inconsolablecat at 2012-06-07 15:31:23:

I love the "Die Hard On A..." trend. I read that thing everyone else read where Whedon was joking that he could write one of those Die Hard scripts and joked about Die Hard on a Bridge and then actually did it. I love it when you start out making fun of something, and it becomes very fruitful because when you're joking, somehow you can approach the difficult task of coming up with an entertaining movie with a lightness and a playfulness. It's good to get drunk with a movie-passionate friend and to start throwing loglines out, just to make each other laugh, and write down all the silly ideas which could be molded into something useful once you've sobered up.

Bitter Script Reader at 2012-06-07 15:39:38:

If I'm not mistaken, Whedon said that at one point there was talk of SUSPENSION being rewritten as one of the DIE HARD movies. His reaction was that it would completely ruin the script because he very specifically built the story around a character completely unlike John McClane.

Vic Tional at 2012-06-07 17:36:03:

Rough figures again: Studio Columbia: 4 Disney: 10 Universal: 9 Paramount: 11 Warners: 15 MGM: 4 New Line: 4 Fox: 10 Genre Action: 11 Drama: 16 Thriller: 8 Comedy: 36 Sci-Fi: 3 Horror: 2 Western: 1 Biography: 1 Family: 3 Fantasy: 2 As far as sales that ended up as movies, a quick scan through and I can only spot about sixteen, and I gave the benefit of the doubt to one or two of those. I’m sure more got made than that, but not a lot more. I know stories, scripts and loglines change, but I think if they’d made a film where ‘Pharmaceutical terrorists board a center for disease control on a space station’ or a ‘Female lab technician must travel across the country in 7 hours with a new heart for the president, who has suffered a heart attack’, I think I’d have noticed. Maybe I just didn’t catch em. White House Party sounds pretty good, likewise Lawfully Wedded Wife and a few others. The ‘Die Hard in/on a…’ formula’s been duly noted, but this still works today. If I write ‘Die Hard in a sperm donor’s clinic’, it would probably spark a bidding war. Warners the big hitters yet again, good effort by Disney (Walt, if you’re reading this start buying specs again), Fox on a tear this year. Spotting Nothing to Lose brought a smile – the Scatman bit where Tim Robbins sets his feet on fire remains one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Whatever it’s IMDB rating, I guarantee that scene is responsible for about a point and a half.

jolli68 at 2012-06-07 17:59:33:

Studio Warner 15 17% Paramount 11 12% Fox 10 11% Disney 10 11% Universal 7 8% New Line 5 6% Columbia 4 4% MGM 4 4% Cinema Line 4 4% Caravan 3 3% TriStar 2 2% Interscope 2 2% Propaganda 2 2% Original Artists 1 1% Gramercy/Working Title 1 1% Ganesha Partners 1 1% Island 1 1% Amblin 1 1% Largo 1 1% Miramax 1 1% Morgan Creek 1 1% Bregman/Baer 1 1% William Morris 1 1% Genre Genre Comedy 25 28% Drama 15 17% Action 10 11% Romantic Comedy 8 9% Thriller 7 8% Sci-fi 3 3% Fantasy 2 2% Family 2 2% Political Comedy 1 1% Action/Thriller 1 1% Black Comedy 1 1% Horror Fantasy 1 1% Action Adventure 1 1% Dance Film 1 1% Family Comedy 1 1% Action Comedy 1 1% Adventure Family 1 1% Bittersweet comedy 1 1% Drama Futuristic 1 1% Western 1 1% Psychological Thriller 1 1% Drama Military 1 1% Ghost story 1 1% Biography 1 1% Romance/Drama 1 1%

Scott at 2012-06-07 18:05:01:

Vic, you are fast becoming this particular series' go-to person for stats and analysis. Believe me, I appreciate it! Once again Warners leads the pack. It really is remarkable. I wonder if there focus on spec market is just a long-term part of their business mentality. Re how many of the movies got produced: This is another reason why I'm so fascinated by this series. For years, I've heard the number of projects that a studio buys versus produces is anywhere from 10-20%. If we separate out spec scripts, 16 out of 89 for 1993, that comes out to 17% which puts it right int that number range, doesn't it? Re Disney: Interesting they were so active after Jeffrey Katzenberg's famous memo in 1991 [which I featured here]. In that memo, he stated his aversion to spec scripts. Katzenberg was still at Disney [he left in a rancorous dispute in 1994], so perhaps the uptick in specs Disney procured in 1993 was a sign of K's waning influence before his departure. Again thanks for that info!

UnauthorizedCBD at 2012-06-07 18:24:43:

Re: Whedon's SUSPENSION... how similar do you think it was/is to that Stallone film (DAYBREAK, I think?) that was Die Hard in the Holland Tunnel, so probably the premise sounded good enough to "re-visit" by another producer... I thought Pyromaniac's A Love Story did get produced...

James McCormick at 2012-06-07 20:58:06:

Anyone have a copy of -- 22. Title: Home Fries Logline: Two brothers vie for the attention of the same woman. One is in love with her, and the other wants her dead. Writer: Vince Gilligan Would love to read it. I have a copy of Suspension. It's probably on Whedon's website, I'd imagine too. @UnauthorizedCBD -- It's similar. But it's Whedon. So it's funny and the characters are quirky and likeable. Especially the bad guys and henchmen. The premise is -- a little too painfully like Whedon is trying to write something like "Die Hard in/on a blank" (I actually think he's poking fun at it, but it becomes a trap--ie He's a better, more creative writer than this premise). But it's good all the same.

David Proenza at 2012-06-08 00:39:15:

Didn't 'Dark Territory' get produced as the sequel to 'Under Seige', poorly named 'Under Seige 2: Dark Territory'? I'm noticing a lot of specs selling in the early 90s not getting produced until much later (John Q, Truman Show). Great series, Scott. Very informative.