Whiter Knuckles
Now it's getting serious. Young Starlet Who Everybody Says Is About To Pop passed on the project. After much campaigning on my part. Actually I thought I was brilliantly persuasive on the phone. Not.
An offer is now out to a TV-semi-star, statuesque, blonde, big-featured, sexy, funny, but: can she shed honest tears? Can she convincingly undergo a spiritual transformation? I've been combing clips of her on YouTube all morning searching for clues. None have been conclusively forthcoming. We've set an ultimatum: an answer by first thing Monday morning L.A. time or we move on. She has lots of dough and her live-in girlfriend has even more and it won't be about needing the gig. So what will entice her to fly away to the frozen north and miss Thanksgiving with friends and family? Chance to be taken more seriously as an actress? Frankly I'm hoping for one of the back up choices. But time is truly truly running out. Last night I took the executive producer, the producer and my assistant out to a dinner where many cosmos were consumed and yes, the following words were uttered: if the production has to shut down, or push (movie lingo for "be delayed") until January, who covers the MILLIONS that will cost, the studio or the network? Nobody knew the answer. And we can't just push a week or two because we can't film over the Christmas/New Years holidays--actors won't go for it.
I remain, however, weirdly calm.
Maybe because they have to pay me no matter what happens?
Not really. It's never really about that for me: it's more about the adventure. And building up foundations for more things to be built on. Pay-offs and buy-outs don't do that.
I think I'm calm because we can't crack the shell of the future. Because we can't know how the billiard balls will hit each other. Because we can't know which eventuality will lead in the long run to hell or which will lead to wonderfulness.
So why fret? Instead I will take a nap, do some work on the script, (the male lead still comes off as a simpering doormat), go see Flags of Our Fathers for inspiration, and then sit at my desk and dream my way to what, shot by shot, I actually want the camera to see.
NEWSFLASH: EVEN WHITER KNUCKLES
I was just woken up from my nap by the news that Major Historic Star, with her deal all-but-closed, and following her agent's assurances that she would be fine working with TV-Semi-Star, has announced that she doesn't like TV-Semi-Star and is pulling out of the project.
We now have no leads at all. And we start shooting on Sunday.
I love the executive producer who called to tell me this. Love isn't too big a word. I never met her before 12 days ago and already she is a friend and somebody I can't wait to work with again. I love her patience, her humor, her kindness, her excellence with script and story. And I was bad with her on the phone right now. She said the plan was not to tell anybody about this until Monday morning when the offer to TV-Semi-Star played out one way or another, because if the network gets word now it could truly make everybody hysterical and derail the project. At first I said of course of course. Then the rising tide of a hissy fit took over. I said I had to tell my own agents. I said that I had pulled out of meetings to staff (lingo for "become a writer/producer on") two network shows in order to direct this movie and I needed to get those meetings back on track if this fell apart. That was reasonably true: the meetings were in the offing. But true or false isn't the point. Bad faith is the point. Abandoning ship before the ship has even sunk is the point. Being a fickle friend is the point. I feel guilty and sad that I went immediately to that. Fortunately I saw right away what I had done and told her she was the captain and I had faith in HER, if in nothing else, and I would follow wherever she would lead.
Her plan now is to try to put together a package of TV-Semi-Star for the young lead and a certain beloved Major Stage and Screen Genius for the older lead, both repped by the agent who reps the project, if TV-Semi-Star is at all inclined to do it. As for Major Stage and Screen Genius, gentle reader, I would be EXTREMELY EXCITED to work with her. Her work truly does border on genius. I mean: wow. So this may yet all come around for the best.
An offer is now out to a TV-semi-star, statuesque, blonde, big-featured, sexy, funny, but: can she shed honest tears? Can she convincingly undergo a spiritual transformation? I've been combing clips of her on YouTube all morning searching for clues. None have been conclusively forthcoming. We've set an ultimatum: an answer by first thing Monday morning L.A. time or we move on. She has lots of dough and her live-in girlfriend has even more and it won't be about needing the gig. So what will entice her to fly away to the frozen north and miss Thanksgiving with friends and family? Chance to be taken more seriously as an actress? Frankly I'm hoping for one of the back up choices. But time is truly truly running out. Last night I took the executive producer, the producer and my assistant out to a dinner where many cosmos were consumed and yes, the following words were uttered: if the production has to shut down, or push (movie lingo for "be delayed") until January, who covers the MILLIONS that will cost, the studio or the network? Nobody knew the answer. And we can't just push a week or two because we can't film over the Christmas/New Years holidays--actors won't go for it.
I remain, however, weirdly calm.
Maybe because they have to pay me no matter what happens?
Not really. It's never really about that for me: it's more about the adventure. And building up foundations for more things to be built on. Pay-offs and buy-outs don't do that.
I think I'm calm because we can't crack the shell of the future. Because we can't know how the billiard balls will hit each other. Because we can't know which eventuality will lead in the long run to hell or which will lead to wonderfulness.
So why fret? Instead I will take a nap, do some work on the script, (the male lead still comes off as a simpering doormat), go see Flags of Our Fathers for inspiration, and then sit at my desk and dream my way to what, shot by shot, I actually want the camera to see.
NEWSFLASH: EVEN WHITER KNUCKLES
I was just woken up from my nap by the news that Major Historic Star, with her deal all-but-closed, and following her agent's assurances that she would be fine working with TV-Semi-Star, has announced that she doesn't like TV-Semi-Star and is pulling out of the project.
We now have no leads at all. And we start shooting on Sunday.
I love the executive producer who called to tell me this. Love isn't too big a word. I never met her before 12 days ago and already she is a friend and somebody I can't wait to work with again. I love her patience, her humor, her kindness, her excellence with script and story. And I was bad with her on the phone right now. She said the plan was not to tell anybody about this until Monday morning when the offer to TV-Semi-Star played out one way or another, because if the network gets word now it could truly make everybody hysterical and derail the project. At first I said of course of course. Then the rising tide of a hissy fit took over. I said I had to tell my own agents. I said that I had pulled out of meetings to staff (lingo for "become a writer/producer on") two network shows in order to direct this movie and I needed to get those meetings back on track if this fell apart. That was reasonably true: the meetings were in the offing. But true or false isn't the point. Bad faith is the point. Abandoning ship before the ship has even sunk is the point. Being a fickle friend is the point. I feel guilty and sad that I went immediately to that. Fortunately I saw right away what I had done and told her she was the captain and I had faith in HER, if in nothing else, and I would follow wherever she would lead.
Her plan now is to try to put together a package of TV-Semi-Star for the young lead and a certain beloved Major Stage and Screen Genius for the older lead, both repped by the agent who reps the project, if TV-Semi-Star is at all inclined to do it. As for Major Stage and Screen Genius, gentle reader, I would be EXTREMELY EXCITED to work with her. Her work truly does border on genius. I mean: wow. So this may yet all come around for the best.
posted by Tom at 1:31 PM
3 Comments:
It sounds as if better things are looming on the horizon. Hang in there my friend, white knuckles and all, and remember that everything happens for a reason.
i find myself holding my own breath as i read your posts.
Oh Lord you do tickle me with these names Tom! Not much info to make a guess on who they are tho!! I am buying into the theory that such a white knuckle start is an omen for a smooth shoot and production time!!
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