Robot Stories: And More Screenplays - Softcover

Pak, Greg

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597020001 ISBN 13: 9781597020008

Publisher: Immedium, 2005

Synopsis

"An award winning filmmaker and now hot as hell newcomer [Pak] is a writer on the cusp, right at the unique precipice between upstart and industry great." - Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief, Marvel Comics

"Greg Pak’s fantasy anthology piece...has a dexterous sense of wonder....Mr. Pak’s feel for melodrama adds a piercing and thoughtful end note similar to the emotional gravity found in Stephen King novellas like The Body and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption....He’s a talent with a future." The New York Times

As the title says, Pak uses an ostensible sci-fi motif to link his four pieces. What truly binds them, however, is a subtle exploration of the tension between the human and the synthetic, and the sometimes fuzzy distinction between the two. The film also has a distinguishable arc, beginning with an exceedingly nontraditional birth’ and closing with a triumphant death...He's an uncannily assured visual storyteller...The result is a quietly impassioned, genuinely stirring indie rarity.” - Mark Holcomb, The Village Voice

Winner of more than 30 film festival awards, Robot Stories is an acclaimed independent movie by talented Asian American writer Greg Pak. In four intertwined stories, people struggle to connect in a technological world. In My Robot Baby,” a couple cares for a robot before adopting a human child. In The Robot Fixer,” a mother reaches out to her dying son by completing his toy robot collection. In Machine Love,” an office worker android learns that he too needs love. In Clay,” an old sculptor chooses between natural death and digital immortality.

Praised as the kind of science fiction sophisticated audiences crave and deserve,” the screenplay follows in the literary tradition of Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury.

This collection includes scripts from additional short films, original commentary by the author, and a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Henry Hwang.

"It's a crying shame they don't make more science fiction movies like writer/director Greg Pak's independent film Robot Stories...Robot Stories and More Screenplays includes a foreword by David Henry Hwang (playwright for M. Butterfly), a preface by Pak, and useful editor's notes on reading and understanding screenplays and their unique conventions. It's a great package...given Pak's thoughtful introductions at the start of each 'chapter', it's also a rare opportunity for up-and-coming filmmakers to get a glimpse into the art of short filmmaking." - SciFi Dimensions

About this title

About the Author

Greg Pak was named one of American Top 10 comic book writers by Wizard magazine. He has written the Marvel comics Planet Hulk, World War Hulk, Skaar: Son of Hulk, Incredible Hulk, Incredible Hercules, Warlock, X-Men: Phoenix Endsong, Magneto, Iron Man, War Machine, and Battlestar Galactica (Dynamite Entertainment).

Greg Pak directed his first feature film "Robot Stories" which has played nationwide and won over 30 festival awards. With clients including Nike and Marvel Comics, he edits FilmHelp.com and AsianAmericanFilm.com. One of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 Filmmakers to Watch, Greg studied political science at Yale, history at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and film at NYU's graduate program. David Henry Hwang is a playwright, screenwriter, and librettist, best known as the author of M. Butterfly, which won the 1988 Tony©, Drama Desk, John Gassner, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He graduated from Stanford University and attended the Yale School of Drama.

Review

"Forget 'Hellboy.' 'Robot Stories' is the real deal -- a science-fiction with a brain and a heart." - Pittsburgh TribuneReview

Robot Stories' tagline is 'science fiction from the heart,' a phrase author and genre specialist Steven Schneider finds appropriate. Robot Stories plays differently from a lot of the science-fiction films I've seen,’ said Schneider, the author of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die... It made me reflect on science fiction's deep and long-standing romantic side. Greg is less interested in trying to pull the wool over our eyes by giving us something spectacular-looking than he is in exploring human relationships.’...In fact, 2004 may end up being American cinema's year of the robot, with Pak and his independent sci-fi movie getting the jump on Hollywood.”
- Jason Silverman, Wired

"Pak is an extremely gifted screenwriter, a fact you can confirm by reading Robot Stories and More Screenplays, which collects several short and two feature-length scripts, all with introductory notes....There’s a clear sense throughout that Pak is giving the writing of his movies the attention it deserves and, not only that, has a real gift for it. It’s a relief to see a young director relying so heavily on strong writing. Pak’s interests are too complex to be served by anything less...Pak’s robot stories ultimately challenge our assumptions about what we are doing as humans, as people, and with the lives and world we make." - Strange Horizons

"Forget 'Hellboy.' 'Robot Stories' is the real deal -- a science-fiction with a brain and a heart." - Pittsburgh TribuneReview

“Robot Stories' tagline is 'science fiction from the heart,' a phrase author and genre specialist Steven Schneider finds appropriate. ‘Robot Stories plays differently from a lot of the science-fiction films I've seen,’ said Schneider, the author of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die... ‘It made me reflect on science fiction's deep and long-standing romantic side. Greg is less interested in trying to pull the wool over our eyes by giving us something spectacular-looking than he is in exploring human relationships.’...In fact, 2004 may end up being American cinema's year of the robot, with Pak and his independent sci-fi movie getting the jump on Hollywood.”
- Jason Silverman, Wired

"Pak is an extremely gifted screenwriter, a fact you can confirm by reading Robot Stories and More Screenplays, which collects several short and two feature-length scripts, all with introductory notes....There’s a clear sense throughout that Pak is giving the writing of his movies the attention it deserves and, not only that, has a real gift for it. It’s a relief to see a young director relying so heavily on strong writing. Pak’s interests are too complex to be served by anything less...Pak’s robot stories ultimately challenge our assumptions about what we are doing as humans, as people, and with the lives and world we make." - Strange Horizons

Edition details

• Publisher: Immedium
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1597020001
• ISBN 13: 9781597020008
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 232