----I sent Mark Bravura [pictured @ Titian Towers] a series of questions about him getting an interview with WWE as a script writer, his trip to Titian Towers and everything about it. He returned with something that is more like a story than an interview, but I plan to present it here on Fridays for RassleTalk for the next few weeks. CLICK HERE to read the first part.
I ended up not getting to talk to another writer,
but I did get what’s called notes on my script. The guy’s biggest complaint is some things weren’t logical. Now coming from a WWE writer I’m sure this sounds funny, but it only gets funnier. Here are some
examples of things “Brian” didn’t think made sense. In
the angle for Raw, I had Edge using his Money in the
Bank shot to challenge Batista, but he wouldn’t tell
Batista when he would use it only that he was going
to wait until he had Batista worn down and in the
meantime he was going to send every Monster he could
find after him. There was obviously a lot more to it
than that, but that was the kernel of it. Basically, I
was going to use Edge as like the old time Manager
bringing in Monster after Monster to go after Batista
and hopefully injure him then Edge would be the
vulture picking the bones. “Brian” didn’t understand
why Edge would do that. “Why would he risk someone
else beating Bastista?” “Why wouldn’t he just
challenge Batista himself?” “It’s not logical that he
would send other people after him?” I’m sure anyone
with a brain could understand why a chickenshit heel
would hire people to try to injure the champion in
order to increase his chances of winning the title.
Why he would try to stack the deck in his favor. Why
he would pay them not to beat Batista, but to injure
him. Why he wouldn’t care if Batista lost because
it’s not Batista he wants, he wants the title. Why
Batista would face these challenges because he’s a
BABYFACE who’s confident in his abilities and isn’t
afraid. Apparently, these concepts were foreign to
“Brian.”
The Smackdown Angle, was a continuation of Angle
Hometown Challenge. It started with Angle and JBL
arguing with each other in the locker room because
both of them lost the night before. That led to JBL
saying that he could beat Angle in his own hometown
challenge. JBL challenged Angle to see who could win
their match faster. Also there was stuff with Danny
Basham showing up late and JBL getting pissed about
it. There were also promo videos for a new guy called
“The Damaja.” JBL won the first week of the challenge
with help from the Bashams and Orlando. He then
cheated to win the second week as well. Then Angle won
weeks three and four. Finally, in week five Danny
Basham took the hometown challenge and beats Angle
then turns on JBL and beats JBL then as he’s leaving
he gets to the top of the ramp and the Damaja video
plays and it’s revealed that Basham is the Damaja. Bam
instant star. “Brian” didn’t think this made any
sense. “Why would Danny Basham beat Angle and JBL?”
“Why would JBL want to prove he’s better than Angle?”
Why would Danny Basham turn on JBL?” “Why have promo
videos for a guy who’s already on the show?” I guess
the idea of making a new star by having him beat guys
who are already stars, building anticipation through
promos, having a guy get sick of being treated like
crap, and having two heels argue about who’s better
were beyond “Brian”’s comprehension.
Anyway, after getting Brian’s oh so brilliant notes
I wasn’t really looking forward to my interview with
Stephanie. It took three cancellations, but we
eventually got to it. To my surprise it went really
well. She hadn’t read my scripts yet so we talked
about other stuff. Some of it was the same job
interview type stuff, but then we started talking
about how I got into wrestling. We talked up the show
we were doing up in Dyersburg. We really hit it off.
She was really nice and seemed interested. Eventually
she asked me about what I said about wanting to work
with underneath guys rather than top guys. She said
that was really unusual and usually people want to
work with just the top guys. I told her pretty much
the same thing I told the other lady. That as a
director the real joy is seeing that great performance
come out of your actor. Seeing them realize that they
can do it. The top guys already know they can. They
know their characters. They know who they need to be.
The bottom guys might not. They need to be grown and
developed. See what works and what doesn’t. They
obviously have the talent. They just need the
personalities brought out of them so that they can be
the next generation of top guys. That was what I
wanted to do to help those guys grow.
So she asked me for examples, so I told her ideas I
had for the absolute bottom guys on the cards.
Snitsky, Conway, Tomko, Eugene, Helms, Hardy, Chavo as
Kerwin White. All the lowest level guys. I told her
how they had a chance for something huge when Hardy
came back from being fired and completely blew it. How
here was the chance to do something different and it
was completely fucked up. I must’ve gone off on the
for 30 minutes and she just listened and pretty much
agreed. Finally after over an hour and a half (we were
supposed to talk for 30 minutes) she had to go. She
said she was going to look over my scripts and get
back with me soon because she really wanted to bring
me up for an interview. This was like May 2005.
Over the next few weeks, I talked with Palma again
and Kathy again. They’d set stuff up and it would fall
through. They asked for another writing sample so I
sent them another sample. Almost everytime I was
supposed to talk to someone it would fall through.
Finally, after two months I talked with Stephanie
again. She apologized for the delay and said she was
trying to refamiliarize herself with my scripts. I
jokingly said they’re so out of date now they probably
don’t even matter. She laughed and said well do you
have anything new. I don’t remember exactly what it
was, but I basically told her that stuff from the
latest show was crap and what I would’ve done
differently, etc. Then I pitched her a couple of ideas
I had for underneath guys. Specifically, Snitsky,
Tomko, Helms, and Chavo. The Snitsky and Tomko thing
is long and involved, so that can come later, but it
included Motley and Tasha so its my favorite of
everything I pitched. Helms involved him dropping the
Hurricane thing and going heel as “Hollywood” Helms
basically the gimmick I pitched for him they gave
Nitro. Then I pitched giving Chavo as Kerwin White a
caddy, Derrick Black (who would’ve been DK), and a
beer cart girl. She really liked that one especially
the catch phrase “If it ain’t white it ain’t right.”
“And always bet on black.” We kicked around that one
for probably 20 minutes. A month later Chavo had Nick
Nemeth as a caddy.
Anyway, they kept trying to schedule me to fly up
to Stanford, but it just kept falling through for one
reason or another. I talked to Palma and Kathy almost
weekly and Stephanie a few more times. Finally, at the
end of October 2005, I was offered a job back home in
DC. I called the WWE peeps and told them that I was
taking a job in DC, but I was still interested. I just
wanted to keep them updated. That next week I flew to
LA for the American Film Market where we had two films
being represented. When I landed in LA I had a
voicemail from the WWE saying that they just had to
get me up to Stanford ASAP and to call them as soon as
possible about scheduling my trip.
My trip to Stanford and Titan Towers: coming
soon.
