Monday, 7/7/97 UCLA film student sells comic film script for six
figures Universal buys screenplay, potentially sparking Price’s
career
By Hala Ali Daily Bruin Staff Two years ago, he decided to
become a screenwriter. Now, he is revising a script worth up to
half a million dollars for Universal Pictures. Many writers spend
half their lives developing scripts with the hope that one day
their scripts will be bought. Many never are. But Brian Price,
currently a student at UCLA’s School of Film and Television, sold a
script that he wrote in 10 weeks for $125,000 to $500,000. Last
year, Price presented his screenplay at the Geffen Playhouse to an
"industry audience," where he won the Screenwriter’s Showcase. This
was when people began calling. After the initial revisions were
complete, Price’s agent sent out the script to production
companies. "We went with the company that was most likely to get it
made, not the one offering the most money," said Price. "It puts me
on the map." The company they chose was Universal Pictures.
"Universal was very big on it. They were looking for their next
‘Liar, Liar,’ " Price said. After several more revisions and dozens
of meetings, the script is now nearly completed. Price expects it
will go through one more revision before being sent out to
directors and actors. The script, titled "The Many Lives of Bobby
Ivers," depicts a man whose psychiatrist dies while providing him
with past-life hypnotic therapy. Losing control of his identity,
Bobby is caught switching back and forth between his many past
lives. Price attributes his inspiration for the story idea to Robin
Williams, who provided the genie’s voice in the Disney cartoon film
"Aladdin." "I was watching ‘Aladdin’ and commenting to myself how
cool it was to jump from character to character," he said. The
story idea was also inspired by issues he had dealt with in his own
life. Price’s interest in the human personality and its components
helped him to not only develop a comedic story, but showed some of
his own underlying issues. These issues were conveyed through the
main character, Bobby, who lives his life without taking risks,
avoiding any possibility of rejection. But through the story, he
(like his creator Price) learns that even if the outcome is
failure, it is definitely worth the try. Price is also interested
in what factors make a person. "No matter how you change the
physical context of a person or life, what makes them fundamentally
unique is still the same," he said. After the inspirations for the
idea, the writer then spends months or even years writing and
rewriting the script. The ability to create a world serves as a
driving force for Price, as well as other film students. "Even if
no one buys (the screenplay), you’re still creating characters and
a world," Price said. Laurie Hutzler, a film student who sold a
script to a Canadian production company, agrees. "You have to get
people to get up and walk across the screen, to live lives, fall in
love. You create a universe and populate it with people." Although
creating a script is a major step for any writer, it is only the
beginning. The script undergoes several revisions and bounces back
and forth between the production company and the writer. According
to Hal Ackerman, a professor at the school of Film and Television,
selling a script can mean everything and nothing. "Whenever a new
writer sells something, everyone knows he becomes hot property."
However, Ackerman said, the screenplay must actually be made into a
movie in order for the writer’s career to solidify. Hutzler drew a
contrast between selling a script and having a career. "It’s
important to sell a script, but it’s only one step. You have to
sell repeatedly to have a career." The writing process is not
usually done alone. There are mentors, and in the case of students,
professors who work with them. "The Many Lives of Bobby Ivers" was
created in a graduate seminar taught by Ackerman that Price took.
The two worked closely on the screenplay and developed a
"student-mentor relationship," according to Ackerman. "He’s a very
gifted young man, very attentive to his craft," Ackerman said.
"Both of us benefited." Ackerman said that Price’s "good sense of
the human condition" and his ability to work well with others are
important characteristics to his success. "He has stamina, a gift
very necessary for writers to have," Ackerman said. Price bestows
most of the credit on the seminar and the UCLA Film School. "I
didn’t know the first thing about writing before (the class),"
Price said. Although what he has learned at UCLA has already won
him a bit of fame and a lot of money, Price admits he does not know
it all. He was able to graduate last quarter, but decided to
continue his education. "I feel like I’ve got a lot more to learn,"
he said. Although the sale of a screenplay written by a student is
rare in most schools, it has become a common occurrence at UCLA.
"The UCLA screenwriting program has become the screenwriting school
of the world," Ackerman said. Of the five scripts presented in the
showcase where Price’s was displayed, three were bought. UCLA
graduates have also had a high success rate with their sales. Five
major motion pictures currently playing, "Jurassic Park," "Con
Air," "Speed 2," "Face/Off," and "Men in Black," were all written
by graduates of the UCLA writing program, according to Ackerman.
"Success feeds on success. It’s going to keep happening," Ackerman
said. GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin Second-year screenwriting MFA
student Brian Price stands beside clippings reporting the sale of
his script to Universal Pictures. Previous Daily Bruin Story Making
the grade, January 27, 1997