Hollywood on the Rocks: American History X Screenwriter David McKenna

Hey everybody, it's me Alan. Like I said, if you read the thing, we're testing the Starlink, making sure that we can do a feed for our trip to CinemaCon in Vegas. Because last year we tried to do a live stream over at CinemaCon. Basically once we got out of Barstow, there was no signal, but the signal was so fast. So the Starlink's. what the heck happy wednesday everyone it's hollywood on the rocks let's start the show and see where where where is he hello my name is ring a ding ding i'm alan ing's brother mr gore has invited me to track down my brother it's okay here we go how does that go now alan alan alan yeah my brother is your brother like built like that he's like ripped look like he is why is this shirt ripped like literally ripped he he we we keep the shirt budget is so high on on him it just puts it on and then just rips apart well when we're at cinema con we're probably going to get t-shirts yeah give them to your brother probably um well i'm looking forward to it i don't know all right well let's talk to the people yes the people have spoken and andrew cram has gifted five film threat memberships thank you so much andrew and christopher moonlight productions happy wednesday and indianapolis councilman's house was shit at by an anti-ai loony anyways hope my texas friends in san antonio tomorrow for my ai and filmmaking talk tickets are free that's right thank you chris you should film some of that yes uh west reviews hail film that i've been on vacation last two weeks what have i missed well alan went to space and we got we got some footage yeah and you missed all the movies that came out over the last two weeks lord thought like share subscribe hit that bell for notifications sign up as a member join us on x discord rumble and instagram buy our merch shop.filmthreat.com yes there it is our merch project film threat my new favorite shirt so i'm not wearing it now but it is among my favorites thank you lord thought we appreciate you that's by the way i i i went to the mystery movie at regal on monday got in there the theater uh full families with children guess what movie they showed i don't know i swear no really yeah and so all the kids got to learn about tourette's that's great i saw i swear we're gonna talk about it a few weeks yeah so hey alan you're in the news am i i just i could not believe this but i when i read it i thought well sounds like something alan would say uh our great governor of the state of california i mean let me repeat that our governor current governor of the state of california he's very active on social media here's what he had to say he said film and tv shows powered by the film california tax credit have won 55 major entertainment awards since i took office that has generated 1.8 billion in economic activity 8 300 cast and crew hires 116 000 jobs for extras and a major boost to local economies across california here he has some of the and then alan said being a smart ass you said why don't you read it yeah five of the six projects in this image are over three years old nice try you know we've we've talked a lot about how the industry is in decline how la is turning into the new detroit which is really disheartening alan what are your thoughts what are my thoughts uh this is a governor who i don't know i if you Look, if you live in California or you are on X and you follow him, he likes to cherry pick his statistics. He will only present the best ones and then he will provide zero context for the positive ones like this one. You know, when Euphoria, I guess they're doing a new season, but back in the heyday of Euphoria, everything, everywhere, all at once. King Richard, for crying out loud. That's when that's that was the slap at the Oscars. um you know the the other one with amanda cyphery uh made years ago back when hollywood was was feeling like it could come back and it didn't and guess what uh you couldn't make any of these movies in la today except maybe the studio none of them and not only that there's more news on this here it is sony pictures entertainment is expected to lay off hundreds of its employees in the coming months in what's being described as a massive reorganization across its film and tv divisions yeah this is and then there's some the corporate speak here i don't even know if you want to read this alan but do i okay uh over the past year we have sharpened our strategies and clarified where we believe the greatest opportunities exist, says CEO Ravi Arruha in a memo to staff on Tuesday. As we lean into these priorities, we need to operate with greater focus, speed, and alignment to strengthen our differentiated capabilities. To support our growth, we are aligning with organization where the business is going, not where it's been. That requires changes to how we are structured and where we invest. With that, we are reducing roles in certain areas while increasing focus and investment in others that are most critical for our future. This means that some of our colleagues will be leaving the company. These are difficult decisions. They impact talented people who have contributed meaningfully to our work and culture. We are grateful for their contributions and our P&O teams are committed to supporting them through this transition. yeah it's um it's sad but i mean i the number of stories i could bring up comparing california or hollywood with detroit there are a lot it's very disheartening and where do we go from here at this point i where do we go from here alan i want to hear what you think and then i'll give you my thoughts yeah well i mean the basic problem was a couple years ago studios spent money like there was no tomorrow like uh like everything was going to be a billion dollar hit and uh now it's coming to bite them in the ass and so here uh what does it mean it means uh i mean they're doing what any business should do where are we successful let's lean into that what are the potentials uh in the future let's lean into that and everything else we got to get rid of um you know i think there was a deal recently within the last few months where sony made an exclusive deal with netflix so sony's not going to have its own channel but netflix is going to get all sony films for an exclusive amount of time and so that's you know they're just making the decisions they have to make in order to survive it in today's climate well look i grew up in royal oak michigan just outside of detroit about three miles outside of detroit i saw the decline uh firsthand i lived in downtown detroit when i was in college um it's bad and what i'm seeing in parts of la right now it's detroit 2.0 it's happening And what happened was Detroit was the capital of the auto industry back in the day, 60s. And then the decline happened, 70s, 80s. And now it's diversified. They make cars everywhere. There are plants all over America. There are plants in Mexico. They make cars in Japan. They make them for the world. But Detroit really owned the industry, at least in North America. and they took it for granted yeah and that's what's happening in hollywood now and uh we're gonna get more and more stories like this sony story right here hey james gunn claims false man of tomorrow casting news uh so uh what james gunn claims false man of tomorrow casting news was shared i've got this story well we're gonna we're gonna see what was said and then him claiming it's false and why it's a big deal here we go from discussing film james gunn claims that deadlines report is shoddy and incorrect i'm frankly disappointed if someone would run these names by us we would have said it's bullshit here is here is uh what he has to say uh alan if you would Yes. This is not against Nexus. They're sharing what Deadline reported, but Deadline's reporting is shoddy and incorrect. I've always thought Deadline was pretty thorough in their journalism, but that's not the case here, so I'm frankly disappointed. If someone would have run these names by us, we would have said, it's bullshit! shit i have been friends with adria on for a long time since her cat since i cast her in the belco experiment i'm a fan of marissa and ella but i've never met either of them crazy also well there's two things one this is for superman man of tomorrow um not sure people are super super excited are you super excited i am somewhat excited but i who who i'm missing the other piece to this here's the thing what were they cast as he doesn't have to respond this is the point he doesn't have to respond at all so i don't know honestly i don't know how much i care about this story so i'm just gonna leave it there yeah but i mean what it does say is that uh the media is still no longer trusted and uh is run by baboons and fools i mean these are basic things just check your sources is this true no comment from d from james gunn you know that's that's all that story had to be You know, even before Henry Cavill came in as Superman, people were saying Jon Hamm could play Superman. Kind of a classic chiseled look. He would be great. I watched him. I've enjoyed Jon Hamm for years. Also, quite good at comedy, oddly. uh in mad men i thought he was amazing here he is in a video clip talking about uh in an interview with you can't always so show josh horowitz maybe maybe not everything can be a clip like he's getting good interviews let's just yes here he talks about auditioning for superman it's confirmed I never knew this was true. Let's look at this. Gligatory superhero digression because I'm such a nerd. Of course. We talked in the past. You told me once you auditioned for Superman a thousand years ago. That was like when you were 30, you said, I think about. I was too old. 30. Come on. Nice try. That was, I believe it was the, was it the Brandon Routh one? I can't remember. Yeah, I think that makes sense. It is shocking to me that like, because there was talk that we were going to be, I'm sorry, guys, I'm going to get geeky. um buckle up