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It will help. Now is the perfect time. Kevin has put together a cut and paste example:



viewtopic.php?f=49&t=99305


My letter is going out tonight.



Alex Marciniszyn

Mine is going out this week. Would it be bad to send more than one?

Voran wrote:Make sure you punctuate your words! *BLAM* *EXPLOSION* Jerry *KABOOM* *BLAM* Bruck-*BOOOM*Heimer!

Are you sure you're not confusing Bruckheimer with Micheal Bay?

Besides, are you implying that you don't want explosions in the Rifts movie?

Mine is in the envelope and stamped. Just waiting for tomorrow's postman.

A letter writing campaign is a pretty old school idea, I like it. I may just have to jump in on this action, if I can overcome my laziness that is!

The Galactus Kid wrote:Mine is going out this week. Would it be bad to send more than one?

Not as long as you spread them out.
One a week or so.

ak-73 wrote:

Shilar wrote:Mine is ready, putting it in the mail tomorrow. Maybe I could post the Word 2007 document here to let others use it?

I cannot support this effort to get Mr. Bruckheimer to listen to Mr. Siembieda, so-to-speak, if Mr. Siembieda does not have 5 minutes of time to listen to me, I'm afraid.

Alex

huh?

ak-73 wrote:

Prince Artemis wrote:

ak-73 wrote:

Shilar wrote:Mine is ready, putting it in the mail tomorrow. Maybe I could post the Word 2007 document here to let others use it?

I cannot support this effort to get Mr. Bruckheimer to listen to Mr. Siembieda, so-to-speak, if Mr. Siembieda does not have 5 minutes of time to listen to me, I'm afraid.

Alex

huh?

I have been trying to reach Mr. Siembieda, unsuccessfully so.

So my take is: he'd like Mr. Bruckheimer to take notice of Rifts, I'd like him to at least have look at what I have on my mind. If he doesn't like it, well, I'm out of luck. But if he's too busy to have 5 minutes spare time for me, well, I can't support this effort.

Not that I think my support or lack of support for the letter campaign is going to make much of a difference...

Alex

Patience much? It took me a few months before I was able to pitch Rifter 0 to him, let alone the show. The guy is busy. The best method is through pms or emails, as he is more likely to check that when he has time then he is to drop everything to take a call (I usually get him during times between doing things when I do get him).

But something you should consider: There are at this moment 7901 members on this forum alone. If it was expected that every fan would get 5 minutes to talk to him, then he'd be on the phone for 27 days straight.

If you really want to talk to him, he's going to be on the show this coming monday. If you have a question or something for him you can ask him there. If you don't have a mic, send me a pm and I can ask him for you.

ak-73 wrote:

Prince Artemis wrote:
Patience much? It took me a few months before I was able to pitch Rifter 0 to him, let alone the show.

I think I made the first effort to get into contact with him last February, I believe.

The guy is busy.

I am aware of that. I don't mind the wait, I would just like to have a signal that I eventually get a chance to make a pitch. Whether now or in another year, that is secondary to me.

The best method is through pms or emails, as he is more likely to check that when he has time then he is to drop everything to take a call (I usually get him during times between doing things when I do get him).

Wait a second - you mean I should have approached Kevin directly? Instead of trying to contact him through other people at Palladium..? Maybe I have been too cautious after all...

But something you should consider: There are at this moment 7901 members on this forum alone. If it was expected that every fan would get 5 minutes to talk to him, then he'd be on the phone for 27 days straight.

In theory. The people who are regularly active on the boards is far, far less. The people who are willing to make a serious pitch is even less.

Even if there were a 1000 people and he'd take 15 minutes per day to read such pitches, he'd be through in a year which I don't consider a wait period too long by any stretch.

If you really want to talk to him, he's going to be on the show this coming monday. If you have a question or something for him you can ask him there. If you don't have a mic, send me a pm and I can ask him for you.

