Petition asks Matt Winston to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Matt Winston (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Matt Winston – Talent Agents
– Actor, Producer, Special Effects – Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Jurassic Park (1993), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – –
Matt Winston & 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 Matt Winston 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 Matt Winston at last week.
In the open letter to Matt Winston, 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 Matt Winston 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, Special Effects, Matt Winston, 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.”
Matt Winston 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.
Matt Winston is a Actor, Producer, Special Effects known for Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Jurassic Park (1993), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and is represented by .
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The writer has to stop playing Mr. Nice Guy with the hero. He isn’t your BFF. He’s your enemy. He’s standing in your way of making it to Hollywood and the only way to move him is to blow him up. Kill his dog. Sleep with his wife. Burn down his condo. Steal his car. Wreck his credit. Kidnap his kids. Bury him alive. Throw him in a cage with a hungry lion. The writer should ask the question, “What’s the worst thing that can happen to the hero?” If the answer doesn’t happen, then the story and the hero fails.
SLAM-DUNK THE HERO
This means that characters that volunteer to change or decides to change on his own is NOT commercial! Frankly, they’re boring to watch! If all the screenwriter has to do to get the character out of his ‘safe’ house is to knock on the door and ask the hero to leave, then what’s the point of the story? Heroes shouldn’t be along for the ride. They should be taken for one!
That’s it! That’s what an arc means. The character’s safe in his house and you burn it down! You force him to do something he NEVER would have done if you hadn’t burned down his house!
The TEAM BATTLE is generally a big, noisy SETPIECE scene.
I’ve noticed that in most films, there is a TEAM BATTLE first. The allies get to shine in this one: their strengths and weaknesses are tested, PLANTS are paid off, and allies who have been at each other’s throats for the whole story suddenly reconcile and work together. We also often get the DEFEAT OF SECONDARY OPPONENTS. (If we’ve come to hate a secondary opponent, we need to see them get their comeuppance in a satisfying way — think of Fanny and Lucy Steele cat fighting each other in Sense and Sensibility and Belloq, General Strasser, and Major Toht’s faces melting in Raiders of the Lost Ark.)
Putting the final showdown on the villain’s turf means the villain has home-court advantage. The hero/ine has the extra burden of being a fish out of water in unfamiliar territory (mixing a metaphor to make it painfully clear).
Even if there’s not a literal castle, almost every story will have a metaphorical Storming the Castle element. The hero/ine usually must infiltrate the antagonist’s hideout, or castle, or lair, and confront the antagonist on his or her own turf, a terrifying and foreign place: think of Buffalo Bill’s basement in The Silence of the Lambs, and the basement in Psycho, and the basement in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The castle can be a dragon’s cave (How to Train Your Dragon), or a dream fortress (Inception), or a church (a million romantic comedies).