Petition asks Sarah Edmondson to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Sarah Edmondson (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Sarah Edmondson – Talent Agents
– Actress, Additional Crew, Producer – Salvation (2017), At Home in Mitford (2017), My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010), Max Steel (2013) – Red Management, Murray Gibson –
Sarah Edmondson & 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 Sarah Edmondson 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 Sarah Edmondson at Red Management, Murray Gibson last week.
In the open letter to Sarah Edmondson, 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 Sarah Edmondson 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, Additional Crew, Producer, Sarah Edmondson, has not responded to the petition. Nor has Red Management, Murray Gibson 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.”
Sarah Edmondson 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.
Sarah Edmondson is a Actress, Additional Crew, Producer known for Salvation (2017), At Home in Mitford (2017), My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010), Max Steel (2013) and is represented by Red Management, Murray Gibson.
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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.
While these movies can encompass any genre, most are family-oriented, comedies or RomComs with an occasional drama. Regardless of the genre, they have one thing in common; a strong theme. What most screenwriters don’t understand is that unlike other scripts, the holiday story’s theme is handled differently. First, holiday films have the strongest themes among stories written for the big screen. Secondly, the theme is handled directly, as opposed to a more subtle exploration via subtext (underlying meaning).
What is a holiday script? There are many holidays in a calendar year, like Easter, Fourth of July, Yom Kippur, Memorial Day, etc. However, if a producer indicates he’s seeking a holiday script, he’s referring to the period that falls from Thanksgiving to New Years. This includes Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and even New Year’s Day. Almost all holiday films open during this time and involve characters in a story that takes place during the holidays. Producers like these stories because they have a built-in audience for two years; the first year the audience views the release in the theater and the second year they give the DVD as a gift.
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.
TICKING CLOCK
No matter what genre you’re looking at, together these two scenes, ALL IS LOST and a NEW REVELATION, are almost always the climax of the second act because it’s such an exhilarating reversal to go from losing everything to gaining that key piece of knowledge that will power the hero/ine through the final confrontation to the end.