As a graduate of UCLA with a degree in political science, Beacham has never lost his interest in contemporary social and political issues, and with its focus on abortion, gay marriage, the war in Iraq, Christian fundamentalism, ecology, and that other great cultural phenomenon of our times, “Star Wars,” “The Audience Strikes Back” represents Beacham’s fresh and original statement on all these things. Or so he hopes.

I believe it was Samuel Goldwyn who said, “If you want to send a message, use Western Union,” but Beacham has always been a fan of the so-called message picture, including Fritz Lang’s “Fury,” John Ford’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” Frank Capra’s “Meet John Doe,” and of course, Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men,” the little gem to which “The Audience Strikes Back” owes its greatest debt. Does Beacham have the hubris to compare his movie to Sidney Lumet’s? Not really, but then again, why not? Perhaps hubris is at the core of any great undertaking - or even of very small ones, like the making of an independent film on a shoe-string budget by a director who has never before directed but who certainly hopes to direct again.

I am writing because I thought it prudent to bring to your attention that I have written, directed, and produced a film entitled “The Audience Strikes Back,” which is inspired in part by the near-universal Star Wars phenomenon.

“The Audience Strikes Back” is the story of eight people who are chosen to participate in a roundtable discussion about the entire Star Wars chronicle, and like people everywhere, have wildly divergent opinions about the six movies . . . in other words, the kind of discussion that I believe is as much a part of the Star Wars phenomenon as anything else related to the series. People are passionate about Star Wars and they are not afraid to express their feelings.

The one thing my characters have in common is that they all love Star Wars. Again, however, their feelings are mixed just as mine are, in real life. One half is absolutely crazy about the first three films and hates the last three. The other half loves all six. But each side has its say. However, it is important to understand this is merely the launching pad for further conversation about much more serious topics: the characters in my film go on to talk about the war in Iraq, gay adoption, Christian fundamentalism, and abortion, among other subjects.

You will find enclosed a copy of a report prepared by Axios Law Group in Seattle. This report addresses the issue of copyright infringement, and I requested it at the urging of my film’s distributor, Indie-Pictures. There are two reasons why Indie-Pictures wished to have in its possession such a report. First, because in submitting “The Audience Strikes Back” to various film festivals throughout the country, festival management has told Indie-Pictures that they are fearful of screening a film that might be accused of copyright infringement, but that even if this did not occur, they are also fearful of reprisals against the festivals by Lucasfilm, should the “The Audience Strikes Back” incur that company’s displeasure.

The enclosed report absolves my film of any legitimate accusation of copyright infringement, but the second issue, one of reprisals, is still outstanding.

Of course, these same concerns are shared by Indie-Pictures, which can also ill afford to incur the wrath of Lucasfilm. This is the other reason my distributor wanted an independent legal opinion. But again, although it addresses the issue of copyright infringement, the report cannot guarantee that Lucasfilm will not strike back in some other way, or even bring what is purely a nuisance suit against the parties involved a suit utterly without foundation but extremely expensive to defend.

My own personal belief is that even if “The Audience Strikes Back” did not treat both the Star Wars movies and George Lucas himself in a very even-handed fashion, which it most assuredly does, Lucasfilm would not choose to deliberately stifle the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression particularly when the sentiments expressed in the film are the same sentiments articulated countless times every day by all those who truly care about Star Wars.

However, in order to make certain that this is the case, we would like you to review the enclosed materials, including the movie itself, and assure us (and a fair number of film festivals as well) that Lucasfilm will do nothing to prevent “The Audience Strikes Back” from being shown or sold, and further, that it will not engage in any practice that might damage the parties who show or sell it.

To make a somewhat ridiculous comparison (when you consider my modest effort), I feel a bit like Orson Welles writing in advance to William Randolph Hearst pleading for “Citizen Kane” to be allowed to have its day, without interference from the Hearst empire.

I hope and trust that your answer will not be the one that William Randolph Hearst would have given.

Respectfully yours,

Patrick Beacham,

President, Thorco Films

]]> http://theaudiencestrikesback.com/?feed=rss2&p=13 http://theaudiencestrikesback.com/?p=11 http://theaudiencestrikesback.com/?p=11#comments Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:59:47 +0000 admin http://theaudiencestrikesback.com/?p=11 I predicted this would happen.

And it will happen.

Does anyone remember that the infamous Richard Nixon, in 1968, ran on the campaign promise that he would end the war in Vietnam and that by the beginning of his infamous second term, in 1973, the war still raged on?

Now Barack Obama tells us that he will end the war in Iraq in 16 months (16 x $12,000,000,000 per month [the cost of waging war in Iraq] = $192,000,000,000, all of which could be put to far better use here in the United States) but that when he goes to Iraq he will consult with senior officers and allow them to guide his future actions.

