Petition asks David Lowery to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from David Lowery (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
David Lowery – Talent Agents
– Editor, Producer, Director – A Ghost Story (2017), Pete’s Dragon (2016), The Old Man & the Gun (2018), Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013) – William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment, Craig Kestel – Management 360, David Karp
Dumbass, To Be Two
David Lowery & 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 David Lowery 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 David Lowery at William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment, Craig Kestel last week.
In the open letter to David Lowery, 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 David Lowery 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.”
Editor, Producer, Director, David Lowery, has not responded to the petition. Nor has William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment, Craig Kestel 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.”
David Lowery 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.
David Lowery is a Editor, Producer, Director known for A Ghost Story (2017), Pete’s Dragon (2016), The Old Man & the Gun (2018), Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013) and is represented by William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment, Craig Kestel.
——————- READ MORE ——————-
Next, be sure to let tragedy strike! In the film Identity Thief the thief confesses she has no identity. It’s a heartbreaking moment where we learn she was raised in foster care, shoved from place to place with a variety of names. She doesn’t know who she is and it’s tragic. The best comedies know how to handle tragedy by maintaining dialogue and visual punch-lines that keeps the genre from shifting to a drama. It’s a gentle balancing act, but you don’t have to be a circus performer to pull it off – just study how it’s done in films and repeat the technique in your work.
Visual punch-lines work the same way. There’s a big dramatic moment, then something visually funny happens. In the film Click the hero’s dying. He says an emotional good-bye to his family, then gives his ex-wife’s new lover the finger. Tragedy or drama situations should be followed by comedy; that’s the key to a successful comedy script.
Great comedies tend to border on tragedy. The trick is to give us the tragic (emotional) moments, but keep the LOL comedy going. Often screenwriters make the mistake of creating a dramatic scene that doesn’t end with comedy; the result is an attempt at comedy that reads like a drama. Here’s a simple rule to avoid this problem: Always follow a dramatic moment with a dialogue or visual punch-line. For example, in the film While You Were Sleeping there’s a big emotional scene at the end where Bullock’s character confesses that she was never engaged to Peter. It’s a tear-jerker, but at the end of her confession she turns to Peter and says, “Oh, by the way, I’m sorry about your carpet.” This is the dialogue punch-line. It’s based on a previously setup scene where she accidentally dumped blue-tinted water on his white carpet. It allowed the screenwriter to give the character an emotional-tragic moment while maintaining the comedy genre.
HOW TO WRITE A LOL COMEDY
This scene is quiet and involves only one person, but it’s mystically powerful — note the use of light and the religious quality of the music… and Indy is decked out in robes almost like, well, Moses — staff and all. Indy stands like God over the miniature of the temple city, and the beam of light comes through the crystal like light from heaven. It’s all a foreshadowing of the final climax, in which God intervenes in much the same way. Very effective, with lots of subliminal manipulation going on. And of course, at the end of the scene, Indy has the information he needs to retrieve the Ark. I would also point out that, as in Raiders, the Midpoint is often some kind of mirror image of the final climax. It’s an interesting device to use, and you may find yourself using it without even being aware of it.
– Another interesting and tonally very different Midpoint happens in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I’m sure some people would dispute me on this one (and people argue about the exact midpoint of movies all the time), but I would say the Midpoint is the scene that occurs exactly 60 minutes into the film, in which, having determined that the Nazis are digging in the wrong place in the archeological site, Indy goes down into that chamber with the pendant and a staff of the proper height and uses the crystal in the pendant to pinpoint the exact location of the Ark.
– For example, in Jaws, the Midpoint climax occurs in a long and highly suspenseful sequence in which the city officials have refused to shut down the beaches; so Sheriff Brody is out there on the beach, keeping watch (as if that’s going to prevent a shark attack!), the Coast Guard is patrolling the ocean, and, almost as if it’s aware of the whole plan, the shark swims into an unguarded harbor where it attacks a man, and for a horrifying moment we think that it has also killed Brody’s son (really it’s only frightened him into near paralysis). It’s a huge climax and adrenaline rush, but it’s not over yet. Because now the mayor writes the check to hire Quint to hunt down the shark, and since Brody’s family has been threatened (“Now it’s PERSONAL”), he decides to go out with Quint and Hooper on the boat (which will lead to a huge change in location as we see that little boat headed out to the open sea).
The Midpoint is not necessarily just one scene; it can be a progression of scenes and revelations that include a climactic scene, a complete change of location, a major revelation, a major reversal — all or any combination of the above.