Transformers 2: Really?

[Sean]

Originally Posted by dubman

sean what are some of the ridiculous things they say?
"it needs a DOG! did you see UP? you cant have a movie about a HOUSE or a CASTLE without a DOG."

I wish I could give you concrete examples without disclosing key story points in the movie I'm working on, but it's hard. Actually, here's one - the character of Spock was raised by us in a recent meeting with executives (who shall remain nameless) as an example of an engaging, compelling, conflicted character who struggles to fit into both worlds he's a part of. Being raised as a half human on the planet Vulcan forced him to suppress his human, emotional characteristics, and when among humans, he now comes across as cold, overly logical and relatively out of place. But from time to time, his emotions bubble to the surface, putting him in totally awkward personal situations, but also highlighting the fact that his cross-breeding makes him uniquely qualified to do stuff that no other character is capable of. So essentially, something he's always lived with as if it's a weakness can also be one of his greatest strengths, and he struggles with that conflict.

The executive response to this was "no no no - Spock embraces his differences, and they allow him to fit perfectly into both worlds." After a brief, awkward silence, one of us on the creative side answered, "but in the new movie, you actually see him getting teased for being half human as a kid, and then it takes his older self telling him not to bury his emotions so deeply to get him to even begin accepting the idea of it". The executive response to this was "well sure, in the movie, yes", to which I replied, "it's that way in the old series, too. He's always super-logical, denying his emotional side until some life or death situation forces it out of him. And even then there was always a comedic back and forth between Spock and McCoy afterwards where Spock would cover up his emotional display with some kind of logical explanation..." at which point I was cut off by this executive with "no, that's not right. I'm a trekkie, I know this stuff really well." So I said, "okay, I guess we disagree on who Spock is..." only to be cut off again with "hold on - I'm not telling you I disagree....I'm telling you that you're wrong".

The meeting then moved on to completely new topics for the next ten minutes or so, until out of absolutely nowhere, that same executive blurts out to us "by the way, you ALL have the wrong idea about who Spock is!" He may as well have been stomping his feet on the ground with a pouty face when he had that final little outburst. It was incredible to watch. And even more incredible if you're familiar with how the Spock analogy relates to a character in the film we've been developing with these people for over a year.

What the hell do you say to that kind of an egotistical nutwad who has to be right at all costs, simply saying anything to win? The guy can fire you if he wants, and he has fired a shitload of people already. So you just shut up and hope he'll forget what he said and that you can still make a decent movie. But I've come to refer to these incidents as his "sky is green" moments - as in you say "the sky is blue", and he replies "no it's not - it's green." You look up and say "but I'm looking at it right now, and I can see that it's blue", to which he would just say "look, I'm an expert on the sky, and I'm telling you that it's green".

And the other executive we primarily deal with just always has to be the smartest person in the room - to the point that they'll tell you your idea doesn't work, and will then proceed to actually pitch the exact same idea back to you in their own wording as if it's theirs, as an idea that would work. Although in those instances, you can just go along with it and say "um....good idea", knowing that at least you can do what you wanted to do in the first place with that part of the story.

Not sure if any of this makes much sense out of context of the day to day development of this project, but it's been maddening.