I have this to say: I consider the introduction of a timeline in Rifts a bit of a gamble. If you'd like to read more detailled argument you can turn to the current "Old rifts main vs new rifts main" thread in this forum. But that isn't essential to what I want to say.

The main thing that I think before taking the risk of introducing a timeline into the world of Rifts and progressing it any further, one should make sure that all the core essentials of the world have been covered. I don't think that that is the case. I think there's a few areas which have been neglected and which should have seen a sourcebook long ago.

I would like to present one of those areas to Kevin briefly and see if he agrees with my assessment that it calls for a sourcebook, urgently. If he'd agree with the basic idea, I would like to go on to share my further ideas about it.

If he was not interested, I'd simply return to silence and would go on just playing Rifts. I have no problem with that and I certainly don't want to be a nuisance. But it's always a fine line between being too impatient vs to being not persistent enough in one's efforts. Generally, I prefer to err on the side of being too patient.

Alex

Which works. Another method you should try is messaging Jason Marker. He's much more active on the forums, has taken it upon himself to be a go between between freelancers and Kevin (since he sees him in the office). You could also try Alex.

Another method, which I've used successfully, is write up a complete write up on your idea, an outline basically, and send it to palladium with the line 'Attention, Kevin Siembieda'. It will get to him and when he gets arround to it I'm sure he'll answer it for you.

ak-73 wrote:

Another method, which I've used successfully, is write up a complete write up on your idea, an outline basically, and send it to palladium with the line 'Attention, Kevin Siembieda'. It will get to him and when he gets arround to it I'm sure he'll answer it for you.

I would just like to hear what he thinks about the basic idea first. I want to make it as least time-consuming for him as possible - if he likes the basic idea and agrees on the necessity for such a sourcebook, I would go on sharing my ideas more in detail. If he doesn't like it, no hard feelings there either.

To be honest, if you're not willing to write a one-page proposal summary, then you're not that serious about the project.

ak-73 wrote:

Mack wrote:To be honest, if you're not willing to write a one-page proposal summary, then you're not that serious about the project.

You didn't listen, I think. I never said I wasn't willing to do that. I have been told (from various sources) that the guy is busy. Personally, I don't think [b]I don't need to say more than one sentence to make the proposal fly. I might be wrong though. [/b]
I was trying to be brief to be as least a burden/distraction as possible. That's all.

Also I am not so sure whether the quality or sincerity or dedication of a person can always be read reliably according to such "tell-tale signs". Again, I might be wrong.

Alex

You'd be wrong. Trust me on this. Alot of things can sound good with a sentence, but may not be good in the end. The devil is in the details. Also, while kevin is busy, I'm pretty sure his reading speed is rather good so a 3 paragraph pitch is what would be best.

ak-73 wrote:

Prince Artemis wrote:You'd be wrong. Trust me on this. Alot of things can sound good with a sentence, but may not be good in the end. The devil is in the details. Also, while kevin is busy, I'm pretty sure his reading speed is rather good so a 3 paragraph pitch is what would be best.

Yet I am not a complete newbie, Prince Artemis. I have been playing Palladium even before Rifts got published (I know I'm not the only one around here) and I have been investigating this idea for quite some time now and so far it has held scrutiny everytime.
The final call would be by Kevin, of course. As for the details, I think the basic idea is so good, that a seasoned pro (such as Kevin or other Palladium staff) would find it hard to mess up the implementation of the concept.

I think I can basically sell this idea (the basic concept) in one sentence. I might be wrong but I think I can.

As to whether I get a chance to make my pitch, that's up to Kevin Siembieda.

Alex

Go listen to the latest show from Kevin. I actually asked him specifically how he would like pitches made and he actually explains there why I said "One sentence won't cut it".

Lemuria concept sounded great, finished manuscript didn't cut it for example, and that's just one example.

What he would like is a summary of the book itself and a finished written chapter/section of the book (2-3 pages) so he can not only judge where you're going with it, but your writting quality.

