View new posts | View your posts The GB3 Script Thread

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oh ok.
Not living in the US I don't know this, and I can't watch it as a result.

It would just be nice to know how far into the script he is... Like I said, it all seems to rest on him liking the script, and I am curious to hear what will be the final outcome.

I hope someone will ask him THE question. He made a Caddyshack reference in that interview...i don't think it will be difficult to ask him about Ghostbusters.

Since Bill is playing in this golf tourney I doubt he's had much chance to read the script during it. He does not strike me as a great multi-tasker. I'd be curious though if he's actually ready ANY of it since it was handed to him and what he thinks so far.

I think killing Venkman off, especially in such a tragic way early on in the film, would set the movie to be very dark, which I would say is the last thing they want to do. Ghostbusters, although the theme they tackle is pretty dark, is built on comedy. Therefore doing something like that would potentially ruin the rest of the film for movie-goers. Especially if they are thinking about keeping the original opening song. It doesn't fit.

However, the idea of Venkman dying and becoming a ghost could be a pretty good addition to the plot. But, if this was to be worked into the plot, it would probably be best to have him dead already before the film starts, or having die of more natural causes somewhere in the film.

what if Venkman doesn't die but instead broke his leg? and he'll bust from a wheelchair?

Personally if they were going to have venkman as a minor character in the new movie (like a guest star supporting role) I reckon that you should have him in jail. Admit it, there has to be some fraud case from his past that would eventually crawl back into his present life.

Movie starts with him in jail, so the team would already be a man short - all more reason to recruit. You don't see him go to jail, you just have it referenced. So at the end of the 2nd act, when things are at their worst, the old crew ghostbusters ask for a favour from the major, for dr. pete venkman to receive an early release in order to help save he day.

I think it would be a fun concept to introduce the character, and reference scenes of Bill Murray in charlie's angels, as well as John belushi's introduction from blues brothers.

Venkman in jail is actually a pretty good idea. I could buy into that thought.

i just hope they write out Venkmans character by the in the end that makes sense only due to the fact that he's so hard to deal with. so we can make future sequel's without him. it's hard to say that but it might be a necessity.

murray has to agree to be written out, if he doesnt wanna be then no more GB movies will be made

Starts off at night with some spirits causing mayhem, trashing cars etc........in the dark you see the ecto goggle peep out, watching them. the GB then gives chase, with the spirits fleeing to be then caught by another GB. both GB's then turn out to be young(ish) recruits. the originals: ray - the educator, egon - experiements and creating new weapons, winston - the "coach" or trainer. Pete - retired with dana somewhere.

a new recruit arrives, whos whilst not admitting it has cleary run away from home. he turns out to be oscar, eventually revealing that his "dad" pete has died and wants to know how he found his fame. oscar, due to too much enthusiasm on a mission, gets caught and taken away from the movies main evil spirit aslong with some more of the recruits, this leads the originals with the help of a couple or so new recruits not caught, to go after oscar and the others. the recruits get caught, the originals on their own have to save the day.....but struggle getting to them, this is when they have the idea or resurrecting petes spirit, explaining whats happened and having him be there "inside" spy so to speak to help them get to the bad guy. this would be murray's "limited" role and also gives him a classic involvement & comeback. so save the day etc and pete gets to see oscar before going back to the spirit world. comedy, action and at the end emotion. the recruits are saved and carry on saving the world. leaves room for another but personally i'd leave it, or turn it into a spin off series with the originals saying hi now and again.

be great to have louis, janine and obvioulsy dana but cant see what roles they'd have to make then wanna do it, the actors that is. janine i suppose can do her thing & room for dana what with her song being caught.

i like it anyway lol

The main thing I dislike about the idea of "new recruits" is that the original gang of Venkman, Spengler, Stantz and Zeddemore were all in their 30's when they started / joined the business. I think that added a lot of the credibility to the movie. These were guys in the middle of their lives. They all had baggage and previous failures. The Ghostbusters was their true shot at glory.

Now, flash forward to this third installment. If they do indeed go the "new recruits" line, I could very easily see the new line up being a bunch of younger, Hollywood esque actors. Not saying they'd automatically be terrible, but it would certainly take away from rustic, aged feeling the entire franchise has.

If I could get my way, the film would center around the original gang possibly coming out of retirement for the Hell / Underworld / Otherworld idea. The only, ONLY new recruit I'd like to see would be Oscar. Then, at the end of the film, after a brutal battle and a successful saving of the world (again), one of the Ghostbusters drops a line about new recruits. This excites Oscar, only to have Venkman come in and shoot the idea down, saying something about how the team's still got enough left in the tank for whatever's on the way. Similar to how Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ended. It would be a laughing play on a big fear of the GB fanbase.

