Bill Gets A Deal (part 3)

At the end of the third week of writing this script I have not been paid for, I get a phone call from another producer who wants to work with me. We have a meeting, and this ends up being the Hawaii project. It’s a great meeting, and I want to do that script. We discuss terms, and come to a basic agreement. I tell them that I’m working on this other project, but when I finish it I want to write the Hawaii script. I would sure like to get a contract and check from the facilities deal producer, so that I know I’m not wasting my time.

I send another e-mail about the contract to the director, and he asks how I’m coming along with the script... and can I send him pages? I make a PDF of the first half of the script and send it. Sure, they can crack a PDF and rip me off. They can hire someone to finish the script, too. But I tell the director I have more pages, this is just a sample. I mention that I’m getting kind of concerned about the check - I understand that the contract might be held up by lawyers going over wording and terms - that’s what they do. But I’m sending half of the screenplay - it would be nice to get that initial check for doing this work. Hey, maybe this half of the script is exactly what is needed to get that check and contract to me? Maybe this is “good faith” to the producer?

A couple of days later I get a contract and a check in the mail... for the Hawaii script. Okay, the Hawaii producer’s office is about the same as this other guy’s - neither owns a building, neither has an army of employees... but I’m still waiting on one contract and the other is in my hand almost instantly. Everything discussed in our meeting is in the contract. I’m happy with it. The check clears the bank. I’m now feeling guilty for giving the other script another week, because the Hawaii guy is “the better customer”. I feel like I owe the guy who does everything right a little priority.

But I do a fourth week on the script - which is now closing in on the end of act 2 - and when I get no contract and no check at the end of that week... I switch over to the producer who has actually paid me, figuring that when I get the contract and check I’ll take a week and finish the script. I write the first few scenes on the Hawaii script when I get an e-mail from the director...

With notes attached from the producer...

Now, many people over the years have given me notes. I have horror stories about notes... in fact, one of those is coming up. But usually the problem with the notes is that they are stupid and will ruin the script. In this case, they were mean. Insulting. Nasty. But I could deal with that. I mean, usually everyone tries to be tolerable until they have the completed first draft, that way you don’t quit on them. And even if people are difficult to work with, they all wear that fake smile (the one I wore at the meeting) until they get what they want from you. That fake smile is especially broad if they owe you money. It’s just bad business to be an asshole to someone you don’t have under contract, yet.

The big problem with the notes? “Where the hell are we going to get the money to film in Rome?” “How the fuck do you expect us to send a crew to Paris?” Stock footage. This guy didn’t understand stock footage! I actually found that difficult to believe. How can you be a film producer and not have the basic imagination required to understand that some static shot of Rome that doesn’t include any characters, just a skyline, is probably going to be stock footage. If his note had been, “Hey, where do you plan on getting this shot of Rome and how much will it be costing me?” that would be different. That is a reasonable question. And I actually had an answer to that.

The director’s e-mail said I should ignore the Producer’s profanity, that’s just the way he is... and the director thought the script was coming along great - very exciting - and he pointed out some of the scenes that I really liked writing. The director said he would be the one making it, so his response was more important than the producer’s. So, when would I have the script finished? When could he start rounding up talent?

I have to admit, I was pissed off and didn’t respond. I figured now that the producer had read *half* the script, he’d get his rear in gear and get me a contract and a check. You know, there was a time on this deal where, if the producer had plead temporary poverty and wanted to give me half the initial money up front and half when I handed in the completed script, I would have worked with him. But now? I want all my money. And when he didn’t get any more script pages from me, and asked the director what was up, the director would probably mention that I didn’t have a contract or check, yet. Then I’d get my damned contract and check, and send them the 20 or so pages I had yet to send them as a stall while I finished up the script.

So I went back to work on the Hawaii script. Finished it. Handed in the first draft... got a check! Like immediately! Had a meeting on the Hawaii script, got some really good story notes - this is like a dream job, because we’re mostly on the same page. The places where we’re apart on the Hawaii script are a few little things that will work out. Actually, one of the initial notes I thought would create a larger problem than it solved, so I explained my position, and they agreed with me. I found a different (better) solution and we are all happy. My job is to make the script the very best that it can be - and sometimes that means the script will change to become the movie the producers want to make. I need to make sure the changes work, even when I may not agree with them. Once they pay you, it’s *their* script. A good producer has some sort of vision for the script, and it may not be the exact same vision as you have... but if it is a good vision, your job is to help them make that movie.

