Hollywood Mogul Dynasty

[gkb]

After reading Anxiety’s excellent Hollywood Mogul dynasty (which you can find here) I decided to purchase the game and try one of my own. This is the first dynasty I've ever posted here, so I'm a bit nervous, but I will hopefully enjoy the process of learning to play the game while I write about it here.

So first some set up. I have downloaded Belch’s Hollywood Mogul talent files and pictures (you can download these here). I’m playing the game on the easiest level of difficulty, New In Town, which has an annual budget of $125,000,000. I name my studio after myself, GKB Motion Pictures, and set up all of my menus and color options. I leave the game ends option at 100 pictures, but I have no idea if I’ll make it that far.

With all of that set, lets get started…

[gkb]

My available cash starts at $1,000,000,000, which seems like a lot, but I’m sure it’ll go fast. It sure did when I played the demo anyway. =) I can borrow up to $5,000,000,000, but I’m not planning on doing that unless absolutely necessary.

The first thing I need to do is pick up projects to develop. These projects come from one of three different sources; novels, original screenplays, or stage plays.Of these three sources, I'll prefer scripts from the screenplay section. These have the advantage of already being a screenplay (obviously) and therefore develop more quickly (I hope).

I’m not going to produce any movies that don’t have 5 star scripts. That means it’s probably going to take me a little bit of time before I can start my first movie. I will also stay away from any novel, screenplay, or stage play that have fewer than 3 stars to start.

So, all of that said, lets take a look at what’s available.

In the original screenplay section there’s a four star script…

Overall Coverage: 4
Title: Immigration
Cost: $3,900,000
Synopsis: The lives and loves of two US Border patrol guards.
Genre: Drama
Main Character Arc: 2
Character Development: 5
Plot/Plot Twists: 5
Dialogue: 5
Pace: 4
Intelligence: 1
Genre Elements: 3
Sub-Genre Elements: None

If I decide to pick this script up I’ll be rewriting the Main Character Arc (MCA) and Intelligence parts. I would like the MCA to be stronger as this is the most important attribute to actors and actresses. I also hate to see the MCA low in conjunction with a low Intelligence, and the clincher is that I really don’t like the synopsis. I pass on this one.

I see another screenplay that grabs my attention:

Overall Coverage: 3
Title: Silly Putting
Cost: $3,500,000
Synopsis: The lives and loves of those who work in the world of miniature golf.
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Main Character Arc: 5
Character Development: 5
Plot/Plot Twists: 1
Dialogue: 1
Pace: 2
Intelligence: 5
Genre Elements: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: None

I would have to rewrite Plot/Plot Twists, Dialogue, and Pace, but everything else is a 5 already, which pleases me.

There are several other screenplays with an overall coverage of 3 (Web Of Deceit, Harem, Old Flames Never Die, and Darling, I Ate The Neighbors), but they don’t interest me as much as Silly Putting, and I decide to pick that screenplay up and make it my studio’s first project.

[gkb]

I head over to the Novels section and notice right away that these are more expensive than the screenplays. The top novel, Testing Ground, sells for $5,400,000 and I’m not interested in it. In fact, I pass on all of the novels including the following which all had a coverage score of 3: Testing Ground, Starship Gladiator, Blood, Traitor, and Death House.

Over in the stage plays section I notice the same thing I noticed about the novels, these are expensive. The top one doesn’t interest me much…

Overall Coverage: 4
Title: The Advent Of Society
Cost: $5,850,000
Synopsis: Two married couples question the lives they live.
Genre: Drama
Main Character Arc: 3
Character Development: 2
Plot/Plot Twists: 5
Dialogue: 1
Pace: 4
Intelligence: 5
Genre Elements: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: None

I pass on this one along with two other's that have a coverage of 3 (Frank and Susan & Lay Down With The Devil).

Having only picked up one project so far I peruse the screenplays once more. I decide to purchase one more original screenplay:

Overall Coverage: 3
Title: Web Of Deceit
Cost: $3,400,000
Synopsis: A woman is caught in a game of cat-and-mouse with a stranger.
Genre: Suspense Thriller
Main Character Arc: 1
Character Development: 1
Plot/Plot Twists: 1
Dialogue: 4
Pace: 5
Intelligence: 5
Genre Elements: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: None

I’ll have to rewrite the MCA, Character Development, and Plot (pretty much the whole story), but I like the synopsis the best of the remaining screenplays. So this one becomes my studio’s second project.