My .02

I know a lot of people don't want GB3 to end up like EGB, but I personally wouldn't be totally against the idea of new recruits, if they show up at the end. Like after the climatic battle, the GBs decided to finally expand and some how create a franchise. Maybe the defeat of the baddie actually lead to an open ending, where paranormal activity spread throughout the country or something.

In all honesty i'm at 50/50 on the whole new recruit subject. I mean when you think about it logically yeah they are a little older and probably slowing down as do most folks in their age. So obviously hiring new people would be acceptable or even called for. On the other hand I can see them doing what they do best, mostly busting ghosts and causing thousands to millions of dollars of destruction. Old or young I would imagine the destruction portion would remain the same as this gear can cause that effect if your pro or not so regardless shit will be blown up. For new recruits I can see both ends play out, the good being it will make pretty epic comedic banter between the new and old members. It will allow us hopefully to see how destructive the packs can really be in some what I think would be funny as hell scenes with the new team practicing with them. It can give us the one thing I wouldn't mind seeing which is the recruits being unable to handle a shoulder heavy situation so our boys have to come in and show 'em how it's done. Don't lie to yourself with or against this new team in action you want to see them schooled..schooled badly and be reminded why not to f*#% with the originals. So yeah I can see some of it being great and working out. The bad being a huge fear of the originals not getting enough screen time and being treated like old dogs that only give advice. Being said the part about the old team coming in and reminding us why they in fact rock is great but having them dishing it out at the end of the film only could indeed suck. The idea that they cast these hot shot hollywood "comedy" stars to appeal to the new and fresh young kids these days are something i'm kinda against. While the actors where partially known before Ghostbusters came to be, I suggest taking the other route: Namely hiring actors that are established with smaller roles, while having chops to adapt to how our boys work off one another. Also have the damn original vehicle in it. She's a car that is ment to be driven from point A to Point B not some hill jumping, drifting extremely fast get away car that does shocking street tricks. I'm pretty sure she can handle the pressure of driving simply to locations. If the new guys/girls don't feel the need to accept the classic ride, then sure have a few parts that show their pimped out vehicle in all it's glory. But for us fans let us see the old girl in action once again, we thrive on her like any other member of the original team. So with or without a new team, im at a point where it is acceptable but I also agree that it could very well wreck the franchise for what it is. I can see it being both good and bad. Im open minded that way I guess. That is my two cents on the subject and hopefully some huge hollywood type reads these rants/posts (which I doubt but hey we can dream) and gives us something fantastic for both new and old fans alike. Give us some brilliant fine but oddly weird at times installment so we can lay this damn debate of GB3 to rest. That is untill GB4 is rummored and we all flee to this site and start a thread that ends in locking and members banned

At the end of the day, good character writing is what is needed for the film to succeed. Believable acting with strong dialogue.The thing that always ruined extreme ghostbusters is that none of the characters were interesting and were nothing more than minority icons.
One of the things that made ghostbusters 1 great was that the 3 ghostbusters (students) were already in a firm understanding of eachother, and their acting showed a understanding and acceptance of each other that is gained from years of friendship and co-working. It plays out nicely and worked wonders for the story.
"Egon, this reminds me of the time where you tried to drill a hole through your head. You remember that?"
If a film franchise like ghostbusters needs to introduce more new characters (more than just one) to become part of the canon, they will really need to step up and do some really good character writing and make sure that people like us can accept them as new additions.
After all we all all seen bad examples of poor character writing in scripts before....

Sometimes a poor script can not but helped, but a bad idea or concept can be easily fixed by good character acting and scripting.

Here's my take on how a movie could open...considering all the info we have now...

The movie opens 18 years later....Exto 1 comes roaring down the street and stops at a hotel. 4 figures get out. A bust takes place. Only to reveal that Murray is already dead...staying behind to help his team maetes cope with advanced aging... and using his spectral powers to loosen the ghosts up a bit...

At the end of the bust, Ray's knees finally give out on him, Egon is going blinder, despite an advanced hi tech goggle system, only Winston remains. The final straw is when Ecto 1 starts up, and dies.

Winston: 'Guys, I think it's time to give up the ghost and close up shop..'

Fade to black... wording on the screen... '4' years later'...

Only Egon lives in the firehouse. Louis and Winston take on the odd case that's too tough to ignore...somehow new ghostbusters come from that....

I think it might be fun if we see the 'Ghostbusters last case' when they are still relatively in good shape, and then open the real part of the movie when the business has been shut down....