Anyway, the Hawaii project is somewhere in its second draft, and I keep getting e-mails from the director of the facilities project asking if the script is finished. I ignore them. More e-mails. I ignore them. Phone calls... I screen them. But nothing, *nothing*, from the Producer. It as if he doesn’t care about this project at all...

And then it all becomes clear to me. You probably already figured it out. The producer doesn’t want to work with me, my director friend just wants to work. I am the bait... I am the director’s “facility deal”. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that this whole deal is being manufactured by the director. I’m not even sure this producer wants to make a movie. My director friend has discovered that this producer has a facilities deal, likes action movies, and has used *me* to get his foot in the door. Now he’s trying to use me to set up a deal with this producer, who doesn’t seem too interested.

There is nothing wrong with a director using one of my scripts as “bait” for a producer - that is one of the ways I sell scripts without an agent or manager. Sometimes I don’t even know the director - someone likes one of my scripts, hands it to some director I don’t know, and that director takes it to their best contact. I’m okay with this... but that’s not what happened here, because I had to write the damned script. Work was involved. If some director loves one of my *completed* scripts, no work is involved on my side. I want to find good homes for all of my scripts, and if that can also help a director or production manager or actor who has access to a producer I don’t know - great! But I suspect in this case, the verbally abusive producer was finding clever ways to say “no” and my friend the director was trying to convert that no into a yes. So my action scripts that were not a perfect fit to his facilities deal - no. My director friend probably said, “Bill can write something that will be perfect for you!” Thinking we still both end up with deals. He’s helping me make some money. But the producer keeps finding ways to kill this deal - and probably some of his bad attitude was part of this. If he’s a real prick, I won’t want to work for him, end of deal. But, stupid me, I don’t take the hint. Part of that is that I’m mostly dealing with me director friend... and part is that I do need a deal.

But not anymore. The Hawaii project is coming along great.

I eventually call the director and tell him my entire position on this thing... I’m dreading this phone call, but this guy is my friend. After I say my piece, he apologizes. He thought this would be a good fit for all three of us, but it seems like the producer wasn’t really as interested in making a film as we were. Maybe we can work on something in the future... with some other producer. I think that’s great - and tell him he if he finds a producer, I’ll let him take in one of my scripts. Everything ends up cool...

And now I have most of a script designed around a specific facilities deal that I do not have access to. Maybe I can find a way to change it a bit and make it easier to shoot anywhere. Welcome to Hollywood.

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Symbolic Characters and HIGH FIDELITY.
Yesterday’s Dinner: Patty Melt at Paty's in Toluca Lake.
DVDs: FRONTIER (S) - from the 8 Films To Die For people... the 9th film. It's from France, starring French people, but other than that, it's basically just TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE with Nazis. After some government melt-down in France, a bunch of politically active 20 somethings on the run from the evil police state cops head to the outlands... the "frontier"... and hide out in an out of the way bed & breakfast run by some cannibal Nazis... and get chased and eaten one-by-one. Sure, there are meat hook scenes, and some tunnels that make you wonder if the writer really loved THE DESCENT, too, but mostly it's recycled. By the end of the film, I swear we have a CARRIE homage. You know, writing a commercial movie is difficult. People think it's easy. The problem is, you need to write something that satisfies the audience, but is still something they haven't seen before. Here we have something that they've seen before - with nothing to really make it unique. Nothing *creative*. From the country that brought us Jules Verne... we get this. I know there are talented and creative French writers and filmmakers out there. Why pick this for US distribution?

Bicycle: Okay, I'm not riding as much as I planned on. I ride every Thursday, because of the Thursday Night Drinking Group. We used to meet in the bar across the street from me (Residuals) but moved a while back after, well, an incident. For a while they were way down at the other end of the Valley, and the idea of driving back at 2am after drinking made me miss many a Thursday night. They moved again, to another bar... closer, yet still too far away to walk. So I showed up less frequently - not wanting to get popped bythe police driving home at 2am after a night of drinking. But with the bike? Perfect! Thursday becomes my prime bicycle day, and I ride all over... eventually finding my way to the undisclosed drinking location (the person involved in the incident is still trying to find the new location). So I get in a good bike ride on Thusdays... and usually ride on Tuesdays, and do short rides on Saturday... and sometimes Sunday. Problem with Sunday is that it's usually a movie day, and I'm just not ready to ride to the AMC in Burbank, yet. My legs just aren't ready for that. So Sundays I often go to Burbank, then walk around once I'm there. There is a Starbucks on San Fernando by the movie theaters, but it's filled with homeless people... so I walk a couple of miles to one of the two nearby Starbucks to work a little before going to the movies. I wish I were riding every day... but not yet.

- Bill