Oh For Crying Out Loud
You'd think this was the first piece of work I had ever turned in to a producer. You'd think I just fell off the Hollywood apple cart. You'd think my survival depended on what I am going to hear tomorrow at 10 A.M. when Executive Producer #1 comes into the cutting room and gives me and the editorial team notes from herself and Executive Producers #'s 2 and 3. They all watched the film today. I've heard nothing. I'm dyin' here.
EP #1 is a very warm and good person, my agent's wife, always supportive and intelligent in her note-giving, though in some cases driven more by second guessing of what the network will say than by her own gut. That said, she has a good gut and never, in all the work I've done for her, have I ever been forced into a creative move I didn't embrace.
EP #2 is a deal making guy, an administrator, an exceptionally calm and supportive person who, as far as I can tell, has little creative sense in these matters and tends to defer to those who do. Yes, he's the guy who helped spearhead hiring a composer based on the famous name of the composer's mentor, but I like him a lot. And he has always treated me with great respect and warmth.
EP #3 is famous. Famous for being involved with 4 best picture Oscar winners, famous for running three studios into the ground and walking away with a few hundred million dollars for his trouble, famous for being a big talker. Along the way of making this movie he has contributed several truly excellent ideas that have become effective moments in the film. He has also come up with some howlers, such as: "In order to really sell the Southern setting, can we see Confederate flags flying here and there?" I kid you not. And this story is no period piece, this story is 2007. He was gracefully dissuaded from this notion by the entire team, not just me. He also prefaces all his notes with "Take what works for you, leave the rest."
I'll also be getting notes from Foreign Financier Lady. FFL, in the script notes, suggested that in order to sex up the international version of the film I should have the heroine start out in her underwear as she dresses for her mother's funeral. For her mother's funeral! She was dissuaded from that by the whole team. (The weird post script to that one is that the always classy and ultra modest La Starlet, when shooting the scene, started out in her underwear, completely unbidden! Classy guy that I am, in the film I cut into the shot when all that's left to do is tie the belt of her elegant black dress.) FFL is a little crazy but in an appealing way, we've worked together before, and I've never had a problem with any creative note I've ever gotten from her.
So why am I scared shitless about tomorrow morning? More scared, maybe, than for any notes-session I've had since my early days in the business? Does it have something to do with the fact that it's my 25th anniversary and my wife and I are going out to get matching tattoos of love tonight, and it's the needle I'm really afraid of? No. It's about the notes tomorrow. It's my fear of being asked to do something that won't work and that the film will be stuck with. And, more than that maybe, it's my fear of being asked to do something that I know is right: that shows me a flaw in the film that I didn't see. And even more than that: a flaw that might not be fixable.
Oh shut up, Tom. Go get your wife some flowers and celebrate. Celebrate the 25 years, the wonderful kids we've produced, the life we lead, how happy we are together these days. Go!
Well, maybe two glasses of wine will get me there.
EP #1 is a very warm and good person, my agent's wife, always supportive and intelligent in her note-giving, though in some cases driven more by second guessing of what the network will say than by her own gut. That said, she has a good gut and never, in all the work I've done for her, have I ever been forced into a creative move I didn't embrace.
EP #2 is a deal making guy, an administrator, an exceptionally calm and supportive person who, as far as I can tell, has little creative sense in these matters and tends to defer to those who do. Yes, he's the guy who helped spearhead hiring a composer based on the famous name of the composer's mentor, but I like him a lot. And he has always treated me with great respect and warmth.
EP #3 is famous. Famous for being involved with 4 best picture Oscar winners, famous for running three studios into the ground and walking away with a few hundred million dollars for his trouble, famous for being a big talker. Along the way of making this movie he has contributed several truly excellent ideas that have become effective moments in the film. He has also come up with some howlers, such as: "In order to really sell the Southern setting, can we see Confederate flags flying here and there?" I kid you not. And this story is no period piece, this story is 2007. He was gracefully dissuaded from this notion by the entire team, not just me. He also prefaces all his notes with "Take what works for you, leave the rest."
I'll also be getting notes from Foreign Financier Lady. FFL, in the script notes, suggested that in order to sex up the international version of the film I should have the heroine start out in her underwear as she dresses for her mother's funeral. For her mother's funeral! She was dissuaded from that by the whole team. (The weird post script to that one is that the always classy and ultra modest La Starlet, when shooting the scene, started out in her underwear, completely unbidden! Classy guy that I am, in the film I cut into the shot when all that's left to do is tie the belt of her elegant black dress.) FFL is a little crazy but in an appealing way, we've worked together before, and I've never had a problem with any creative note I've ever gotten from her.
So why am I scared shitless about tomorrow morning? More scared, maybe, than for any notes-session I've had since my early days in the business? Does it have something to do with the fact that it's my 25th anniversary and my wife and I are going out to get matching tattoos of love tonight, and it's the needle I'm really afraid of? No. It's about the notes tomorrow. It's my fear of being asked to do something that won't work and that the film will be stuck with. And, more than that maybe, it's my fear of being asked to do something that I know is right: that shows me a flaw in the film that I didn't see. And even more than that: a flaw that might not be fixable.
Oh shut up, Tom. Go get your wife some flowers and celebrate. Celebrate the 25 years, the wonderful kids we've produced, the life we lead, how happy we are together these days. Go!
Well, maybe two glasses of wine will get me there.
posted by Tom at 5:19 PM
3 Comments:
Speaking from experience... don't let the tattoo needles get the better of you. :o) Have a great night with your wife celebrating your 25th. Tomorrow's another day.
happy anniversary.
you'll have to post piccies of the tattoos!
Breath deep and relaxxxxxxxxxxx....I'm sure the movie is a good one. Happy Anniversary, the 27th is mine as well. And what kind of tats?? Can we get pics maybe?
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