Creative Notes:
Rob Jackson, all star baseball player, punches an umpire after a call. Now the man who hates umpires must become one and learn there's more to the game than just winning and losing.
The Umpire
A ball player gets in trouble for punching an umpire, and is sentenced to 100 hours community service to be served as an umpire. Now the man who hates umpires has to be one.
Synopsis:
I wrote this script after my Grandma died. Grandma loved baseball. My favorite story about her was when she was honored at a luncheon at her church for her years of service there. They gave her the chance to pick a favorite song for the choir to sing, assuming, of course, that she would pick a hymn. She had them sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.
After we sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game at her funeral, I decided to sit down and write a movie Grandma would like. She loved baseball and she loved to laugh, so I wrote a baseball comedy.
After we sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game at her funeral, I decided to sit down and write a movie Grandma would like. She loved baseball and she loved to laugh, so I wrote a baseball comedy.
Latest Work
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Trailer 211/29/11
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Test Movie 2 - Full Length Test Movie05/25/11
Creative Notes:I shot and edited this over the last three months. My budget was zero dollars. The actors are mostly friends from my church. The biggest change from the script is the ending. People consistently commented on the script's weak ending, and the more I looked at it the more I thought they were right. So I wrote a new ending, and also altered many events that lead to it. -
Script 3 - Matthew's 2nd Draft12/12/11Creative Notes:I finally got around to rewriting this. The new draft has changes inspired by the Amazon Studios notes, things I learned while making the test movie, and reviews of the test movie. I'll post more detailed notes in the forum, but the biggest changes are in Rob and Amy's relationship.
All Work
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Trailer 1 - the Umpire10/25/11
Creative Notes:Rob, voted most valuable player three times is on a losing streak.
And now, the man who hates umpires, has to be one. -
Script 2 - Rick's 1st Draft07/13/11Creative Notes:I loved the original, so I kept true to Matt's vision. I have edited some things that didn't work and I have added a lot of dialogue. I did more development in the character of Rob, and greatly expanded the relationship between Rob and Amy. I also made the stakes much higher for Rob and found a natural antogonist in Miles. I built more on that conflict of Miles threatening Rob's position.
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Test Movie 1 - Scene Test05/14/11
Creative Notes:This is one scene from my test movie. I'll be uploading the full length version later this month. -
Script 1 - Matthew's Original Draft11/17/10
Creative Notes:No one has ever made a movie about an umpire. When I first had this idea, I got excited and spec'd it right quick. Then I showed it to people and everyone said "No one in Hollywood wants to make baseball movies." Apparently they forgot about movies like "Field of Dreams" and "Pride of the Yankees," to name a few. Hopefully Amazon can be a place where ideas overlooked by Hollywood can thrive.