THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT
Read my screenplay Global Village Idiot here for free
My name is Henry Halloway.
Well, no it's not, but here's my story anyway.
From the late 70's to early 90s I made my living as a Hollywood screenwriter, writing comedies and action/adventure films. In 1991, however, I wrote a politically incorrect screenplay that ended my career in the movie business.
See, I thought it would be amusing to write a script that made fun of the environmental movement, Hollywood celebrities, socialism and assorted liberal beliefs held dear in the hearts of my fellow filmmakers.
Yes, I knew the subject matter was a little "touchy" for Hollywood. But the script itself was so good-natured that I was sure Hollywood would take the subject matter in stride and accept it as impish, amiable joshing and all in good fun.
Yeah...I'm just that stupid.
The screenplay I handed into my William Morris agent turned out to be a 110-page pink slip.
After reading the script, my agent dropped me like Ali dropped Forman, starting a chain of events that eventually cast me into the Hollywood wilderness, which is roughly east of Normandie Avenue.
I never worked in Hollywood again, although I have occasionally eaten lunch there.
Fifteen years later, I entered a screenwriting contest and, as luck would have it, the script that sunk my career -- now called Global Village Idiot -- ended up winning first prize as best screenplay.
Here's how it happened.
The screenwriting contest was sponsored by American Film Renaissance. AFR is a film institute that was created by founders Jim and Ellen Hubbard to "promote inspiring and enduring American principles in cinema."
Every other year, AFR runs a film festival showcasing films that celebrate the American Spirit, and in 2006 the fest was held in Hollywood. As part of the festival, AFR sponsored the screenplay contest.
As it happened, Global Village Idiot reflected exactly those enduring American principles...which is precisely why Hollywood hated it. So I submitted the script.
On January 1st, AFR announced ten finalists...and I was one of the Hollywood Ten.
Two weeks later, I attended the festival for the announcement of the winner. The screenings were held at the theaters inside the Hollywood and Highland Center, shown below.
An interesting design, but if you ask me, they skimped on the elephants.
And the slave girls.
Despite the fact that there were no actual slave girls at the Center, I decided to attend the festival screening and the announcement of the contest winner. And I decided to take my camera with me, just in case.
You know...just in case I ran into some slave girls.
Once there, I decided to take a few shots inside the theater where the awards were presented. Here's the theater itself.
And here's a shot of the theater screen from my A New Hope perspective in the 2nd row, describing the contest to the audience.
As you can see, I was competing against 170losers fellow writers. Among the judges were Lionel Chetwynd, John Milius and Roger L Simon.
That's quite a lineup of judges. Am I allowed to say "man-crush" on this blog? As a bonus, Milius pledged to personally slaughter an ox for the winner.
After watching a terrific film produced by Patricia Heaton and her husband, it was time to announce the screenplay contest winner.
Ellen Hubbard took the stage and announced the third placeloser winner and the 2nd place loser winner. Finally, here she is at the very moment she announced my name as first-prize winner.
Umm...I think this was the moment. Although it may have been the moment when she announced that Roger L Simon had lost his hat, and could we please look for it under our seats.
I received applause from the crowd and a check for $2,000 which, when pro-rated over my time on the new Hollywood blacklist, worked out to about 35 cents per day in exile.
Dalton Trumbo did considerably better, and he was a communist.
Anyway, the money didn't last long -- I happened to meet some slave girls on the corner of Sunset and Gower on the way home from the theater and, well, slave girls don't work for free, you know.
The lesson I took from all this was that AFR works outside the usual Hollywood system, but still manages to get involved with Hollywood product that promotes American values.
After winning the contest, I thought about taking a cue from AFR and trying to get the screenplay produced outside the usual Hollywood system. It's only now that I'm beginning that effort in earnest.
So I posted the first act on the web, I'm blogging about it, and hoping to generate interest in the screenplay.
Yeah...I'm just that stupid.
My name is Henry Halloway.
Well, no it's not, but here's my story anyway.
From the late 70's to early 90s I made my living as a Hollywood screenwriter, writing comedies and action/adventure films. In 1991, however, I wrote a politically incorrect screenplay that ended my career in the movie business.
