Writers To Know #2

Today’s entry into screenwriters that you should know about comes quite possibly the biggest screenwriter name in the business today. He is the one writer where if you don’t know any other writers, you probably still know his name.

Charlie Kaufman

Mr. Kaufman got his start on the Chris Elliott starred TV show, Get a Life. During this time, he became known as a shy writer who would come up with hilariously eccentric stories.

After a few other stints on TV shows like Ned and Stacy and The Dana Carvey Show, Kaufman moved to feature films.

His first feature film offered up a glimpse as to what was to come from the writer. Being John Malkovich showed the world a completely bizarre story from the mind of Kaufman. It was very different from pretty much every other movie that was out at the time. Kaufman earned an Academy Award Nomination for his efforts on Malkovich.

After Malkovich, Kaufman continued writing features. Now a bit of demand had struck up for his services. One of the demands that came his way was an adaptation of The Orchid Thief. Kaufman’s adaptation of the book went in a completely different direction than any book adaptation before. He made the adaptation about him trying to adapt the novel. Once again, Kaufman was nominated for an Academy Award.

A couple of years later, another Kaufman script was in the limelight. This time, Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind was taking center stage. Kaufman finally won the Academy Award for screenplay. Rightfully so, Kaufman’s script took an extraordinary look at good and bad memories as well as relationships.

Right now, Kaufman is working on Synechdote, New York. A movie that he not has written, but is also directing.

If you can only remember one writer’s name, it should probably be Charlie Kaufman. He is one of the most original sensations to hit Hollywood in a long time.

Indy on the Wall

Check out the poster for Indy 4.

It’s pretty cool, but I would have liked them to include more faces of characters (i.e. Shia Lebouf, Cate Blanchett, etc.)

NBC’s Monday Night Line-up

This fall, NBC has been rocking the Monday night schedule. From 8 PM to 11 PM (Eastern), they had a stranglehold on my attention.

They returned last year’s roller coaster of quality, Heroes. This show is the big seller of the night coming in at the 9-10 PM time slot and holding things together. While the quality of Heroes is sometimes questionable, the show is entertaining and still attracts a crowd.

Before Heroes, NBC slotted Chuck. Now that the fall run of new episodes is over, we can go ahead and give Chuck the Rookie of the Year award. It wasn’t even particularly close. The first few episodes of Chuck we good, but about half way through the season Chuck really hit its stride. Chuck raced on and became one of the best shows on television.

After Heroes, NBC introduced another rookie show, Journeyman. While not as good as Chuck, I would give Journeyman a close second or third in the ROY rankings (Reaper is up there as well). If you stuck with Journeyman past the point of “isn’t that just a knock off of Quantum Leap?” then you know how good the show is.

Now the run of Chuck and Heroes is over. Journeyman still has a few new episodes to air.

One of the big issues with Journeyman is that it has been airing too late. So, now that Chuck/Heroes are done, NBC will bump Journeyman up and give it a real shot, right?

Well, no. Not even close. Journeyman is staying at its terrible time slot.

In that case, what is taking the 8-10 PM time slot?

An all new Deal or No Deal. Yawn.

Really? NBC, you are going to sacrifice a great show like Journeyman for two hours of Deal? Why? Just because all the other stations are showing reality shows/game shows?

I for one will be spending my Monday night either reading, writing, watching Patti play Mass Effect, or something else away from the tv. I could have spent an hour of my Monday watching a great show, but I will instead just have to watch it tomorrow off the DVR.

Stat Line of the Night

Check out the stat line of the night put up by Joel Prsybilla:

BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Joel Przybilla, C	19	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	2	4	0	0	1	4	4	0

When you get that kind of production out of your starting center, it is no wonder you team goes on to win the game in overtime. How does a player go 19 minutes without putting up a single shot on offense?