Petition asks Tom Arnold to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Tom Arnold (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Tom Arnold – Talent Agents
– Actor, Producer, Writer – True Lies (1994), The Stupids (1996), McHale’s Navy (1997), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) – The Gersh Agency, T.J. Markwalter – LINK Entertainment, Erik Kritzer
Dumbass, Spychosis, Vickie, Southern Cross
Tom Arnold & 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 Tom Arnold 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 Tom Arnold at The Gersh Agency, T.J. Markwalter last week.
In the open letter to Tom Arnold, 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 Tom Arnold 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, Writer, Tom Arnold, has not responded to the petition. Nor has The Gersh Agency, T.J. Markwalter 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.”
Tom Arnold 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.
Tom Arnold is a Actor, Producer, Writer known for True Lies (1994), The Stupids (1996), McHale’s Navy (1997), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) and is represented by The Gersh Agency, T.J. Markwalter.
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A script can still be character-driven, but it must rise above the “character study” level before it’ll get serious consideration as a first sale.
Once a writer has broken in and has some successes under his belt he’ll find it much easier to convince the studio to go for his character-driven piece, but in the meantime he’ll need to deliver something with more external plot.
When in fact, they’d need a more external plot added to a story like this in order to make it a first sale.
Then why do I keep seeing similar character-driven scripts on the spec market? Because screenwriters see these types of movies and think they can sell a similar character-driven script…
I will be didactic here and say that by the end of the first act, you must have given your reader or audience everything they need to know about what the story is going to be about: what kind of story it is, who the hero/ine and antagonist (or mystery) are, and what the main conflict is going to be. It’s useful to think of the story as posing a CENTRAL QUESTION: Will Clarice get Lecter to tell her Buffalo Bill’s identity before he kills again? (The Silence of the Lambs). Will Sheriff Brody’s team be able to kill the shark before it kills again (and in time to save the tourist season)? (Jaws). Will the crew of the Nostromo be able to catch and kill that alien before it kills them? (Alien).
CENTRAL QUESTION
A reader or audience will get restless if they don’t have a good idea of what the story is within the first five (I’d even say three) minutes of a movie, or the first twenty pages of a book. Sometimes it’s enough to have just a sense of the central conflict. But often, good storytellers will make it perfectly clear what the theme of the story is, and very early on in the story. In the first act of It’s a Wonderful Life, George is impatient to leave pokey little Bedford Falls and go out in the world to “do big things.” George’s father tells him that in their own small way, he feels they are doing big things at the Building and Loan; they’re satisfying one of the most basic needs of human beings by helping them own their own homes. This is a lovely statement of the theme of the movie: that it’s the ordinary, seemingly mundane acts that we do every day that add up to a heroic life.
STATEMENT OF THEME