I met Eddie tonight at an acting school downtown for a "reading." A mutual friend of ours, a guy named Jeremy, is an actor and a would-be screenwriter - that is, he's ironing the kinks out of a script he's been working on for a while called "The Great American Giveaway." To help him figure out what still needs tweaking, about ten people from the acting school he attends did a live reading of the whole thing, and he invited a bunch of us to come watch and give him feedback. Not a lot of that sort of thing going on in Visalia...
About 30 people showed up, which was enough to fill almost every one of the folding chairs in place. The actors sat in front of us in a semi-circle. A woman narrated it (in a movie script, this was pretty important if we were going to understand what was going on) and the others took on the roles of different characters. They represented a range of ages: some looked to be in their early 20's while others were well into their 40's. Amazing how you can tell someone is a professional when they aren't in costume and don't even stand up.
The script itself is a bit tricky to explain. It helps to know that Jeremy travels to Atlantic City at least once a week to host game shows at a casino. He's been doing this for a while, and although it pays fairly well, it's not exactly his passion. (He was a theater major at Ithaca, and while it's definitely a tough industry, I think he has higher hopes even while trying to be realistic.) His protagonist is 10-year casino game show hosting veteran, who's jaded by the whole scene. From what I know about Atlantic City - I've never been, but I understand that feels as though Vegas, a retirement home, and a trailer park collided - I can understand how that could happen. I really enjoyed the script, which was a sort of coming-of-age story about a guy who should have come of age a decade before. It had its funny, ridiculous, and inspirational moments, although the funny moments were the highest in number.
The stereotype (although this is probably more true in L.A. than it is here in NYC) is that every extra, waiter, busboy, and valet is working on a script, and that they're generally terrible. Jeremy fits the profile in that when he's not hosting cheesy giveaways at trashy casinos, he works as a concierge at a New York hotel. His script, however, was actually well-crafted, which was something I wasn't fully expecting. I mean, he's a very funny, clearly talented guy, but I guess my instinct is to jump to certain conclusions whenever someone tells me that they're working on a script or a novel - everyone is working on a script or a novel and 99% of these pieces will never see the light of day (and rightfully so). When I told him afterward that I really enjoyed it, however, I found that I actually meant it. Yes, there are little things that could be improved, but overall, I'd love to see this on the big screen. So please pass the title on to all of the big Hollywood execs you rub elbows with this week.
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