Amanda vs. Disney

I don’t consent to being ‘rescued’ into a hostile political climate in exchange for corporate control of my voice, body, or IP. Sam Mendes has a lot of script problems for a famous director.

That's why all his Sondheim attempts have fallen apart. I was aware that he's got a deal, but Merrily has also undergone extensive rewrites. Too many cooks, most of whom aren't professional musicians. - They've begun and halted Merrily at least twice, and recast principal actors. I remain sceptical of Sam's project, and think it might end up folding (like his Follies). Particularly if I keep refusing to play Paul, that is. I'm not signing: too bad. Nobody was predicting how important some lonely transgender bedroom pop artist would be to billions of dollars of songwriting IP simply because I understand the music and all the hacks don't, but it seems like Sir Paul is pretty fed up with all the suits and prefers writing with me. He's got lots of journals too, so it's a back-and-forth with his people. - Disney doesn't own the rights to the songs, so they want lots of backstory. Apple Corps wants to sell their songs to a new generation.

If it's Paul and Ringo pushing me to write my pitch, then this is more or less the same situation that I'm in: I reckoned that my documentary was the thing, but the people that weren't involved in making the doco said they needed a film to reach an audience.

Didn't see a Disney logo on the new Anthology... -

I wasn't attempting to undercut him. There's no reason both projects couldn't go ahead. Who am I asking to do it? Peter and Paul, not Hollywood.

My pitch is interesting in large part because it's about the effect of Beatlemania rather than a life story. There's been a lot of films made about the guys, but this is more like seeing them stuck in the middle of something that they don't fully understand, and how it upended NZ notions of passionless people. Plus Wētā and I saying that it won't be actors, but virtual Beatles. That'll make it a completely different film. Disney can chase a PG audience, and we'll chase adults who like music.