Current Benign Changes in OZ

The L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz screenplay is continuing! But currently I've made a few changes.

1. Jellia Jamb was dismissed from her position by Jinjur, but her keys were not take from her. She uses these to open the doors of the palace for the Scarecrow.

2. Jinjur locks up the palace. As a result, she is surprised to see the Scarecrow & Co. enter, but not worried.

3. Mombi appears and tells Tip that she's going to turn him into marble, instead of Jinjur threatening everyone else.

4. The Scarecrow lets the Field Mice free to stop Mombi. As a result, all females flee the throne room.

In addition, the posititioning of some speeches and events are altered for better drama.

Comment and tell me what you think!

Tip Vs. Charlie

Here is a casting idea: Freddie Highmore (Charlie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Tip. While I believe Freddie could play the role when he's a bit older, I believe Charlie and Tip are two very different characters.

TIP is a young boy (probably in his early teens) who doesn't know the exact truth of his past, but he is bold and is not afraid to speak his mind. He takes hold of his own destiny and makes his own decisions. A very independent young man. It turns out that he is really Princess Ozma under an enchantment. Even though he would prefer to remain a boy, he puts aside what he wants for the good of the people of Oz and becomes their rightful ruler.

CHARLIE is an even younger boy (preteen?) who lives with his family. In fact, he is a bit more comparable to my take on Dorothy than Tip. He respects and cares about them, even though it's just his parents, and four older people. He resists the temptations to misbehave in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and thus turns out be the only kid who won a golden ticket who wasn't "rotten." He is then bequeathed the Factory.

So, as you see, they are different characters, but the same actor could play them. I just think we'd better wait 'till Freddie's a little older.

First Chapter of WWOZ online for viewing

As of today, I uploaded my adaptation of the first chapter of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to my Oz site: EDIT - The PDF has been removed from the site. It no longer reflects how I want to do this adaptation. The adaptation I am doing will not be exposed to the public.

The PDF was created with a great bit of free software called "OpenOfficeOrg."

Feel free to comment on it.

And once again: if you want to see a new Oz movie on the big screen, sign my petition!

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/newoz

In the meantime, in L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz, the Sawhorse and Jack Pumpkinhead are about to run away from Tip, who shouted the wrong thing at the wrong time.

I watched a bootleg DVD of the Lost in Oz pilot yesterday. Watching that helps to warn me not to make Oz too dark...

"Dorothy: Viva La Simplicity!" & The MGM movie

Dorothy Gale is a very simple character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She doesn't need to be placed under a microscope to find out why she does what she does. When she gets to Oz, all she wants is to go home to her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em so they won't worry about her. She has no other motives. This simplicity is why her character is so charming in the book. (In later books as she grew older, her character got a little more complicated, but not too much.)

In many film versions of Oz, this simplicity is lost, and, sadly, so is the charm of her character. (The MGM film did not lose it but simply enhanced it!) This is obviously a big strength of her character, and that is why I retained it in my screenplay for L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I hope that I can get this screenplay to someone who can make it into a major motion picture (with a chance for a sequel?) with the publicity that this is not to replace the MGM movie (it's a classic and there's no replacing it!) but to offer a cinematic version of Oz that is very close to Baum's original spirit and story. That is why I put "L. Frank Baum's" at the beginning of each title.

Please, if you're reading this, sign the petition! It only has three signatures so far (one of them mine) and that won't be enough to convince anyone! The link is http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/newoz. Please sign and give the link to all of your friends who like fantasy movies and Oz!

Sequel started

Well, I couldn't wait to start the sequel...

So I did!

L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz opens in Kansas, where Dorothy and Aunt Em talk about Oz. Aunt Em is a little skeptical, saying "I'm sure that cyclone took you somewhere, but are you sure that you didn't just have a dream?" Dorothy assures her that Oz is real, she has friends there, and then she wonders what is happening in Oz now. Moving up to the sky is used to transition the film from Kansas to the Gillikin Country of Oz.

I've also made this one more humorous than Wonderful Wizard. When Mombi tells Tip she intends to make him into a marble statue for her garden, he says "I hope they (the flowers) all wilt." Mombi responds with "I'll have no more of that talk! Especially when you become a statue!"

Keep you posted!

P.S. If you're reading this blog, please comment to let me know you're out there! I'll be more likely to keep you informed of my Adventure adapting the Oz series into films if I know someone's interested.

Screenplay finished

I've finished my screenplay. Oz was not easy to adapt without making it seem like the MGM movie. It feels like a very nice film already, and it's also kind of fast-paced. I'm thinking of, however, doing something to give the Wicked Witch of the West some more screen time as she is not introduced until the Wizard tells Dorothy & Co to kill her. (Just like the book.) I've started my petition (to send with my screenplay to show that there is an audience for a new Oz movie) and here is the link: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/newoz

I really like how this screenplay turned out just in it's first draft! I wish I could just send it to someone because I want to get started on the sequel: L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz!

Update

I haven't updated my blog in awhile.

