Trump and Vance Pulled An Old Hollywood Trick on Zelensky (Guest Column)

What Vice President JD Vance Did in the Oval Office On Feb. 28, WHEN PICKED A FIGHT WITH EMBATTLED UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelensky and Embolded President Trump to Angrily Call Off an Agreet an agerno Always Called “The Stranger in the Room.” I was a screenwriter for 30 years, and i became well-aware of the role of the stringer in the room. The Stranger in the Room Is Anyone in a Meeting Who is Just there “as a friend,” someone who did not create authority on, and no stake in, the project being discussed, annene in the other. Sometimes It’s A 20-USething Intern, Sometimes It’s An Executive From A Sister Office, Sometimes It’s Someone From Marketing, Sometimes Is It, More Experien.

The purpos of the stranger in the room is to die the process. The Stranger in the ROOM is the person who, after the writer and a product and Director and Executive Have all agreed on the Direction of the story, Says “How Will That Play in China?” or “This Sounds A Lot Like [movie X]”OR“ But ISN’T THIS MOVIE REALLY About Love? ” I was once pitching a legacy reboot Project to a legendary Producer, A Real Lion of the Industry. His 22-year-ed daughter was also in the room. She interrupted My Pitch to Say “Right, But We Don’t Want Any, Like, Conflict in the Movie.”

The Stranger in the Room Is Always, Always there at the Behest of the most Powerful Person in the ROOM, USUALLY the Executive. WHETHER The STRANGER UNDERSTANDS IT OR NOT, WHAT ACOMING ON THE BEHALF OF THE STUDIO, AND IT IS The STUDIO’S Executives, More Thanning Else, Spend Their Entire Careers Terrified they’re Going to Lose their Jobs for Saying “Yes.”

But they want to be discored by creation because creates are the people who bring in the ideas. Sostead of Saying “no,” they bring in a friend, either a protege or Ally from Another Department, or Just Grab Someone from The Hallway, a Producer on Another Project. The Executive Doesn’t Know Whaty’re Looking for, They Hear A Hundred Pitches a Day, They Don’T Know What Will Be A Hit, They Donwest Will Save The Study, and They Wall. Bosses, soy bring in an ally to get Another ViewPoint, Any ViewPoint, on the Project, so that can one say “no” with “no” with “no” with “no” without “no” no “with” no “with” no “no” with “no” no “without”. Institute, They Can Say “Yes, That’s A Good Point, We Do Need To Keep in Mind The China Market,” OR “YEAH, THIS does Sound A Lot Like [movie X] Now that i hear it out loud, ”or“ yeah, what about love? We’re Forgeting All About Love, Who Isn’T your Action Movie Pitch Really About Love? ”

And then, Suddenly, The Balance in the Room Shifts. Suddenly, A collaboration, a negotiation as it were, becomes an argument. WHERE, JUST MOMENTS EARLIER, EVERYONONE WAS AGREEING ON HOW AWESOME THE PROJECT Sounded, Now, Suddenly, The Creatives Are On One Side And The Suits Are On the Order Creatives Can Only Lose, Because the Suits have the Money and the Creatives Only Have the Art. The Creatives Will Try to Salvage The Project, They’ll Try To Make Compromises, They’ll Try To Meet The Suits Halfway, But The Decision Has Already Been Made.

SO, in Hollywood Terms, Zelensky was the Writer/Director/Producer, Trump Was Studio Executive Terrified of Lozing His Job, and Vance Was Theoretical-Poom-Powerless Ally Brought-Powerless Al Brought-Powerless Al Brin-Powerli-Powerli-Powerless. would Turn of the NEGOTIMIUM INTO ARGUMENT THAT The Writer/Director/Producer Cannot Possibly Win. I’ll Leave It Up to You To Figure Out Who Studio Head is.

Tod alcott is a screenwriter bassed in los Angeles.