And I'm not saying that you're not an experienced rpger, but there's a difference between a player and writer, to the point that one is almost unrelated to the other. But I'm also not picking on you. I'm just trying to help you sell your idea to help make sure it gets made

For reference, Alex, I wrote Kevin a 3-4 page letter, going over what I intended to do with each chapter of Mysteries of Magic. In the first submitted draft, the only thing that would be surprising to them was Summoners, because I wasn't sure what I was going to do going in, and had a last-minute inspiration that led to re-writing the entire chapter. In the second draft, I slightly rearranged the chapters, splitting one into two, but left everything otherwise the same.

I'll take this to PM.

Sent mine.

ak-73 wrote:

Kagashi wrote:Sent mine.

Anybody who sent a letter around this time, please notify me should you ever get an answer. That way I will know if my pm will have been read and discarded or not. I'll notify anyone interested when I get a reply.

Alex

I think Kagashi was refering to the letter to Jerry Bruckheimer, the original purpose of this topic.

I sent out my letter while also brow beating my group, and everyone else I know who has ever seen a RPG to do likewise.

sent mine, the other should get one in the mail monday as well.

Killer Cyborg wrote:

The Galactus Kid wrote:Mine is going out this week. Would it be bad to send more than one?

Not as long as you spread them out.
One a week or so.

This is exactly what i wanted to suggest. Remember the part about how the most successful campaigns are organized and SUSTAINED. It also wouldn't hurt to change what the letter says by a little bit each time.

RockJock wrote:I sent out my letter while also brow beating my group, and everyone else I know who has ever seen a RPG to do likewise.

Brow beating was the other thing I wanted to suggest -- everyone, even people who might not really care about the issue, but who you know and would be willing to sign a verbatim copy of the suggested one and use their return mailing address, you should urge to send letters, even multiple copies. If they're really apathetic about it, it might be worth printing the letters for them every couple weeks.

(of course, if they'll write their own versions of the letter that's way better, but I figure if they don't game much then they probably won't care enough to bother that much, but it's still worth suggesting that too)

going out in tomorrow's mail

I sent mine out


I could get a lot of people that don't give a crap or don't even know to send a email just because I asked
but getting them to send snail mail would be more problematic

is there a email address as well?

csbioborg wrote:I sent mine out


I could get a lot of people that don't give a crap or don't even know to send a email just because I asked
but getting them to send snail mail would be more problematic

is there a email address as well?

The original post said that the email that would be available is down right now... But it should be back up by the summer.


And here's another reminder to send multiple letters every couple weeks or so! CONTINUED/SUSTAINED PRESSURE!

Tyciol wrote:How about pitching him something different?

Chaos Earth is new and less complicated, why not start him off with that? You could even incorporate in parts of Beyond the Supernatural.

These would build up into Rifts a lot better, people would see familiar stuff like the Glitter Boy and feel safe.

Also, you put in zombies from Dead Reign.

You don't want to just throw zombies in too... it could get really cluttered/overcomplicated... Also, I'd mostly stick with just urging him to make something with PB. Though I agree that it could be interesting to do a CE movie then a 300 years later, Rifts type movie (great set up for a sequal and such). But I also think that starting in the PA calendar could just as easily work really well and be cool too.

TG1 wrote:To Alex,

I know this is about a month and a half off, and hopefully you've already got feedback from Kevin himself, or somebody close to him for your idea.

My suggestion is when you write your outline, make it as descriptive, but brief as possible, like a resume. Most employers look at a resume for about 10 seconds. If they're not struck with what they want to know in that timeframe, it finds itself in the recycle pile, or the garbage, depending on how green the company is.

But if you manage to grab his attention in those 10 seconds, he might look at it some more for about 30 more seconds, before he checks out your contact info (place that on TOP of the outline...) and maybe calls you about contributing to Palladium.

How do I know this, even though I've never spoken to Mr. Siembieda? Because contributing is the same as applying for a job, and you need to submit an outline (resume), and I went through TAP class in 2006, and learned how to write wonderful resumes.

A verbal chat won't do you any good, unless it's in person, and you have the same said outline to give to him, and even then, it may be a wise idea to keep a copy in case he loses it, whether by accident or design.

