Petition asks Polly Draper to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Polly Draper (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Polly Draper – Talent Agents
– Actress, Writer, Producer – The Naked Brothers Band (2007), Thirtysomething (1987), Stella’s Last Weekend (2018), The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie (2005) – – Untitled Entertainment, Stephanie Simon
Polly Draper & Adam Sandler’s film company targeted by Texas petition
Will Hollywood just rollover and let prisoner’s suffer?
EXCLUSIVE
More than 2000 women have signed an open letter to Adam Sandler calling on Polly Draper and Hollywood to take “movie action” to tackle injustice against men and women in the wake of revelations that Texas has more prisoners incarcerated than the Soviet Union’s gulag system had. Texas currently has over 290,000 inmates housed at 580 facilities.
The signatories, including state senators, professors of criminal justice, social workers, family, and inmates, call for a “firm commitment” to tackle the unjust prisons in Texas. The petition has also been signed by Beto O’Rourke, and Matthew McConaughey. These two signatories might face each other in the 2022 Texas governors election. Both have expressed interest in the job. The petitions arrived for Polly Draper at last week.
In the open letter to Polly Draper, the 2080 women write that they are “heartbroken for first-time drug offenders many times addicts who have received extremely harsh sentences in Texas when rehabilitation has proven a cheaper and more effective solution.” The petition goes on to say their family and friends are often heartbroken for and looking for redemption and rehabilitation for the victimless drug crimes.”
The signatories, including attorneys, professors, politicians, family members, and inmates, call on Polly Draper for a ‘firm film commitment’ to tackle the issue of operating the Texas prison system for profit.
The petition came to light when women discovered the screenplay, a copy which was dontated to all 580 of the state’s prison and jail libraries. The existence of the petition surfaced on International Women’s Day. Women in Texas face extreme prejudice in Texas and often receive extremely harsh penalties for even a small amount of drugs, including marijuana. Marijuana is legal now in 21 states.
Inside prisons, the women are faced with such horrendous conditions… the petition demands that “filmmakers begin to take the issue seriously.” Also, the petition reminds that “even here in the USA in the 21st century citizens are not safe from government oppression.”
Actress, Writer, Producer, Polly Draper, has not responded to the petition. Nor has responded with a comment.
Alan Nafzger/caption]
The screenplay “Dumbass” was penned by writer and retired professor of political science Alan Nafzger.
The premise of the story is that, “Adam Sandler writes letters and saves numerous women from the monotony of prison life, and later when he gets into trouble with a drug cartel they return the favor by rescuing him.”
The film would be set in contemporary, Gatesville Texas. There are four women’s prisons located in Gatesville. And of course, Texas is famous for putting everyone in prison for a long sentences for little or no reason. The number of women in Texas prisons has tripled in the last ten years, as mass incarcerations have proven profitable to not only the state but also profitable for an array of business interests.
Writer Alan Nafzger has called on Governor Greg Abbott to, “end the prison industry.”
Recently, “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak spoke out against the Texas system and put a good word in for mercy and forgiveness out on social media. “How nice for those who have lived such exemplary lives that they can express glee when others have their lives ruined by a mistake, real or perceived,” Sajak tweeted last month.
During the winter’s deep freeze, the The Marshall Project, exposed the horrible prison conditions, “Inside Frigid Texas Prisons: Broken Toilets, Disgusting Food, Few Blankets.”
The petition states, “Why don’t we have the ‘Adam Sandler’ character… sending letters to women in prison and being their friend and trying to help them adjust, giving them hope… and when they get out of prison he picks them up so they don’t have to ride the smelly bus back home… but his pickup truck is a junker, smoking and sputtering … worse than the bus. But his heart is in the right place… He’s the last “chivalrous” man on earth.”
Polly Draper has not commented on the script, thus far. A statement is expected soon.
Professor Nafzger has made a short treatment of the project available online.
He has made the finished script available at for select filmmakers.
Adam Sandler of Happy Madison Productions has expressed interest in the screenplay.
Polly Draper is a Actress, Writer, Producer known for The Naked Brothers Band (2007), Thirtysomething (1987), Stella’s Last Weekend (2018), The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie (2005) and is represented by .
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The twist must apply to the entire plot or it won’t work. If the story is similar to another horror flick or a combination of horror flicks, it won’t sell!
Isn’t it just another ghost story with a heck of a twist? What twist does your ghost story have? In Shadow of the Vampire a film director hires a real vampire to pretend to be an actor portraying a vampire – if you haven’t seen this horror flick it’s well worth the rental to see how to give a fresh twist to a very old subject, vampires! Within the horror genre, more vampire movies have been made than any other kind. It’s the most difficult to add a new slant to. It can be done if carefully outlined. Think of films like 30 Days of Night where the characters are in Alaska where it’s always night. Daylight can’t save these characters. The vampires hunt 24/7 and that’s the new twist to a very old story.
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There is no help in a horror! Keep the helpers. Just kill them before they succeed in getting the characters out of danger!
Also in the second act of many genres (but maybe not until the second half of the second act), you may be setting a TICKING CLOCK, a time limit on the action, which I’ll talk more about in an upcoming chapter on suspense techniques.
But also be aware that many stories that are not overtly mysteries or thrillers use the structure or elements of a classic mystery plot. The first Hangover film is a comedy, but it’s also a classically structured mystery: the groom disappears, and his groomsmen have to follow the clues left in a locked room to find him and return him to the wedding. The Harry Potter books and movies are fantasies, but they all follow a mystery plot.
If this is the genre you’re writing in, you will definitely benefit from breaking down several classics to see how these elements and sequences are handled. Murder on the Orient Express, The Silence of the Lambs, and Chinatown are great examples to analyze. (See the breakdown of Chinatown in Part Three for a specific discussion of these story elements.)
In a detective story, Act II, Part 1 often consists very specifically of INTERVIEWING WITNESSES, FOLLOWING CLUES, and LINING UP THE SUSPECTS, very often interspersed with ACTION SEQUENCES and ATTACKS ON THE HERO/INE. You will want to weave in RED HERRINGS and FALSE LEADS. And there’s another convention of the genre you’ll want to look at, which is THE DETECTIVE VOICING HIS/HER THEORY. Mysteries are by nature convoluted, because there are so many possible explanations for what’s going on, so don’t be afraid to have your detective just say what s/he’s thinking aloud. Your reader or audience will be grateful!