There are few screenwriters in Hollywood who are quite as loud with their personality and opinions as Max Landis. The filmmaker is not afraid to get candid on social media about almost every topic under the sun, and he’s seen plenty of slings and arrows come his way as a result. It’s clear that Landis has more than his share of, if not quite enemies, those who find him objectionable, for whatever reason, superficial or not. And screenwriter Seth Spector took out his frustrations on Landis in a script.
Yesterday, The Black List unveiled their look at the best unproduced screenplays of the year, as voted by those within the industry, and nestled among the mix was something cheekily titled, “Untitled Lax Mandis Project,” bearing the following logline: A freshman film exec at odds with the state of his industry is forced to work with the one person who is making him question everything.
We’re sure the title got more than few people around Hollywood to at least take a look at the first few pages, and it clearly put Spector’s name on the radar. However, Landis is less than pleased, but not quite for the reasons you might think.
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In a lengthy post on Facebook, he reveals that ‘Lax Mandis’ isn’t the first time someone has used his name to try and get some attention, but moreover, Landis’ biggest concern is that the goofy script — that will probably never get made — took a slot on The Black List from another screenwriter who might’ve had something more legitimate that needs attention. Here’s an excerpt of what Landis had to say:
To me, the dark part isn’t just that I’m shocked a script with such bad dialogue and plodding pacing made it onto the list; there is a worst part of this, and it doesn’t involve me.
The bad part, the really rough part, is that the script isn’t a good writing sample. It’s not a good script. And this is coming from a guy who once really enjoyed a script where “Max Landis” got killed as a joke in a terrorist attack on a gay orgy.
Make fun of me all you want. Everyone does, it’s easy, I’m weird and loud and I understand that my success could bother you. That’s not my problem.
My problem is that what is essentially a self indulgent, masturbatory 100 something page troll tweet temper tantrum was allowed to take the spot of some other actual script with an actual story someone felt passionate about on The Black List.
Landis’ full statement is below — let us know what you think about all of this in the comments section. [EW]