The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 96 – An Offer on the Table

Last Wednesday was one hell of an interesting day. It involved a bit of daily life in NYC – an unfortunate man was having a seizure on the sidewalk outside my office building right as I had to go to an appointment – and ended with some news on my script. At about 9:30pm, my producer called me with an update. One of the bigger Hollywood producers was interested in my script.

It’s annoying that I have to be vague about the specifics, but my manager, producer, and I have not yet made any agreements, so I can’t mention names. Anyway, this Producer and his Production Company are apparently very interested in my post-Apocalyptic spec. However, they think that the second half needs some work. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve gotten this note, so they might be onto something. Their proposition is an exclusive developmental deal, whereby they come on as co-producers with Gretchen (who initially optioned the material) and work with me on developing the second act further. Once that work is done, they take it out through their first look deal with one of the major studios, and try to make a quality action picture.

The obvious pros to doing this are many. For one, the Producer is a bit of a power player, Oscar Nominated hyphenate who has also written and directed. Not only would working with him help ensure a larger sale (though that’s never a certainty) with an impressive name attached, but doing so my first time out of the gate would be impressive for me as a new writer. My current producer was very excited about the prospects that such a partnership could provide for a rookie scribe, and I can’t deny it, either. He’s done some quality pictures – every one of them a recognizable success – and I’d love to get the opportunity to work with him. Beyond that, the woman who works for his Production Company who would head up the project is pretty confident in her ability to do something with it – provided I do a good job with the rewrites – and to make a quality film we could all be proud of. It all sounds good.

The downside of the deal? Right now, there’s no money involved in the offer. Of course, this isn’t an immediate deal-breaker. However, since the agreement would be exclusive in nature, we wouldn’t really be able to capitalize on any other offers. Taking the offer – we’d have a phone call first to make sure everyone’s on the same page – would mean potentially another few months of unpaid development work, but the payoff after could be quite worth it. If we go out too many more places with the script as is, we risk overexposing it. The offer takes it off the market for a while, but since there’s no money, I have as much or as little time as I need to make the necessary changes and get it ready to go out again. My hope would be to have it ready before the holidays, though the end of December can be a bad time to try to make a sale.

I have a call with my producer and manager tonight to discuss the offer. I don’t know how common these no money development offers are, and that’s one thing I intend to find out. I don’t doubt that the Production Company can do something with the script if it’s stronger, but I’m not inking anything yet.

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 95 - Stop Waiting Idly

It's been about two weeks since we went out to a former employer of mine who works at an NYC based production company and a few agents with my script. Two weeks might be a bit long (though I'm not completely sure) on the production company end, but is far from worry-territory with agents. Regardless of what traditional wait times might be, I'm trying to be patiently optimistic. Hard as that might be (and these past two weeks, the compounded stress of work and other things have made it quite difficult), I know the perfect distraction: more writing.

One of the greatest things about writing is that it is the solution to its own problems. Hiccups in the script and other walls we hit are only fixed by writing. The same goes for a writing slump. I spent the past few weeks allowing myself to be discouraged (unnecessarily, probably) for the first time in a while. I go back periodically and re-read old blog posts. As much as they make me cringe, they paint the picture of a young writer as unsure in his future as he is in his ability. Since December, I've had people in the industry encouraging and promoting my work. It's now October, and the fairy tale of the overnight hot-shot screenwriter has died, taking with it some of the confidence I had gained.

I'm not sure why I allowed myself to become so disgruntled. A few tough days here and a rejection from an agent there, a failed attempt at a screenplay competition, and I was ready to feel bad for myself. I wouldn't say I was ready to quit - I wouldn't be cut out for this who career path if I was - but I was facing some of the same futility that I felt more than a year and a half ago. This weekend, I did what all writers have to at some point. I started writing again.

It's amazing how quickly actually putting words to the page can completely redirect all emotions. That discouragement went away as the creative juices started flowing again. I was able to divert my energy from thinking about the script that's currently out of my hands to one that is one hundred percent in my control now. There's a new script to focus on now, and it's a fun one. I managed four solid pages of notes, questions, and ideas this weekend. They are four glorious pages.

Logline Central - C.O.D.

Logline Central is an irregular segment that takes a deeper look at loglines of scripts or projects that have just been purchased, as listed on DoneDealPro.

I saw an interesting logline earlier this week. It's nothing wildly earth shattering, but it did grab my attention - for both good and bad reasons.

Title: C.O.D.

Logline: A New York City bike messenger is forced to deliver three bombs under threat of his family receiving one. He must avoid capture by not only the authorities but also by an entire nation looking to stop him.
Writer: Carl Ellsworth
More: Rewrite deal. Original script was written by Lars Jacobson Barry Josephson and Royal Prospect's Neal Flaherty will produce. The project was picked up in March 2008 by DreamWorks.

