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From Written Script to Final Print
As we countdown the weeks to the release of "Stolen Summer," so many television viewers are expecting the worse.
After watching a blow-by-blow account of a production that at times ran amuck, how could Pete Jones possibly have salvaged a cohesive feature film that is at least passable?
Well, the Sundance critics have spoken, as have the audiences who made the trek to Park City. And the answer is, he did it.
"Stolen Summer" is hardly a film that looks as though it limped across the production finish line, but one that underscores what the spirit of the Project Greenlight experiment was from the beginning: that there are a number of creative and talented individuals outside of the Hollywood machine who deserve to have their stories told.
But just how much did this little independent film get "studio'd," to borrow a Chris Moore phrase? Just how much did it have to morph from creative blueprint to brick and mortar reality? And most importantly, how closely did "Stolen Summer" the movie resemble "Stolen Summer," first draft of the script?
Pete Jones remembers, "I didn't have any time to rewrite the script after I finished it and before I submitted it [for the contest]. So it really was a first draft."
With any film, a final print can often be a shadow of its former self. From the time a first draft is written, every nook and cranny of those pages is scrutinized by actors, producers, line producers, set designers, cinematographers, and studio execs. And the list goes on forever.
In pre-production, Pete learned a fast lesson: that everyone and their mother has an opinion about the script. This scene works, this one doesn't, this character is flat, this storyline works, this line is heavy-handed.
So Pete goes back, and rewrites and rewrites. Things are cut, added, fixed, made better (hopefully).
For example...
"In my original script, the Rabbi's older son dies in the fire sequence, and there was overwhelming response that this was just too emotional and almost unbelievable. I always envisioned the Rabbi as a modern-day Job, but it was just too much. But we needed a plot point like that that could bring the two different families together."
It turns out the Rabbi's long-time secretary perishes in the fire.
Initially, Pete had written several scenes with "Margaret O'Malley" as the focal point, but ended up cutting down many of them to accommodate the script's length. Finally, to attract a "name" for the part of Margaret, Pete was advised to bulk up the role that would eventually be played by Bonnie Hunt.
Remember, Pete had to fight for his film to be set in 1976 in Chicago. Miramax was pushing for 2001 in Los Angeles. Was it worth it?
Pete got mixed results with his battles for a time period and a setting. "When I walked into the bedroom set for the first time, I almost got emotional, Pete says. "Devorah did an absolutely amazing job of bringing the time period to life, and I knew then that I was right to fight for 1976. The city of Chicago did not work as well, because time and money restraints limited our ability to really feature the city."
And the actors?
"The actors breathed dimension into my characters in a way I had never imagined. I underestimated the value that Kevin, Aidan, and Bonnie would bring to the film. On the other hand, I probably wrote the parts of the eight-year olds with too much depth. I was unrealistic about what I could expect, and that was my fault."
In the editing bay, Pete continued to make difficult decisions, omitting a wake scene, and the now famous baseball scene. "The baseball scene worked, but it was the wrong emotional tone at that point in the film."
Overall, how does the film compare? By Pete's own admission, the script and finished product are not far off, and the story on the screen very much resembles the script that was originally entered in the contest.
"It's like watching a movie of a book you have read, it is never going to be as good, because nothing can be like what you have imagined in your head."
And without budgets, schedules, or multiple cooks in the kitchen, the sky is the limit in the imagination of a writer.
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