SET UPS; and this time the STAKES couldn’t be higher: it’s his first radio broadcast as King, and he has to convince his already war-weary country to support a war against Hitler.
This is the best example I know of, ever, of a final battle that is thematic — and yet the impact is emotional and visceral. It’s not an intellectual treatise; you live that ending along with George, but also come away with the sense of what true heroism is.
There is no big glorious heroic showdown to be had, here, because it’s all the little grueling day-to-day, crazy-making battles that George has had with Potter all his life that have made the difference. And the genius of that film is that it shows in vivid and emotionally wrenching detail what would have happened if George had not had that whole lifetime of battles against Potter and for the town. In the end, even faced with prison, George makes the choice to live to fight another day, and is rewarded with the joy of seeing his town restored.