M: Drafts of letters?

[namster]

I know I should have EDITed the previous post to include this, but I didn't want to make the message too long. I took your advice and erased the section about the "director's cut," focusing exclusively on the fate of the sequels. Still a bit of editing to be done -- needs a little trimming to bring it down to 1 page, and it's a tad more confrontational than the first letter, and I still don't know WHO to send it to -- but judging by your comments it's a step in the right direction.



Version 2.1 - January 13 2007
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To Mr. ***** of New Line Cinema.

My name is ***** and I am co-founder of the students' film society at ***** University.

Despite impressive earnings abroad, New Line's film The Golden Compass has nevertheless under-performed domestically. Many in the fan community are troubled by the possibility that your company may choose to forgo the sequels to the His Dark Materials film series altogether. Yet the Golden Compass has, beyond a doubt, assembled the most impressive cast and crew of any major motion picture since The Return of the King. As observed in many critical circles, The Golden Compass is a "superb" fantasy epic hampered by creative limitations to its initial script and hurt by changes made to its final cut. An excellent film nonetheless, but one with gaps in its artistic freedom. Fortunately, the majority of critics have observed the potential in this series (more optimism than they've shown previously to the first Harry Potter or Narnia instalments) and they've expressed a "burning desire" to see the sequels. Far from abandoning the series, New Line has every reason to invest in The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

Each of the His Dark Materials novels has the potential to be translated into "the perfect film": at once exquisite, passionate, and widely appealing. Readers have long held the belief that a His Dark Materials movie franchise could have rivalled New Line's own remarkable The Lord of the Rings movie franchise -- if not surpass it -- simply owing to the richness of the book's universe. There is evidence to suggest that The Golden Compass could in fact have been that successful, if only its filmmaker had been given more creative autonomy over the project. Interviews with Chris Weitz have clearly demonstrated his devotion to making the best film he possibly can, and according to journalists, his original script came close. Judging by the apparently high quality of his original script, it is the belief of many in the fan community that director Chris Weitz could have made a film good enough to surpass the Narnia and Harry Potter films. The overwhelming majority of critics have attributed The Golden Compass's flaws ultimately to its extremely short running time and "the lack of an ending" (the result of many cuts in post-production), both of which diminished character development and left several plotlines unfinished. These same critics however also give praise to "individual scenes" adapted by Chris Weitz, and there is the frequent observation that a "great" motion picture is lying just beneath the surface of The Golden Compass, constantly trying rise above the "rushed" editing. In light of this, we in the fan community humbly encourage New Line Cinema to invest in The Subtle Knife and to give final cut to its filmmaker. The greatest argument I can make is that New Line Cinema has everything possible to gain from this enterprise.

The His Dark Materials novels have earned unprecedented international acclaim (considered to be "smarter" than The Lord of the Rings books and more "responsible" than Narnia), and a more earnest & faithful adaptation of The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass can achieve equal success with both critics and the movie-going public. Weitz's original (i.e. more faithful) vision for the His Dark Materials film series should be nurtured, for it can still lead to a highly successful & award-winning film trilogy. Efforts to make a "children-friendly" film (e.g. the happier ending) turned out to be a mistake in the end, so another strategy must be considered. The next film should be magnificent, and The Subtle Knife needs to be taken in that direction at once: it deserves to be more mature in its presentation (for a smarter target audience); more daring in its depictions of violence and human tragedy; deeper in its intellectual intrigue; and a more generous running-time to give justice to an important & satisfying story. This franchise can easily flourish as long as New Line takes the investment seriously and focuses on His Dark Materials' unique strengths: its passionate characters, and its astonishing intelligence. These are qualities that are seriously lacking in the other fantasy franchises, and that is precisely why you must continue to capitalize on the His Dark Materials franchise -- simply put, because you can offer something valuable that Narnia and Harry Potter cannot. Your company gave Peter Jackson incredible creative independence, and his' turned out to be the greatest success story in the history of motion picture. For all these reasons, I humbly ask that New Line Cinema put more faith in The Subtle Knife by granting its director (& screenplay) greater artistic autonomy.

This decade has proven the undeniable appeal of serious fantasy filmmaking and its exciting potential for acclaim, popularity, and profitability. The honourable executives of New Line Cinema should be aware that you own the rights to -- potentially -- the most important book franchise of the modern world. The most tactful decision you can make is to finance the sequels and to do everything possible to guarantee their success as "serious" sci-fi fantasy. It is the hope of the fan community that New Line Cinema will soon own the two most successful film franchises of the century -- The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials. That is still our hope.

Sincerely,

- *****

[LadySylvia]

Screw it! I'm not signing this petition. It's worthless to me.

[delta10]

Screw it! I'm not signing this petition. It's worthless to me.

Now Sylvia - Namster put a lot of work into that letter. If you don't want to sign it, you don't have to. In fact I don't think he ever even suggested that everyone should. You should be more polite in your response.

Namster - your revised letter is looking much better! If I have time later I'll do some detail mark up.

[namster]

Screw it! I'm not signing this petition. It's worthless to me.

It's not a petition (so no one has to sign it), just a letter. It began with an idea mentioned by delta10 & Mockingbird on the Please Dear God Make the next Two Movies thread. If ever the fan community decides to collectively use fan letters as a means of persuasion, well, then at least we'd have some kind of a head start. And if anyone is thinking of writing a letter of their own, I welcome you to draw ideas from any of my drafts here and to draw ideas from the messages on this board in helping to write their own letters. People have given me a lot of good suggestions here on this thread and they're all good things to keep in mind!

It may prove to be useless, in the end. But I had the urge to see the sequels made and the irresistable urge to write about it. If nothing else, it'll hopefully give people ideas.

Namster - your revised letter is looking much better! If I have time later I'll do some detail mark up.

