Duke School Under the Oak Magazine, Fall 2017

More documents

Recommendations

Info

was hard for people to take us seriously, especially when we were first out of college.” Finding a new direction Eventually, after trying unsuccessfully to find work as directors, the Duffers decided to make their own opportunity. They wrote the script for a feature-length film, Hidden, about a family sheltering in an underground bunker after their town is devastated by a mysterious outbreak. They pitched it to film studios with the condition that they themselves would direct it. “It was kind of the only path available to us—to write something original and then not let anyone else have it,” said Matt. “We basically held the script hostage.” Warner Bros. purchased Hidden and filmed it in 2012 with the Duffers directing. However, the studio decided not to give the finished film a wide release. Nevertheless, Hidden’s script had caught the attention of director-producer M. Night Shyamalan, creator of contemporary thrillers like The Sixth Sense and Signs. Shyamalan invited the Duffers to join the writing staff for the Fox scifi television series Wayward Pines, based on the novels of Blake Crouch. “We were really hired to just consult for a few weeks,” said Ross. “And then a few weeks turned into like six months of intense work.” Wayward Pines became a training ground for a number of young screenwriters and filmmakers who, like the Duffers, had never worked in television before. “It was really just a boot camp for television, because we didn’t understand television at all,” said Ross. Being “thrown into the deep end, a little bit” on a big-budget project for a major network was an intense experience, “but I remember at the end of it, Matt and I looked at each other like, ‘We think we can do this on our own now. We think we can put something together.’” Ordinary meets extraordinary Feeling more confident in their abilities and more secure in their prospects of finding work as writers in a pinch, the brothers again began to dream of their own storylines. “Growing up, we were movie people,” said Matt. “The genre films from the ’80s—the Spielberg stuff, the John Carpenter stuff—particularly in high school we became obsessed with some of the horror films from the ’80s. So we started talking about what a long-form version of those movies would feel like. And we got excited about that.” The idea that eventually grew into Stranger Things began with a single script. The Duffers drafted a pilot episode with a rough outline for an eight-hour, single-season series. Recognizing that the television industry was trending away from limited series, they later revised their outline into a story that could sustain multiple seasons. They began to pitch the series to studios. “It was not an easy sell,” said Matt. More than a dozen studios passed on the project in a week of pitches. “We came away from the first week feeling like this was not going to work.” “It was hard. We were very inexperienced. We didn’t have a track record. The one movie we had was dumped by its studio. Our producers had never done television before. It was an ensemble of kids, but it wasn’t for kids. These executives are looking for reasons to say no, and we had about 10 to 20 reasons for them to say no.” When the brothers heard that the online video streaming service Netflix might be interested in their series, they brushed up their pitch and went in for a meeting. 28 UNDER THE OAK
“It’s kind of scary,” said Matt. “They don’t give a lot of reaction in the room, so we actually came out of that pitch having no idea.” But Netflix called the following day with an offer to make the full first season. “We just were beyond ecstatic when we got that phone call,” said Matt. Stand By Me had such an impact on us. That’s why the Spielberg stuff and Stephen King stuff had an impact on us, because it felt like they were stories about us and our friends.” Despite the nostalgia factor, 1980s film buffs are just one part of the show’s fan base. Stranger Things, a tapestry of 1983 suburban childhood threaded with otherworldly creatures, supernatural power and Cold War-tinged government conspiracy, clearly showcases the Duffers’ cinematic influences. “The meeting of the ordinary and the extraordinary is our favorite thing in the world,” said Ross. “When you’re a kid in the suburbs of North Carolina, when you see movies about kids in the suburbs going on these extraordinary adventures, that just really opened our minds and excited us because we’re like, ‘oh my God, my life could be amazing.’ You start daydreaming about finding that treasure map in the attic or whatnot.” When Netflix released the first season of Stranger Things in July 2016, early reviewers were quick to point out homages to films like E.T.: The Extra- Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Firestarter. For the Duffers, the story also echoes real life. “People go, oh, when we have the kids walking down train tracks, we’re referencing Stand By Me,” said Matt. “Which, yes, but we also walked down train tracks with our friends. That’s why “What was really nice and surprising was that it found an audience way beyond that, especially younger audiences who did not even know those films, who did not grow up on them, that it worked for them” said Matt. “And it worked for even older people who don’t have a fondness for those films. You don’t have to have those films as reference to enjoy the show. And that was always our hope.” With the show’s rapid success, Netflix confirmed a second season of Stranger Things within weeks of the first season’s Photo Credit James Minchin/Netflix On the set of Stranger Things, Season 1 release. “We were just hoping some people were going to watch it and we could keep telling this story,” said Ross. “Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine what was going to happen with it.” “It’s funny—when you’re in the middle of making the show, it’s just this little family and we all thought we were making something cool that we were excited to show people. You sort of forget that you’re making this for a wide audience until suddenly it goes out there in the world. All eight episodes dropped, and then suddenly people are binging it. It was a really sort of surreal experience as the audience grew and the word of mouth spread.” UNDER THE OAK 29
Page 1 and 2: Under the Oak FALL 2017 VISION 2022
Page 3 and 4: INSIDE this issue MESSAGE FROM HEAD
Page 5 and 6: from the desk of... Harvey “Smoke
Page 7 and 8: A DIVERSE SET OF VOICES Throughout
Page 9 and 10: staying true to what makes Duke Sch
Page 11 and 12: Same Fund, New Name - Dragon Fund:
Page 13 and 14: A. To create the physical animation
Page 15 and 16: CREATING... PROBLEM SOLVERS Since g
Page 17 and 18: for the creation of new circus work
Page 19 and 20: finally converted to a software eng
Page 21 and 22: 4. It’s not just okay to show off
Page 23 and 24: Shan managed the Rainwater Harvesti
Page 25 and 26: Alumni Connections: Destinations of
Page 27: “The movies we made—I mean, the
Page 31 and 32: “I like that we actually ended up
Page 33 and 34: Friends share their experiences abo
Page 35 and 36: 2016-17 DRAGON FUND HONOR ROLL OF D
Page 37 and 38: Dr. Vasudha Gupta and Dr. Bhupender
Page 39 and 40: Shelby and Stephen Reed Helen and B
Page 41 and 42: Sarah Wessell and John Bley Megan W
Page 43 and 44: Mr. and Mrs. Donald Schoene ICO: Ha

Duke School Under the Oak Magazine, Fall 2017

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?