um mr sinister and that new mutants yeah yeah that was a that was supposed to happen and didn't i think there was some corporate craziness that went and they sold the studio and about the studio it was a dodge the bullet on that one that was okay that movie didn't turn out with all due respect well listen i mean you know i don't pick them it's it's no it's uh my pitch for the superman thing was like what if superman was funny like he used to be with christopher reeve and they were like great idea we're gonna do that two more supermans later um but uh no uh so i didn't fair enough okay so back to this so you you you uh did you come out of the womb with this voice because that voiceover you give good voiceover john thank you thank you mercedes-benz the best or nothing turns out nothing because they went with lucy lou recently but that's okay um what do you think i think you would have made a great superman like a kingdom comes superman he could still play superman yeah unfortunately it was still the same story it's still the same script as the uh as the brandon routh one which i was okay with it just felt like a continuation of christopher reeve superman yeah it did and plus brandon routh really looked like christopher reeve so what can you say but i i would i still think there's a shot for john ham no there isn't it's too old for kingdom like an older superman you don't think too well i i also don't feel like he's built like superman i think he's uh you know kind of he's uh larger on top than on bottom which is look he's a handsome man and his body works for but not as superman okay i beg to differ okay he could to play superman he could do that marvel diet yeah do you really want to do that marvel diet no speaking of marvel new x-men director officially confirms plan for multi x-men movies i you know i have not read this story this is from collider uh alan you gotta you gotta like yeah i do the story do you have notes yes i do okay let's get to it so let's find out who has been gifted the honor of destroying the x-men legacy uh marvel is clearly building more than a single reset director jake schreier told collider's steve weintraub ahead of the release of Beef Season 2 that the immediate goal is one great movie. At the same time, he and Marvel are already talking about longer-term possibilities. They're asking where the story could go next. With comic arcs feeling fresh, and which parts of the X-Men lore haven't been explored on the screen? The new screenplay recently picked up by Lee Sung-Jin, creator of Beef, and Joanna Kahlo, a writer and co-showrunner of Beef, Trey says these conversations include looking for less trod paths in the comics rather than simply retreading the old Fox movies. He's careful not to give plot details. His comments made it clear that the studio isn't treating this as a one and done reboot. Instead, they're planning with expansion in mind while still focusing on making the first film work on its own. Yeah, well, it's smart. here's the thing it's all about the casting i mean i think hugh jackman when hugh jackman was cast as wolverine people were skeptical i mean the biggest thing against him he's too tall what is he like six two yeah yeah six three well he was the last minute he was the last minute cast too i mean they were filming when they cast him so it was rushed yeah but that turned out to be one of the best decisions ever he's embodied that role through different eras through good movies and not so good movies and some really great films as well and Logan I thought he was fantastic then coming back in Deadpool and Wolverine I mean you know like I was I was like oh that's a good idea then they finally get to the yellow suit yeah i mean he understood the tone of wolverine regardless of what you think of the stories he embodied wolverine that's exactly right he embodied like the aura the character the you know everything about him um he really just made that work he made you feel sympathy like one of my favorite lines from the first x-men you know does it hurt when the claws come out does it hurt every time every time yeah yeah what a great line like to give empathy for this tragic character with this superpower this curse so i've always liked you jackman how are we gonna say goodbye to all the to the last generation of x-men to have a whole new cast i know i mean how do you say goodbye i mean maybe you kill him off in a movie well the next two movies but i'm just i really it's gonna feel too tv to me i kind of feel like the new x-men is gonna feel like a disney plus series and not a movie yeah well let me ask you this you've seen beef and you loved beef Is this the team That could do the X-Men justice Well how much sex is in it As much as there were in the first three movies I mean beef Is like got really Kind of raw so to speak Yeah maybe I mean quite frankly I think that's what attracted Me to X-Men when I first started collecting Comic books it wasn't A goody two shoes Type story it got raw i mean look i was i collected at the hellfire club i mean how much more raw do you get than that yeah well i like that he said the the words one good movie focus on one good movie well what era of x-men are we talking like you know the original five in the academy what also time is it going to be a period piece is going to be modern x-men is it like maybe a new team with like because you know there have been countless different teams of x-men yeah and then they break up and people leave and then come back and i mean it's kind of all over the map yeah i mean there are two teams you could go with you can go with the original or you can go with the uh the reboot the john byrne chris claremont x-men yeah and and the thing is is especially with the chris claremont x-men men you have great stories you can pull from and the question is are they going to pull from those great stories or are they going to rewrite something are they going to pull from the recent x-men where ice man is gay right i think they go with the chris claremont era they should because of more diversity but the classic x-men that's where i started i started from issue one so i don't know again i just think i just think i think marvel's gonna have problems post doomsday that's not well they have problems pre-doomsday they have problems now yeah all right all right we got the by the way by the way the nooner went long no kidding and so a lot of these stories i haven't read them so i don't even know what we're doing i believe me i don't read them until i read them i can tell unless unless i'm responding to gavin newson oh my god did you get traction on that i mean you know i get the usual traction you know i I'm at this point in X where most people who respond like me already. Once in a while, you'll get some idiot who tries to challenge you, and then you just take them down. Yeah. Like that whole thing about black people forgiving, black Christians forgiving John Davidson. That was priceless. Oh, my God. Alan, a new trailer for Michael dropped. but unbeknownst to, I mean, this is the first time I'm hearing about it. There was an overhaul in $15 million in reshoots. The new trailer is really good. There's not much else that's new in it. We're not going to show it because we'll probably get struck, but what is in this story here from variety reshoots, he shoots removing child abuse allegations and what's in store for sequels i mean you could practically do a mini series about michael jackson a trilogy perhaps who knows all right alan what's in this story yes uh here we go the biopic michael was originally designed to confront one of michael jackson's most controversial chapters opening with the 1993 child molestation allegations and building toward them as its final act however those elements are completely removed after filmmakers discovered a legal clause tied to accuser that prohibited any depiction or mention of him there this forced a creative overhaul late in production the film was reworked exclusively with a new ending that avoids the scandal altogether. Instead, it now concludes with Michael Jackson's Bad Tour, portraying him at the height of his fame. The revised version leans heavily to his music and legacy while shifting dramatic focus to his complicated relationship with his father, Joe, and his recovery from the 1984 Pepsi commercial accident that led to his painkiller use. The changes came at a cost. Reboots, delays, productions. John Logan pushed the release date multiple times Adding up to $15 million to the budget Bringing it roughly at $155 million Jackson State, which is heavily involved in the film Covered the additional expense and maintains a financial stake The project reflects a deliberate effort to the state To present more sympathetic portrayal Similar to Broadway's success, the MJ, the musical Which avoided the allegations They're already discussing about expanding the film into multiple films. Producer Graham King envisions future installments exploring Jackson's later career, though it remains unclear now or if those projects would cover address the controversies that defined his final years. Yeah, I already have tickets to see it's doing advanced screenings the day kind of just an early screening the day before it opens. fine i've got those tickets in the dolby digital at amc burbank roger roger is the best row don't tell anyone else don't pass that in the best seat is j6 but but look uh this will be a huge hit 155 million seems cheap but ultimately you could have done in mini series like one or two seasons of like the Michael Jackson story and you have to include these child abuse allegations it was all over the news and I you know I've seen info from both sides and I I don't I have a hard time like actually believing in either I think it's so muddled. What are your thoughts? What are my thoughts? I think the movie had, had they gone with the original plan, the movie would have been a bummer by the end. It would have been depressing. Yeah. I mean, I think, look, I