M. Night Shyamalan: can an artist survive Hollywood?

From The Edmonton Sun:

If the early reviews of Lady in the Water are any indication -- not to mention that snarky article in last Sunday's New York Times -- screenwriter-director M. Night Shyamalan is about to enter the "Eh, we never thought he was that good to begin with" phase of his career. But I admire the guy. He hasn't used his success and power to land the job of directing Superman XXI or The Return of the Return of Batman. Instead, he's gone on writing and making his weird little movies. Kind of like -- gasp -- a real artist might. (If you must read it, here's that snarky New York Times article -- actually a review of the new book about Shyamalan. Registration may be required. Use ours if you like: e-mail: escript@singlelane.com / password: escript)

 

Writers use imagination off the page

From various sources:

Below you'll find an item about Solomon Rothman, the filmmaker who's using the web to distribute his movie. He's not the only one applying a bit of ingenuity to scale the showbiz ladder. This writer-director invites you to donate to his next film and get your name in the credits. If you donate enough, you even get a "suit of Acolyte Armour" (though that may change, now that the script, which started out as "a science fiction epic," has been rewritten as a "gunslinger movie.") This ingenious author wants you to use the web to let Hollywood know just how eagerly you're awaiting a screen adaptation of her book. She's gunning for 100,000 pre-endorsements, though I'm not sure that's going to be enough people to guarantee a boffo opening weekend. Is one of them Orlando Bloom? And finally, this director and his screenwriting roommate invite you to free up their creative time by cleaning their Hollywood apartment.