[gkb]

I’m done with purchasing scripts for this month, but I need to work on both of the projects I picked up. I start by taking a look at Silly Putting and decide to hire Barry Irvine as the writer. He’s a rewrite specialist with the following ratings:

Overall: 5
Name: Barry D. Irvine
Cost: $4,000,000
Plot/Plot Twists: 5
Dialogue: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: 5
Script Polish: 5
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $72M, $3M, and $48M

It only costs ½ a writer’s salary to do a rewrite, so I’ll be paying Mr. Irvine $2,000,000 to rewrite the Plot and Dialogue. I make the decision to not have Mr. Irvine work on the Pace as it isn’t one of his strengths. I’ll need to hire another write after Mr. Irvine finishes up to rewrite that area of the screenplay.

Now I open up Web Of Deceit and take a look at it. It needs to have the MCA, Character Development, and the Plot rewritten, but after searching through the rewrite specialists I don’t find any writer that has two of these three areas. I decide to check in the screenwriter section and find one author that meets my needs…

Overall: 5
Name: Caroline Daroline
Cost: $4,000,000
Main Character Arc: 5
Character Development: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: 5
Script Polish: 2
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $26M, $198M, and $64M

I’ll have to find another write after Ms. Daroline finishes up to work on the Plot. I pay Ms. Daroline $2,000,000 and that does it for my first month in charge.

[gkb]

With my annual budget costing $125,000,000 I start each month by paying $10,416,000. My current cash position starting February of 2004 is $978,684,000.

Before we take a look to see how our scripts are coming along, a retirement is announced. Producer David Brown has retired to a love commune apparently. I’m sure he’ll be very happy there…we wish him well.

Both scripts are scheduled to have their rewrites finished up in March of this year. So there’s nothing we can do with either one of them at the moment. I head off to see if I can find any other screenplays, novels, or stage plays that I’m interested in.

I check the screenplays first and find one I like right away:

Overall Coverage: 4
Title: Sandy Beach
Cost: $4,000,000
Synopsis: Shipwrecked on a deserted island, a young couple struggles to survive.
Genre: Drama
Main Character Arc: 5
Character Development: 4
Plot/Plot Twists: 3
Dialogue: 3
Pace: 5
Intelligence: 5
Genre Elements: 1
Sub-Genre Elements: None

I’m worried a bit about the production costs of this one. I’ll definitely film it on an island and I imagine that’ll be expensive, but it’s a good script and I purchase it. I’ll need to rewrite the Genre element of the script and polish the rest that isn’t already rated at 5 stars.

I check the novels area next and see some familiar books. Testing Ground, Starship Gladiator, Blood, and Death House are all still there and they’re joined by another script that has a coverage of 3 stars, Always and Forever. I’m not interested in any of these so I check the stage plays...

Advent of Society and Lay Down With the Devil are both still there, but no new scripts that are rated any higher than 2 stars, so I’m done buying new scripts for this month.

[gkb]

I need to find an author to rewrite the genre portion of my new script. I search through the rewrite specialists and try to find one rated highly in Genre and also with an overall rating of 5 stars.

Overall: 5
Name: Jenny Norris
Cost: $4,000,000
Main Character Arc: 2
Intelligence: 2
Genre Elements: 5
Script Polish: 2
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $186M, $100M, and $138M

Ms. Norris doesn’t really seem to excel at much other than writing Genre Elements and I wonder how she achieved her overall rating of 5 stars. She does have some decent box office gross figures and despite some misgivings, I hire her for $2,000,000.

That’s about it for this month. There wasn’t much going on, but next month I get to see how my first two scripts fared in their rewrites.

[gkb]

Monthly Budget Expense Payment $10,416,000
Available Cash $962,268,000

My assistant informs me that new drafts of Silly Putting and Web of Deceit have been turned over to the executives in development for their reaction.

Before I have a chance to take a look at them, Nicholas Cage swings by and asks to take a meeting with me. I oblige and listen to his pitch of a western called Lonesome Creek. The story has a coverage of 2 stars and Nicholas is asking for $8,500,000 plus 30% of the box office to write, produce, and star in it. I politely tell him no and ask him to leave…and mention that if he should return it would be better if he brought something along that wasn’t a western.