That is my advice. Someday, I'll contribute when I find motivation or an idea that seems like a winner.

Good luck, and happy hunting Alex.

Gregg

Not sure what this has to do with the fan letter writing campaign?

Why bother, assuming we were lucky enough to have a movie made... You know they'd screw it all up and cast Dane Cook as a Coalition Grunt with Will Farrell as the dog boy and they'd have some screwball adventure getting sucked around like a bad episode of sliders and at the end, through all the terrible and retarded acting, end up accepting magic and then through in some christian overtones or some crap and have Lil' Jon and 50 cent do the soundtrack. The way movies are these days, I'd rather wait. Or have someone do an Animated show based off it. I think animation would be the only way to really catch it all.

MaxxSterling wrote: The way movies are these days, I'd rather wait. Or have someone do an Animated show based off it. I think animation would be the only way to really catch it all.

Agreed. Pixar should be doing this movie.

Tyciol wrote:How about pitching him something different?

Chaos Earth is new and less complicated, why not start him off with that? You could even incorporate in parts of Beyond the Supernatural.

These would build up into Rifts a lot better, people would see familiar stuff like the Glitter Boy and feel safe.

Also, you put in zombies from Dead Reign.

Choas Earth might be the best starting point, but again it could end up like the D&D movies tooo

CSI: Lazlo Society?

Now I'd think that was really cool, but I don't think it'd be enough in keeping with the usual idea of the show or the mainstream in general to really fly. I know you suggested it jokingly, but I think that could actually have potential. If it had any real chance of getting off the ground...

Also, there's all this talk of using settings besides RIFTS for the movie, but the initial proposal and I'm pretty sure everything Bruckheimer has seen in all the manuscripts has been RIFTS... Trying to switch it up now would probably be damaging to our "cause"

I think the first movie should be Chaos Earth. It would explain the nature of the Rifts setting for those who are viewing the franchise for the first time. Then the second movie could be 99 PA or something. And the next movie the SoT. And you could follow a particular item through all three...like a ring or a sword, and it would tie the movies together.

Just a thought.

phaze24 wrote:i believe jerry only has the option for rifts, not palladium in general, and if thats the case he can only make a rifts movie.

Well really, who'd want a license for anything else Palladium makes? HU is a generic supers game without a distinctive setting and standout characters. Palladium Fantasy is generic high fantasy that's pretty much indistinguishable from the setting to any of dozens of fantasy RPGs and novels. And everything else is relatively obscure even by RPG standards.

If you're looking for a Palladium gameto turn into a profitable action movie, Rifts is really the only remotely decent option in town. And I don't mean that as a diss on Palladium, because when you get down to it there aren't all that many settings made by other RPG companies that would be worth the effort. Maybe World of Darkness, maybe a DnD campaign world, maybe Warhammer 40K (they have an RPG for it, so technically it fits here ), but that's about it.

