Deadpan Hollywood

Green.

Did I mention we were Greenlit?

Thank you. Thank you.

Isn’t it awesome how “Green Light”, as in, “we now have the go ahead to give you a bunch of money so you can go make your movie” has become a verb? And that this verb can now be used in past tense?

Well, after literally 11 months of haggling, preparing documents, presentations, numbers and proposals, after countless meetings and conference calls, after basically a year of patience and WAITING, we finally got that very anticipated call:

“We’re good to go. The discussions have been positive and we are excited to make this movie with you.”

There’s hardly any sweeter music my ears can hear than those words.

And how do you come to that spot? Specially with a studio? With perseverance. With patience. Without pushing. Keeping our director somehow (miraculously) happy. It’s not easy and one has to be a resourceful scrapper. Someone who either has deep pockets (not our case necessarily) or who has the passion and commitment to stay for the long haul.

On a documentary project we’re driven by a slightly deeper sense of “the right thing to do” as well. You see, we’re not just whorring ourselves to the almighty greenback on that one. I feel strongly we should focus on more documentary content moving forward in our company. It gives purpose to the wait and makes our patience so much more worthwhile.

So as we await resolution with our other fiction film, as our co-producers on that film play around pretending to be big shots and wait for people to get back to them, as we wait for the new actor we have gone to to come back to us with a response on the script (hint hint, the man was the lead in a legendary worldwide monster of a TV show) and yadda yadda yadda, we are already miles ahead on what was our “backup” project: our documentary. A studio film that we are very happy to be making.

So far, we just got “greenlit”.

Now, we must push towards finding our team on that.

And it couldn’t come soon enough.

Week.

What a week. Whirlwind. Madness.

The Studio honchos we’re working with for our Documentary film brought us in to meet with them and have a “general” meeting. A “let’s get to know each other” meeting. Ever the cynic, I’m hanging in there with a 50/50 banner in my head but it turns out I might’ve been a tad off. The “general” went very well and was surprised to find out they are actually very enthusiastic about the project. We were praised for the work done and were told that the studio is actually working on a big name A-list feature film (fiction) that has a similar theme. 

There’s something in the air with our theme. Zeitgeist is a good word for what’s happening with our film right now.

Mind you, we also found out that there might be a competing documentary directed by a reputed documentarian to be produced by another global Studio. I took that as interesting news.

So flows the water to the sea in this competitive and brutal film industry.

We are encouraged by the support and hope to know more by the end of the week. If we get confirmed (greenlit?) it will be a coup for us given the Studio we’re working with and the relevance of the project.

What we presented to the Studio was a full creative treatment and a budget. We are making a type of “Verité” film for them and as such, the treatments always fall under the tentative category but on this occasion, the vision we put forward seems to be catching well. The budget itself, given the nature of the beast is also to be considered tentative but we always put forward the notion that we are willing to work with anybody on notes and comments for both budget and treatment. When doing these presentations and submissions it’s ALWAYS important to be open and direct. We certainly were.

On the flip-side, we still push forward on the things an independent production company has to do for cash flow.

You know, a production company, well, it has to produce. That’s always been my motto.

We choose our corporate clients very carefully and we just got approached by another institution similar to one we’ve worked with before. Excited to work in that environment again.

Let’s see if my cynicism can cauterize a little bit.

Committee.

Dreaded words when dealing with a studio…

“Tomorrow the head of production and the committee will analyze the project towards its ‘greenlight’.”

We will be there with bated breath.

More tomorrow.

Option.

An option agreement.

That’s sort of a commitment to buy something when you really don’t want to buy it yet but might so “I will pay you something so I can actually pay you more later”. You BUY the option to BUY. Weird?

Not in Hollywood. For some people here, the sign of a good producer is the following words:

Free Option Screenplay.

I still think it’s a stupid proposition but it’s valid.

On our thriller movie, we’ve had an option to a script for a full year. Said option has expired. So now, for more money, we are looking to renew the option for another year. For double what we paid the first year. Now, this is the catch, the final PURCHASE price (not the OPTION to purchase price, hint) is ten times the price of the option.

That’s how it works and that’s why we option shit.

Whew.

Anyway, our “partners” in this thriller, have suddenly decided they don’t want to put any more money down to renew the option to the script.

Here’s why that’s fucked up:

-We have a A-list director.

-We’re out to an A-list actor.

-We have money invested already into the initial option agreement.

-We have international territories that have pre-bought the movie already.

-We have domestic (USA) distribution tied to the movie already. A SOLID company.

-The American Film Market is coming up.

But as of after this week, WE MIGHT NO LONGER HAVE THE RIGHTS TO THE SCRIPT.

Bring out the Pepto-B people.

You want to hear the clincher? The agent representing the script’s option renewal, is the same agent who represents the director who got fired. Translation of this last part: Top. Of. Shit. List.

Sooooo, that’s what we’re dealing with. Not unlike stuff that happens every day.

Thankfully, our documentary project is also moving. Sort of. We’re waiting for the studio to come back to us after two and a half centuries of waiting.

There.

Oh, and Troy Davis? He should NOT be killed today.

Drive.

Loved “Drive” by the way. But the amazing, glaring reviews it’s getting are a little exaggerated if you ask me. People must really be craving sordid, empty characters like this.

Movie I loved this year?

“Beginners”. Very underrated if you ask me.

Lot.

Unless things actually got personal and purposefully damaging or hurtful, there’s one thing NOT to do while on a Studio Lot if you’re a director. If you’re a director who was politely “removed” from a project that is. And I really mean this:

Don’t scream from across the lot towards the producer who had to make the very tough business decision of pursuing a different director. In particular, don’t insult when you run into him and tell him that you don’t ever want to see or work with him again. And unless you’re Spielberg, or J.J. Abrams or Gus Van Sant or similar, if you, like the majority of people in Hollywood are simply a working, efficient but not spectacularly successful director making a living here, DON’T tell him he betrayed you and/or backstabbed you. Specially if that producer is the main producer in the film who has a track record of many Studio films and has hired you twice and has more projects coming up.

Bridge burning is sort of a hobby in this town. Surprisingly common when this is a town built almost entire on bridges. Granted sometimes they don’t go anywhere, but every phone number, script, cocktail, party, lunch, beach volleyball game and even random encounter in a super market can be and is a bridge to somewhere in this industry town.

Mind you, that wasn’t me who was accosted in the lot, it was a partner of ours on the thriller we’re working on, but when he told me I froze. You see, this town can be tough and competitive, but 95% of the time it is not personal. I know, weird combination when this town is built on disappointments, but true. That same person who fired you, would totally have a drink with you later that day. It’s never personal unless somebody makes it so.

It’s tough enough to produce as it is!