After spending nearly 9 hours watching Draft Day coverage, I found myself impressed with just about everyone's pro teams (specifically the Pats and the Giants)... except for the Eagles. They have never done more to uninspire confidence in the organization. It's like they're trying to test our faith as fans.
Allow me to explain:
-We trade out of the first round. Sending our 26th pick to, not only our divisional rival but, our MOST HATED RIVAL... and what do we get? A 2nd, 3rd, and 5th round pick. What do we spend that 2nd round pick on??? The sixth-rated QB in the draft who wasn't even projected to come off the board until some point in the 3rd round.
-Even if you liked Kevin Kolb, why spend the 36th pick on him??? We easily could've grabbed him at 57. Were we trying to make some kind of a statement: "We like you and want you to feel better about yourself, so we'll waste a higher-than-necessary pick on you, in the hopes that this might provide you with the impetus you need to work hard and make our practice squad!" That's bush league. I oughta punch somebody in the mouth.
-For lord sakes, why didn't we bolster our linbacking corps. With the 36th pick, the Michigan guy had fallen into our laps. Why don't we boost our receiving corps or our D-Backs (widely acknowledged and admitted "needs" for our team???) There were tons of guys available. AHHHHH, it's exhausting.
-With our other 2nd round pick, we take a Defensive Lineman who is adequately characterized as a "project." Oh, what a surprise!!!
Alright, (as much as it pains me), I'll move on to what I liked about what your teams did.
The Patriots look like geniuses... F#CK!!!
-First off, (a month and a half prior to the draft) they get Donte Stallworth to sign a ridiculous contract that only guarantees him 1-year at a little over $3 million (and Rosenhaus is his f#cking agent? he did allow such a shitty deal?... the Eagles would have easily guaranteed Stallworth $4 million or more).
-I'm not even going to address their other wheelings and dealings that transpired before the draft... but now let's take a look at their big day yesterday. WHY THE HELL would San Fran give up their first round next year and a late rounder in this draft, to acquire the 28th pick? You know that San Fran pick is going to end up being like the 7th or 8th pick next year... it's almost a given! So here are the Pats, grabbing a highly-rated Safety (which they desperately need) and then trading in their 28th pick for (most likely) a 7th pick in next year's draft. They more than quadrupled the value of that pick. AND what did the Eagles do with their late-first round pick? (As previously mentioned above), they trade it away to the COWBOYS and then spend their newly acquired pick on some schlub of a quarterback. My head hurts.
-I'm spending far too much time on this post (I have an online driving course I gotta finish... keep them points off my license), but let me quickly address the Randy Moss thing before moving on to the Giants... Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth with Brady tossing the football??? I feel like the commisioner has to step in and veto this trade because it's just not fair. All the rest of us can do, is hope that Moss won't renogiated his contract (set to pay him over $9 million this year and over $11 million next year) or --- that he will continue to prove himself to be "locker room cancer." If New England makes that little experiment work for 2 years or more, it'll almost be like they're spitting in the face of the Philadelphia organization (and us fans): "Not only can we win 3 Super Bowls while you struggle just to make it to the big game, but we can also wrangle in a reputedly problematic receiver and coax him into playing within our system for longer than just one year. Take that!" NO, I can't take it...
The Giants
-Great pick with Aaron Ross, we probably would have grabbed him if you didn't.
-Steve Smith was a nice snag in the late 2nd.
That's all I'm going to say. I've got to get back to studying parking signs.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Green Light
I’ve been sitting on this story for a couple of weeks now, but since the trades are ready to announce it tomorrow, I figure there shouldn’t be any problem if I finally provide my friends with some full disclosure on the first feature film I played a (very small) part in getting green-lit.