I had Barry Irvine rewriting the Plot and Dialogue on the Silly Putting script. The results are in…

Overall Coverage: 3
Title: Silly Putting
Plot/Plot Twists: 4
Dialogue: 1

He was able to increate the Plot by 3 stars, taking it from a 1 to a 4, which is great I think. I’m less pleased with the Dialogue results obviously; he didn’t improve those at all. So I need to find a writer to work on the Dialogue and Pace. After checking out the rewrite specialist I find one I like.

Overall: 4
Name: Pat Mare
Cost: $4,000,000
Character Development: 2
Dialogue: 5
Pace: 4
Script Polish: 4
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $62M, $31M, and $183M

I hire Pat for $2,000,000 and ask her to rewrite both the Dialogue and Pace, even though she’s only rated at 4 stars for Pace.

I had Caroline Daroline rewriting the MCA and Character Development portions of the screenplay. Here are the results:

Overall Coverage: 3
Title: Web Of Deceit
Main Character Arc: 1
Character Development: 1

You can see that Caroline didn’t improve the script at all. I wonder if that’s because she wasn’t a rewrite specialist or just bad luck on my part. Regardless of the reason, I wasted $2,000,000 and two months later this screenplay is no closer to being ready for pre-production. Well I know that Barry Irvine was able to increase Silly Putting’s Plot by 3 stars so I hire him to work on this script’s Plot (which also has 1 star) and hope he gets similar results.

The rewrite for Sandy Beach will be complete next month, so there’s nothing for me to do there. I decide to go hunting for another property to develop…

[klayman]

Originally Posted by gkb

You can see that Caroline didn’t improve the script at all. I wonder if that’s because she wasn’t a rewrite specialist or just bad luck on my part. Regardless of the reason, I wasted $2,000,000 and two months later this screenplay is no closer to being ready for pre-production. Well I know that Barry Irvine was able to increase Silly Putty’s Plot by 3 stars so I hire him to work on this script’s Plot (which also has 1 star) and hope he gets similar results.

I've generally found that script polish is the most important skill in rewritting which is probably why the script wasn't improved at all. I generally stay away from the overpriced rewrite specialists, and just try to find a cheap writer with high script polish. You can get about 10-20 rewrites out of them for the same price as the rewrite specialists, which should save you some money.

[gkb]

I've generally found that script polish is the most important skill in rewritting which is probably why the script wasn't improved at all. I generally stay away from the overpriced rewrite specialists, and just try to find a cheap writer with high script polish. You can get about 10-20 rewrites out of them for the same price as the rewrite specialists, which should save you some money.

Thanks for the advice Klayman, although it's a bit disappointing to think that all I need to do to get a good rewrite is find any cheap writer with a high script polish score. I'll definitely give it a whirl and see how it turns out.

[gkb]

In the screenplays section there are three scripts that are 3 star rated. None of them intrigue me. Two are science fiction pics and one is a drama about firemen. I like science fiction, but the synopsis of these two didn’t interest me so I pass on all three.

In the novels I see some titles I recognize, Testing Ground, Starship Gladiator, Blood, and Death House are all still available. I’m still not interested in them. A few other 3 star books, All Talk, Beachhead, and To Sail The Seas, join them. I’m not interested in any of the new ones either, although I did briefly consider Beachhead, an action adventure about Navy SEALs storming an island stronghold.

In the stage play area I see, The Advent Of Society, is still hanging around and still a 4 star rated play. Joining it are, The Quack That Quaked, Morning Sickness, and Lay Down With The Devil. The Quack That Quaked is listed as a musical farce…I’m not really sure what that is, but I’m positive I’m not interested in making a movie about it.

So that leaves one other option, I could hire a writer to create a screenplay based on an idea of my own (or more appropriately based on a book I’ve read in the past). Here are some that spring to mind…

The Gunslinger by Stephen King
The Eye Of The World by Robert Jordan
A Game Of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind
Magician: Apprentice by Raymond Feist

All of the above are first books in a series of novels that I’ve enjoyed. As some of the series have continued (Jordan’s) I’ve enjoyed them less, but I thought all of these first ones were outstanding. I decide not to hire anyone to write a screenplay based on any of these right now, but I’ll keep them in mind for the future.

With that I’m finished for the month.

