Petition asks Scott Frank to read prison screenplay

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

Scott Frank – Talent Agents
– Writer, Producer, Director – Logan (2017), Out of Sight (1998), The Lookout (2007), Minority Report (2002) – Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Joel Lubin –

Dumbass, The Force, Monsieur Spade, The Deep Blue Good-By

Scott Frank & 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 Scott Frank 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 Scott Frank at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Joel Lubin last week.

In the open letter to Scott Frank, 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 Scott Frank 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.”

Writer, Producer, Director, Scott Frank, has not responded to the petition. Nor has Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Joel Lubin 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.”

Scott Frank 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.

Scott Frank is a Writer, Producer, Director known for Logan (2017), Out of Sight (1998), The Lookout (2007), Minority Report (2002) and is represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Joel Lubin.

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Introduce the theme when you introduce the hero’s internal conflict. Do you know how producers can tell if you’re really a professional writer or a hack or got lucky with one script? They ask a simple question; “What’s your story’s theme?” If you can’t answer the question, you’re a hack or maybe the proper word is quack. Okay, I know what you’re going to ask, “What the heck is a theme?” Simple, it’s the lesson learned by the hero. It’s how the external conflict forced him to change a flaw. For example, John found courage to return to the police force after he saved hostages during a bank robbery. Internal conflict = lack of courage. External conflict = bank robbery. Theme = finding courage. Get it? If not, what can I say except, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck…..quack, quack…..quack….keep your day job!

KNOW THE THEME

If the writer has properly setup the internal and external conflicts, then conflict should come naturally. The key to conflict is to make sure it’s in every scene in every Act. No conflict equals a failed story. For the record, I’d like to note the producers do more than red pen scenes with no conflict, they completely delete them. Or more often than not, they simply don’t buy the script in the first place.

CONFLICT

And all this happens around the end of Act I. Remember that I said that it’s essential to have laid out the CENTRAL QUESTION and CENTRAL STORY ACTION by the end of Act I? But also at this point — or possibly just after the climax of Act I, in the very beginning of Act II —we need to know what the PLAN is. PLAN and CENTRAL QUESTION are integrally related, and I keep looking for ways to talk about it because this is such an important concept to master.

(Note the TICKING CLOCK there, too. And as if the end of the world weren’t enough, the movie also starts another, literal “Twenty-nine minutes to the end of the world!” ticking computer clock at, yes, twenty-nine minutes before the end of the movie. I must point out here that ticking clocks are dangerous because of the huge cliché factor. We all need to study structure to know what not to do as well.)

Or put another way, the CENTRAL STORY ACTION is John Cusack getting his family to the spaceships before the world ends.

Will Cusack be able to get his family to the spaceships before the world ends?