What I like about this is the unlikely hero. A bike messenger - living in NYC, I see and meet plenty of them, so I'm already feeling a bit connected - has to deliver three bombs, while his family is held hostage (presumably). I'll go out on a limb and assume that he doesn't want to deliver these bombs - not a difficult assumption to make. Essentially, we have an Average Joe type guy who finds himself in less than desirable, dangerous circumstances where his actions lead to the endangerment of innocent or at least unknown people. COLLATERAL, anyone? Very much yes, but in a good way. Collateral was fun, and C.O.D. sounds like it has the potential to be, as well.

It sounds that way, that is, until you read the second half of the logline, "He must avoid capture by not only the authorities but also by an entire nation looking to stop him." I get the authorities bit. Once that first bomb goes off - if they're planned to go off separately, that is - the authorities will be all over this. Even if they don't, it's New York, and someone will find out something's up. If being New York isn't enough, then the fact that this is a movie will push it over the edge. What I don't think I'm on board with, though, is the part about the "entire nation looking to stop him." Which nation? The U.S.? Why is an entire country trying to stop him? Is he nowhere near as innocent as the previous sentence leads us to believe?

Tying an entire nation into this throws a big red flag up for me. It might make perfect sense in a 100 page screenplay. But in a two sentence logline, I get worried. Am I supposed to have images of every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the streets of New York trying to run this guy down and pull him off his bike? It's one hell of a big obstacle to throw in there, and it has me concerned. I'm still very curious, but now that's not just in a good way. Nonetheless, Carl Ellsworth gave us such thrillers as RED EYE, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, worked on DISTURBIA, and seems to be attached to Y: THE LAST MAN. So time will tell.

John August's Post about Pitching

If you're like me at all (for your sake, hope it's only a tiny bit), you're curious about pitching. What it's like. How it happens. How long it takes. How nervous you'll be. When you'll get to do it.

I've read a few books that glaze over pitching and have spoken with writers and other industry people who participate in pitches about their experiences with them. However, you can never get too much info ahead of time. John August recently had a short yet great post about pitching Prince of Persia that walks readers through the entire meeting (20 minutes) with a brief play by play. I've pasted his pitch timeline below, but I suggest reading the whole post.

1. Introductions. Apologies for keeping us waiting. (1 minute)
2. John hyping Jordan’s prestigious videogame background. (1:00)
3. Play the video. (2:10)
4. Jordan describes the world of the Persian empire, using artwork. (:30)
5. John pitches Prince Dastan, using artwork of him. (:30)
6. John and Jordan alternate pitching story, introducing character/prop artwork as new things come up. (6:00)
7. Questions about story, tone and scale. “Somewhere between Pirates and Raiders. It’s not Lawrence of Arabia.”(3:00)
8. Promises that they’ll follow up. (1:00)

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 94 - Familiar Rejection

Last Monday, I was supposed to have a call with my manager and producer to update me on the status of my script at the top four agencies – WME, CAA, ICM, and UTA. The call was pushed to Tuesday to give agents extra time to read. Unfortunately, bumping it back a day didn’t really yield any extra results, and the one bit of information that I did get wasn’t the best. We only heard back from CAA, and the agent there passed on the script.

It’s an odd feeling to be experiencing rejection (from an agent) at this stage of the game. It’s also usefully humbling. I think that I had allowed myself to think beyond agents to the next step – actually making a sale – to such a degree that I needed something to ground myself and my expectations a bit. To be honest, I’m still not wedded to the notion of having an agent on board (that is, after all, an additional 10% out of my sale). However, my manager and producer think that an agent can help solidify a sale, so I’ll go with the flow.

I had previously thought that having a manager and a producer attached to a spec would make it a stronger case for an agent, especially if there’s already a laundry list of places we’re thinking of sending it out to. That’s obviously not the case, though. Breaking in, no matter how good other industry people might think your script is, is still no walk through the park. It’s easy to get aggravated by the sometimes seemingly insurmountable obstacles new writers face when trying to get into the industry. Especially in light of the number of terrible movies getting made and the cringe-worthy scripts we read as interns or readers, frustration is easy to succumb to. The key though, is to move past that.

My one large concern – if you can call it that – that came out of the CAA rejection was the feedback that came with it. The agent who read the script thought that the first half was great, but that the second half was just more of the same old. Setting aside the fact that once you break in, the same old is what every company wants from you (an exaggeration, perhaps, but not by much), the note was troubling from a developmental point of view. I’m not sure I agree with the note (or see exactly where it’s coming from), so I don’t yet know how I’d approach it without further insight from the source. When I asked my manager about it, he said to just treat it like one person’s opinion for now, and that the agent acknowledged that other agents might jump at the opportunity to tie themselves to it.

