One For Them, One For Me: Mike White (x 2) in 2017
Friday, February 4, 2022 at 9:00AM A new series by Christopher James
Mike White (left) makes himself one of the images of excess and wealth in "Brad's Status," one of four movies he wrote in 2017 (and the only one he also directed).
Do one for them; do one for you. If you can still do projects for yourself, you can keep your soul.
— Martin Scorsese: A Journey
Why not make a lot of movies and make a lot of money?
Mike White’s 2017 was full of many ups and downs. Few people would be able to make four movies in a year and have them all be good. Mike White decided to split the difference, making two personal projects alongside two painfully obvious cash grabs. White is among the credited writers on The Emoji Movie and Pitch Perfect 3. But that wasn't all. He also wrote and directed the comedy Brad’s Status, a passion project. Finally, he wrote the screenplay for Beatriz at Dinner, directed by Miguel Artera, which serves as a great precursor to his HBO smash hit The White Lotus. Let's look for any common themes or threads for these four scripts that all came out in the same year...