I've actually started writing my own screenplay for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and so far have actually gotten pretty far into it. The Wicked Witch of the West is dead, and they're just about to re-enter the Emerald City. I cut out the Winged Monkey's story because it doesn't work in a film. I left in the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman's stories (the latter expanded with information from The Tin Woodman of Oz) because they are principal characters, and showing their stories makes the fulfillment of their wishes from the Wizard all the better. While the Winged Monkeys obviously want to be free from the power of the Golden Cap of Queala (as I call it in the screenplay), they are not principal characters, and thus their story will not be as meaningful as that of Dorothy and Co. (Perhaps a short about them would work, though, climaxing with Glinda presenting them with the Golden Cap, and they promise to be of service.)

I set up the character of Dorothy as a young girl who loves her guardians very much, and thus doesn't want them to worry about her, which is why she wants to go back to Kansas, as she tells the Scarecrow...

"DOROTHY: It's not Kansas I want to go back to. It's where my Aunt Em and Uncle Henry live, and they care about me, and I care about them. I want to go back so they won't worry about me. It's because our homes are where there are people who love that we'd rather live there than anywhere else. There is no place like home.

"SCARECROW: I don't really understand."

To help this theme throughout the screenplay, Dorothy carries with her a portrait of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on their wedding day. The picture is introduced in Kansas, where Aunt Em tells Dorothy about all the dissappointment they've had with living on the prarie. (This is all in Baum's book, I just had to bring it out.) Dorothy finds the portrait when she is packing her basket to leave the "crashed" house to follow the Yellow Brick Road. The Tin Woodman later comments that "If I had a family like that, I'd want to go back." When Jellia Jamb shows Dorothy her room in the palace and Dorothy is left alone, she unpacks her basket and finds the picture and says "I'm coming home as soon as I can, Aunt Em. You, too, Uncle Henry."

There are many little "enhancements," but the characters all do the same things (unlike the new Narnia's treatment of the character of the Fox) they do in the book. They just do some extra things, too. Example: when they are attacked by the Witches' wolves, the Lion stands between them and Dorothy, the Scarecrow distracts them, and the Tin Woodman axes them.

I was tempted to go overboard on the violence and disgusting content (Tin Woodman killing a total of 41 animals, the Scarecrow versus the crows, the Lion's battle, an old woman dissolving into a puddle of ooze) but abstained. I even had the Tin Woodman not kill the Wildcat who is chasing the Queen of the Field Mice, but instead throws it in the River where it swims to the surface, but is swept away by the current.

When I complete the screenplay, I'm thinking of starting a petition to show the results to film companies I'd send it to, so they'd know that this screenplay has some interest in it, and interest means these people would want to see a finished film, and likely tell their friends, relatives, etc. To promote the petition, I'm thinking of making a video with my own artwork of scenes from OZ with the track "Flying" from the 2003 film version of Peter Pan playing. Screens of text, "The story that readers have loved for over 100 years returns to the screen with new life. YOU'VE NEVER SEEN OZ LIKE THIS! Support the screenplay. Sign the petition."

Well, here's to Baum!

A new film version of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?"

I've been thinking that perhaps the time has come to make a new film version of L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Of course, the biggest problem is that there is a very popular version starring Judy Garland and produced by MGM. What made that version go over so well, and how could we learn from what they did to that film to make a new one successful? In this blog I hope to find out and figure it out.

CHAPTER ONE: The Cyclone.

This chapter introduces Dorothy and her family, then Uncle Henry notices signs that a cyclone is coming. Aunt Em runs to the cellar, Uncle Henry goes to look after the stock, while Dorothy goes to get Toto out from under the bed. The cyclone forms around the house and picks it up with Dorothy and Toto still inside. Toto falls through the open trap door that once led to the cellar, but the pressure of the wind keeps him up, and Dorothy pulls him back in. They then go to her bed, then later fall asleep.

In the MGM film, they introduce Dorothy and her family and friends (the farmhands) and nemesis (Miss Gulch), with a new story saying that Toto bit Miss Gulch on the leg, and she goes to get the sheriff so she can Toto "destroyed." Toto is captured by Gulch, but he escapes and returns to Dorothy, and the two run away from home. They meet a phony fortune teller named Professor Marvel who makes up a story that Aunt Em is sick because Dorothy ran away from home. Dorothy hurries back home. The cyclone is on it's way, and Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands are in the cyclone cellar, Aunt Em noting Dorothy is missing. Dorothy arrives back home. The cellar is locked shut, and she runs inside, hoping to find Aunt Em. The cyclone knocks a window out and it hits Dorothy on the head. She has a delirium in which she dreams that the house has been lifted by the cyclone. She can see things flying by in the window, including Miss Gulch, who is transformed into a witch on a broomstick. Dorothy turns away and falls on her bed, and soon the house crashes to the ground.

So why did the MGM film work? I think it's because they effectively established Dorothy's love for Aunt Em, so when she gets to Oz, she will want to go home to her no matter what. So, how could this be translated to a new film, without copying the MGM movie?

The MGM movie established Dorothy's love with a new subplot for the Kansas scenes with character not from the book (all of whom are suggestions of character in Dorothy's dream of Oz). However, now people want DRAMA. So, using dramatic writing, perhaps the same feeling could be established with only Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, Dorothy, and Toto, too. Instating the family dynamic of these four would probably be the best way, stating that THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO EACH OTHER, and they depend on each other, because they are a family, and all family members complete each other. Dorothy feels incomplete without Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, just as they'd feel incomplete without her.

Just a musing.

Care to comment?