I have to say that I agree completely with MaxxSterling, who posted above. As much as I love Rifts, I have no desire to see a Rifts movie appear in theatres any time soon.
There are a few reasons why I feel this way. Most importantly, I think it would be a VERY difficult thing to produce a (standard) 120-page script for a good (emphasis on 'good') film set in the Rifts world. The setting is so rich, detailed, and expansive, that you would have to spend a good chunk of running-time simply describing and explaining the setting, likely at the expense of the actual story and characters. In other words, it would be difficult to avoid presenting a lot of exposition, but you would have to do so or risk bewildering audiences not already familiar with the setting (think David Lynch's 'Dune'). You could take the alternate route and focus in on a particular group of characters in a specific situation, but then you risk disappointing fans who were hoping to see their favourite beings, locations, and game elements, only to find them absent from the film.
In addition, I worry that a Rifts movie would be made as a big-budget, special-effects extravaganza (and my fears are fuelled when I see others tossing around names like Bruckheimer, Bay, and Cameron), and let's face it, most such films made these days aren't very good. Movie studios tend to approach such projects with a 'more is better' attitude - more explosions, more loud noises, more CGI creatures - often resulting in films that look good but are very boring to watch. I love the Rifts setting and I would be very disappointed to see it receive such treatment. I remember how bummed out I was after the 'Dungeons and Dragons' movie came out - I had been waiting for them to make that movie since I was a kid (I remember discussions about the idea in Dragon magazine in the mid-1980s), but it was a total piece of crap that barely resembled the game I loved, and didn't work at all as a film.
I think MaxxSterling is also right about the animation idea. Rifts, in my opinion, would lend itself much better to an ongoing series of some type (e.g. television) rather than to a 2-3 hour film. That would give audiences enough time to discover the setting slowly and gradually, while also permitting them to get to know the series characters very well. I think animation would be best for this approach, because it helps to circumvent budgetary/financial obstacles more easily - you can depict a lot more stuff comparatively cheaply with animation than you can with live-action and computerized special effects. I am not thinking of a Pixar production here - more like conventional 2D animation (e.g. anime). I am not a fan of anime, and I do not watch television, but I think that sort of approach is much more likely to produce results that fans of Rifts can be happy with and proud of (and I can always get the DVDs when they come out!).

How many letters have actually gone out? I mean, in the past 6 months has only the 15 people who responded to this thread even send a letter? I seriously doubt JB would drop millions of dollars in a movie to please 15 people.

Okay, Rifter6, I must admit that I haven't yet seen 'Black Hawk Down', so I will have to take a look at it sometime in the near future. I do remember hearing good things about it when it was released. You've convinced me that the possibility may not be as bleak as I've thought. However, when I review Bruckheimer's filmography, I see a lot of stinkers there too, so my concerns are not completely banished.

I hope everything turns out well for this "possible" production. Fans are the harshest type of critics...

Ibz wrote:New guy to the forums posting,

I'm sending out a letter tomorrow RE a Rifts Movie. As a writer from a family of writers I think I'll try my hand at a script idea in my spare time.

Cheers,

Ibz

Welcome to the board.

geekgazette wrote:Jerry Bruckheimer films that are
In Development:
Horse Soldiers (details only on IMDbPro)
Shake (details only on IMDbPro)
World War Robot (details only on IMDbPro)
Apaches (details only on IMDbPro)
The Lone Ranger (details only on IMDbPro)
The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless (details only on IMDbPro)
Gemini Man (details only on IMDbPro)
Killing Rommel (details only on IMDbPro)
National Treasure 3 (details only on IMDbPro)
Game Boys (details only on IMDbPro)
Campaign Dads (details only on IMDbPro)
Consequence (details only on IMDbPro)
Nine Lives (details only on IMDbPro)
"Untitled Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay Project" (details only on IMDbPro)
Ballers (details only on IMDbPro)
The Increment (details only on IMDbPro)
Jihadists in Paradise (details only on IMDbPro)

There is no Rifts movie listed at this time, unless it is the "Untitled Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay Project".

Dude, IMBD is not the be all and end all. Stuff actually has to be submitted to them before it goes on the list. I was talking to Thurber as he was working on the script and yet there was no mention of a Rifts movie anywhere on IMDB. Heck, there's no mention of it in the Options section either despite the publicized fact the option is owned by Bruckheimer.

Hope this isn't a dark omen.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111801 ... id=13&cs=1

C. Chopps

Yeah Bruckheimer optioning yet another IP for a potential movie isn't an omen one way or another. It's what people like Bruckheimer do.

If we want bad omens, I'd look no further than the fact that there's been absolutely no news on the project since 2005 (apart from Palladium's own press releases, which haven't contained any hard facts on the project since 2005).

phaze24 wrote:

cchopps wrote:Hope this isn't a dark omen.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111801 ... id=13&cs=1

C. Chopps

how so it has nothing to do with the movie

also there have been scripts written but they have all been turned down, susposadly someone is working on a new one now.