Oh boy - as if senior officers will advise him to withdraw from Iraq. Maybe in 100 years . . .

It will require real guts to end the war in Iraq, and you know what, I don’t think Barack Obama has ‘em. I think Hillary Clinton would have had, but we all know how that turned out.

Once again, I predict - by the end of Barack Obama’s first term in office, we will still be mired in Vietnam - oh, sorry, I mean Iraq.

And the United States is again doing nothing about it.

Because China is too big and too powerful, and too important to us as “trading” partner.

And so to the extent that helpless frustration is frequently the father (and mother) of fantasy, here is what I wish could happen:

A young boy, a refugee, along with his parents, from an earlier Chinese pogrom in Tibet, is raised and educated in the United States, attending Harvard, Princeton, M.I.T., and certain other institutions of higher learning forever kept secret from the public at large. He grows up to become a brilliant scientist.

He invents and constructs a nuclear-powered submarine which closely resembles the iconic vessel created for Walt Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

With this vessel, he sets out to sink those enormous Chinese container ships-chancres of the sea-whose sole purpose, as they inch inexorably toward us, is to debouch upon our shores their poison-laden cargoes.

He calls himself Captain Nemo (literally: no man), after the person he is emulating. The submarine he calls, of course, the Nautilus.

There is only one difference between this Captain Nemo and the other: before sinking the Chinese vessels, he alerts the crew and gives them the opportunity to abandon ship. Unfortunately, the first time this happens, the crew ignores his warning and all hands are lost. Perhaps a small price to pay, and far more generous to these Chinese than the Chinese are to the Tibetans.

The Red Chinese mount a massive counter-attack, deploying every naval vessel at their command, but Captain Nemo constantly eludes them, and the rest of the world refuses to cooperate in hunting him down.

Finally, after the Chinese lose half their commercial fleet, they stop killing Tibetans and stop sending poison to America. They do, however, demand that George Bush appear on Chinese TV, reprising his by now world-famous routine, “Tap-dancing on the grave of America,” first performed on the White House steps as he awaited the arrival of his would-be successor, old buffalo head, John McCain.

Captain Nemo goes underground (so to speak), but he is still there, still plying the oceans in his marvelous vessel, and will come to our aid again, should the need arise.

End of fantasy.

In The Audience Strikes Back, I touch on a number of issues, including something that the character Lloyd refers to as “the phenomenon of de-sensitization.” (I also compare Microsoft to the Ottoman Empire - I say this so that as you continue on you will appreciate my complete and utter fairness.) But I think I missed out on a terrific opportunity to explore the all-consuming, free-floating techno-racism that seems to be at the core of whatever belief system my friend might possess. So what is techno-racism? I will let my friend’s words speak for themselves:

“MS is the asshole end of the tech industry and current events prove it. ‘Don’t be too proud of this technological terror.’ - Darth Vader.”

“The monkeys and buffoons are now completely running the show at Microsoft.”

“The whole Wintel hegemony is based on bloated code that needs a couple hundred per cent extra CPU bandwidth to function. Efficient code writing is not in the Microsoft lexicon.”

“I’m nothing if not openly contemptuous of Windows and have little patience for its failings nor [sic] for those who unwisely use them.”

“Tomorrow is the Holy Day as Steve Jobs makes his yearly earth-shattering keynote at Macworld. The world awaits the sermon from the Apple mount as they tell Bill Gates to take a hike from his CES keynote duties and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out you miserable excuse of a tech ‘leader.’

“What a fuckin’ know-nothing Bozo. Glad we’ll be seein’ the last of his unnovative self. If he really had anything to offer as Jobs does he woulda stayed at MS but he doesn’t, never did. Now let’s see if we can drop-kick Ballmer outta there and just maybe MS would earn back some respect with leaders who know what they’re doing.”

So, as you can see, this is just a little more serious than some guy at work who says he “hates that Microsoft” because his “blankety-blank Windows 95″ keeps crashing all the time.

In fact, it is much more frighteningly akin to the poisonous fulminations of Rush Limbaugh (of whom my friend is a big fan).

I wish I could remember the exact wording, but I think that it was on the TV show “The West Wing” that someone said, “The reason that Republicans hate us so much is because they know that we know just how stupid they are.”

And despite this, are unable to control their stupidity.

Tragically, my friend - and all those like him: Apple’s growing legion of rabid Techno-racists - faces a similar dilemma.

They, the Techno-racists, know that we know just how stupid they are, but they are unable to control their own stupidity.

Or maybe they aren’t even that smart . . .