I completly disagree with you Phil. There are many great world war 2 films written by writers who hadn't witnessed the war first hand. However,  the thought of another 9/11 movie makes me sick.

Quoted from dogglebe Telling what story.  Unless you were there and was directly affected, you have no story.  A fictional account of what happened that day is not the best thing to do. 9/11 will live on all by itself. Phil

Is it any worse than an American writing a fictionalized account set in African genocide (Blood Diamond)? Or Fictionalized stories set during the Holocaust, by someone who weren't there?

I understand it's a touchy subject for Americans and perhaps especially New Yorkers, but the box office disagrees with your moral objections. People are drawn to movies set during terrible traumatic events, and tasteless as they may be I don't believe you can disqualify someone from telling a story just because they weren't present when it happened. Rf. every new world war II epic.

Not unless feel that way about every tragedy that has ever been exploited for film?

Quoted from Death Monkey Is it any worse than an American writing a fictionalized account set in African genocide (Blood Diamond)? Or Fictionalized stories set during the Holocaust, by someone who weren't there?

Not worse, but different.

9/11 is too fresh in everyone's minds, for starters.  The fact that African genocide and the Holocaust happened outside the USA would also act as a buffer.  Most people here aren't familiar with your examples.  I doubt you'll find anyone here who was even around for the Holocaust.

Not worse, but different.


Phil

Well, Blood Diamond is set in 1999, so I doubt it's about how fresh they are in people's minds. Moreso I think it's widely a nationalist thing. Just like I suspect a lot of Sierra Leonians (sp) think it's tasteless that Hollywood exploits a recent tragedy in their history, so will Americans feel about 9/11 (whereas Sierra Leonians couldn't care less). Because our moral outrage works best with our own tragedies.

World War 2 happend to us and I think that affected us. while we're on the subject of American tragedies, has there been a Columbine movie yet?

Bowling for Columbine.

I remember every teen angst television show having a very special Columbine episode.  Boston Public actually had a reall good story arc with it.


Phil

How about Elephant?

It's not specifically Columbine, but we can fill in the blanks...

Drew,

While I am too swamped in school and my own scripts, I was a student living on Long Island at the time of the attack. If you want to email me with any questions that might help you, feel free. The attack completely changed the course of my life and if it helps you capture the true feelings that were experienced that day, I'm here for you.

Just be forewarned. Your subject matter is an extremely delicate one. If your not up to the task, you might want to hold off on this project.

I personally would argue that it is the writers DUTY to step into the places that we are not supposed to go.

9/11 has had a profound effect on the worlds concsience. It has affected the way Americans view the outside world and even themselves and has changed the way the world views Muslims.

Ultimately, if you are drawn to write about something then I think you should. You should just be prepared to face any backlash.

Like it or not 9/11 was a key moment in history. Ultimately it was used as a springboard to wage war in Iraq, a war that has polarised opinion across the world and resulted in spreading Islamic Fundamentalism across the Middle East.

It has even resulted in us being forced to re-evaluate Democracy, once seen as being a "cure" for Fundamentalism, now President Musharaf is being asked by the US to curtail democratic reforms to check the rise of Political Islam in Pakistan.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films I personally would argue that it is the writers DUTY to step into the places that we are not supposed to go. 9/11 has had a profound effect on the worlds concsience. It has affected the way Americans view the outside world and even themselves and has changed the way the world views Muslims.

Surprised to see this thread again.

I totally agree with you on all of your points above. My concern would be a writer mis-representing ANY disaster that has happened. I've been around this forum for a few years now, and I've seen so many proposals about important events, where the writer has not done any research into the topic, but is using the event because it's either topical or unique or cool (I'm not saying this writer falls into these categories).

What a lot of writers don't understand is the amount of research that goes into creating a script -- especially if they are basing it on an actual event. I believe Paul Haggis spent a lot of time researching the events around the LA riots before writing Crash.

Research includes talking to people who were at the event (if it's post-modern) or reading substantial volumes of historically accurate documents. It's also important to understand both sides of the story. Understanding how the events affected the people you research. All of this adds up to the building blocks needed to have a concrete point of view. As we all know, as soon as we begin writing something, wether it is a comedy, romance, horror or drama, the moment we type FADE IN: we are stating our point of view on the subject; most times through the eyes of our protagonist.

What's the jist of this quickly typed up ramble?

Know the subject. Be an expert. Tell a story.