Actually, iirc the script that was last written is being re-written. I heard they liked quite a bit of it but it needs some work or something like that.

Rallan wrote:Yeah Bruckheimer optioning yet another IP for a potential movie isn't an omen one way or another. It's what people like Bruckheimer do.

If we want bad omens, I'd look no further than the fact that there's been absolutely no news on the project since 2005 (apart from Palladium's own press releases, which haven't contained any hard facts on the project since 2005).

I just meant that Bruckheimer is doing another Post-Apocalypse movie, that's all.

C. Chopps

cchopps wrote:

Rallan wrote:Yeah Bruckheimer optioning yet another IP for a potential movie isn't an omen one way or another. It's what people like Bruckheimer do.

If we want bad omens, I'd look no further than the fact that there's been absolutely no news on the project since 2005 (apart from Palladium's own press releases, which haven't contained any hard facts on the project since 2005).

I just meant that Bruckheimer is doing another Post-Apocalypse movie, that's all.

C. Chopps

Again, that is more positive than negative. Generally speaking, Hollywood tends to move in waves and they can often help improve sales unless it gets too saturated. Comic book movies are currently enjoying that kind of boon for the most part for example.

This isn't a major deal. Heck, if you look at all the movies that came out in the last two years and are coming out soon, the Rifts movie should do pretty well. They won't have to spend too much time explaining some of the larger elements since the audience is going to be aware of the bigger, general post apoc stuff.

The big thing that will be lynch pin in Rift's success will be how they handle magic and psychic abilities. The best idea I have for a trailer is spending 45 seconds or so showing the high tech gear, the wild setting, and then at some point have someone doing something obviously, and impressively magical (creating a fire ball, circle of flame ect). That's the point where people will realize that it's not just another disaster movie.

Am I the only one who thinks this movie idea has gone on long enough? Bruck is good for CSI, Criminal Minds, but I don't know it's worse than StarCraft Ghost at this point

I'd love to see a Rifts movie.

Newman: Jerry!

is all I can think

Laux the Ogre wrote:I know everyone dogs on the first D&D movie(and with good reason, it was a steaming-pile), the second D&D movie wasn't bad.

Within the first half an hour you had the Cleric try to turn a dragon and get killed... yes, yes it was that bad.


Daniel Stoker

Laux the Ogre wrote:Re-watch the movie(I did, after reading your post). The cleric isn't trying to "turn" the white dragon. He was attempting some spell.

Yes I know he wasn't literally trying to 'turn the dragon', especially since as far as I know that's not a Cleric power, but that's what it looked like and there was no reason for him to stand out there in the middle like that to get himself killed.


Daniel Stoker

Laux the Ogre wrote:Maybe the cleric had an INT of 6...

Well lord knows I'm pretty sure the writers do.


Daniel Stoker

I'd be curious to know how many people have written in. Too bad there is no way to get an accurate count.

They are better off if they barely touch on why the Rifts are here - it should only be hinted at, much like the old Republic in the first star wars. You know there was this event called the clone wars, and you know it led to the end of the Republic... but you don't know too many details.

You quickly ruin a movie by trying to tell too much backstory. The movie must be focused on the characters, the setting is just a stage. The perspective of some d-bee who accidentally came through a Rift would be good. Initially, the audience understands this to be an alien world... gradually, bits and pieces are revealed... showing it to be a future earth.

Take a look at Mutant Chronicles...

It's based off of a post apocalyptic PnP RPG...The writer for the movie was Philip Eisner the same guy who did the script for Event Horizon (A fantastic movie), the director sadly, not so great. The movie was just awful in almost every aspect...the dialog was bad, the green screen; oops sorry, matte paintings and green screen; that they did in the movie (which was about 95% of it) was terrible and very noticeable, the acting wasn't even there and it was plainly obvious that the actors were in it for the paycheck.

While what they accomplished was amazing for the no doubt small budget (which was mostly devoured by the high profile actors they had starring and even making cameo's in. The fact that they were able to make such a film doesn't hide the fact that it's one of the worst movies made to date.