2 posts tagged “developmentally disabled”
For Immediate Release
January 13, 2008
Integrated Entertainment Management, 2166 W. Broadway, #268, Anaheim, CA 92804
Contact: Frank Richards (888) 372-6523
Screenwriter, Frank Rogala, has made a last
ditch YouTube.com * video "pitch" to save his
movie. After six years of research, writing and rewriting, in
February 2008, Rogala will lose the rights to the story his
screenplay is based on. Complicating matters, the Writers
Guild of America strike has shut down Hollywood's normal channels of
communication. As a first time writer, Rogala is not a member of the guild and violates no agreements by trying to place the screenplay with a production company or studio.
The screenplay is based on the book Retards,
Rebels and Slackers by Jaina Bell, a no holds barred story of a
staff member working in group homes for the developmentally
disabled. The author drew upon 9 years experience as a staff
member in group homes to create a realistic picture of the
developmentally disabled that intrigued Rogala, who found the book
while he was finishing his first film, Won't Anybody Listen.
Won't
Anybody Listen, a feature length documentary, was picked up for
theatrical distribution by Seventh Art Releasing, and
critically acclaimed by major publications (The New York Times,
The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and The Los Angeles Times).
Television broadcast rights were bought by the Sundance Channel
and Netflix now holds DVD rights.
The screenplay
has been retitled There's No Place Like "A Home" . Described as
Superbad meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, the
film is a drama/comedy. "Bringing a story like this
to the screen requires a deft touch," explains Rogala.
"The story has roles for dozens of developmentally and
intellectually disabled actors. Mental Retardation Specialists warned me that family members and friends of
the developmentally disabled could
be very emotional. There was a
'hate' email campaign started against the project when it was first
announced," Rogala reveals. "After that, I made sure
to explain the genesis of the whole project and my intentions on the
web page for the film . When
you feature the intellectually and developmentally disabled in a
comic light you have to walk a fine line between humor and
exploitation. I feel like I finally have it right, professional
readers that I hired to help me review the various drafts of the
screenplay have told me that the screenplay has a number of meaty
roles for actors and actresses and is precisely the type of story
that critics and the academy love," Rogala explained.
"I
am hoping that a bankable actor or actress will fall in love with the
project and save it from oblivion," said Rogala. The video
makes a plea to the public to use their seven degrees of separate to
help get word of the screenplay to just such an actor or actress.
Rogala originally hit the national scene as the lead singer of
EXUDE when their parody of Cindy Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have
Fun (Boys Just Want To Have Sex)debuted at #2 on the
independent music charts. Selected by Musician Magazine
as The Best Unsigned Band in America (judged by Elvis
Costello, Mark Knopfler, T-Bone Burnett, Mitchell Froom), and MTV's
National Basement Tapes talent search competition, Frank went on
to independently produce and score Won't Anybody Listen with
his brother Vince.
A screenwriter faced with the writer's strike and the expiration of his option agreement on a six year writing project makes an Emergency Pitch to have a film made of his screenplay about a young woman's adventure working in group homes for the developmentally disabled and struggles with mental retardation specialists. Frank Rogala explains this is his second film after Won't Anybody Listen.