Okay, so we cut back to 3 and a half weeks ago. I was just wrapping up my first week with Shawn Levy & Company. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I found myself amazed by all the scripts and calls that were coming through Shawn’s office. He was still in the process of prepping MARLEY AND ME. Plus he was meeting with Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise to develop THE HARDY MEN. Also, he was reading a bunch of scripts by potential writers for THE FLASH. In addition to all of that, our company (21 LAPS) was developing, purchasing, and pitching a dozen films to FOX and other companies (…these don’t even include the projects that are still unreported). So needless to say, Shawn was pretty busy… oh, and he also had two young daughters and a newborn at home. Understandably, he didn’t have time to read a script by some first time writers (even if a high-ranking Endeavor agent called it “the next LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE”… on a side note, agents will say just about anything to get their clients’ material read… interestingly enough, however, this Endeavor agent didn’t even represent these particular writers). When I stopped by Shawn’s house (in the late afternoon on Friday) in order to drop off his schedule, along with a few letters and some scripts, I was really excited to learn that Shawn wanted me to read THE WAY BACK (a.k.a. - the next Little Miss Sunshine) and write him coverage for Monday.
I should note that by the end of my first week, it seemed almost certain that MARLEY AND ME was going to be put on-hold. The chairman of FOX wanted the movie delivered by Christmas. In the short amount of time we had been allotted, we were unable to cast 1 of the 3 huge stars we wanted as the male lead. So if that film that didn’t get going, and if Shawn didn’t start another project, there was a decent chance that I’d be out of a job by the middle of June (Shawn wouldn’t need 3 assistants if he’s “simply” developing big movies).
After receiving the script on Friday, I got my hands on a script that I knew Shawn hated (this would help me gauge his tastes). Also, I read another script that one of Shawn’s assistants had already written coverage on (this was so I could get a feel for what style of writing I should use when working on my own coverage). By 2:00pm on Sunday afternoon, I was finally ready to dig in to THE WAY BACK. I kept tons of notes as I read, but most of them just discussed how much I loved what was in the script. At 5:30pm, I settled in front of my laptop and spent the next 10 hours writing up a concise, 2.5 page summary, as well as a short analysis of the script, the writers, and the chances Shawn would like it… I didn’t finish until 3:30 in the morning because I was really nervous that my first attempt at coverage for 21 LAPS might be seen as an abject failure, if I didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time pouring over every sentence.)
As it turned out, Shawn loved the coverage I wrote. He had everybody else in the company read my coverage, along with the script. Our development executive read it and claimed that it was the best script he had come across in the past two years. Then Shawn decided to read the script for himself over the upcoming weekend. When he arrived in to work on Monday (2 and a half weeks ago), he was basically resigned to the fact that MARLEY AND ME was shutting down, but he was extremely enchanted with this new script and announced that he wanted to direct it ASAP. This came as a bit of a surprise, seeing as how THE WAY BACK is more of a Fox Searchlight movie ($10 million budget) and it will almost undoubtedly be rated-R. After raking in over $565 million with NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, it didn’t seem likely that Shawn would take on a passion project that would pay him next-to-nothing (relatively speaking), but that’s exactly what he decided to do. So, two days after proclaiming he was going to make this movie, Shawn was in front of several studio execs, pitching the project. A couple of days later, Fox Searchlight green-lit the movie and we’ve proceeded ahead at warp speed. Right now, we’re casting, location scouting, and working on the budget.
The coolest part of the whole process so far was when the first-time writers (who have actually acted in a ton of stuff from which I recognized them) stopped in to the office to meet with Shawn. On their way out, he introduced me by saying, “You gotta meet Rand. He’s the guy who got your script read.” Immediately, the two writers were reaching out to shake my hand and tell me how much they “owed” me. It was pretty surreal.
So I’m psyched about this movie, and I guarantee you it’s going to be amazing. I’ll keep you posted as things develop.
