An excerpt from The Captain’s thoughts on Straight Outta Compton which will be available 09/7/15:
The film starts out in the late 80’s, Dr. Dre is having a hard time trying to make money DJing at a club which I think was named Dookie or Doo Doo, I missed the full name but I know it had something to do with poop. He DJs while Ice Cube raps about how hard and gangsta he is. Even though at this point the only time we see him, he’s alone writing in his journal. At this point Biggie Smalls was slinging crack to pregnant women. At least Eazy-E had some gangsta cred. The film does start off with him and a drug deal gone bad.
One thing I did find interesting is that Eazy-E wasn’t a rapper. He just helped produce a track with his drug money. After the group they had set to sing the track leaves, E steps in and does it himself. The single is a hit and that is what grabs the attention of Jerry, played by Paul Giamatti.
At first, I liked Jerry. I thought he was a good guy, he seemed to really care for E and the band. Well, okay, mostly just Eazy-E. But then you started to see through his double dealings and shitty contracts. Maybe Jerry wasn’t exactly the most trust worthy fella after all. Though I’d still take him over Suge Knight. I mean, that guy was just fucking crazy. Who I think actually ran a guy over after seeing this movie. That’s how crazy that dude is.
One thing I wish they didn’t skip over was how they picked their band name. Everyone knows the most important part of any band is how they come up with their name. Here they skip over that but let us know about Ruthless Records, Deathrow Records and whatever it was Dre said at the end. Whatever his record label was that he started that gave us 50 Cent.
By the way, as a kid I thought Deathrow Records meant it was albums by rappers on actual deathrow. That’s how little I knew about rap.
So maybe their biggest hit (I guess I don’t know) comes out of the group being harassed outside the studio by a few cops. Angry, Cube writes Fuck tha Police. This gets them in the biggest trouble, even having the FBI write them a strongly worded letter.
You know how many letters the FBI sent my band Piss Ant? Zero!
After they get arrested on tour, cause a ruckus on tour and bang hos on tour, they come back home and fight over contracts. Yeah, things get pretty exciting, folks!
Cube leaves to go solo, a feud starts between him and the rest of the group. And then Dre hooks up with Suge and starts Deathrow Records. And just to make sure, it wasn’t actually a record label featuring only rappers on deathrow. I double checked.
Now it’s just Eazy-E and Jerry. Though that quickly turns sour when E is basically broke. He started out with a fleet of fancy sports cars, living in a mansion to maybe not having a car and living in a small house. Jerry on the other hand is still raking it in.
Want more helpful screenwriting tips and movie/script reviews? Follow this link to our Discussion Forum.
And be sure to check out our Notes Service, where I give my detailed thoughts and suggestions on your script.
http://t.co/Z6mZat8DQc Hank: Straight Outta the Movies! #screenwriting
Straight Outta the Movies!: An excerpt from The Captain’s thoughts on Straight Outta Compton which… http://t.co/QavbAgBC1A WriteToReel