Robert - I love it! but come on...
I went to yeshiva, and I didn't talk to boys - but i read lots of books and lots of romances and i could've written a love story. unless these girls are sooo different and sooo sheltered.
Too bad I didn't have you as a teacher. Sounds like fun.

Mata:

My workshop strongly focuses on "truth in drama." And often the girls get tripped up when they don't have real-world experience. Nor surprising, some of their best work is based on autobiographical material. And so the leap into male/female relationship stories and scenes, not riddled by cliche's, was to say the least, a shock to the creative system.

I like these girls...in all their innocence. There's a freshness to them that no doubt can get beautifully translated onto paper, specifically into screenplays.

Pearl:

Oh, so you're going to write a screenplay about My Movie Girls? What a wonderful idea. Feel free to consult with me anytime.

Hilarious and heartwearming story!
I hope you have them writing about love - of parents and children and extended families...Love of G-d, of friendship - of yearning for that hansome yeshiva guy across the mechitza...

Amen. I am the mother of 2 boys (and one girl, but she is tiny - can't tell any major gender stuff yet), and I can say they are for sure different than the most of the girls in their classes. I just finished reading "The Minds of Boys" by Michael Gurian (he has written about girls as well). I cannot make any major generalizations about movies (My husband sees every chick flick that has come out, and I won't go with him unless something gets blown up - so I guess we are the exceptions to the rules!), but I do believe it is not 'backwards' of us to recognize gender differences and parent or teach accordingly. Not to the exclusion of one or the other gender, but with brain and maturity and behavior differences in mind! Just my .02, sorry to hog your comments! Lovely post, btw. Sweet girls!

Yael:

All of the above and much more. Here are just a few of the scripts that My Movie Girls have written, all copyrighted.

An amazing adaptation of George Orwell's "1984."

The lovely and funny "True Story of Jezebel James, Jesse Jame's Younger Sister," In which the Sheriff falls in love with Jezebel after he arrests her, and yet he is bound by law to bring her in for hanging.

"Chopin" a high school boy, abandoned by his mother, finds friendship and redemption working in a retirement home.

"The Wedding Photographer," An awkward young woman sees life clearly through the lens of her camera when she shoots weddings, but when it comes to real life--she is clueless.

"Kansas Radio," A radio DJ falls in love with an anonymous woman who calls into his station. He goes on a cross-country trip looking for her.

"Baby Talk," an ambitious and high-powered female executive falls in love with the pefect man--except for one little detail, his job. He's a Nanny. And he's happy at his low income, low status job. What to do? What to do?

"Penguin Metropolis," an animated film. The Ice Factory in Penguin Metroplois is being sold. Penguins will be thrown out of work. Ice floes will not be manufactured. The South Pole will never be the same. The animated film Disney should be making.

Robert, I was hoping you'd keep the story of your movie girls going...I smell a screen play (I think Pearl mentioned that before)...Robert, it just so happens Dustin Hoffman is looking for work...he would make a perfect you.

Ezer:

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. I happen to be a big fan of many chick flicks. But when I put on "Patton" or "The Searchers" or "The Seven Samurai" Karen and Offsprings 2, & 3 beat a hasty retreat.

Listen, the movie studios know it. They have a specific demographic they go after with the movies they release and you better believe they break that down even further into male films and female films.

And the studios search desperately for the rare film that crosses the sex barrier--so far Jane Austen adaptations are the only sure thing.

It's true - one of my husband's all-time favorite movies is "An Officer and a Gentleman". And one of mine is "Remains of the Day" (well, he likes that too actually). You'd think more films would be crossover films, actually. I am not into movies the way my husband is; he goes almost every other week - I prefer books. But I guess I wonder sometimes who the heck these studios are marketing to, what with the movies that are released. Some of the movies I have seen with my kids are better than the drivel being released for adults.

