{"id":13,"date":"2005-04-06T21:10:24","date_gmt":"2005-04-07T05:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/?p=13"},"modified":"2005-04-07T13:19:52","modified_gmt":"2005-04-07T21:19:52","slug":"every-copywriter-has-a-screenplay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/every-copywriter-has-a-screenplay\/","title":{"rendered":"Every copywriter has a screenplay"},"content":{"rendered":"

More proof that every copywriter<\/a> has a screenplay.<\/p>\n

Years ago, every copywriter of a certain age had the Great American Novel hidden in his desk waiting to be published. (Don’t laugh — I’ve seen the manuscripts.)<\/p>\n

Now it seems it’s a screenplay or four.<\/p>\n

Billboards are appearing in Hollywood saying such things as Kevin Costner, I wrote Sam Bingo just for you.
\njaythewriter.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are variations. In one, the last name is crossed out and Kline is written in.<\/p>\n

\"LA<\/a><\/p>\n

I can’t think of any good movie where these two actors could be substituted for each other, can you? But maybe that’s the running gag of the changing billboards.<\/p>\n

The author of the billboards and scripts is not a young Hollywood aspirant (Lizzy Weiss before she sold Blue Crush?) or some studio insider with a juicy story to tell, but Jay Taylor, a 67-year old former agency head and copywriter from Tucson, Arizona.<\/p>\n

Yes, he has four screenplays in different genres on offer at his www.JaytheWriter.com<\/a> site.<\/p>\n

I wish Mr. Taylor all the best with getting those scripts produced. I hope his screenwriting is as innovative as this in-you-face promotion method. The Arizona Star, a Tucson newspaper<\/a> says he is “about as subtle as a calliope in a tin shed.” <\/p>\n

“Please fax me which ones you want.” is what he says on his website. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he has publicity in more and more places and most of it is negative. No, it’s slamming: “the sheer audacity<\/a> of a pathetic individual” “idea that anyone would waste that kind of money doing something so retarded<\/a>,” that from an anonymous agent in the LA Times, quoted on the www.defamer.com Hollywood insider blog.<\/p>\n

What kind of money, you ask? Try $75,000 to $100,000.<\/a> Even in LA, spending like that on billboard ads pitching your script seems excessive. (Some of the people seeing this billboard must wonder what new sitcom it’s pushing: OK, give me the punchline. Is it “See Ray Romano laugh his way to fame in The Mailroom Fridays, at 8?”)<\/p>\n

Still, the marketing stunt got the writer a spot on the Tonight Show recently and the interest of at least one A-list star. Is he named Kevin?<\/p>\n

*******<\/p>\n

For a gentle view of this marketing campaign, see Creative Screenwriting<\/a>, current (March\/April) issue. More online sightings of this marketing effort are in these<\/a> blogs.<\/a><\/p>\n

For the strange paths that some well-known movies like Seven<\/strong> and While You Were Sleeping<\/strong> took to the Googleplex, read The Big Deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More proof that every<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myadportfolio.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}