The public and musicals

When I grew up, musicals were somewhat kitschy, given that there weren't a lot of new film musicals coming out in the 1990's and the 2000's. Disney movies were the main exception, but it was mostly 1960's/1970's stuff like Grease or Oliver - aka time-tested crowdpleasers - that my Mum introduced me to. In high school, they did Grease as well, plus some obscure UK show based on a Shakespeare play and Godspell. In a world where people seldom sing out loud, it's become deviant to do so, and musicals make people with refinement think that you're a retard. I might add, though, that I sang out loud from going on tramping trips, although musical numbers were part of that repertory (which isn't the norm). - Then the big-budget adaptations of the poperas came out, and it felt like there was a window that was opening. My brother and I often often discussed what it might take to make a musical that appealed to regular people. I didn't like those Hollywood films, but musicals were certainly a hot commodity in the 2010's. Hamilton, Les Miz, the jukebox movies, plus La La Land and my films. - Nobody thinks I'm a retard for singing to myself anymore, but I remember how that felt. Much like all these refined intellectuals are now desperate for my Weeded Out script to exist thanks to the economic downturn and their precarious employment. Ironically, they're trying to turn it into more of a musical than my draft script, which had some diegetic songs (none of which were original AM tunes) but zero musical numbers.

You might think that Jade could sing Rose's song, or that Tina could sing my songs, but you would find that you have no legal right to that material and that I have firmly asked for cessation regarding such notions. They aren't indicated in the spec screenplay, and those songs are intended for Shipwrecked on Islands.

I think that my enemies need to view it this way: their noise complaints and incessant demands that I sing on stage have basically made me retire my voice until such time as they become reasonable adults and admit they overreacted to my singsongs. My enemies are welcome to use Song of a Young Country and my draft script to produce a folk tale or some kind of folk musical, but only after they acquire the rights to that draft script by paying me fairly for the mahi I put in. It's not cheap because you wasted years of my life. $70,000 for any version of the project that is budgeted at over $500,000, and it comes with an apology for the harassment that the elite put me through. PS stop saying I'm being a dick for asking for money. I don't have a job, and that script took a very long time to write. It's fair that you cough up one year's salary for it. I need that money to be able to live the life you wish me to lead, and you need that script to appear tolerant of difference.