Thanks!

I took jessia's advice and made it a tad more confrontational, but I might be making the films look too bad. It's hard to balance "Your company destroyed this film's chances at the box office!" with "Your film was great!"

[karina]

Moderators, would it be wise to petition for a director's cut right now? I think it would be a good idea to organize a petition group and send a few letters ( maybe e-mails?) on over to Time Warner. Do you guys have any suggestions on where to send such letters

[karina]

That's a better idea, petitioning for the sequels.

I really like your letter Namster, but now that New line has been pulled under Time Warner isn't it more valuable to refer to Time Warner, since they have the money?

And, if anybody else is on it I would be willing to sign Namster's petition (or send my own letter?). Hope this fan site can come to a consensus soon.

[Blossom]

Moderators, would it be wise to petition for a director's cut right now? I think it would be a good idea to organize a petition group and send a few letters ( maybe e-mails?) on over to Time Warner. Do you guys have any suggestions on where to send such letters

Whether you organise a petition or not has nothing to do with us. Feel free to gather names here but if you send it in don't do it under the name of BridgeToTheStars because a petition will not represent the opinions of everyone who posts here.

[namster]

I really like your letter Namster, but now that New line has been pulled under Time Warner isn't it more valuable to refer to Time Warner, since they have the money?

And, if anybody else is on it I would be willing to sign Namster's petition (or send my own letter?). Hope this fan site can come to a consensus soon.

I'm abandoning the letter for now, owing to lack of time to re-write it, and school work the likes of which god has never seen before. I can only hope that this letter here jump starts a few letters on its own.

And the people who've posted on this thread have some excellent tips and suggestions for how to write a letter. They're all excellent advice.

But anyone who wants to write letters, you're more than welcome to crib ideas from this one, or take ideas from the articles I've written thus far (1, 2, I haven't finished updating this article yet but I suppose you can take a look if it helps speed things along...).

Moderators, would it be wise to petition...? I think it would be a good idea to organize a petition group and send a few letters ( maybe e-mails?) on over to Time Warner. Do you guys have any suggestions on where to send such letters

Best of luck with that, let me know what happens!

Whether you organise a petition or not has nothing to do with us. Feel free to gather names here but if you send it in don't do it under the name of BridgeToTheStars because a petition will not represent the opinions of everyone who posts here.

Agreed.

[SOL INVICTVS]

Hi,

I don't know if it will be of any use, but I have started a simple (and probably rather naive )
online petition to ask Time Warner to make the sequels.

Just thought it was worth mentioning.

Cheers
S.I.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/the ... tures.html

[karina]

Hey SOL INVICTVS, that's a pretty good idea, I just signed it. Hope we can collect more sinatures though, promote it.

[namster]

Thanks for sharing!

By the way, this is probably only the second petition I've seen for this movie and it's already mid-April. *sobs*

[daemon_light]

i haven't read through the whole thing yet but perhaps more concise? it needs to get straight to the point

Ditto. I couldn't finish it, that's how long it was.

I'll see if I can take a second glance at it and distill it if you haven't already.

[L and M]

Looks good! Well done! But Im the same as d_l and jessia. Havn't finished reading it yet. But it looks very good so far!

[daemon_light]

Okay... so I was inspired and wrote another one myself. Comments, please.


To Mr. ***** of New Line Cinema.

Speaking on the behalf of many fans of His Dark Materials trilogy, when Golden Compass was released and under-performed in the domestic box office, many of us became deeply concerned that the next two installments of the trilogy (The Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass) would fail to be made. Recent news that the international box office has peaked an astonishing $300+ million has given re-found hope to some fans that the next two movies would indeed be realized.

As done with the three Lord of the Rings films (and with incredible success), The Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass should be filmed at the same time so as to create more cohesive (and in that, better) films. In doing this, more people will be inspired to see them and tell others to see them as well. As a simpler and more mundane section of the trilogy, The Subtle Knife would not reach a budget nearly as high as The Golden Compass’ $180 million. The appearance of expensive elements such as the CGI environments, creatures, and daemons would be greatly limited due to its being non-integral to the story. By coming up with a well planned marketing strategy, The Subtle Knife would peak more interest in America. Gaining more interest, The Subtle Knife would bring in the money to cover the expenses of The Amber Spyglass. Once the trilogy is completed, all three of the films will then hopefully be heralded in its collective whole.

The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass should be filmed simultaneously, as I said before. A recurring criticism of The Golden Compass was its lack of cohesiveness and “last minute editing”. You allowed Peter Jackson great creative liberations when he made The Lord of the Rings, and great success came of it. By allowing the director of the next two those privileges it’d certainly be for the benefit of both you and the trilogy. In addition, many of us fans feel that although The Golden Compass was an enjoyable film, a Director’s Cut of The Golden Compass would be an excellent investment. Besides bringing in a larger profit and eager fans to see a longer edition, the extended edition could serve as promotion for the next two movies. Hopefully this letter allows you to see the potential for the next two and that there are plenty that want you to see this excellent trilogy through.

Thank you sincerely for your consideration,

****** *******

[L and M]

You're letter is also exceptionally good, d_l. It is shorter then the one by Namsters, but is also really to the point. Good letter and writing! Are you planning on sending it? Or did you just do it for the sake of it?

[daemon_light]

Haha, hopefully I'll end up sending it in considering it took me a good three quarters of an hour to write it. I'm waiting to hear more feedback. Thanks for reading it!

[L and M]

No problem, it is a good letter. You and Namster may well have inspired me to write my own!

[karina]

Hey,
Any people interested in petitioning for the HDM sequels should sign this petition which already has 81 people signed up:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/the ... tures.html

[Northen_Lights]

I think the first draft of your letter was great, namster, but the second draft was a lot better. Keep up the good work!