Honest to Blog...

Here's why* I love Diablo Cody so much. I've mentioned her several times, mostly in passing, but I've come to respect her rise to the top as being genuine and rather entertaining. Most people seem to have a problem with her quick rise to fame, but I see it as a wonderful Cinderella story with a stripper twist. She's big. Steven Spielberg's working with her big, and apparently, many people have a problem with that. So, here's her response to the nay-sayers, and frankly I have to applaud her for this. The blog world is one that I've been incredibly critical of ever since I joined my first forum and felt the fire from raging lunatics bent on proving to me why the Xbox was better than a Gamecube, or why Empire of the Sun is Spielberg's most childish filmmaking effort; I've had my fair share of mud slung (is that right? slung, sling, slinged....) in my direction, so I feel her pain (in a very tiny, "I'm not an Oscar winner" way). I've been a huge advocate of her's since I saw Juno back in December of last year, because I recognized something incredibly rare in her script, and in the film: raw talent. Yeah, the film was plagued with hipster slang, and the usual glut of indie comedy quirkiness, but I just adored it for being the debut screenplay that it was. It's always fun for me to see someone like her make it big.

I remember watching the special features on Romancing the Stone (its good, so yeah, whatever), and there was a feature specifically dedicated to the film's screenwriter, Diane Thomas. Stone was her first produced screenplay as well, and it was absolutely genre-defining (romantic-comedy-adventures were not that common), and it brought her tons of success. Sadly, she passed away in a car accident before her career could really take off, but that's not the point: she created something special her first time out, and that's commendable.

The same goes for Ms. Cody. She proved that you didn't need a film degree to make a great script. I envy that. I'm honest with myself when it comes to my ability as a writer; I'm not that good. I try to be, every time I open Final Draft and begin something, but what I've been able to accomplish has been through tons of classes, and long, hard workshopping sessions. I do not believe I have all of the talent she possesses, and I'm okay with that. But to be so viciously jealous of that to the point of empty hatred strikes me as absurd and rather 3rd Grade. She's got talent. Deal with it. And that's why I love this post. It shows that she can mingle words together to create something that very effectively brings down those who seek to gain "stature" by bringing her down. She's honest about her success. She's honest about Juno's success, and she doesn't care what you have to say. Well, she does, or else she wouldn't say it, but in all honesty, that's what I love about her. She still blogs. She still posts regularly on her Twitter. She still goes on ridiculously awesome 5-day roller coaster vacations with regular people, none of whom subscribe to Variety.

She's a woman after my own heart. And while I'll never be a stripper (Hot Cops!), or a phone sex operator, I will hopefully be a screenwriter. She's proof that talent outshines anything else in this biz, no matter what people say. You see it time and time again. I hope I have talent. People tell me I do, and that's nice and all, but I still don't buy it. I struggle everyday to put words on the page, and make something of my free-time, and part of that has to do with my fears that this business can ruin even the best. I watch shows like "Entourage" and "The Comeback" (Lisa Kudrow, 2005... IMDb it) and I wonder how anyone can manage to live in LA and not want to completely lose their mind. But, the only thing that gets me by, and the small glimmer of hope I have for this industry lies in people like Diablo. Hate her style, hate her films, or whatever, but admire her tenacity. Give credit where credit is due: she's a published writer and a produced screenwriter, and while same may say it fell in her lap, well, they just weren't paying attention. She's got it. And by it, I mean talent... Really...

*WARNING: Diablo's language is EXTREMELY colorful, and probably offensive to a lot of people. You've been warned. If you aren't super offended by language, scroll down a bit past the roller coaster picture and start with the paragraph beginning "I am not Charlie Kaufman..." Again, you've been warned... In fact, don't read this... It's a bit much... I shouldn't even read it. I'll summarize for the class:

Diablo hates haters. She's successful, so deal with it. Try her job for a day, and then tell me if you like it... All in all, it's not easy, and she's good at what she does. Hate Juno, hate her, but respect the talent... The End... There.... No vulgarity, no worries!