Speculation Lawrence Kasdan may write Episode 8

For the record, I like the PT films for what they are and I appreciate their contribution to the Star Wars universe. However, the dialogue throughout the PT films was stilted at times and that hurt the overall quality of the films. My biggest hope is that they find a way to eliminate that kind of dialogue/acting for the ST films. Also, using more real world location shooting as opposed to primarily green screen would also help to give the films a more realistic look that won't become antiquated like some of the CGI shots from the PT are beginning to do.

 

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but there is a clear difference between outline and treatment, just as there is a clear difference between treatment and script.

they are industry professionals and know the difference between outline and treatment, as does Pablo Hidalgo, and all of them say treatment.

 

Actually, the line could easily be blurred between outlines and treatments. I'm an industry professional and I've heard both terms used and applied to the other, if that makes sense. And, yes, there are always gaps in treatments, but some treatments have more gaps than others. For example a 7 page treatment is usually going to have more gaps than a 15 pager.

 

A treatment can be as little as a single page and include all the characters........but it really doesn't matter, whatever happens it'll be Arndt's dialogue spoken by the actors in which ever director's vision of Episode VII. GL will recieve the credit for characters and story even though he'll only be providing the road map for the story to follow.

 

It is good to know that it will be Arndt's dialogue as opposed to Lucas'.

 

Likewise, a 40 page treatment most likely indicates a scene by scene outline, or nearly that. That's about right for a 120 page script. I work in TV and when I've compiled scene by scene treatments for 50 page scripts they're usually about 15 pages. They tend to contain a lot of details on how scenes go, snatches of dialogue, and alternate ideas that can be used.

Of course, everyone writes treatments differently. But that's my experience.

 

Agreed - 40 pages would be very in depth, scene by scene stuff with pretty much just the dialogue to add. On this one though, the reports mention the 40-50 pager covers the entire trilogy, so you'd be looking around 15 pages per Episode. Normally my treatments for a feature script are around the 15 page mark but I have gone into much more detail at around 30 - 40 pages. Of course, you get far more detail in but equally, no one wants to read that much if they can help it so, sometimes, the less pages the better. Really it all boils down to what feels right I think.

 

Dialogue isn't the only thing a screenwriter can bring in. Specifics of action sequences could be his ideas as well.

 

Of course. Also themes, subplots, locations, characters... All sorts of new ideas and beats.

 

Yes, these are all generally things a writer is required to do.

 

Exactly.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/guy-save-star-wars-174252255.html

Not sure if this means its a done deal or not. I'm all for it.

 

This is my favorite LK movie:



He barely stretched his legs on ESB. If he comes back, I hope they let him really take it as far as he can.

 

I certainly hope he gets his old mojo back, because I think its been since about Wyatt Earp that he's made a strong film.

 

Hopefully the team of Arndt, Kasdan and Kinberg will balance out any individual weaknesses. I've got faith that Arndt will bring pathos and Kasdan will get back to the core spirituality of the OT. (What Kinberg brings to the table, I'm not sure.)

 

Me either.

 

For what it's worth, it's been reported on IMDB's front page (out of two different sources, one of them HR), and on Dark Horizons' newsdesk. One would hope that the rumour's founded, with how fast it's been spreading...

Cheers,
Lauré

 

What Kinberg likely brings to the table is a Hollywood hackness and deep misanthropy (Based on Mr. & Mrs. Smith).

And this is not a rumour anymore, its fact.

 

Comedy with action?

 

I've only seen X-Men 3 and Sherlock Holmes, but based on those two, I can't disagree.

 

Frankly, if he wasn't mentioned in the same sentence as Kasdan (who is the most logical choice to write Star Wars, if Lucas isn't available), then I would be panicking.

How do you mean it's not a rumor? Or do you mean the HR confirmations (which I'm not disputing)?

 

Oh I completely agree with you--no arguments from me on that. There may very well be a list of writers when all is said and done--look what they went through for Indy 4 (and I'm sure 5 will go through the same if they ever get around to it.) And maybe I am crazy to be thinking logically about this haha.

It just seems a bit strange to have Arndt write a treatment for the whole trilogy, then start penning episode VII, only to bring in additional writers for (presumably) the sequels. As far as we've heard he hasn't even completed the first draft yet (although I haven't checked the news recently.)

Indy went through so many writers and so many drafts because Lucas and Speilberg couldn't agree on a satisfactory script. Using that logic (should I even bother?) one would think that they would at least let Arndt turn them in a finished later draft to see how good it is before bringing in more hired guns.

Unless there is something we don't know, like maybe Arndt has a scheduling conflict that prevents him from penning the sequels, or Kasdan and others are just being brought in as consultants or script doctors (although there has to be a finished script before any doctors can go to work on it.)

Also not to be dismissed is that Lucas offered the writing job for the PT to Kasdan and Kasdan turned it down. Kasdan hasn't written a script for a film he didn't direct since ROTJ. And he didn't even want to write ROTJ. He only did it because he felt he owed Lucas for giving him his shot in Hollywood. Yeah maybe Disney offered him alot of money but I'm sure Lucas didn't offer him peanuts either when he asked about the PT job.

But who knows? Maybe his mind has changed. He hasn't done anything good for a while now and a good Star Wars sequel could re-ignite his career. I for one, will throw a party if he gets the job, but in this crazy world of Star Wars rumors I'm not getting my hopes up until it's official.

On a side note, does anyone else think Lawrence Kasdan looks like Michael Moore?

 

Yeah, I just mean that if it's been reported by the Hollywood Reporter than it is (at this point anyway) a real thing. People seem to be treating it as a rumour because the official website hasn't issues a press release or posted a video.

 

Agreed. I fear that this is going to be a pattern for ST news.

 

The director will no doubt be the next Deadline/THR leak. What's most interesting is that Vulture scooped both regarding Arndt.