[gkb]

Monthly Budget Expense Payment: $10,416,000
Available Cash: $947,852,000

Project List
Silly Putting – Romantic Comedy – Screenplay Rewrite May 2004
Web Of Deceit – Suspense Thriller – Screenplay Rewrite May 2004
Sandy Beach – Drama – Completed Screenplay

Here’s a quick reminder of who I had rewriting Sandy Beach. I had assigned Jenny to work on the Genre Elements portion of the script.

Overall: 5
Name: Jenny Norris
Genre Elements: 5
Script Polish: 2

Change:

Overall Coverage: 3 (-1)
Title: Sandy Beach
Genre Elements: 1 (0)

So Ms. Norris didn’t improve the Genre Elements at all and in fact, took the script from 4 stars to 3 stars, although all of the other ratings are the same. I revert to the original script so we’re back at square one with it, but it we did waste a month’s time and $2,000,000. I go in search of a cheap writer with a high Script Polish based on Klayman’s advice.

Overall: 5
Name: Squid Keel
Cost: $100,000
Main Character Arc: 2
Dialogue: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: 5
Script Polish: 5
Best Work In: Horror
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $38M, $162M, and $9M

I hire Squid to rewrite the Genre Elements for $50,000.

Screenplays:

Only four screenplays are rated at 3 stars this month. Three of the four are Westerns and it isn’t that I have anything against a Western, but I think the screenplay would have to be outstanding before I’d consider it. So I pass on all them this month.

Novels:

The top rated novel is a 4 star book titled, Congressional Aide. I purchase it for $6,450,000. Yeah it’s a lot, but I think it has a lot of promise.

Stage Plays:

There is one 4 star stage play this month. Yep, you guessed it…The Advent Of Society is still hanging around, waiting for someone to pick it up. It isn’t going to be me. There are three other stage plays that have a 3 star rating. I’m not interested in any of them, but the synopsis for Absent Mr. Thomas (a musical) was entertaining I thought…The boss is dead, long live the copy boy.

[gkb]

Here’s Congressional Aide’s information:

Overall Coverage: 4
Title: Congressional Aide
Cost: $6,450,000
Synopsis: A senator’s aide finds a plan to overthrow the United States government.
Genre: Action Adventure
Main Character Arc: 5
Character Development: 4
Plot/Plot Twists: 5
Dialogue: 2
Pace: 5
Intelligence: 5
Genre Elements: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: None

Unfortunately since this is a novel I have to hire a writer to create the first draft screenplay. I wish this were already in screenplay form because the scores are very high and I’m not entirely sure what I should be looking for in a writer. Do I find one who is strong in dialogue since that’s the books weakest area? Or do I find one who has the highest scores in as many areas as possible?

I decide to go with high scores in several areas.

Overall: 5
Name: Lora Wadsworth
Cost: $4,000,000
Character Development: 5
Plot/Plot Twists: 5
Dialogue: 4
Script Polish: 5
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $71M, $64M, and $85M

Lets hope Lora does the adaptation well…with her the cost of the rights to the novel and her costs; I’ve already spent over $10M for this screenplay.

That’s it for April and unless we see our scripts improve rapidly I doubt we’ll be releasing any movies this year. That’s not great.

[Abe Sargent]

Good Luck!!!!!


-Anxiety

[gkb]

Thanks for checking in and wishing me luck Anxiety. I'm looking forward to the continuation of your HM dynasty.

[gkb]

Monthly Budget Expense Payment: $10,416,000
Available Cash: $926,936,000

Project List

Silly Putting – Romantic Comedy – Completed Screenplay
Web Of Deceit – Suspense Thriller – Completed Screenplay
Sandy Beach – Drama – Screenplay Rewrite June 2004
Congressional Aide – Action Adventure – First Draft Screenplay Aug 2004

Let’s take a look at Silly Putting first. I had hired Pat Mare to rewrite the Dialogue and Pace…here are her stats once again:

Overall: 4
Name: Pat Mare
Dialogue: 5
Pace: 4
Script Polish: 4

This is where the relevant areas of the screenplay sit now:

Overall Coverage: 4 (+1)
Title: Silly Putting
Dialogue: 1 (0)
Pace: 4 (+2)

She didn’t improve the Dialogue at all, but did bump the Pace up by 2 stars and the Overall Coverage now sits at 4 stars. I’m relatively pleased with those results. Mostly I’m relieved that there was some improvement at all. I really only need someone to rewrite the dialogue now.