I like it...only that, in Aykroyd's word, Ray is going blind

pffffft, a ghostbuster in a wheelchair, that'll never happen

The only problem with the "we're getting to old for this" scenario is Ernie Hudson really doesn't look it. Set it 10 years after GB2 and have the other three discover that Winston has been siphoning off their life force for years. Winston is revealed to be the big bad of the movie. He snaps Peter's neck like a twig early on (happy Bill?) and is finally defeated by Chuck Noriss. It practically writes itself.

Did I miss where we sign up to write the script?

I'd love to see a third movie be made, but on two conditions. 1 Murray is involved. 2 The script is good enough.

The only good and proper reason another sequel should be made is if the script is good enough to warrant it. There has to be a strong plot device.

I'm not saying I have a solution, just a thought I had recently...

I heard several times that if Venkman dies in the film, it would be too dark, which, yes, makes sense, but does anyone remember Zombieland? He gets blasted in the chest with a shotgun and it turned out hilarious. With proper writing it COULD work I suppose.

Was this on the news recently? Because they must be extremely serious about ghostbusters 3 if that's the case

How about a script where the GB's save people one by one from truly terrifying (by 2013 standards) situations and some of those people then become the recruits. To come to terms with the terror or revenge for their losses.

Act II is the contrast between 80's way of things and the modern way for thirty somethings in terms of busting. Here dialogue or scenes could be devised for the original GB's that should have been in GB1. (We'd finally get the sequel we wanted).

Act III is the GB's and recruits fighting off the source of the terror by combining their individual era ways using some ingenious twist.

I have sent two letters to Columbia Pictures that ask if I could send materials. I understand that this may be futile, given the other four scripts, but I expected more than I got.

First letter sent on December 6th, 2012 came back on January 13th, 2013 with a small tear on the back flap and a Return to Sender sticker on the front, stating that I needed some kind of "Contact Name, Department, or #"

I tried calling a phone number that is outdated... and was lost on the next step to take. A search on Writers Guild of America got me nowhere.

Second letter, sent in "Care of Ivan Reitman and the Ghostbusters Producers" on February 15th, 2013 came back March 23rd, 2013 with another small tear on the back flap and writing on the front in pen, "NSP?" above a Return to Sender sticker that simply states "NO LONGER HERE."

Does this mean Ghostbusters properties are no longer with Sony/Columbia Pictures?

The reason for the small tear is because you are sending them unsolicited material. If they opened your package fully and then sent it back to you and in the future GB3 was made and it had even an iota of similarly to your material, you could sue them for ripping you off. And you would win. The small tear allows the Secretary to verify that your package is indeed unsolicited material without the possibility of them seeing your ideas. That way they are protecting themselves.

I have worked in film production, and if they are not asking you to send them material. DON'T DO IT. It's annoying. Its like receiving junk mail that you have to pay to return to the sender.

If you have an agent, let them contact the studio and they will provide you a way to get your ideas into the right hands.

I expected the tear on the first envelope. The back of the second envelope stated what was enclosed, however. The contents were outlined for them to see without opening the envelope. It was a request to send materials and included a self addressed STAMPED envelope. There were no ideas to steal. I followed the proper procedure for such a request, as outlined in J. Michael Straczynski's book, The Complete Guide to Scriptwriting.

Well, to be blunt, who cares what the book said. I speak from experience. I threw away thousands of letters like yours.

Don't send unsolicited material regardless of what it is.

By the way, NSP is company slang for "no spam policy". Which means they don't care what you send. It won't even be delivered next time.

Was that in the book?

Yes, that it may not be delivered.
Yes, that it is a tricky process...
What NSP meant, no. Thank you for that.

After reading Ray Bradbury, it was more important to try and fail than not to try.
If they are going to play yo-yo with the movie being a go, or not, it's worth asking if I could jump in.

So, Ghostbusters is still a property of Columbia? They didn't go to Straczynski's production company, with all the news speak of it being an animated film? He was a Story Editor for The Real Ghostbusters Animated Series, said he had a working GB3 script, and that was how I got to four different scripts... I care what the book said. He speaks from experience, too.

OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE THIS ALL WORKED OUT.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

I don't think people get that when I say it at work.

If I had it all worked out, why would I be asking questions? No one learns anything by being silent. Well, you actually can learn alot by watching people, but this is a message board. Things work differently here.

I do see the suggestion for an agent. I thank you for that, as well. However, what if someone wants to be independant? From the information available, from what I have read, from what I understand, what I had done was the route to go.