Sunday, January 28, 2007

My advice for M. Night Shyamalan

In 1999 M. Night Shyamalan wrote & directed "The Sixth Sense". It was a box office smash worldwide. It went on to get several Academy Award Nominations including Best Picture.

The Next year the writer director M. Night Shyamalan released "Unbreakable". It wasn't a big hit. Things turned around with his next movie "Signs". However his next movie "The Village" and the infamous "Lady in the Water" (came complete with making of book that told how a Disney Studio Head disliked the screenplay and how Chameleon ended up making it at Warner Brothers).

Well "The Lady in the Water" was a bomb. Now Shyamalan is having a hard time getting anybody to make his next movie. I can't blame the studios for not making his next movie.
Nothing he has done since "The Sixth Sense" has been very good. Most audience's that go into a
"Shyamalan" movie knows there getting a twist ending. In fact we expect it. I know Mr Shyamalan is a talented director. He seems to have an ego problem and he doesn't like studio interference. However his last 2 movies were stinkers and so he needs to take in other opinions.

My advice for M. Night Shyamalan is that if he has faith in his screenplay then go the independant route. You can raise the money yourself & release it through one of the studios.
If you make a great movie every studio in town will want to release it. If you make a stinker you can sell it direct to cable or DVD.

You must remember that "The 6th Sense" worked because it was simple. You need to make
your next movie without a twist ending. Also direct a movie you did not write or rewrite. If someone gives you a screenplay you adore then shoot that movie. You need to take a break from your ego and learn to take constructive criticism. All studios heads want to make good movies. Sometimes the suites have a point.

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