Matthew Wilson says:
So after I won the contest for the test movie I dove right in to another test movie (SPEAK TO ME IN POETRY - http://studios.amazon.com/movies/11482 - Check it out if you haven't already!) and didn't have time to work on this script till a few weeks ago. But even though I wasn't actively working on it ideas were forming. The best way to know whether something is a good idea is to see how much it recurs to you over time. Because truth always stands the test of time.
Anyway, the first thing I wanted to address was Rob's personality. The Amazon notes described Rob as a 'loveable troublemaker', which was interesting to me because I always pictured him as a troubled troublemaker who needed to get untroubled before he could be loveable. But I realized if he was more of a 'loveable troublemaker' then we (the audience) would feel the need for him to turn more strongly when we see his troublemaker side start to defeat his loveable side. The biggest thing that affected was the first scene. The movie opens and the audience is wondering "Who is this guy?" In shooting the test movie, it became clear that Rob was too angry in that scene. I had wanted to drive the point home that Rob had a problem that needed solving, but I unwittingly created another problem of setting up a lead character that the audience had no sympathy for (this is why, I think, many people stop watching the test movie after the first few minutes). So I decided to make Rob more of a charmer. A guy who makes everyone laugh, even when he's being a jerk. So in the first scene when he does his trash talk against the umpire and the other players, the crowd is in on it. They're constantly egging him on. They know he's bad, but he's so fun to watch. And the end of that scene is the same, where his bad behavior becomes his undoing, but hopefully the audience will be more engaged in his story now, knowing how engaging he can be when he brings his A-game.
The next thing to tackle was the Rob/Amy relationship. Everyone (the Amazon story team, reviewers, friends, actors on set) was unanimous in saying Rob and Amy's love story was not believable. I countered, at the time, by saying it's not a love story, he just learns from her, but the more I thought about it the more I realized the two should go hand in hand. So I got to thinking about what Amy might see in Rob. And with the new, more charming Rob, it became quite clear - she finally has someone who will flirt with her! The only men in Amy's life are the old guys at the baseball field, and the sweaty nervous guys at her church who turn into insecure slush piles around beautiful women. So when a professional sweet talker like Rob shows up, it's a breath of fresh air. Now, what would Rob see in her? In the test movie, Rob is a lonely guy who no one would date. That had to go. Now, Rob can get any woman he wants. Tina (from the original script draft) is back, but this time they don't have a troubled relationship. They don't have a relationship at all. Rob just has sex with her whenever he wants. And she's not the only one. But while Rob has many fans, he has no real friends. So when he meets Amy, someone strong enough to resist his charms, and strong enough to be honest with him, he's intrigued. Because even though Amy loves the attention, she still does not give in to him. And that makes Rob want her even more. That set the groundwork for a real relationship to develop, where both of them clearly have something to offer each other.
And in digging in to Amy's story and figuring out what makes her tick, I also had some ideas about Don. No one ever really had any criticisms about Don but I got the feeling the character could be stronger. He is much more a part of Amy's world in this draft, more of a father figure to her. And she is a voice of reason to him, as well. All of this points back to the mysterious Grandma Whatcom, and we get more insight into Don's history with her.
The last big character change was amping up the role of Miles Barrington, the hot shot rookie who replaces Rob while he's out. The Amazon notes suggested Miles be a villain who conspires to get Rob kicked off the team permanently. I could see where they were going with this (since it was part of a larger problem of there not being enough urgency to the game at the end, not enough at stake to keep the audience invested) but I was hesitant to make him a villain. Instead, I decided to make him an amazing ball player who does an incredible job when he replaces Rob, so it's clear that Rob's job is at stake. So in that sense, Miles is an antagonist - a huge roadblock between Rob and what he wants. Rob is in danger of having the thing he loves taken from him, fair and square. Who would he be if he wasn't a baseball star anymore? Just a jerk. So he needs to be better than Miles to prove he's still relevant to the world of baseball. He needs that home run at the end. That is, he needs it if his life is just about baseball.
Another thing I wanted to address was inaccuracies about the rules of baseball in several scenes. This was pointed out in a few reviews of the script and test movie. Initially I found this annoying (get over it, people, it's a movie!) but after awhile I decided I didn't want anyone to be distracted by such things. Since baseball fans would be a big audience for this movie, I didn't want anything that would take them out of it. And, after all, it's a movie about following the rules. So I did some research on the MLB website and did my best to make sure everything was accurate.
The last thing I considered was that many people did not find the movie funny. This was tricky, because also many people DID find the movie funny. By my tally, seven reviewers said the movie was funny and five said it was not funny (the others were neutral on the subject of funniness). So who do I listen to? I think that comedy can be very polarizing. For example, to me the funniest comedy ever is Mel Brooks's Silent Movie. I have often received vicious rebuke for saying this. Why is this? I'm not lying when I say that I laughed harder at that movie than any other. Why do people get angry when someone finds something funny that they don't? I don't have an answer for that, but I do think Bill Cosby had a good quote on the matter - "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." So rather than bending over backwards cramming jokes into every page in a desperate plea for laughs, I decided to leave the comedy more or less as is. The difference in Rob's personality made for more comedy, for sure, but that was because it was organic to the character. Other than that, I just have to stick to my guns and trust that there is an audience out there who will find this movie funny.