don't think people want the, you know you know how the sausage is made They they want the best of Michael Why not produce a movie that the best of Michael Ended on a high note which is the bad tour which I pretty sure is going to cover how he was able to appear in six locations at the Super Bowl at one time. I still haven't figured that one out. Yeah, I just, I don't think people understand how big Michael was. Like Michael Jackson. Unless you lived it. Having been there and I was a fan of the Jackson five. I loved the Jackson five or J five. As some say huge fan of the Jackson five. I didn't really love Michael's solo career, but you could not deny like his talent. It was just, he dominated at a time when MTV was on the rise. I mean, it was just everything about him. the friend the only thing you could compare him to is elvis but i think he even eclipsed elvis later is when you look at the stadium shows and how big he became he became bigger than elvis yeah i mean that's your second movie is you know once he reaches his height what was it that led the spiral downward. Part of it was the addiction to painkillers after the Pepsi incident. That's an interesting story, but again, that's going to end on a bummer. I'll just say it. Michael should just end on the high note and let's just leave it at that. We don't need more Michael's story after that. It's undeniable that Michael Jackson is the king of pop and that the music he produced up until that point at the end uh was you know it was top of the heap uh we no one's really come close to it since then i can't at least i can't think of anyone i'm curious what the sequels did they in that story did they talk about what the movie's going to be called is it michael it is it's still michael it's just they're going to end it early and they're going to add some uh some uh scenes to it and quite frankly for the for the family to put in 25 million that's pretty cheap yeah that this movie will be huge yeah i mean i think on the low end i think 600 mil i can guarantee you by ending at the bad tour you you've guaranteed repeat viewing yeah yeah plus the recreations seem really amazing yeah hey alan yes did you did you know that dave filoni suggested that leah be the obi-wan of the star wars sequels did you know that i did not know that okay this uh from fandom pulse let me bring this up and have you read it but it's um this is you know we've heard this i think there's a question now can you see that i'll zoom in yeah let me go for it okay here we go from fandom pulse dave suggested that leo be the obi-wan of the disney star wars sequel trilogy i love that we should shifted so leia is the obi-wan of the entire the trilogy i don't even think it hurts that she's not primarily the mentor figure in uh vii because seven seven because john had been saying the audience expectation is so on luke and when that proves not to be true that's way more powerful it's dangerous because it makes it so that the women of star wars because it makes it so about the women of star wars uh something to me says that's right there's something uh happening culturally you look at birth regeneration the world itself needs a healing of all those things are all of those things are emblematic of the mother character in myth they're all matriarchal things mother earth itself global warming is a hot topic george lucas was always so good about tapping into what happens what's happening in the culture and he hit us with it the idea that we have leia the mother character who needs healing in her own right that's something we can get in a deeper way was dave filoni the right choice to head lucasfilm no i mean that that's a really quick answer 100 no if that's what he was thinking talk about turning a boy brand into a girl's brand i i mean look i was so excited for the sequels we're gonna see han luke and leia luke being a badass older jedi around the age of obi-wan who would bring forth a new generation of jedi and we didn't get any of that we didn't get any of that i i'm i just think now he's gonna head up lucasfilm i think it's a big mistake i'm not excited in the least except for the ryan gosling star wars movie well they've gone back you know going back to the well ryan gosling is look star wars starfighter a very uninspired title for a movie we'll see if how big of a character ryan gosling is in the movie he may not be the lead character there'll be you know he'll be a side character but for a guy who for a guy who uh is doing a lot of work out there for him not to be the lead or to him just be a side character that that is a decision that will baffle me if it's true well how about this she dave filoni is great at the cartoons his ideas when it comes to the live action Horrible Horrible Yeah well at least with the cartoons he had Lucas's ear at that time And then to make Leia The mentor in the sequels I mean How did she exactly Use the force in the In the original series You know it made sense for it To be Luke because we followed Luke's Journey through the force through Harnessing the force and then finally with Regina Jai. But now you're just going to make stuff up. We're going to get the matriarchal end of the force. And that's the story we all want to have told. Hey, Alan, why don't you read comments? Well, I I'll start. You can start from the top. I'll be right back. Okay. Okay. Tom, you got to help me with this one. Tim is not funny. I agree. LA is like Detroit. Only RoboCop can save it. Love RoboCop. Yes. 311 essay for 10. Alan, hope you had a great Easter. I did. Have you still not seen The Passion of Christ? No, I've studied it for years. I watched it again Sunday. Amazing. Tarantino put it in his best film of the century. We need an Alan reaction. yeah you know every every movie is about blood and gore uh and uh yeah don't exactly want to see jesus go through it even though i know he did okay next one moving on do we have uh here we go jean who gifted five film third memberships thank you jean who uh and here we go patrick lemire bad robot moving to new york it's hilarious they're gonna have to pay like uh they're gonna have to like pay extra taxes for being too white is there a white tax yet tahoe film group as verna herzog famously said they don't know what they're doing they don't know what they're doing fresh snow at this rate we could at this rate i wouldn't mind seeing nick cage as superman i still think that's the look if you're gonna do john ham you might as well do nick cage instead tony elias He could probably still do much a much older version of superman. He looks more like bruce wayne slash batman Though at film threat. Yeah, then why don't you just get uh ben affleck to do it? Okay, here we go rockefeller plaza. I like the x-men plan the execution is the issue And it it's the source material what what x-men stories are they going to tell? or are they just going to make up X-Men stories and give us the new X-Men with gay Iceman? Alan, continue. It looked like you were going to say something. The Immortal Remus, when they were casting for Wolverine in the 80s, they considered Bob Hoskins because he matched the dimensions of the comic book version. Why would they do that? That can't be right. I can see him as Puck. let's see fresh snow that's a godzilla minus one sized reshoot oh my god the same cost as godzilla mine actually i think it was half the cost million oh is it okay 15 million i'm sorry i'm thinking minus okay uh patrick i saw the trailer at project hail mary it's it's me it just looks like a huge hit because it's going to be perfect nostalgia will do 2 billion worldwide so michael i think michael's going to be huge and at a cost of what we say uh 125 now 150 150 now yeah 155 that movie's going to make bank it's nostalgia it's crosses generations michael fans i mean michael jackson fans they're five years old and 50 years old older like he just crossed generations you know what it's still great music it is still to today still to today thank you patrick they will still use it in movies and commercials that's how well it holds up hey we We have screenwriter David McKenna from American History X joining us on the show today. But I want to take a look at this. Eight reasons why Los Angeles is the greatest city to film in the world. This is from friend of the show, Joseph Kahn. I don't know why this picture is here. And Joseph will be a guest on a future episode. he's going to come on for a long form interview he has been on fire on social media lately uh alan if you would read uh joseph khan's words here he's a filmmaker he won at award this he he he having made the movie the ick uh he's also directed music videos with taylor swift he's a smart guy here's what he has to say all right well eight reasons why los angeles is the greatest city to film in the world number one weather perfect year round you're not gonna you're not constantly fighting rain or snow you can shoot your day lit porno without worrying about insurance claims uh two equipment access to every state-of-the-art gonzo on earth gizmo gizmo on earth if your camera or generator breaks down, you can find a rental house 24 hours a day. Number three, props slash art. 100 years of deep costumes and props. You want a Model T? No problem. You want a functional Godzilla costume? Easy. That shot at the end of Raiders Lost Ark is a typical Hollywood prop house. That's true. Four, crew. Generational talent. Groups that are fourth and fifth generation tradesmen that have knowledge and ethics passed down from their families. Crews are protective of their reputations and kick out the weak. The highest standard in the world. It's really reason number one, but everything says it is true. Actors, the most obsessed people are making it. We'll give you everything in a performance. We'll stab a homeless person to get a part, but at the same time claim to donate all their money to Newsom's hotels. Don't be fooled. Liberals on the streets want to be DiCaprio's in the sheets. Locations. It's a