The Energon Pub

Rottentomatoes.com recently sat down with Don Murphy, the producer of this summer's Transformers Movie, and briefly discussed the possibility of a sequel to the film.

In the interview, Murphy says that a sequel would probably be delayed due to possible upcoming guild strikes involving actors and writers and that he doubts that they will have time to make much progress on the sequel before the screen actor's guild and the writer's guild strike next year.

read the full interview here.

"The facts are that everyone is saying there will be [a strike]," said producer Don Murphy. "Lots of ideas are being pitched around. I suspect there will be one but the strike thing kind of confuses everyone. When would we have to start? There's no script. How would we be done by end of June?"

What?

Don Murphy is... no words left.

Yea go ahead and strike. I'm sure you are being paid poorly and treated unfairly. This stinks, if it's true.

Please bear in mind that scriptwriters are the bottom rung in Holywood terms. This situation has precedents and if the WGA aproves strike action then I'm behind the writers 100%. JM Stratzynski's Complete Guide to Scriptwriting contains some insights into both the conditions of and reasoning for previous strikes and makes for interesting reading.

Go on strike because you guys don't make enough. blech.

writers superior-hollywood inferior.

Im behind the writers 100%

While I agree that writers are the bottom of the barrel in Hollywood. No it should not be this way. But it's always been that way. Again that does not justify it but thats like a garbage man going on strike because it's a dirty job. They have always been poorly paid and I suspect they knew this going in. Also define poorly paid. In whose terms? I'll take thier pay any day. Also what about the writers that do not want to strike? They are unable to work because the Guild will blacklist them if they do. I have read The guide to script writing and you are right a lot of times there are conditions that need to be met. And one last thing my comment was purely an off the cuff comment, it was not meant to have any weight to it. Just a initial reaction.

Hollywood is kinda inferior. I'm saying that because someone writes a script and it looks good on paper to them and somebody makes a movie out of it and nobody gives a crap about the movie and it doesn't rake in much money and guess what? Two years later a sequel comes out. If you guys have no idea what movie I'm talking about I'm talking about the Baby Geniuses movies. That's why Hollywood is retarded is because some people go out and think a movie will be successful and it does worse than crap then make a sequel and the theater is pretty much empty. If scriptwriters get paid less than a set crew that's sad. Scriptwriters should get paid a lot, especially if it's their idea.

trilobitepictures wrote:Writers in Hollywood haven't really been earning it lately. How many remakes and "re-imaginings" and seqels to sequels are there now? Write crap, get paid crap.

Thats actually a tough point to agrue with. Well done.

Don Murphy said something? Moving on ....

I'll write it for scab pay.

The surprising part is he didnt curse...

I don't understand all this Don Murphy hate... its not like its his fault theres a strike. Hell strikes anywhere are common. Plus I'm pretty sure he would rather get Transformers 2 done, rather than have a strike interrupt their work on the film. Breaks in work on a project can be highly detrimental to the overall product anyway, so I'd rather have them take their time with the movie, and get it done without any interruptions.

like I'm sorry, but while Murphy may be an ass, I don't see how he's at fault here, considering hes not the one behind the strike anyway, just a member of the actors and writers guild, and if they go on strike, all of its members do too.

So it may wait a while, no big deal, but I doubt it will.

Why do they writers for TF2?

Any 3 year old with a crayon could do a much better job than what we were given in TF.

Head Shot wrote:I don't understand all this Don Murphy hate... its not like its his fault theres a strike.

I know it's not his fault.

But as far as i'm concerned anything said by him can't be trusted. If there is a strike it'll be one of those few occasions where he was actually right about something and not trying to delude fans with empty promises.

Thes fecks always go on strike. All they do is bitch and whine about how a million dollars just isnt enough! wah wah wah! They're worse than supermarket strikers. Sheesh.

trilobitepictures wrote:Writers in Hollywood haven't really been earning it lately. How many remakes and "re-imaginings" and seqels to sequels are there now? Write crap, get paid crap.

Well said! Take that writers Guild! zing!

Wow, why i'm continually amazed by the short sightedness of some people is beyond me.

So these writers don't deserve to be paid for their time and effort because they churn out ****?

Well let's see some of you fanboys do better. Quit hiding behind the anonymity of your computer where the best piece of written material you've ever posted is some fanwank.

So they write ****, at least they're doing something, and at least they're standing up for their rights. People have a right to be paid and if the company you work for is making huge profits from the work you're doing then you have a right to put your hand up and ask for a bit of those profits.

And just remember what happens when Hollywood writers strike. You get "reality" shows. Would you people like your tv screens filled with more reality shows?

Burn wrote:Wow, why i'm continually amazed by the short sightedness of some people is beyond me.

So these writers don't deserve to be paid for their time and effort because they churn out ****?

Well let's see some of you fanboys do better. Quit hiding behind the anonymity of your computer where the best piece of written material you've ever posted is some fanwank.

So they write ****, at least they're doing something, and at least they're standing up for their rights. People have a right to be paid and if the company you work for is making huge profits from the work you're doing then you have a right to put your hand up and ask for a bit of those profits.

And just remember what happens when Hollywood writers strike. You get "reality" shows. Would you people like your tv screens filled with more reality shows?

I'm sure most of us anonymous fanboys do "something" other than post on the internet. But I think it's gonna be fun to watch this strike, if it even goes off. Anyone remember the threatened actors guild strike that fizzled right before "Reality TV" became a big thing?

But I say good go on strike, then we can all see more wonderful programming like "Who wants to Knit" and "Dancing with the Network Interns".

While I'm all for people getting paid for their work, Hollywood's been phoning it in for years. And they need to realize they have more competition than ever for people's attention. From video games and youtube, to decent programming being shipped in from Japan and the UK, and yes, even reality TV, people have a lot of choices.

If these guys go on strike, there will still be things for people to do and to watch. And maybe, just maybe, new writers will come in and breathe some new life into Hollywood and we can see things that aren't just remakes and sequels anymore.

NO script? That didn't stop them last time. Well, thank the unions for this small pleasure at least- perhaps in the mean time the sequel will die in development hell.

Strike!

Until they show more robots! hehe

SoooTrypticon wrote:NO script? That didn't stop them last time. Well, thank the unions for this small pleasure at least- perhaps in the mean time the sequel will die in development hell.

See the thing here is that you are wrong. We are getting a sequel. And I will enjoy even more by knwoing that you are going to be in wrong and bitching about it

Unevolved apes shouldn't take pleasure in the suffering of a "true" fan, otherwise you're nothing more than a troll.
That's sarcasm by the way General Magnus, you're neither a troll or an unevolved ape.

While I agree with this:

trilobitepictures wrote:Writers in Hollywood haven't really been earning it lately. How many remakes and "re-imaginings" and sequels to sequels are there now? Write crap, get paid crap.

I also agree with this:

Burn wrote:And just remember what happens when Hollywood writers strike. You get "reality" shows. Would you people like your tv screens filled with more reality shows?

So I guess we're damned if they do, damned if they don't. I know I couldn't write better, I'm not a writer. But there is something to be said when originality is all but gone in movies as of late. If it's not a franchise, it's a license. It just seems to be a pattern of safety and laziness.