Screenwriting : So Lucasfilm is looking for an Indiana Jones script by Tony Russo

Tony Russo

So Lucasfilm is looking for an Indiana Jones script

The latest news is that Disney is going to greenlight another new Indiana Jones movie, but there's no story or script yet. Can someone like me get their attention with a great idea? Would they even consider a pitch?

Tony Russo

BTW I do have some "minor" experience working for Lucasfilm's properties. No screenplay writing, but some of their other licensed material.

Anthony Cawood

I'd doubt it Tony, these sort of gigs normally go to establised, repped, writers... if you've got an agent they might be able to get a foot in... unless of course the Lucasfilm contacts you made are high enough up to get you an in... If you do get the gig cn you make sure there's no daft aliens in it ;-)

Tony Russo

No, no, crystal skulls! No flying saucers! :)

Pierre Langenegger

Did anybody else read Frank Darrabont's draft for Indy 4? It's a crime they went with the pile of crap that they did rather than Frank's draft.

Anthony Cawood

No, you don't have a link or copy do you?

Pierre Langenegger

I certainly do have a copy but I've just started my work day. pm me your email address snd I send it to you tonight.

Anthony Cawood

Appreciated Pierre

William Martell

How this will work: They will interview top writers and hire one. They aren't going to risk a big franchise like this. But, if you are one of the writers of that indie film that everyone is talking about this year, you can be on that list of writers they interview. So there's a way to get on the list... write an amazing original script that sells and becomes a film people in town loved.

Zach Rosenau

A new Indiana Jones probably won't work if they're just entertaining the best idea to green light, for two reasons. First, the first three were so utterly successful as pop culture mythology, the modern blockbuster has pretty much co-opted the IJ as a model. Think about Stargate, the Da Vinci cycle, the Nolan re-boot of Batman, The Mummy series, that National Treasure crap, The Librarian, that McGyver special on Atlantis, on and on. How many billions, maybe trillions in revenue have projects directly influenced by Indiana Jones help to generate? Lucas film can cash-in on the copyright, but for wheel re-inventors, trying to re-reinvent the wheel seems foolhardy and a bit lame. Second, the franchise is off the rails. When Nolan pitched his Batman, WB weren't really looking to do a Batman reboot (same with Jackson pitching LOTR to New Line, but I don't enjoy them as much as Batman). What they greenlit was the vision for the property, not the property itself. Look what happened to the most recent Spiderman: for legal reasons they had to reboot the property less than a half-decade after the Raimi-helmed pile of successes, and they wound up with sloppy seconds and forgetful fourths. Last Crusade feels like a swan song, plus it's so good that the continuing adventures (IV) were like swimming upstream in space! Indiana Jones needs a post-Baby Boomer lens, but he's all wrapped up in the mythology of the Greatest Generation so it's basically never going to happen, genie out of the bottle, on and on. Katherine Bigelow might be able to blow the roof off, but only in my wildest dreams.

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