wonderful sight. It's a wonderland of sights and sights from old buildings to beaches to mountains to skyscrapers to bungalows to backlot. It's undefeated. Combine that with perfect weather. It's insane. Writers, just throw a rock. You'll hit five people with a screenplay before the rock kills a junior exec feeding scripts into AI coverage. The lifeblood of all creativity The world is the bedrock of LA Everyone takes for granted It's the city of ideas And then finally Executive agents and producers The ones in LA are different I've rarely met one who actually doesn't love movies or music Everyone could have gone into business that is more secure But they're all risk takers in their own ways By going into this insane career that doesn't mean they have good taste most probably don't but it's a big reason we're in trouble but i don't doubt their love for the arts and there are many more reasons including phoebe cates who i see does she still live in the city or is she in new york i have no idea okay so uh la is a perfect city for oh sorry there are many more reasons but i'll stop here the negatives you already know taxes politics jobless bloggers in silver lake says everything is fine uh los angeles is the perfect city for film production fix it he's not wrong uh karen bass is not gonna fix it karen bass will not fix it at all and i don't know if you've seen uh the uh latinos for spencer pratt have you seen that no i haven't seen him yeah i'm gonna find it it's there are there is a movement to get uh spencer pratt elected mayor and there have been some campaigns that are like crazy here let me find out there's this uh let me search for it um you've got to see this cartoon have you seen it no i haven't oh my god you know what i'm talking about okay spencer pratt he lost his home in the fire um you know he's effectively homeless and he's running for mayor for all the right reasons he's running for mayor because he hasn't seen anyone step up who is committed to fixing it to fixing la's problems to actually making it cool to film in la again but we need to have that happen we need someone who understands the industry so i'm trying to find this animation vamp if you would alan yeah okay no again it comes back to what we talked about Detroit. LA took its industry, its entertainment industry for granted and just decided because it was making so much money, we should take so much money. And that's what they've done. That's why they've driven things out. That's why you, I don't know, I don't understand why you can't film on a soundstage in Los Angeles and why it's cheaper to fly to Ireland than it is to shoot your TV show in a soundstage. Yeah. Again, our leaders know nothing about leading and our leaders know nothing about attracting business to California, let alone Los Angeles. We need new kind of thinking. We need some new kind of thinking. Let's take a look at this. Latino for Pratt, you'll see. Mayor 2026. There we go. Mayor Karen took a trip way off the map while they used to fly. She was posting from a broad policy about the Dana smoke in the sky. We were coming in the kitchen. She was saying bye bye. Spencer, saca la basura. Look where she left on our block. They're hiding. They got the trash All this mess, all this spin From Hollywood to City Hall Feels like the trash moved in Spencer, Saka, La Basura Tweet that nonsense fast Latinos, boy Brad, we're laughing Cause this clown show can't last I mean, I have seen the city I love Turn to garbage Somebody has to come in Someone new She's calling everyone, come right in the town hall seat While the dents pop up like mushrooms on the heat Homeless brought on every corner, money gone poof But she swears it's all accounted, we just stare at the roof Hollywood's back and they're leaving the lot You're losing the movies, but she shrugs on the spot She's busy with slogans, we're stuck in a jam We just want a mayor who can take out the cake Spencer, I got love, I suit up Pick it up, haul it away From the busted roads to the broken vows we're done with yesterday Latinos for Pratt make way Clean streets, clear plans, fresh start May 2026, ole! Hey! I like her. wow um this is still a campaign this look i i love the entertainment industry i want everyone to succeed but we need a city that's that is clean that we can we can shoot in that we all my friends who are producers they're all making movies in kentucky or some other place it's Horrible. So we need, we need change folks. If I'm telling you, if she wins this election, something might be wrong. Something might be up. You mean with the elections or, uh, yeah, maybe, maybe something, maybe, you know, you, we saw the video of like they were registering homeless people to vote. Utterly disgusting. We need change. All right. Hey, you know, on the show, we'd like to bring you people from the industry to chat with you directly. And we are so fortunate to have screenwriter, David McKenna of American history X blow so many other films. Let's get him on the show for Frank discussion about the industry. David. Hey man. I saw you laughing in the background at the Sakalabasura. That was awesome. Hi, Alan. How are you? Good to meet you. I mean, look, dude. That was – I miss the 90s. Yeah. Back in the 90s, the 90s were so killer. So much fun in L.A. So much to do. None of this tent shit. you know driving through all that crap i'm so sick of it i had to walk through you have to walk in the middle of the street sometimes it's freaking dangerous yeah i mean it's craziness yeah the the good old days and so many of my favorite restaurants have closed lucy's al adobe so many other like classic restaurants coals downtown coals and we talk about this look i don't like talking about politics, but I'll just say this. I'm a nineties liberal trapped in the present and the present is crazy. Yeah. Well, you know, I mean, you're doing a great job trying to get everything back together. I'm doing everything I can as well, but it takes a village man to get this business back on track and making great movies and getting, you know, getting America and the world back in movies because right now Hollywood seems to love alienating half of the country and, and half of the world and they got to stop with that. You know, I mean, dude, let me give you the perfect case example. Half of the country hates fucking Bruce Springsteen, my fucking idol. Yeah. Half of the country hates De Niro, my fucking idol. Yeah. Something's wrong. Right. Something's wrong. Let's fix it. I used to like those guys. They're too. Well, I still love them because how much joy they've brought me. But come on, man. Yeah. No, I've noticed the half that they hate are the ones with the money that actually goes out and sees movies. That's very true. Yeah. We don't need to get into too much of that. No, no. Sounds like we're on the same page. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to see people. We've seen it recently with Project Hail Mary. You know? Yeah. saw in project hail mary look just fun movie everyone can get behind i do love that you wrote american history x you probably couldn't that movie could not come out today that movie could not come out you think so me today it could come out it couldn't get made yeah it could not get made i don't think you could i could you even make a movie with the word america in the title i don't know it's nutty it's nutty the original title was uh the disciples of christ and i go i go i think i pitched to somebody and they go i'm not too sure about that title and then i came with american history x later but uh um you don't want to piss off the christians when you yeah it's pretty nutty i mean i'd love to see us get back to the old school filmmaking of just you know, making some of these smaller movies like American History X and, and just, you know, not going hit it. Let's hit some singles and doubles. Let's not go for a fricking grand slam every time, but you know, it's just, it's just the way that the marketing is nowadays, Chris, it's just the way that, you know, they'd rather make 2 billion and, you know, 200 million. So, I mean, that's just facts. Yeah. What happened to those movies, those kind of like 30, 40 million dollar movies that were just a good drama or a good thriller or a good courtroom drama or just something that was like, oh, you walk out. That was a really good movie. It doesn't have to be something with spectacle every time. I remember that one movie with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck that came out. And I remember afterwards, Donna Langley said, we're never making a drama again. And I go, what? I write drama. Donna Langley was head of Universal and State of Grace or State of something, some sort of journalistic movie with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. And after it didn't do that well, Donna Langley said, we're not making dramas anymore. And I go, and that was kind of the downfall of everything that started to happen. And then Marvel kicked into gear and uh and then they focused all their resources on all that bullshit and uh and it just you know now we trying to work our way back And I hope we do Yeah I mean we had some conversations via email I think getting the politics out of entertainment would be wise. Yeah. Movies are for movies are for everyone. Left, right, center. They're for everyone with universal messages. Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan said Republicans wear sneakers, too. Right. I mean, it's just, you know, it's just we just got to keep our mouth shut. We really do until we win back some of these people. And, you know, I understand that Jimmy Kimmel and all those guys, they really hate Trump. But if they could just kind of control themselves because there's so many good people that are out of work right now and our business is really suffering. So if you could just control yourself while we get our business back on track, you know, and just, I mean, I want you to be political and you guys can do all you want for politics, but just don't do it like the way De Niro and Springsteen are doing it. You know, just keep it small and campaign for your candidate. I'm all for free speech, but at some point, you know, we've got to get our business back. We've got to get movies back. and look at the decline of the oscars the oscars was an event i went to parties where we bet money you had your oscar betting pool no one cares anymore and people haven't even seen the movies nobody gives a shit 17 million people watch it as opposed to you know what was it during the titanic years like 80 million yeah i mean it was like it was the super bowl yeah super bowl yeah it's we used to have great parties i mean we just got to get la back and and starts kind of with that video that you showed you know yeah i mean if we get la back everything else will follow i think i think so too i i also believe actors in hollywood when they're promoting a movie might want to talk about the movie instead of what they saw on CNN that morning. You know? You remember in the 90s, Chris? We didn't know who people voted for. Yeah, never. You know? And I didn't care. Yeah. Now it's all on heroin. You know? I mean, like Tom Hanks. I didn't know he was a Democrat. I didn't know Spielberg was a Democrat. I didn't know all these people. You know? I didn't care. You know? Because it's your right. And the parties obviously were closer together. You know, they weren't so far apart. But, I mean, just with movies and actors, please, actors, tone it down. You know, please be quiet. Let's start getting – let's start building back the relationship that's been dismantled over the last, you know, seven years, eight years. I even want to go back as far as Marvel. I think that Chris, I think with all the Marvel obsession, they lost our heart, you know, you know, they had our heart for a hundred years, you know? And then once they started making all that stuff, what do my kids do right when they leave the theater, checking their phone, checking their Instagram. They don't give a shit. They don't talk about the movie. They never even mentioned the movie again. Yeah. When we went to, when we were young, we'd go see terms of endearment. we'd cry in the theater in front of our chick. And then we talk about it the next day at school about this incredible movie. We saw none of that anymore. Yeah. The, the whole convert, the conversation surrounding movies, it's, it's, it's, it's sort of regurgitated too quickly. Like in a couple of weeks, it's gone. They don't leave the cultural footprint. They're not in the, I really think part of it is movies are not tapping to what tapping into what's in the zeitgeist what is everyone feeling right now about the world yeah what can everyone relate to yeah yeah like you're not tapping in yeah i mean and that's where i that's a big decision that i make when i decide to take on a movie or not is what what do i think what do i really think people want to see right now yeah and like one movie i'm right working on right now We're pretty far along the line. I have Matt Ruskin, who's a great young director attached to direct this movie and these great producers, John Zoys and Brendan Boyer and Scott Lestady. And it's the downing of TWA Flight 800. And it's a conspiracy thing. It's all the presidents, men. It's all that stuff. And I want to introduce, you know, I want to see a great journalist movie with a plane crash. You know, I mean, how juicy is that? You know, that's and there's conspiracy elements and all that. I think that's what people want to see, you know, and and so that's really, really compelling to me. And, you know, like I have a smaller movie called 10% that James Franco is attached to play. And we're bringing back James Franco, man. Great actor. It's about a disgruntled waiter who kills people who tip 10%. I want to see that. Now, are you delving? Bob Evans. Remember Bob Evans said, Hey, if you could pitch a movie in three sentences, you have a hit. If you could pitch it in one sentence, you have a blockbuster. There you go. Sweet. Now, are you delving into being a producer in addition to being a screenwriter? It seems like a lot of people are just taking the initiative and saying, I got to do it myself. In all honesty, I mean, I don't really care that much about titles. I never really have. I just care about getting the movie made. Right. And whatever it takes. I mean, I do so much all the time as a writer. You know, I mean, I act as a producer on almost every movie I do. And I've almost given up on any of that stuff because it's so hard to get a movie made. And I don't give a shit about titles anymore because, you know, who care? I don't care. Right. right 57 years old you know i mean i really don't i all i want to see is great movies back in my 30s 20 years ago did i want to win awards yes did i want to make a lot of money yes well i still want to make a lot of money of course but i'm more concerned right now about fighting this negative trajectory that we're on and getting us back on an upward trajectory and you know and if i'm get a producer credit. Great. If not, I'm fine with it. So, I mean, the writing credit always is the big one for me. So, but yeah, I'm producing a lot of my stuff and, you know, the great thing is, is just, I'm a good guy. And if you're a good guy, they keep you in the process and you always want to stay in the process. So they'll just get rid of you. And if you're an asshole, And if you don't want to be a team player, who are the gatekeepers? You want to ask? Yeah. Who are the gatekeepers these days? The ones keeping you from making the movies you want to make. I just think that the industry is broke. I think that, you know, nobody has been going to movies because everything is so political now. And every time these actors open their mouths, which is once every two or three weeks, they set us back a freaking year. And like I said earlier, I mean, I don't have a problem with these people and their politics, but when they say it out loud and they go off, a la De Niro and Springsteen, they're killing us. They're killing the dude in Van Nuys who's trying to freaking have a family and who's a freaking grip on a set, you know, And they're not thinking about those people because they've got their millions. And so it's just we've just got to be quiet and win back half of the country and half the world. And that's my biggest sort of general kind of overview of the whole thing. Uh, it's just every time they open their mouths, every time somebody opens their mouths, it's, and nobody gives a shit about their opinion. And, um, it's just, we just got to stop with it. We've got to stay out of politics. We've got to, we've got to make movies because we're screwing all the young people. The young people can't find work, you know? And so, and so, and that's part of the reason why I did, I did do this bootcamp, you know, is, uh, this, this thing that I, this course. and I hope we get a chance to talk about it. We're going to talk about it. Let's talk about it right now. So we've got over 1,300 people watching live. Greg Schrein sends you a message. Greg, I guess. Oh, my God. High school, Greg Schrein. Yeah. Yeah. Greg runs the Newport Beach Film Festival. He's been in charge of that forever. He's like, we know him. Film Threat is a media sponsor. So Greg says hi. Oh, yeah. Part of your film, you know, obviously a screenwriter producer, but you're giving back by creating this screenwriter boot camp to tell people how to do it. There's a trailer. Should we watch the trailer? Yeah, watch the trailer. Okay, watch the trailer to explain some of the boot camp here. It's actually kind of fun. Time to write a hot freaking script. This is great. Who did this? LFG, LFG, LFG. This might be a little exaggerated right here. After taking this course, I believe that your chances of making it in movies and TV will improve tenfold. That was sudden. The payoff is, later on, they try to kill each other. What do you mean you can't? It's 30-cent drink night. He's working on one of his skits. It's not a skit. It's a screenplay. I've worked with the best of the best. I've worked with Edward Norton, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Dennis Hopper, Robert Redford, Al Pacino. I have a new idea for your screenplay. It's about a skinhead. The more you can create this incestuous sort of, you know, interlinks between each character, the better your screenplay is going to be. You got to do something about McKenna, bro. Bugging people, calling them left and right. And they're going to say, okay, I like this kid. This kid gets it. I want that page count up every single day. Just take a look at the scripts. They're good. Two tickets, drinks, popcorn, candy, nap for dad, all for the bargain price of $74. What'd you think? Okay, Penny, it's strange that you think that. Yeah. It's even more strange that you say it out loud. He's got to execute the McCoy League or else that mansion rolls down the fricking hill. I need my Chardonnay to get through out in Sandler. Well, we all do. i'm talking about a constant hustle here what's her character trait now let me finish before i kill you it's done right there that's the same that's vivid you want to sell do you want to be great wow a little long sorry this yeah this this is like an action movie the trailer I'm treating it like a six-word limited series. I went in with that mind. All right. Well, the whole trailer is up like that. It's almost done. Yeah, you got it. It's almost done. You're the good shot right here. Almost done. okay well what am i supposed to do about it right faster there we go well let's go to the website well yeah i mean uh yeah and i have my website there i mean honestly what i wanted to do is like i've seen a lot of these uh i've seen a lot of these um courses i like to refer to it as a bootcamp, but they're all just, you're bored after 15 minutes. And so, and, and you turn it off and you don't get through it. And with this, I wanted