I had to comment on the interpolation. This past Sunday I was at a show and there was a ridiculously long line for the ladies room while the men were zipping in and out (oh, really, that pun was not intended but I'll leave it in for it's aptness) at a steady pace. Finally, an usher suggested that we ladies use the men's room if we don't mind. A bunch of us switched lines and then I noticed that there were men still using their restroom!! And not behind closed doors either. They never asked if they minded sharing. My husband and I were both horrified and he learned that he should always wait for a stall (no, he was not in the restroom at the time).
I agree TMGS.

Randi:

Dustin is too old and funny looking to play me. No, George Clooney or bust. Everybody says so.

Sim:

Thanks so much for your vivid commentary. To which I can only say: Eeuuww!

Stay in touch.

yeah you're right, Dustin is too old, I was thinking of Dustin during Kramer vs. Kramer days. Okay, I'll talk to George and see what we can arrange.

Robert, please hold out for Matthew McConoughey...no one else will do. I can just see him wooing the lovely Karen.

"My Movie Girls write stories of families in crisis, adolescent outsiders searching for identity, tales of smart young women who have answers for everything in life--but love."

Well then, they'll feel right at home at the Lifetime Channel. Let us know when "The Wedding Photographer" enters preproduction.

I kid, I kid.

"Baby Talk, an ambitious and high-powered female executive falls in love with the pefect man--except for one little detail, his job. He's a Nanny. And he's happy at his low income, low status job. What to do? What to do?"

What to do? Rein that career gal in. Illustrate the protaganist's journey from questioning another's happiness to unconditional acceptance. Let it be, let it be.

I can so understand the problem Your Movie Girls were facing... I think it must have been difficult for them to write even about what they dreamed - because how did they know what exactly they were supposed to dream about? Oh, sure, they probably were acquainted with the usual cliches about love and how it's supposed to make you feel and what it makes you do. But what about the individual aspects of it that can't simply be ripped off someone else, and they can't really see for sure - precisely because they've never experienced it? Kind of a closed circle... : (

Robert -
How can you suggest that "Penguin Metropolis" is the animated film Disney SHOULD be making, when Pixar - a fully integrated subsidiary of Disney - has been producing classics (a word I do not use lightly) non-stop since "Toy Story" in 1995? When making your original point here, I thought that 2003's "Finding Nemo" would at least garner a mention from you for having what is probably the most Jewish character (Marlin) in the history of the medium.

I know you have the best interests of your students in mind, but please remember to keep some perspective.

Respectfully,
Mel

Misha:

In fact, I told My Movie Girls that "The Wedding Photographer" has LifeTime written all over it.

Get this: They scowled.

They want features!

Kim:

"Let it be." Funny you should say that because basically that's how the film resolves itself.

Irina:

"A closed circle." Beautifully said and observed. But My Movie Girls always managed to break out of the circle; a triumph of imagination and discipline.

Mel:

You are right. My apologies. Thanks for the correction. Pixar is the animated studio. And yes, Marlin is a mensch.

Perspective: These girls are 14-18 years old. If you saw the best of the scripts you would swear they were written by up and coming pros.

Perspective: I've been in Hollywood for 25 years. My heart is a chunk of ice.

I loved Patton.

What you dream about, what you yearn for, can be more powerful than reality. And it is this that you should write about.

Wise words! I cannot wait to hear what they came up with.

Oh, and Ezer I love, love, loved "The Remains of the Day." And oh, how I love movies. Before I had children, we went at least once a week. I don't like watching them on TV. It's gotta be the movie theater for me!

This spring my husband had a fifth grade class write an alternative ending to "Tuck Everlasting." Every girl included a wedding; the thought never crossed any of the boys' minds.

Jack:

The script for "Patton" was written by Francis Ford Coppola. It is one of the great scripts of our time.

Earthgirl:

"Every girls included a wedding." Of course they did. They are girls. Boys would write in a car chase, or a nuclear explosion.

Robert, did you ever write Part III? I can't seem to find it on my searches. I am printing it out for my daughter who wants to be a writer.

Amy:

I never wrote Part III. Got interrupted by the war. Sorry!