Oh well. The wait continues.

Logline Central - Untitled Loeb Project and What's He Got?

Logline Central is an irregular segment that takes a deeper look at loglines of scripts or projects that have just been purchased, as listed on DoneDealPro.

Let's take a look at two sales that were both logged yesterday.

Title: Untitled Loeb Project
Logline: A jilted lover must disguise himself as a woman and befriend his ex in order to win her back.
Writer: Allan Loeb
Price: High six figures against seven figures
More: Pitch. Working Title's Eric Fellner & Tim Bevan, Dark Trick's Jonathon Komack Martin and Scarlett Fire's Steven Pearl will produce. Liza Chasin, Ryan Reynolds and Allan Loeb will executive produce. Reynolds will also star.

Title: What's He Got?

Logline: After he loses his girlfriend to a lovable loser, a guy seeks the loser out to find out "what's he got."

Writer: Kevin Bisch

Price: $900,000 against $1.6 million

More: Pitch. Walt Becker, Andrew Panay and Category 5's Brian Sher will produce. Becker will also direct. Josh Duhamel will star.

I think the similarities are obvious enough to not linger on them too long. These are both romantic comedies. Both are about guys who have to win their exes back. And both - amazingly - were bought for high six figures against seven figures. (If you're wondering what the "against" means, the writer gets the higher sum when the movie is made. So Kevin Bisch, for example, sold WHAT'S HE GOT? for 900K, and will get another 700K when the film is made. Pretty sweet.) Neither writer is new to the game (Bisch did the Will Smith hit HITCH, and Loeb has a few more credits to his name on imdb with 21 and WALL STREET 2, among others), but the sales are still impressive.

When I read these two loglines back to back, they were similar enough in both concept and deal for me to wonder (albeit only briefly) if the same script had been logged twice. Of course, they're not the same. In one, Ryan Reynolds has to dress like a woman in order to woo his ex back. In Bisch's script, a guy has to learn what he's lacking and (supposedly) steal his girlfriend back from the more lovable guy she's now with.

What's really incredible is the first word under the "more" category for each. Pitch. In my mind, that translates to "spec." As writers, we have to love the fact that two specs collectively went for almost $2 million, with potential to bring in almost another $1 mil. Equally exciting is that both of these already have people attached to star. The fact that someone like Ryan Reynolds, whose $40 million rom-com THE PROPOSAL took in over $163 million domestically, is attached to Loeb's script certainly pushed that price tag up a bit. The lesson this week is that an idea (both could be funny, but neither seems to be breaking new ground) can go a long way and increase its value with the right people attached. Packaging a project is a beautiful thing when its done correctly.

What, When, Where this Weekend - FilmLinc's Scary Movies Series

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has a great slate of horror films screening right now - lots of cult classics and new favorites. I wish I had the time and money to check out a bunch of these on the big screen, but I'll give a few of my recommendations below. (You can read the full list of screenings here.)

An American Werewolf in London - One of the few great werewolf movies made after the classic Universal-era films. (The only other great ones that come to mind are the first "Howling" and "In the Company of Wolves" - any others?) Writer/director John Landis will be present for a Q&A on Thursday. (I wonder how long it'll take before he gets his first "Thriller" question of the night?)

The Brood - When you try to rank your favorite David Cronenberg movies and this one lands around sixth or seventh on the list - it's just a reminder of how many strong films the guy's made. This is one of his weirdest ones - and that's saying a lot, considering he would go on to direct Videodrome just a few years later.

Phenomena - I feel the same way about Dario Argento that I do about Cronenberg - he had such an incredible streak of moviemaking in the 70s and 80s, particularly from Suspiria to Opera. In this movie, a young Jennifer Connelly talks to insects to solve murders. Also, there's some business with a deformed little person and a highly-suspicious chimp. Really, I don't know how to properly explain this movie, but I enjoyed it.

Dead Alive - One of the funniest zombie movies out there, made long before Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland. Also, one of the bloodiest. So, so much blood. Still not sure how Peter Jackson went from this to Lord of the Rings, but I'm glad he did. Highly recommended.

Night of the Living Dead 1990 - Remakes rarely live up to the original film, but this Tom Savini-piloted remake of George Romero's classic does enough differently to make things entertaining, especially if you've seen the original a dozen times. The more familiar you are with the first one, the more this one'll toy with your expectations. The only negative thing to say? They somehow managed to make the new Cooper even more grating.