Thanks,
Matt
Anyway, the first thing I wanted to address was Rob's personality. The Amazon notes described Rob as a 'loveable troublemaker', which was interesting to me because I always pictured him as a troubled troublemaker who needed to get untroubled before he could be loveable. But I realized if he was more of a 'loveable troublemaker' then we (the audience) would feel the need for him to turn more strongly when we see his troublemaker side start to defeat his loveable side. The biggest thing that affected was the first scene. The movie opens and the audience is wondering "Who is this guy?" In shooting the test movie, it became clear that Rob was too angry in that scene. I had wanted to drive the point home that Rob had a problem that needed solving, but I unwittingly created another problem of setting up a lead character that the audience had no sympathy for (this is why, I think, many people stop watching the test movie after the first few minutes). So I decided to make Rob more of a charmer. A guy who makes everyone laugh, even when he's being a jerk. So in the first scene when he does his trash talk against the umpire and the other players, the crowd is in on it. They're constantly egging him on. They know he's bad, but he's so fun to watch. And the end of that scene is the same, where his bad behavior becomes his undoing, but hopefully the audience will be more engaged in his story now, knowing how engaging he can be when he brings his A-game.
The next thing to tackle was the Rob/Amy relationship. Everyone (the Amazon story team, reviewers, friends, actors on set) was unanimous in saying Rob and Amy's love story was not believable. I countered, at the time, by saying it's not a love story, he just learns from her, but the more I thought about it the more I realized the two should go hand in hand. So I got to thinking about what Amy might see in Rob. And with the new, more charming Rob, it became quite clear - she finally has someone who will flirt with her! The only men in Amy's life are the old guys at the baseball field, and the sweaty nervous guys at her church who turn into insecure slush piles around beautiful women. So when a professional sweet talker like Rob shows up, it's a breath of fresh air. Now, what would Rob see in her? In the test movie, Rob is a lonely guy who no one would date. That had to go. Now, Rob can get any woman he wants. Tina (from the original script draft) is back, but this time they don't have a troubled relationship. They don't have a relationship at all. Rob just has sex with her whenever he wants. And she's not the only one. But while Rob has many fans, he has no real friends. So when he meets Amy, someone strong enough to resist his charms, and strong enough to be honest with him, he's intrigued. Because even though Amy loves the attention, she still does not give in to him. And that makes Rob want her even more. That set the groundwork for a real relationship to develop, where both of them clearly have something to offer each other.
And in digging in to Amy's story and figuring out what makes her tick, I also had some ideas about Don. No one ever really had any criticisms about Don but I got the feeling the character could be stronger. He is much more a part of Amy's world in this draft, more of a father figure to her. And she is a voice of reason to him, as well. All of this points back to the mysterious Grandma Whatcom, and we get more insight into Don's history with her.
The last big character change was amping up the role of Miles Barrington, the hot shot rookie who replaces Rob while he's out. The Amazon notes suggested Miles be a villain who conspires to get Rob kicked off the team permanently. I could see where they were going with this (since it was part of a larger problem of there not being enough urgency to the game at the end, not enough at stake to keep the audience invested) but I was hesitant to make him a villain. Instead, I decided to make him an amazing ball player who does an incredible job when he replaces Rob, so it's clear that Rob's job is at stake. So in that sense, Miles is an antagonist - a huge roadblock between Rob and what he wants. Rob is in danger of having the thing he loves taken from him, fair and square. Who would he be if he wasn't a baseball star anymore? Just a jerk. So he needs to be better than Miles to prove he's still relevant to the world of baseball. He needs that home run at the end. That is, he needs it if his life is just about baseball.
Another thing I wanted to address was inaccuracies about the rules of baseball in several scenes. This was pointed out in a few reviews of the script and test movie. Initially I found this annoying (get over it, people, it's a movie!) but after awhile I decided I didn't want anyone to be distracted by such things. Since baseball fans would be a big audience for this movie, I didn't want anything that would take them out of it. And, after all, it's a movie about following the rules. So I did some research on the MLB website and did my best to make sure everything was accurate.
The last thing I considered was that many people did not find the movie funny. This was tricky, because also many people DID find the movie funny. By my tally, seven reviewers said the movie was funny and five said it was not funny (the others were neutral on the subject of funniness). So who do I listen to? I think that comedy can be very polarizing. For example, to me the funniest comedy ever is Mel Brooks's Silent Movie. I have often received vicious rebuke for saying this. Why is this? I'm not lying when I say that I laughed harder at that movie than any other. Why do people get angry when someone finds something funny that they don't? I don't have an answer for that, but I do think Bill Cosby had a good quote on the matter - "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." So rather than bending over backwards cramming jokes into every page in a desperate plea for laughs, I decided to leave the comedy more or less as is. The difference in Rob's personality made for more comedy, for sure, but that was because it was organic to the character. Other than that, I just have to stick to my guns and trust that there is an audience out there who will find this movie funny.
Thanks,
Matt