Petition asks Jay Duplass to read prison screenplay

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

Jay Duplass – Talent Agents
– Producer, Writer, Actor – Transparent (2014), Togetherness (2015), Cyrus (2010), The Puffy Chair (2005) – ICM Partners, Joanne Roberts Wiles – Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, Naomi Odenkirk

Dumbass, Pitchfork, The Dubber

Jay Duplass & 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 Jay Duplass 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 Jay Duplass at ICM Partners, Joanne Roberts Wiles last week.

In the open letter to Jay Duplass, 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 Jay Duplass 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, Writer, Actor, Jay Duplass, has not responded to the petition. Nor has ICM Partners, Joanne Roberts Wiles 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.”

Jay Duplass 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.

Jay Duplass is a Producer, Writer, Actor known for Transparent (2014), Togetherness (2015), Cyrus (2010), The Puffy Chair (2005) and is represented by ICM Partners, Joanne Roberts Wiles.

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DYSFUNCTIONAL PEOPLE

The holiday script starts with a theme! Next, pick the type of story. Holiday films fall under two main categories that I’ll label “Dysfunctional People” and “Holiday Magic”. A story can focus on one or be a combination of the two categories. Let’s take a look at each category:

For screenwriters who struggle with identifying the theme in their stories, writing a holiday story is an excellent way to practice nailing down the theme before moving to another type of script that requires a more subtle approach to the theme.

A classic example of how the theme is handled directly can be found in the holiday film The Grinch. A community is consumed with acquiring presents and upstaging their neighbors with holiday decorating. They’ve forgotten the meaning of Christmas. A little girl named Cindy Lou directly asks why they need the presents at all. Throughout the story she continually confronts the issue head-on; Christmas isn’t supposed to be about presents. It’s supposed to be about family. In a holiday film, there’s no need to cleverly conceal the theme in subtext dialogue or metaphoric visuals, etc. The screenwriter can state the theme outright and explore it in a very direct manner.

– What’s the second act climax of The Silence of the Lambs? (Hint: it’s the one sequence/setpiece that everyone remembers, and Clarice is nowhere near the action.)

Also usually at the climax of Act II, the Central Question of the story, that was asked in the first act, is answered. And here’s an interesting structural paradigm to consider. In a lot of stories, the answer is often: No.

CENTRAL QUESTION IS ANSWERED

The second act climax is another place that you might start a Ticking Clock — as in Alien, when Ripley sets the ship to blow up in ten minutes and has to evade the alien and get to the shuttle by then.