ROGER SHOULD HAVE SAID YES”New Book on Screenwriting Packs a Wallop!

ROGER SHOULD HAVE SAID YES is a new, unique anthology of four unproduced screenplays that are all joined by one common thread: The reader at a certain mega studio when he read them had the same answer for each script: NO.

In the introduction to the book, screen doctor and novelist Jack Fitzgerald recounts his initial visit to a major studio as a screenwriter.

œThe first time I went out to the studio was to get together with one of their readers, an amiable fellow by the name of Roger. I met him in his cubby-hole of an office, which hardly had space for the two of us. He passed on (turned down) my script but told me he thought I was an incredibly talented writer. He wanted to see more of my screenplays in the future. I took three subsequent screenplays to him and each time I noticed he was in a swankier office. He œpassed on them all but still maintained I was an excellent writer.



œAfter my fourth visit, I asked him how was he getting so well off and I was getting poorer by each script I submitted to him. He replied that he ALWAYS said NO because he never lost the studio any money that way, which made them think he was fabulous.

So Fitzgerald points out, the first lesson to learn in Hollywood is to look out for the ROGERS. A couple of years later he noticed in the trades (Hollywood Reporter and Variety) that Roger was now a vice-president at his studio.

Thankfully Fitzgerald managed to find an agent and secured work as a script doctor, in which for the most part he worked on other people's projects. His œRoger Screenplays" withered on the vine. He recently decided to take them out of obscurity, publish them and let you the reader decide if ROGER SHOULD HAVE SAID YES.

At the end of each of the four screenplays in the book, you will find an industry regulation form for readers like Roger to review (provide coverage) of the scripts assigned to them. After you read each script in the book, you can fill out this document and see if you are a ROGER. It could be a lot of fun as a book club activity, a project for you and your reading buddies and for all of you who are budding screenplay writers. You can now become an insider thanks to ROGER SHOULD HAVE SAID YES.

Screenplays included in this anthology that are up for your review include:

PIECE OF CAKE”Young Oklahoma prostitute operating on South Beach in Miami has in one day all the bad luck possible to befall her. She vows to begin life all over and this time around make it more endurable.

BAD TRIP”Small-town, religious couple from Oklahoma honeymoons in Hollywood, California, where everything that is supposed to be wonderful turns into a rotten reality show for them.

PASADENA”Dirt-poor, large Illinois family immigrates to wealthy Pasadena during the early 1900s in an attempt to secure a new life. The background is during the beginning of the Rose Parade and Tournament.

CLEO DE JANIERO”A young man and his band of musicians end up in a situation where they employ a 95-year-old hottie as their lead singer A surreal version of Romeo and Juliet.

Jack Fitzgerald was raised in Mississippi and comes from a family of writers, poets and historians. He is the author of many plays and screenplays. He is also an actor, linguist and educator. He attended Mississippi State University, Middlebury College in Vermont, Cambridge University, the Sorbonne and the University of Madrid. On TV he appeared in the series Archie Bunker's Place and appeared in many television commercials. He has acted in films and on stage in France, Mexico, Cuba and the USA and has written screenplays in both Paris and Hollywood. He resided for nine years in Paris where he established The Paris English Theatre. Nine of his plays had their initial productions there. He sees life as a serious circus and in his writing combines the deadly serious with the humorous. He wrote the films Beethoven's Nephew, La Nuit de Varennes and Over Her Dead Body. Jack is the author of four other books: CONTESSA, PARIS PLAYS, VIVA LA EVOLUCION and TEDDY BEAR MURDERS.

Visit Fitzgerald's web site at www.jackfitzgerald.com where you will find a blog as well as numerous details of his career.