QPORIT

The first script, TUBE WARS, by Todd Krainin, is about the struggle between Philo Farnsworth and David Sarnoff over patents for television. It covers much the same territory as the Broadway play, The Farnsworth Invention by Aaron Sorkin. The style is different, the medium is different and, on the evidence from the reading, the way the personality of Farnsworth is presented is very different. In addition to being different from The Farnsworth Invention, TUBE WARS also faces the challenge of being different from Flash of Genius, (the 2008 Sloan Prize winner) another film about an inventor defending his right to a patent -- in this case the inventor of the windshield wiper timing/delay mechanism, who was pitted against car manufacturers.

The second film script presented was BYSTANDER, by Robert Cohen, about the investigation into reasons -- psychological and social -- that people did not call police to report the rape and murder of Kitty Genovese, despite the fact that witnesses had heard the commotion for 30 minutes or so.

The portion of this script that was read dealt mainly with academic politics -- the relations between a professor and his department chairman and his graduate student; how grants were to be supported; and what research could and should be conducted.

The challenge for every narrative play about real people doing research is to

(a - characters) make the personalities and interpersonal relationships real, interesting, believable, fresh, and unlike those in other similar stories

(b - underpinning of science and technology) make the research and the work itself interesting, understandable, and fresh, with new information and relevant insights.

(c - plot) make the plot interesting, believable, understandable and fresh.

"Interesting," "Believable," "Understandable," "Fresh" ... Similar tasks for characters, the underpinning of science and technology, and plot. It's hard to make a good script. It takes real brilliance to create a breakout film.

The readings were well done, with an exceptional cast that contributed their time, their skills and great energy.

Both readings were directed by Jan Anania and were produced and cast by Amy Devra Gossels.