to be entertaining. And so what I did is I just did flashbacks of, uh, when I was, when, when we were in the mid nineties and I was a struggling writer, right? Right. Right. As I'm selling like all those young flashbacks, I dyed my hair and I shaved. And I thought I was going to look like maybe 20 years younger, but I just looked more like a freaky 50 year old with dyed hair and shaved. But, and so we do flashbacks of just, and I want, I wanted these people that take my bootcamp, not only to learn all the classroom stuff and all the tips and strategies and everything that I offer over 35 years, but I also wanted them to see what I went through when they visually see the struggles that I went through in my family life and whatever it is, what it is to be a screenwriter and successful. So there is a lot of Larry David in there. And so my version of Larry David. And I think that's, and then I also include 100 pages of workbook pages in there of everything that I've learned over my entire career. and just offer it for cheap, a relatively cheap. I mean, I would have killed to take this class when I was a young struggling screenwriter. It would have given me everything that I needed because I was a finance major. And so many people don't get into film school. So many people don't get into, they don't become writers or there's tons of people our age, Chris and Alan, that want to write scripts. you know, but they, and they have ideas, but they don't know how to take that initial jump. And I think that's what this course separates everything about it because I've done it. You know, a lot of these courses are being taught by these people that really, they haven't done anything. And so, you know, and so I think that, I think that's important because I take you from the idea all the way to getting produced and having a career. you know i've seen a lot of these kind of courses taught by nobodies you know you've actually written and sold scripts uh it's i want to mention to people screenwriterbootcamp.com we have a ton of questions one question from me really quick yeah before i forget because if you if you order uh now within the next week or so uh there's a film threat you type in film threat 100 and you get a $100 discount. Film Threat, $100. $100 discount. $100 bucks off. Let people know. But I want to ask, I've read scripts myself. I've made films. How do you know in the first few pages, this is a movie, this is an amateur who doesn't have it? I feel like I can tell. Like, you're reading it, you're either hooked or you're like, this is going to be a slog. How do you know? First page. First page. And that's another thing with my bootcamp is so much of right now, so much of my bootcamp is taking the hard road. And you have to take the hard road right now or else you'll never be successful. And here's the reason why. With AI, so much of the future is about rewriting, I think. Yeah. And in order to become a great writer, you have to be a great rewriter. And you can't just cut straight to being a great rewriter. You know, that's not how it works. And so you have to pay your dues. And you have to, you know, I started screenwriting when I was 19. I sold American History X when I was 26. that's six plus years that granted you know those first couple were i was still in college but you know once i got out to la when i moved up when i was 22 you know i worked my ass off writing and you know and waiting tables at night writing during the day waiting tables at night so you gotta take the hard road because okay so say you take an ai script chris right right now you could get a script on AI. What is it about a 5.7 on a scale of one to 10? They're shit, right? Yeah. They're terrible. Johnny, Johnny come lately can maybe do a rewrite and turn that thing into a seven. Right. But that's not going to cut it. You know, me, I could take it. I could take it from a 5.7 to a 9.7 because I've been doing this shit for 35 years. I know how to fix scripts, you know, but so if these guys who are, who are just getting into it, think that AI is this, because it is this dangerous crutch right now and they have to take the hard road. And, um, I can't emphasize that enough. If they don't take the harder, if they try and cheat, they're going to go, they're going to go broke. And that is one thing that I want to get across to, to the young to young and old screenwriters you've got to do the note cards you've got to develop your idea properly you've got to write a treatment you've got to write drafts you've got to get page counts up i mean every little detail i go through in this course of how to sell a script and also teach you the right way you have to become a student before you can become a master and this shortcut ai stuff that's possibly entering the brains of some of these people is fucking dangerous, man. And they've got to realize that it's a bad, bad road to go down. And let's go to the, we have so many questions. I want to get to as many as we can. So let's start from the top here. We'll thank Nomadic Duckman for becoming a YouTube member. And then let's start here with Michael Thomas. All right, Michael Thomas. What's up, Chris and Alan? That's not for David. I don't know that one. Yeah. Okay. MK solid for five. David, American history X had an amazing redemptive art for vineyard, but the movie just ends abruptly. And tragically, what went wrong? Dare I ask? Well, I mean, I think that it's a Shakespearean tragedy. I think that, you know, we set it up pretty nicely. I thought that a lot of people thought that Derek might get killed in the end, but what's the worst possible thing? that could happen you know his little brother getting killed for the ways that for his lifestyle and um i kind of disagree with you a little bit i mean i don't know what do you what what do we want rainbows and puppies at the end you know i mean i uh i i actually like the ending of american history acts um and i'm very proud of it and uh um i don't know maybe you guys could tell me what went wrong i i don't i've never i've never had any complaints about the ending really yeah i think i think the movie actually holds up as like a classic i mean it's used in memes and and whatnot it's it's i mean it's it's been around yeah yeah no i mean i'm proud of it it could have been it could have been a lot worse it could have been a lot better all right let's see uh more okay okay here we go uh matthew hammond for two studios stop making movie for americans yeah we we've talked about this before i'm curious what your thought is we don't make american movies that speak to the american experience hollywood makes movies for a global market they used to make movies like that would appeal that we about americans and about the american experience and now you've got someone like james gunn there was a story like all of the villains and all of his dc stuff it's middle america is the villain and the american flag is put out as like something evil why did we stop making American movies? Well, that gets back to the conversation earlier, but I think that they also, some of the people that are making some of the decisions think that the entire world hates America. And that's not true either. You know, I think that it's a very complex deal, but it really requires sort of a transformation of their brains a little bit on liking America, loving America, what made it great. And right now there's a hatred of America within Hollywood. And that's where it's got to stop too. We are a great country still. And this man is driving everybody insane to the point where they hate America. And maybe when he's done, we could go back to loving America again and making these great American movies because the world still does love us. And we need to start, we're like the kid with no self-esteem these days. And so we just really need, and it's just, and you guys know it's, there's it's we're at the core of the problem you know and every positive step we take that we're talking about today will help solve this problem it's just is anybody willing to do it is anybody willing to sacrifice their own beliefs for the betterment of the business and um i hope they are, you know, and because I am. And it pains me to see these kids out there who have, who get out of film school and there's just nowhere for them to go. There's no work and there's no passion and there's no more spec sales. I want to see a fucking spec sale, man. I want to see a kid sell a script for two million dollars when's the last time that happened i can't remember you remember they happened every week yeah it was insane also seems to me that um that this idea that no one likes america is an untested idea that someone just came up with it and we just assume it's true right and that uh there's no there's no monetary uh you know result from from testing that idea and i have to believe that maybe if we went back you would make more money than you are currently right now i i i totally agree with you on for sure 100 yeah all right robert james films for five can you clear up issues between norton and the director on history american history x did norton really take over in editing and director wanted his name removed yeah okay so did i i take i cover this in detail a little bit in the course and here's the bottom line uh tony and alan heim their first cut of american history x tony k the director and alan the editor their first cut of american history x was 91 minutes there was no assemblage there was know nothing. Okay. It was like a commercial. Tony came over to my place in Brentwood and Eddie Furlong came over and my wife and I, we watched it. And I called Edward right after and I go, we're in trouble. And we gave Tony a long time to try and fix this problem. I wanted to kill that editor Alan Hein. They refused to take any of our notes or ideas. We knew we had shot a great movie. We'd seen all the dailies, but Tony was a commercial director and he didn't understand film narrative. He didn't understand that. And so I