See, I thought it would be amusing to write a script that made fun of the environmental movement, Hollywood celebrities, socialism and assorted liberal beliefs held dear in the hearts of my fellow filmmakers.
Yes, I knew the subject matter was a little "touchy" for Hollywood. But the script itself was so good-natured that I was sure Hollywood would take the subject matter in stride and accept it as impish, amiable joshing and all in good fun.
Yeah...I'm just that stupid.
The screenplay I handed into my William Morris agent turned out to be a 110-page pink slip.
After reading the script, my agent dropped me like Ali dropped Forman, starting a chain of events that eventually cast me into the Hollywood wilderness, which is roughly east of Normandie Avenue.
I never worked in Hollywood again, although I have occasionally eaten lunch there.
Fifteen years later, I entered a screenwriting contest and, as luck would have it, the script that sunk my career -- now called Global Village Idiot -- ended up winning first prize as best screenplay.
Here's how it happened.
The screenwriting contest was sponsored by American Film Renaissance. AFR is a film institute that was created by founders Jim and Ellen Hubbard to "promote inspiring and enduring American principles in cinema."
Every other year, AFR runs a film festival showcasing films that celebrate the American Spirit, and in 2006 the fest was held in Hollywood. As part of the festival, AFR sponsored the screenplay contest.
As it happened, Global Village Idiot reflected exactly those enduring American principles...which is precisely why Hollywood hated it. So I submitted the script.
On January 1st, AFR announced ten finalists...and I was one of the Hollywood Ten.
Two weeks later, I attended the festival for the announcement of the winner. The screenings were held at the theaters inside the Hollywood and Highland Center, shown below.
 |
An interesting design, but if you ask me, they skimped on the elephants.
|
And the slave girls.
Despite the fact that there were no actual slave girls at the Center, I decided to attend the festival screening and the announcement of the contest winner. And I decided to take my camera with me, just in case.
You know...just in case I ran into some slave girls.
Once there, I decided to take a few shots inside the theater where the awards were presented. Here's the theater itself.
|
And here's a shot of the theater screen from my A New Hope perspective in the 2nd row, describing the contest to the audience.
|
As you can see, I was competing against 170
That's quite a lineup of judges. Am I allowed to say "man-crush" on this blog? As a bonus, Milius pledged to personally slaughter an ox for the winner.
After watching a terrific film produced by Patricia Heaton and her husband, it was time to announce the screenplay contest winner.
Ellen Hubbard took the stage and announced the third place
|
Umm...I think this was the moment. Although it may have been the moment when she announced that Roger L Simon had lost his hat, and could we please look for it under our seats.
I received applause from the crowd and a check for $2,000 which, when pro-rated over my time on the new Hollywood blacklist, worked out to about 35 cents per day in exile.
Dalton Trumbo did considerably better, and he was a communist.
Anyway, the money didn't last long -- I happened to meet some slave girls on the corner of Sunset and Gower on the way home from the theater and, well, slave girls don't work for free, you know.
The lesson I took from all this was that AFR works outside the usual Hollywood system, but still manages to get involved with Hollywood product that promotes American values.
After winning the contest, I thought about taking a cue from AFR and trying to get the screenplay produced outside the usual Hollywood system. It's only now that I'm beginning that effort in earnest.
So I posted the first act on the web, I'm blogging about it, and hoping to generate interest in the screenplay.
Yeah...I'm just that stupid.
Posted by Henry Halloway at 2/3/2009 7:05 PM 
Categories: American Film Renaissance,Global Village Idiot Blog
Categories: American Film Renaissance,Global Village Idiot Blog
I stopped to care for Hollywood when Peckinpah died ...
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Badly need your help. Is love supposed to last throughout all time, or is it like trains changing at random stops. If I loved her, how could I leave her? If I felt that way then, how come I don't feel anything now?
I am from Tome and also now teach English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: ""
Thanks
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There are some jokes that you just can't make. Or at least not with the Hollywood people. Although it was quite a good satire of the present state of things, it's a tabu subject when it comes to making a movie after it. I'm sorry that this one script ended your career.
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