Is Roger Avary Tweeting from Jail?

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 1st, 2009

Oscar winning writer/director Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction, Killing Zoe) may be Tweeting about his experiences in jail.

Avary started his one year of incarceration on October 25 after pleading guilty to felony manslaughter.  The charges stemmed from a January 2008 DUI crash that resulted in the death of a passenger.  He’s reportedly serving time through the work furlough program, which allows him to leave the jail, go to work, and return to his cell by a night curfew.

Four days later came a post on his Twitter account possibly critiquing the architecture of his Ventura County Jail.  “The building is an imposing example of the Brutalist architectural movement. The windows are designed so as to not let too much light in.”

This is followed up the next day by this Tweet, “The channels on the Rec Room television cannot be changed, and it’s inexplicably always tuned to Fox.” Obligatory “cruel and unusual punishment” joke here.

Then his latest update came yesterday.  “The loudspeaker in each cell blurts out commands (”Number 34 report to Control!”) and is able to listen in on inmate conversations.”

The screenwriter is known for his “Twitterplays,” or small script excerpts spread out over several days, so it’s possible he’s writing another slow-building drama 140 characters at a time.  Or maybe he’s really planning to chronicle his year in jail.  Either way, it’s strange and fascinating to follow Avary’s Tweets.