fricking begged. I knew I was only what I was 27 28 years old I begged at a certain point the DeLuca the producers everybody at New Line Steve Tisch get Edward in the editing room you know, and let's save this abused kid from this father. And, uh, and this is the truth. I was there for all of it. And I have no, I have no skin in the game. I'm just repeating the truth. Edward saved the movie I love Tony Tony and I have since reconnected But Edward got in there with Jerry Greenberg The editor from Scarface French Connection, the great Jerry Greenberg And they went in there Side by side in editing bays Allenheim and Tony were in one editing bay And Edward and Jerry Were in another editing bay And we had to do it Tony couldn't find the movie You know, so what do you do in a case like that. Do you just let the movie die? No, you go and fix it. And all Edward did was put the script back together. Wow. He just went straight. He had the script right next to him in the editing room and he goes through it like an architect putting together a house. And that was the movie. And hats off to Mike DeLuca and to everybody at New Line and Steve Tisch and John Morrissey saying, okay we know we have a great movie here let's give edward a shot and go find it and and edward was the man would you say you wanted to curb stomp the editor just i wanted to curb stomp ellenheim so bad i couldn't resist i think i may rest in peace or whatever i mean but boy just when you don't movie making is such a collaborative business and when you just completely don't listen to anybody and you shrug them off the way that he did uh with their outright servitude to the director's vision i get that from a certain point but the way he handled the situation really just pissed me off yeah a lot of questions here let's just get to as many robot dues for five it's Simple. Leave movies in theaters longer. Don't go to streaming for a year. Bring back physical media or VOD in the in-between. Yeah. What do you think about theaters and their struggles? Well, it goes back to why aren't people going to the theater? And it's a lot more than streaming. it's because over the last 20 years, Hollywood has taken the check and the stock price in favor of losing our hearts and hearts and souls, our hearts and minds. We used to go to the movies every Saturday night. Yeah. We used to go all the time. And when you, these guys built out, you know, they built all these movie theaters and they made all this expensive food and $13 beers and comfortable seats reclining seats. And then you go off and you show Marvel, you give me Marvel. That's for kids. It doesn't make any sense. And, and I mean, we, we were happy in our crammed seats with our, our feet stick into the floor, paying anywhere from five to 12 bucks. I was fine with that, but now you're asking us to pay $22. and so I could take a nap on one of your seats. It just, I know a lot of these things are irreversible, but we really need to create movies with heart and soul that win back the hearts and minds of the young people rather than turning to their phones two seconds after they leave the theater. Yeah. Okay. I don't know about this question here. Here we go from ADLS over on Rumble. There's been a lingering lore About what happened with the film SWAT Were you involved at any point When Zack Snyder was still on board And wanted to make the film an R-rated crime film There's so much controversy About all your movies This is the first time I've ever had anything remotely About this question There was eight writers On seven or eight writers On SWAT before I came on And Sam Jackson had just signed on to play it and i read the script and it was just a mess and i literally went into columbia and i i think i had shorts on and flip-flops i did not give a shit and i said i i think maybe five things five points on what i would do and my agent called me on on the way home. They want to make a deal. The answer is no. Clark Johnson was the director when I was there. And I know Schwarzenegger was at one time attached to play Hondo and then Sam Jackson came on. And then we had a chance to get Colin Farrell. And so the producer sent me to go have drinks with Colin at, I forget what hotel. And I basically pitched him the cop idea rewrite. And Sony made him a nice $8 million offer and we got Colin Farrell. Sweet. Getting back to the producer element of things, Colin and I just got drunk at the bar and I told him my vision for the script. And I think that the $8 million offer helped a tad bit more, but I think my clarity was good and my excitement. All right. The Skeleton King for five. Do you think they would do American History X these days? If they did, I don't think they're even capable of adapting it that well. Do you even want them to remake it? We talked about this. What do you think? I don't think they'd make it today and it wouldn't be called American History X. I don't think I don't think it could make it. Well, I think that if you did it, obviously, as a Sundance movie, it could work. Yeah. And that's one thing that I want to really encourage your your viewers to do is get back to writing and directing a short film on your own. That's how you can really make your mark in this business. If you can pick up a camera or you can act and you could do it all by yourself and really make something like for a contained budget. But let's go back. Let's look back at some of those movies like Clerks or Brothers McMullen. Obviously, Reservoir Dogs, a little bit more expensive. Sex, Lies and Videotape. I have a whole list of a lot of these movies on my website that your audience can go to just to check them out. But they're great movies to see if you're a writer, director and just want to educate yourself on. I mean pick up a camera man I mean that way you have control I mean look at all these guys who picked up the camera Aronofsky Tarantino Memento, Christopher Nolan and Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station and do something small that guy who directed Room Room was an insane movie and they did it all within the confines of a room and And that is a really, really good way to go. And I think, and make your mark if you're somebody that hasn't done anything yet. Stick by your guns. Don't take the money. I mean, should Hollywood even be the dream? Should that be the end goal for any filmmaker, writer, director? Or should we change? Should we go a different route? Yeah. I mean, we're at that stage, Alan. I mean, it's just one of those situations where you need to everything. It's kind of this all for one, one for all mentality right now. You have to you really have to look out for number one. And how are you going to make a living in this world with AI? What is your best path? Peter Thiel talked Peter Thiel talked a lot about this, which I thought was interesting. He talked about math people and word people. Math people are in trouble. word people are not in trouble. There's no way in hell anything in AI is going to be better than what goes on in my fucked up brain up here. There's just no chance. The stuff that I think about on a routine basis, AI will never match. It will never match the knowledge that I have of doing, I mean, the screenplays that AI is pumping out right now are funny. They're laughable. They're really bad. Will they be that way forever? Probably not. But we have to always be better than them. And being word people, being writers, we can stay ahead of that. Math petitions cannot. We have a lot more questions. We'll try to go rapid fire. I know. I'm sorry. No, it's all good. Caveat ties. How important is formatting when it comes to screenwriting? They seem kind of particular. If there's one tiny mistake on your script when you give it to me, I get rid of it. get your formatting perfect. I don't care what software you use, if you use Final Draft or Studio Binder or whatever, but if there's a spelling mistake, a formatting mistake, I will see it. My eyes are expert. And the people that read six screen plays, they have a stack of six screen plays on their desk every weekend, trying to get through them as the football game is on. when they see a spelling mistake or a formatting error, what do you think that screenplay is going in the trash? Make sure you're, make sure you're perfect. Yeah. The formatting seems like the easiest part to learn. Yes. It is the easiest part to learn. Yeah. And you can have AI help you with that. So Christopher productions. How do you feel about the different platforms these days? Theatrical VOD physical. They all seem to be struggling. where should indie filmmakers be investing their time? Make something great. Make something awesome. Write something cool. Get feedback from your friends. Keep it contained. Do it for cheap. Direct it. Write it. If you can have a part in there for you, if you know how to act, do it. That way, agents will find that. and that's what you want. You want to get an agent to find you and then put you out for a lot of these jobs because one of my most time-consuming things is finding a director because it's a director's medium and it just takes forever. And if you can be a director and a writer, you're a hyphenate and you're controlling your own destiny. That's about the best advice I can give you on that. Did I answer that question? I don't even know. Yeah. Russ Cole for five. You couldn't talk Norton out of cutting his reverse dunk from two feet under the rim, huh? LOL, just kidding. Well, thank God we had the nice little eight-foot rim there, and he could dunk on that. That was perfect. All right. I was a little concerned about Edwards' basketball skills, but he managed to pull it up, pull it off. Orange soda TR for five. What was it like working with Avery Brooks? I was concerned and there was another actor that came in and I thought Avery Brooks might've been a little over the top, but it almost works for this movie that he is sort of this hugely magnanimous presence in, in Derek and Danny's life, Edward and Eddie