Film Courage: How did you get your first screenplay option?
Mickey Finnegan, Writer/Director: There was a
screenplay that I wrote with a writing partner of mine. It was a story about Vince McMahon and
the World Wrestling Federation in case you know wrestling but I happened to be really into that
world growing up watching it as a kid and there was a particular event that occurred
within the the history of wrestling that that is known as the Montreal Screwjob and I really
really loved this idea and I kind of thought hey this would make a really great screenplay so
I sat down with my writing partner and I did what I don't recommend anybody do which is
we just decided we were going to write this thing that we had no rights to we had no connection to
WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.] in any kind of way it was just a story that we
were really passionate about so we wrote this screenplay and my agent at the time I told him
I was like hey I'm working on this thing I think it's a really great idea and he was like okay well
you don't know any of these people you don't have the rights to that story the only way that this
is going to go is you're going to have to write this thing and you're going to have to send it to
WWE and then they're going to have to miraculously want to read it and then they're going to have to
actually want to like or they're going to have to actually like it and then they're going to
have to actually want to option it because it's you're dealing with an ip that they own and sure
enough we got lucky and we wrote the thing and we were just confident with what we thought we were
writing and we sent it over to my agent who got in front of the people over there and they read
it and they they really really loved it and yeah and they decided to option it from there how long
did it take you to write the screenplay that one probably took like I mean from the time when we
thought of the wanting to do the idea to the time that we actually finished it probably took a year
but not necessarily like a year of like straight sitting at the computer writing it was just
doing a lot of research thinking about the idea thinking about if this is an idea that
we want to spend time writing and then the actual writing process probably took like
four five months or so and so did you have a plan that if WWE passed on it the script was done like
there was no going further on it I think I think we were just too naive at the time to like to
think that this was probably not worth writing or maybe I I think from an outside go from an outside
perspective I was like oh like well if it if it's good it's good if someone wants to make this who
really knows maybe maybe someone will spearhead it so we just we're passionate about it and we just
were like okay we'll write this and hopefully it gets in the right hands and and they like it
and has it been made it has not been made it's it's I think it's gone around I mean it's one
of those things where we were just writers on the script and we kind of sent it off and they decided
to option it and I actually don't know like how much they've sent it around i've had it come back
to me where I’ve been in general meetings with other producers and I’ve made mention like yeah
I wrote the script and blah blah blah and they'll say like oh actually I read that and and I think
it's because maybe it did get sent around a little bit but yeah I'm not I'm not currently in control
of it so it's just sort of out in the filmmaking ether is this something that you and your writing
partner would duplicate again today like if if you think just the naiveté of just being young and
eager and wanting to do this was kind of like the the forces were behind you and today knowing more
you wouldn't have the same luck I guess I feel two ways about it one is that when inspiration strikes
and you're passionate about something by all means just write the thing that you're passionate about
so on the one hand I don't want to like discourage anyone from writing the project that they
or the story that they want to tell but on the other hand I do think that it's probably a lot
a lot better use of your time to work on a project or write something that you're passionate about
but is also doable or doesn't require a lot of lawyers and ip contracts getting involved because
even though that's a script that people really love it's it's a complicated thing to make happen
because it's about real people and about a real life event so that's definitely something that
I learned over the years and and having written other scripts that have gone on to be optioned
those ones I realized okay I'm going to I'm going to focus on things that aren't contingent
on a lot of other factors what is the real life event said the Montreal Screwjob yeah
it's called the Montreal Screwjob there's plenty of documentaries and youtube videos
that you can probably find out about it but it's it is about Vince McMahon and and him
dealing with his the the off the behind the scenes issues with some of his roster talent okay
yeah I'm sure very interesting colorful world full of glam as well absolutely absolutely and so okay
I’ll google that and see is this not safe for work conversation or not
some of the stuff behind the scenes it was just competitors trying to take other people down yeah
well I mean without I guess without getting getting too long-winded for it and this is me
not having my logline pitch ready for you but the about getting too long waiting for it it was at a
time when Vince McMahon and his company they were starting to go out of business and ted turner had
gotten involved in wrestling and became poaching a lot of talent to a rival company called WCW so
WWF had to kind of revamp their product and they started to get a little more edgy and risky with
the products that they were doing and one of their superstars at the time was very uncomfortable
with the direction they were going in and he was their highest paid wrestler at the time and that
caused a lot of friction in the backstage and Vince McMahon wanted to oust him from the company
and get kind of a new generation of wrestlers in there so there was a lot of friction and then you
had drama backstage leaking out into the on stage performance of it all in life imitating art and
art imitating life type type of situation which was really interesting so it'd be like if if film
courage wanted its screenwriters or filmmakers to start throwing chairs and fighting yeah something
a little something like that okay right I think we've seen that not too far the talk shows yeah
right so so really up the the controversy factor and yeah interesting wow I didn't
know I don't know much about the world of wrestling but I know I find it fascinating and
just all the show that's behind it yeah yeah it is a very interesting world I feel like there's
nothing quite like it as as far as like an entertainment art form where it's this
never-ending live performance soap opera that has no off-season sure and it seems like a lot of
these wrestlers have turbulent lives off-screen yeah as well yeah a little bit a little bit
celebrity actor meets rockstar meets athlete all-in-one right right yeah fascinating and so
when you would watch WWE growing up this was in the bay area I guess sure what was your favorite
was it like Rowdy Roddy Piper or forgive me oh yeah some of these like oh all the all the
classics Hulk Hogan growing up on that Macho Man and Ultimate Warrior and then later on Brett Hart
and Shawn Michaels and then you have Stone Cold Steve Austin and the rock and people like that so
all the generations did you see Fighting With My Family about Paige? I actually didn't see that one
it's a great film oh yeah okay I should check it out so it's really well done and I watched
part of the documentary that was based on two of how she would go to these matches and yeah
sort of I think just in England somewhere yeah yeah she she was very passionate about it and yeah
it's kind of an interesting like based on a true I mean she's a real actual wrestler and they kind
of made her her life story into into the film yeah yeah and in the law the glam that's behind it and
yeah and tragedy too so it's interesting did anyone try to talk you out of it and say there's
not I mean the wrestlers fantastic film that one wasn't over the top glam but did anybody try to
talk you out of it and say don't no one cares about wrestlers yeah I think I think that there
are I mean there's no one that's like saying like specifically don't do it but there's definitely
when you when you talk about the idea there people are like oh that sounds like a tough one that's
going to be made and I guess they're not there I mean they're not wrong they're not wrong but
there was interest and you had an option I mean that's yeah yeah there's something to be said for
them yeah they definitely they definitely liked it and and yeah it's they continue to re-up it
right because I might not be the right demographic for that movie but I if I saw that advertised on
the marquee if theaters remain open whatever I would probably want to go see it so yeah
yeah it's definitely definitely an interesting very complicated human story about jealousy and
betrayal and deceit and things like that so even outside of wrestling it's it's it's very much
almost like a shakespearean kind of drama right I hope it gets made I’d like to see it.
Question For The Viewers:
Have
you written a story around someone else’s IP
[intellectual property]? Was there a favorable outcome?