The One-Page Screenplay: Michael Brandt & Derek Haas's Messy Life
Welcome to The One-Page Screenplay, the brass-fastener-obsoleting Movieline feature in which we ask some of our favorite screenwriters to produce a script that exists on a single page. (I then hand that unread script directly to my assistant, who compiles a four-word-long coverage report for me.) We're thrilled to report that today's offering, Messy Life, comes to us from the hugely talented team of Michael Brandt & Derek Haas -- the same Brandt & Hass who tamed the Bale in 3:10 to Yuma, and turned ballistics curvature into sheer visual poetry in Wanted. Enjoy. This is a good one.
The Official Bio:
Writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas are the force behind such engaging, fast-paced, kinetic screenplays as 2008's blockbuster WANTED. Brandt and Haas' adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel starred James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie and grossed $339 million worldwide.
Brandt and Haas will be adapting the novel THE THIRTEENTH HOUR for New Line Cinema with Michael DeLuca producing. The story follows a man falsely accused of brutally murdering his wife who is given an opportunity to go back in time, in one hour increments for 12 hours, to find and stop his wife's killer before it's too late.
Brandt and Haas also adapted THE MATARESE CIRCLE, based on Robert Ludlum's novel, for MGM with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler producing. Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise are attached to star and David Cronenberg will direct.
Brandt and Haas first met at Baylor University in 1989, where they attended both undergrad and graduate school. At Baylor, Brandt received an MA in Film and Haas graduated with an MA in English Literature. The duo started writing screenplays together in the mid 1990s.
Their first produced work, Universal's 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, has amassed over $236M in worldwide box office. In September 2007, Brandt and Haas wrote film 3:10 TO YUMA, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, directed by James Mangold.
The One-Page Screenplay:
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Comments
Great. This is the first one that is a story as opposed to a self-contained scene. But we'll have to change the ending to something less sad and ironic. No one wants the cycle of life anymore. We're thinking that last scene should be Braden telling his son, "I've learned my lesson and we will not live happily ever after."
Make one of the characters (I don't care which one) a robot, and isn't that the plot of all four Terminator movies?
and the cat's in the cradle with the silver spoon...
I'm unclear about the last scene.
Did SON have to get BRADEN cleaned up because he made a dookie in his bed again?
It's very sweet. Maybe this can help get Derek and Michael's careers going.
How does the audience know Braden is the same guy? Or maybe different people on the same day a la Short Cuts? Does it begin in the 1930s or end in the 2080s? I HAVE NOTES.
The ending is perfect; the cycle of life can not be ignored.
pretty moving ending. i dig.
That was great. Definitely my favorite of all of them so far.
I think the one page script is excellent. It covered the entire scope of a life, where there was one theme constantly present.
Mike & Derek are not only excellent writers, they're at the top of the game.
For those that think they aren't at the top of the heap, they should look at how well these two guys have adapted some tough scripts, and honored and respected the original scripts, like they did with 3:10 To Yuma.