Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

We meet genetically enhanced assassin Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) as he survives the Alaskan wilderness. Meanwhile, CIA bigwigs shout across tables at Edward Norton, who runs the whole super-assassin program, which is so secret that the CIA doesn’t know about it, or even how he got in the building.

Jeremy survives the wilderness a bit more. Edward has more meetings. Because Jason Bourne has gone rogue, and he needs to shut the program down. By killing everyone involved in dramatic, public ways, as obviously this will draw less attention.

Geneticist Rachel Weisz is one of those targeted, but Aaron saves her and they’re soon on the run. At some point, off camera, they must get the Bourne trilogy out on DVD to see how he did it, because this film offers nothing new, and much less character development. Renner and Weisz are good, though. 7/10

7/10

Released August 15, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chromewas nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

by Jonathan Empson

Films could have sex and violence and bad language. Yum.

These days, that’s all changed. Everything’s HD, digital effects are cheaper and televisions are bigger, so TV writers are able to ‘upsize’ their average scene from being just two blokes talking in a small room. Hence creature-feature series like Falling Skies and sweeping period dramas like The Borgias look cinematic rather than cheap and cheesy (check out the 1980s Borgias series for comparison). And subscription TV has allowed for more ‘adult’ material to be broadcast.

These days, film is pretty much having to justify its existence.

It’s currently doing so by outspending TV, either on big-budget international franchises (Spider-Man, Batman, Bourne and Bond in 2012) or on multi-star ensembles (What to Expect When You’re Expecting etc). Or ideally, both (Avengers).

But those of us who don’t already have George Clooney attached to our scripts are going to be asked by agents, producers and funding bodies, “Why is this a film?” And specifically, “Why would someone pay to see this at the cinema?”
I’ve been asked that about two of my recent feature scripts, including Leonardo’s War, a (surprisingly factual) historical comedy about Leonardo da Vinci’s rivalry with Michelangelo. It’s full of Renaissance cityscapes, battles and gigantic artworks (with Clooney playing Leonardo, obviously). The stuff of cinema, surely? Well, apparently not. In the words of one agent,

The fact that The Borgias can be made for TV kills the period film.
If you can grab a slice of historical drama without moving from your sofa,
why the fuck would you pay to see the same thing in a cinema?”

Cinema’s stuffed, then…

Of course, some stories will work only as stand-alone features because they’re about one-off events. It’s hard to imagine, say, The King’s Speech or Margin Call as TV series. But from the scripts, it’s easy to imagine them (with less stellar casts) as made-for-TV movies. And those can be a hard sell – in Australia at least – because TV networks don’t like one-off dramas: they like series that can draw a regular audience. That’s probably why it took David Seidler 20 years to get The King’s Speech made.

So, you may have to ask yourself not whether your movie works on TV,
but if it could work as a TV series instead.

I’m using the word ‘series’ loosely, as these days it’s pretty rare to find a show where episodes are entirely stand-alone and viewable in any order, as was once the case with Colombo, Magnum or the average old sitcom. TV networks used to like such ‘pure’ series because it didn’t matter if you missed the first episode(s): you could join in later after your friends told you how good it was. These days we have endless ‘encore viewings’, video on demand and hard-drive recorders, so most series have at least a few serial elements – usually character back stories or developing relationships – that play out over multiple episodes/series and engage viewers long-term.

Such longer arcs are still pretty light-on in shows such as Castle, Covert Affairs and Person of Interest, but Downton Abbey – a classic example of turning a movie (Gosford Park) into a TV show – is a pure serial.

Most shows walk a middle ground, with a story-of-the-week A-plot
mixed with B-plot and other threads that span other episodes.

It’s the typical cop/legal/medical series format, which is why they’re enduringly popular – think The Good Wife, CSI, House. Most cult series, meanwhile, extend the plot alphabet down to V and W over five or more seasons – think The Wire, Mad Men.
At the more trashy end of the spectrum, Revenge was smart in starting as a series, with the heroine picking off a fresh victim every week, then morphing into a serial once the viewers were on board.

In the US, networks are feverishly hunting for shows with a seven-year lifespan; in Australia and the UK, shorter runs are the norm. Hence they often have a clear destination right from the start, such as Life on Mars (Sam working out how to get back to his own time) or Laid (Roo working out why all her sex partners keep dying). But with, of course, a way of developing further series out of it. So your first task is to work out the ‘shape’ of your TV series/serial.

Next time I’ll discuss pilots, series bibles and my TV series, Chrome – and why it got optioned and AWGIE-nominated, but hasn’t (yet) been made.

– © Jonathan Empson

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chromewas nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

I know it’s just me, but when I look at Ryan Kwanten, I think of a potato. Same thing with Ryan Reynolds. But hey, potatoes are so hot right now.

Here Ryan K plays young and wild Jonah, who makes a somewhat implausible living running paid-entry parties at the house he inherited from his late mum. He shares it with the emotionally unintelligent Gus (Ryan Corr, not potatoey) and the level-headed but relationship-damaged Stevie (Sarah Snook, excellent). Then Jonah cops a testicular cancer diagnosis and the cure will render him infertile. Then it turns out his man-juice won’t survive cryogenics: if he wants kids, it’s now or never.

Jonah’s mad search for a potential mother should be the stuff of farce, but the comedy here is more subtle, and writer Michael Lucas keeps the outcome unpredictable. Nicely done.

7/10

Released June 28, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

“How the hell would I know? I’ve got a sheet over my head”

In Snow White and the Huntsman and the Witch and the Fetching Wardrobe, an evil queen steals the plots of various other fantasy tales and bungs them into the Tolkienator to produce this fairytale mash-up.

Snow White is a princess who, having survived a never-ending prologue about how she ended up with a witch, Ravenna, for a stepmum, is then locked in a tower for several years. She doesn’t spend the time developing an interesting personality, but does finally escape into the Dark Wood. Ravenna hires a huntsman (not of the spider variety) to track her down, despite his bad Scottish accent. He switches sides. Various skirmishes ensue for the next hour or so. Snowy encounters eight dwarves (hmm, do you think they’ll all make it?).

Overlong, derivative and with some truly bland dialogue, this does offer a few good visual effects. But it all feels a bit retrodden.

5/10

Released June 21, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

Original title: Comme un chef