Tagged and Bound

MovieQ had gone and done it. Alex Epstein too. They tagged me to respond to a ‘Screenwriting Meme’ that was started, I think, by Fun Joel.

In FJ’s words: “memes are essentially lists of questions that someone posts on their blog, with their own answers. Then they will "tag" some others, and those people will repost the meme on their blogs with their own answers.”

It’s a bit like the recent “Post-a-Page” thing that stormed the universe, all because Red Right Hand was a bit curious.

By blog law and etiquette, I am duty bound to reply to MovieQ’s initial call, so here’s the sprightly little Q&A:

ONE (1) earliest film-related memory:
Evel Knievel in "Viva Knievel!" The trailer showed Evel standing on his bike, on a bridge, and jumping it on to a moving truck. Sold. But for pure, oh my god, cinema is the coolest thing on the planet, then it’s got to be Superman. I was first in line for three weeks.

TWO (2) favorite lines from movies:
Only two? Ah come on. Okay, off the top of my head ‘cos I do have work to do y’know.

“Fuzzy wuzzy was a woman?” - Gene Wilder in See No Evil, Hear No Evil when he tried to lip read “Was there or wasn’t there a woman?”

“That’s ok. We can walk to the curb from here.” - Woody Allen after Diane Keaton tries to park the car in Annie Hall.

THREE (3) jobs you'd do if you could not work in the "biz":.
Professional footballer.
Chef.
Rock god.

FOUR (4) jobs you actually have held outside the industry:.
Selling burgers outside pop concerts.
Painter - now there’s the only bit of DIY I’m actually good at.
Civil Servant - most depressing thing ever.
Student supervisor (which included counselling a bereft Colin Farrell when he didn’t get the Boyzone gig).

THREE (3) book authors I like:
Charles Dickens, Martin Amis and Hemingway’s quite good I s’ppose.

TWO (2) movies you'd like to remake or properties you'd like to adapt:
Conrad’s War by Andrew Davies. Acquired the rights, with co-writer Sam Morrison, but even though the book is by the great adapter himself, the script (which everyone loves) is a tough sale because of its WWII setting (apparently).

My Brother’s Ghost by Allan Ahlberg. A beautiful book. Took my excitement for it to a producer, who also flipped, and I did a treatment adaptation, then took it to Channel 5 who were interested but alas, Mr Ahlberg was distrustful of telly companies and thought the story was already told in its best medium. Respect.

ONE (1) screenwriter you think is underrated:
Any UK writer who’s actually got one of their scripts made but the critics ripped to pieces.

THREE (3) people I'm tagging to answer this meme next:
Keeping it real in the UK, I’m sending this out to all my screenwriter homies. Fresh. James Henry, James Moran and Lee Thomson.