Repairman with Rex Pickett

<p>Before Sideways swirled its way into a Pulitzer-caliber wine country classic, screenwriter-novelist Rex Pickett wrote Repairman — a script about a coin-op laundry repairman with fetal alcohol syndrome, a checkered past as an accidental arsonist, and an unshakable code of honesty in a world full of people skimming, scheming, and selling out. <br /></p><p>Rex is the novelist and screenwriter behind Sideways — the book-turned-Oscar-winning-film-turned-stage-musical-turned-Latvian-train-show — and the author of numerous screenplays exploring the messier corners of California life. Long before wine country made him a household name, Rex was sending Amy email dispatches about a script loosely inspired by his brother.<br /></p><p>On this episode:</p><p>- The wild true story of how <i>Repairman</i> almost got made <i>twice</i> — first with Gil Bellows attached to direct, until a surprise phone call from Christina Ricci that blew up the whole deal</p><p>- A nearly-greenlit $2.5 million, 35mm production at First Look — derailed when the studio asked to cut Rex's co-director from the deal</p><p>- Why Rex still considers <i>Repairman</i> one of his most personal scripts, rooted in his real-life brother, Hack<br /></p><p>We run Repairman through our AI pipeline for a new deck, a Paul Dano–heavy casting board, and a trailer that doesn't quite land — then pitch it live to our AI exec Finn, who calls it "a quietly brutal portrait of what decency costs in a rigged world."<br /></p><p>Could it get made now? Listen and find out.<br /></p><p>Go to <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://filmsnotmade.com/" target="_blank">https://filmsnotmade.com/</a> for info on the show, transcripts and more.</p><p>Follow the show on <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade</a></p><p>Subscribe to our <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade" target="_blank">https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade</a><br /><br /><br /></p>