Funny Farm with Chevy Chase. (Not a movie thread)

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underthecity

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We just watched Funny Farm with Chevy Chase again. It's a movie that always makes us laugh.

But this time I noticed all the weird book publishing inconsistencies.

Chevy Chase is a sports writer, and he and his wife decide to leave the rat race to buy a house in the country in upstate New York so he can follow his dream and write his novel.

The first weird thing is that he's already been given a $10,000 advance to write the book. All he has at that point was an idea for a book: four poker buddies who knock over a casino. How did he get an advance based on that? He was a sports writer, not a previously published novelist, as far as we knew.

Secondly, his wife writes a children's book longhand and sends to to "one of the addresses in the back of Chevy Chase's magazines." It comes back typed and with a check for $5,000 and an offer for publication. Plus, they wanted to know what she had next.

Who in the world did she send it to? I've never heard of anything like that before. Sounds like a great publishing house, to accept a handwritten manuscript from an unknown author.

Other than those parts, I love the movie.

allen
 

KTC

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Um, Allen. It's a movie. Neither of those two scenarios would work in real life. Admittedly, the first one is more likely. That's pretty much how celebs do it. They could probably go to a publisher with an idea and get an advance. But Chevy and his wife needed these things to happen for the premise to work.
 

eldragon

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I don't think I've seen that movie.

Besides Vacation, I try to steer clear of anything Chevy Chase.


Regardless, things in the publishing industry have changed quite a lot since that movie was mad. Good thing, really, because real-life publishing issues aren't funny.
 

KTC

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lol. I like that movie, too.
 

Chumplet

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Isn't it every writer's dream to buy a house in the country, set up a beautiful office with a view of a pond and write a novel? I always loved that scenario in the movie but never thought I'd be one of the people who wanted that dream. The fact that the main characters got their publishing break in such an unconventional way never occurred to me at the time. I know now that it's a long shot, but the end result still attracts me.

That movie always cracked me up. It's a Christmas movie, too.
 

Thrillride

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Isn't it every writer's dream to buy a house in the country, set up a beautiful office with a view of a pond and write a novel? I always loved that scenario in the movie but never thought I'd be one of the people who wanted that dream. The fact that the main characters got their publishing break in such an unconventional way never occurred to me at the time. I know now that it's a long shot, but the end result still attracts me.

That movie always cracked me up. It's a Christmas movie, too.

Amen! One of my favorte movies ever. I know it's all unrealiatic, but I swear, I have been there with his frustration with life!


~Thrill
 

megan_d

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I think I saw this movie when I was very young... Do they drive into a lake at one point? That's all I (think) I remember.
 

eldragon

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Isn't it every writer's dream to buy a house in the country, set up a beautiful office with a view of a pond and write a novel? I always loved that scenario in the movie but never thought I'd be one of the people who wanted that dream. The fact that the main characters got their publishing break in such an unconventional way never occurred to me at the time. I know now that it's a long shot, but the end result still attracts me.

That movie always cracked me up. It's a Christmas movie, too.

I'll sell you my house. It's 3000 square feet, built in 1886. It sits on 5 acres with two beautiful ponds.

It's in Missisippi and cheap.

Make me an offer.
 
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