Furlong's life. So in the end, I think I was probably wrong on that. I think it was a good casting choice. All right. Here we go. Jimmy Francis, a member for 29 months. Thanks, David, for a true masterpiece. They introduced us already in school. Recently gave the Blu-ray of American History X to a director colleague as a gift. Awesome. I haven't seen it. I do have the antique DVDs. Oh, nice. Nice. I could maybe sign one and give it to one of your most favored. That was still shrink-wrapped. You might be able to get a couple bucks for it, like $3.50. Andy likes stuff, Chandler. American History X was big across the pond in the 90s. Remember it well. Great film. It's great to hear. We did well on – we didn't do well in the theater, but we did huge on DVD and streaming and everything. Yeah. Which is why a lot of these mid-range films struggle so much. They don't have that backup revenue. This question about Bully here, that was a film that I developed with Larry Clark. And I wrote the script. And I went through, I went to New York And I literally stayed with Larry for a week, just going tit by tit for tat about the script, how I envision it, every single little detail about shooting it and all that. And all that went out the door. The book's amazing. I thought the script was great. I just thought Larry sort of went off the cliff a little bit with the overall movie. It could have been so much better I thought that the casting choices were off And I eventually I just got so sick of it That I took my name off of it And I used an alias I just I had gotten I was so upset With the final product And I have that with a few movies I've done Eight movies I'm happy with about Half of them And And that's another thing going back to, hey, direct it yourself. It's my own fault. You know, when you're a screenplay writer, you give birth to this baby, and you love this baby, and you discipline this baby, and you feed this baby, and then you've got to hand it off to a stranger. Doesn't make any sense. All right. The Immortal Remus, question for David. What research went into American History X, and what did you discover in the process? well i i i was familiar with skinheads i had seen some i went to school in san diego i'd seen some down san diego i'd seen some in huntington beach uh i was also in san diego were uh the meskers and they started the war uh white aryan resistance down in fallbrook and they were always on the wally george show i don't know if any of you guys remember the wally george so and then just and then I saw Romper Stomper. So it was kind of, and I was a punk, when I was a kid, I was, I was really into punk rock. I was, I shaved my head. I was a little punker. It was, but it wasn't about race back then. It was about music. And when I saw an opportunity to kind of take all these things and turn it into sort of this modern day skinhead movie that's American and not like romper stomper that Russell Crowe was in. And instead of making him stupid, sort of say, hey, what if we made this guy smart? I mean, I've seen the stupid skinhead over and over in Mississippi Burning, all that. Let's make him smart. Let's challenge people's beliefs on race. And my process was literally, and I talk about a lot of this in my bootcamp, but it's it's an it's an every second of every day thinking about your movie process and getting the ideas down and it's so important to get your ideas down because you forget them and and nowadays you have back in the day i was writing on napkins inside uh inside renaissance that's a club that's on uh the third street promenade that's long been deceased but I worked right next to it. I worked, my waiter's job was a restaurant called Pentala on Wilshire between 3rd and 4th. And so that was super fun. The best job I ever had. And if I could tell young screenwriters out there to move to LA and be a waiter, that's another key. Don't be a bartender because then you're up till 2 a.m. Be a waiter. You can get home at 11 and that way you can get writing done in the morning and you're useful. You're not useless. If you're a bartender, you go to bed at two. How do you, how can you possibly be good the next day? I want to let people know that David McKenna's successful screenwriter bootcamp. The, the website is screenwriterbootcamp.com. You get used the code film threat 100 to save a hundred. A hundred bucks. A hundred bucks. Check it out. um david we have to have you back we have to have you back this is great chris this is awesome alan great to meet you guys seriously i love the show i can't believe you watch us yeah i can't believe you watch us it's crazy yeah it's awesome you guys are you guys are great you guys are really good and you're doing a really great job as far as a lot of the business elements and i loved what you just did what you're doing is different nobody's nobody's doing this and please keep it up The trades aren't doing this. I feel like I wish like variety, the reporter or dead would talk about things that would revitalize the industry. I feel like they bait celebrities into talking about things that don't matter, that aren't going to help. And we just try to point it out. And cause I want, I want the LA I knew in the nineties back. It was so much creative. It was so great. So much passion. I mean, And we need to get back there and we can get back there. We can, we just need some leaders. We need some city leaders. We need some leaders within Hollywood to, you know, make these American movies, everything that you guys talked about, everything that we've talked about today and give these kids, these kids that are so ambitious, a chance. And, and I think that with my bootcamp, It's a very good economical investment in your screenwriting career. So you don't have to deal with all the film schools and all that really, really expensive stuff. And so those, I feel like watch movies, listen to DVD commentary, take your course. That's what you got to do. That's a cheaper than going to USC or AFI or wherever. The price of the books you'd have to pay for the schools. Reading scripts is so key. Reading the masters before you. I read Patty Chayefsky's Network. I read Alvin Sargent's Ordinary People. Paul Schrader's Raging Bull. You know, you read, you become a student and you learn, you gather so much from those, those scripts and you emulate them. For sure. You know, when they say it's on the page, you know it when you read it. It's on the page. You can see the movie. And let the reader, for all the screenwriters, let the reader, it's okay. You don't need to spell out everything for us in exposition. Let the reader figure out some stuff as we're reading. We do have a brain. Don't treat us stupid, okay? When you're writing, be smart like that. The reader will reward you for that. uh david thank you for doing the show today we want to have you back and check it out uh screenwriterbootcamp.com go check it out film threat 100 david it's been an honor i can't believe you know greg that's great from newport i graduated with greg he was my asb president he was president of my school oh my god san diego down there greg's awesome yeah great he's great all right take care david all right thanks alan thanks chris okay bye that was awesome that was great yeah that was great that was fun hey more and more people in the industry are coming on this show speaking their mind they feel free to speak their mind yeah now i feel like i have to do less joking around i like your joking a couple of super chats that did not relate to david we'll get to those right yeah in fact from michael thomas d2x for five what's up chris and alan uh thanks for the show what do you think of the live action battle of the planets well this is the first i'm hearing of it i love the cartoon the anime from way back when uh love it that would be amazing a live action or or would it be well look it is pot i like one piece a lot okay and while i'm not a fan of the anime i really like that show battle of the planets you could really do it with modern effects you couldn't make that when the cartoon first hit you could not have made that into a live action now you can go over the top and the with the costumes the the costumes are great yeah i mean it's the costumes that made the show i love it first time hearing of it i'm in favor of the idea thank you all right krogs based uh for 50 swedish krona uh here hey put it here is what harry potter's undertaking will say putting him down before getting to the grave dead before arrival you're talking about the hbo max harry potter show uh a lot of disappointment a lot of they're leaning they're leaning into modernity which i don't i think people don't like it and will the harry potter ip will the popularity of harry potter like surpass you know or or will people be able to get past the modernity aspect the race swapping of one of the major characters that changes the story i don't think so i think um it's it's already ratioed the trailer and that's disheartening to see but thank you crog based and thanks for thanks for the 50 appreciate that and lord uh pilgrim media says great show guys i almost said lord comet no lord comet today but thank you pilgrim appreciate you and thanks to our mods lord thoth mk solid adls 24 and ololique on rumble we appreciate you all and thank you to our producers atomic glory clenuccio thanks to alan and thank you chris yeah and we'll be back friday i am going to an early screening actually of the mummy lee cronin's the mummy i'm going to see it we have other films we are reviewing on friday it's going to be a big be a big show plus our cinema con preview and then next week we're on the road to cinema con in vegas yeah i should say i'm seeing you me and tuscany i can't wait to hear what you think of that movie but uh thank you everyone who sent in soups we appreciate love having conversations with you on wednesday and alan what do you have to say let's get out of here If you like the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.