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July 31, 2005An insider's view of HollywoodSystem lampooned at third panelBy GARRET ELLISONRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY -- Attendees of the third Traverse City Film Festival discussion panel were treated to an insider's view of Hollywood. "The ground rules for this are: those of you in the room must never tell any of these stories," moderator Michael Moore told Saturday's audience at the City Opera House. "What's said in the Opera House, stays in the Opera House," he joked. Panelists for "Hollywood Confidential: Stories We Will Only Tell In Traverse City" included Chuck Pfarrer, screenwriter of "Navy Seals" and "The Jackal"; Rob Tapert, producer of "Spiderman" and "Evil Dead"; Larry Brand, screenwriter of "Halloween"; actor Richard Brooks, from the show "Law and Order"; HBO producer Rebecca Reynolds; Hollywood agent Joel Milner; and Rob Hughes, an animator for the Cartoon Network. Each panelist shared "horror stories" from their respective careers. Tapert recounted a story from post-production of "Darkman," a movie he re-edited without the studio's permission before distribution. "It was the one time we went behind the studio's back totally and deceptively to save our movie," he said. Screenwriter Larry Brand explained the lengthy rewriting process a script often goes through. Scripts are "layered" by studios that bring in multiple writers to write for story and dialogue and plot, he said. "More often than not, the script you write is not the version that ends up on the screen," Brand said. Several of the panelists lampooned the studio system in Hollywood, which they saw as heading in the wrong direction. "Personal passion gets so diluted going through the system," Tapert said. "It's become about using the artists to make money instead of using artists to create their vision -- which makes money." Sitting in the front row, local film producers Andrew Tomlinson and Jeff Morgan said they found the panel clarifying. "It re-affirms your decision to go independent," said Morgan, who spent several years working in Hollywood.
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