Okay, so we cut back to 3 and a half weeks ago. I was just wrapping up my first week with Shawn Levy & Company. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I found myself amazed by all the scripts and calls that were coming through Shawn’s office. He was still in the process of prepping MARLEY AND ME. Plus he was meeting with Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise to develop THE HARDY MEN. Also, he was reading a bunch of scripts by potential writers for THE FLASH. In addition to all of that, our company (21 LAPS) was developing, purchasing, and pitching a dozen films to FOX and other companies (…these don’t even include the projects that are still unreported). So needless to say, Shawn was pretty busy… oh, and he also had two young daughters and a newborn at home. Understandably, he didn’t have time to read a script by some first time writers (even if a high-ranking Endeavor agent called it “the next LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE”… on a side note, agents will say just about anything to get their clients’ material read… interestingly enough, however, this Endeavor agent didn’t even represent these particular writers). When I stopped by Shawn’s house (in the late afternoon on Friday) in order to drop off his schedule, along with a few letters and some scripts, I was really excited to learn that Shawn wanted me to read THE WAY BACK (a.k.a. - the next Little Miss Sunshine) and write him coverage for Monday.
I should note that by the end of my first week, it seemed almost certain that MARLEY AND ME was going to be put on-hold. The chairman of FOX wanted the movie delivered by Christmas. In the short amount of time we had been allotted, we were unable to cast 1 of the 3 huge stars we wanted as the male lead. So if that film that didn’t get going, and if Shawn didn’t start another project, there was a decent chance that I’d be out of a job by the middle of June (Shawn wouldn’t need 3 assistants if he’s “simply” developing big movies).
After receiving the script on Friday, I got my hands on a script that I knew Shawn hated (this would help me gauge his tastes). Also, I read another script that one of Shawn’s assistants had already written coverage on (this was so I could get a feel for what style of writing I should use when working on my own coverage). By 2:00pm on Sunday afternoon, I was finally ready to dig in to THE WAY BACK. I kept tons of notes as I read, but most of them just discussed how much I loved what was in the script. At 5:30pm, I settled in front of my laptop and spent the next 10 hours writing up a concise, 2.5 page summary, as well as a short analysis of the script, the writers, and the chances Shawn would like it… I didn’t finish until 3:30 in the morning because I was really nervous that my first attempt at coverage for 21 LAPS might be seen as an abject failure, if I didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time pouring over every sentence.)
As it turned out, Shawn loved the coverage I wrote. He had everybody else in the company read my coverage, along with the script. Our development executive read it and claimed that it was the best script he had come across in the past two years. Then Shawn decided to read the script for himself over the upcoming weekend. When he arrived in to work on Monday (2 and a half weeks ago), he was basically resigned to the fact that MARLEY AND ME was shutting down, but he was extremely enchanted with this new script and announced that he wanted to direct it ASAP. This came as a bit of a surprise, seeing as how THE WAY BACK is more of a Fox Searchlight movie ($10 million budget) and it will almost undoubtedly be rated-R. After raking in over $565 million with NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, it didn’t seem likely that Shawn would take on a passion project that would pay him next-to-nothing (relatively speaking), but that’s exactly what he decided to do. So, two days after proclaiming he was going to make this movie, Shawn was in front of several studio execs, pitching the project. A couple of days later, Fox Searchlight green-lit the movie and we’ve proceeded ahead at warp speed. Right now, we’re casting, location scouting, and working on the budget.
The coolest part of the whole process so far was when the first-time writers (who have actually acted in a ton of stuff from which I recognized them) stopped in to the office to meet with Shawn. On their way out, he introduced me by saying, “You gotta meet Rand. He’s the guy who got your script read.” Immediately, the two writers were reaching out to shake my hand and tell me how much they “owed” me. It was pretty surreal.
So I’m psyched about this movie, and I guarantee you it’s going to be amazing. I’ll keep you posted as things develop.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
And the 2007 NL Cy Young goes to:
W/L: 31-0
Perfect Games: 18
Non Perfect No-Hitters: 1
21k Games: 2
Braves/Phillies Paralyzed in Brawls: 13
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