Overall: 5
Name: Howard Trey
Cost: $700,000
Plot/Plot Twists: 4
Dialogue: 5
Intelligence: 4
Script Polish: 5
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $37M, $3M, and $207M

I hire Howard (who is a Screenwriter and not a Rewrite Specialist) to do a rewrite on the dialogue for $350,000.

[gkb]

I check on Web Of Deceit and see how it’s coming along. I had hired Barry Irvine and assigned him to this screenplay’s Plot. He did decent work on Silly Putting’s Plot, a Romantic Comedy, raising it 3 stars, and I had hoped he would have similar success here with a Suspense Thriller.

Overall: 5
Name: Barry D. Irvine
Plot/Plot Twists: 5
Script Polish: 5

Overall Coverage: 3 (0)
Title: Web Of Deceit
Plot/Plot Twists: 1 (0)

No change…again. So I’ve had two different rewrite specialists work on this screenplay and neither of them have increased it at all. Luckily I’ve spent $2,000,000 on them each. Shaking my head I go looking for a writer that might have some more success. I still need to work on the MCA, Character Development, and Plot for this screenplay. They’re all still rated at 1 star.

Overall: 5
Name: Zeb Zimmer
Cost: $100,000
Main Character Arc: 4
Intelligence: 4
Sub-Genre Elements: 5
Script Polish: 5
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $67M, $132M, and $100M

I hired Zeb for $50,000 and let him rewrite the MCA. Lets hope he makes some positive changes.

[gkb]

Screenplays:

There are three screenplays that have a 3 star rating. I’m interested in the top one, Death Merchant, another Action Adventure. I decide to purchase this one for $3,500,000. I pass on the other two.

Novels:

There are two novels this month with 4 star ratings. They’re both dramas and both are expensive. I’m kind of interested in the top one, The Secret Affair, but not interested enough to pay $6,000,000 for it.

Stage Plays:

In the stage plays section there are also two properties that rate 4 stars. Of course one is, The Advent Of Society and the other is called, Mortgaged. It looks like a decent concept, but it costs a whopping $7,200,000 and is a Comedy Parody. I already have one new project for the month so I pass on the stage plays as well.

Death Merchant’s Info:

Overall Coverage: 3
Title: Death Merchant
Cost: $3,500,000
Synopsis: A master terrorist initiates a mass killing that throws a city into panic.
Genre: Action Adventure
Main Character Arc: 4
Character Development: 4
Plot/Plot Twists: 1
Dialogue: 4
Pace: 5
Intelligence: 1
Genre Elements: 4
Sub-Genre Elements: None

I hire Cheryl Cottonwood to work on the Plot and pay her $50,000. Cheryl is not a rewrite specialist.

Overall: 5
Name: Cheryl Cottonwood
Cost: $100,000
Plot/Plot Twists: 5
Dialogue: 5
Sub-Genre Elements: 5
Script Polish: 5
Last 3 Box Office Grosses: $72M, $3M, and $48M

That’s it for this month…

[Lokugh]

Originally Posted by gkb

Thanks for the advice Klayman, although it's a bit disappointing to think that all I need to do to get a good rewrite is find any cheap writer with a high script polish score. I'll definitely give it a whirl and see how it turns out.

A rewrite specialist is good when the script absolutely sucks. Then you are doing a complete rewrite, and the rewrite specialists have some advantages. When you are just working on one or two elements, that is basically just a polish job. Like all polish jobs, it takes a number of passes. So go for the cheap guys.

Basically, if you buy good screenplays, instead of writing from scratch or converting novels, you probably won't ever use a rewrite specialist. Or so I have found.

Lokugh

[gkb]

A rewrite specialist is good when the script absolutely sucks. Then you are doing a complete rewrite, and the rewrite specialists have some advantages. When you are just working on one or two elements, that is basically just a polish job. Like all polish jobs, it takes a number of passes. So go for the cheap guys.

Basically, if you buy good screenplays, instead of writing from scratch or converting novels, you probably won't ever use a rewrite specialist. Or so I have found.

So do you only use a rewrite specialist for "Page 1" rewrites? Or do you also use them for rewriting when most of the script is at one or two stars? If you use them for the latter do you assign them to rewrite all of the poor parts of the screenplay or just the areas they have strengths in?

Thanks for reading and for the advice.