Before we get down to business let’s take a moment to discuss the new website! Well, not new but certainly updated and made happy. Leaks fixed. Plumbing updated. Big shout goes out to my good friend Thomas Bartels. Met Tom through friends, one of which, the Sexy Olga, designed my original site way back in 2001! Anyway, I can’t thank Tom enough. He has a day job writing books. Books for the CIA. But took time out of his busy schedule to help a dumb bald guy out. Good man, Tom.
Okay. Let’s go darker for a moment. One of the reasons I asked Tom for help was all the leaks. One leak concerned the comments. They had been diseased by spam. And I was no longer getting updates when someone would comment. Thus I missed a commet from an early Septemeber post concerning many marvouslous happenings in the month of April. As with all my posts, the text was riddled with Izzie Pics. I was gonna nuke this comment then figured, freedom of speech blah blah blah. Since the comment was so thought provoking I decided to hit it with the spotlight.
keke wrote::
hey dude are you lyk a rapist? shuld we watch out for you? idk you look really creepy & you take ALOT of pics of ur lil girl in skirts & stuff& im just sayin you look lyk a fucking creeper & i think u shuld really stop lol juss sayin..
Keke, go away and please don’t come back.
Now, let’s get on with SEPTEMBER.
On Sept 1st I decided it was time to stop procrastinating and do a journal update. I started scouring old emails, notes, messages and facebooks in an attempt to reconstruct my life.
Elizabeth Kushman (we had pitched the Kristy rewrite to she and Matt Stein a few days previous) emailtroduces us to David Kirschner and Corey Sienega, the producers attached to Kristy. David is the man behind the curtain behind Chucky.
Sept 3rd, Call with Kirschner and Sienega. It was a general call. Meet and greet. David is very passionate and reminds me of Cunningham slightly, the way Sean could be almost fatherly. David asked to read Drive Angry and said he would watch MBV3D that night.
After much consideration it was decided to go with Paradise for MBV3D. Why our loyalty to Paradise? Well, they did it right. We had 45 minutes of downtime due to 3D on MBV. Paradise’s offices aren’t fancy. More like a mechanic’s workshop. That’s because they build what you need. Shoot 3D in a mine? No problem. Shoot 3D from a car flipping over a man with a shotgun? No problem. They’ll build what you need. Something breaks, they likely have the part on hand.
Sadly, eventually, all 3D will be done in post…but for now, Paradise 3D is your best option.
For those late arrivals or those showing up based on a type-o, or for those seeking lesbian poop porn only to arrive because I have now typed lesbian poop porn twice, welcome. I got behind and I’ve been playing catch up. We’re up to August of 09. We’ve made up a ton of ground in one month.
But allow me to interrupt August to share the reason I have and will always be a Letterman man. In a world of lies and liars, he simply don’t. He may not be perfect but he don’t lie about it. Amen.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled August.
Aug 2 Patrick starts compiling director notes in preparation for his Nic Cage meeting. Recall, Nic dug the script but his attachment depended on the outcome of said meeting.
On Aug 3rd, I send Monkey’s Paw to Tom Jane as a result of his and Jaime King’s discussion of it at comicon.
If you are what you eat then young Ms Rain is equal parts bacon, eggs, pancakes and chicken. And cookies but we’ll come back to that.
August 4th, Patrick and DeLuca sit down with Cage. I asked Patrick to sum it up in his words, “Meeting with Nick Cage was spectacular. From the moment, DeLuca and I started to discuss DRIVE ANGRY with him we knew we’d found a partner with passion for the film to match our own. Nick would be the perfect hero for the film.”
Aug 5: Tom responds that I should tell Jaime he’d love to do Monkey’s Paw with her. I email Jaime and I call Kevin, the exec at RKO.
Later in the day, Patrick has lunch with Sacchi at LGF. We assume it is to discuss a script John sent Patrick the previous week.
While waiting, Paseornek approaches. Turns out…they know all about Cage. Recall, LGF got the script first…out of respect. And passed. Turns out they have a deal with Millennium and are considering distribution.
Later still, we get the counter offer from Millennium. Way better than Relativity but still low considering this is a Nic Cage movie. We prepare and make our first counter.
Aug 7th: Millennium comes up the tiniest bit. They increase the purchase price for the script. They increase Patrick’s director’s fee. They deny me a producer credit. Refuse to fly me out to the set. Frankel goes back and simply shoots them straight. This isn’t a play. This isn’t ego. We are true collaborators. I NEED to be there when Patrick is there. After some bantering…they finally agree to fly me out but only if I’ll ride in baggage and stay at the Motel 5. SureWhyNot. We tentatively close.
On August 8th I have dinner with Allen and artist, Dave McKean. The dinner is to discuss hooking Dave up with Ludon and Ludon’s supposed financial connections. Later, Allen sends McKean material to Ludon.
I work hard. Dunno if I’ll make it or not. Sure I got some flicks under my belt but my future still isn’t clear as far as Hollywood and success are concerned. I suppose I could do more. Work harder. Go do the parties and make the rounds. Kiss the butt and suck the hose. But I’d rather hang with the almost three year old if we’re being honest. I still work my tail off. Way more than the average joe. But sometimes while making that magic I got an almost three-year-old sitting a couple feet away watching Dora. Yeah, I know, that’s weird. I’m thinking up interesting ways to cut off heads, meanwhile Dora is trying desperately to return a fallen baby star up to the moon and Izzie is cheering her on. But…that’s my thing.
Win or lose…I win.
Sure, she can be a pain in the keister but have you even met me? I invented keister pain. Pain or no, she sure do make daddy proud. Now, I don’t know how it is in your house but in our house good deeds often have chocolate chip cookie rewards.
And, you know, the thing about Izzie Rain…she’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When she comes at a cookie, doesn’t seem to be living…until she bites the cookie, and those black eyes roll over white and then…ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’. The bedspread turns to crumbs, and despite all the poundin’ and the hollerin’, she rips that cookie to pieces.
That’s from Jaws. Sort’a.
August 11th: Nic names Drive Angry his last movie under his Millennium contract.
We are closed.
The thing I realized most recently is that you never win. You hear it called the game of Hollywood. Heck, even I say you gotta play the game..but there’s no win. There’s no goal line, no three pointer at the buzzer because there’s never a buzzer. It’s like someone asking how you win World of Warcraft. You don’t. You survive it.
I know that’s a hard statement but Hollywood is a hard hard world.
While Cage attaching is great news…it’s not a win. It’s a moment of wonder in a fantastical journey. Because it is NOT about the WIN. It’s not about the lose either. The destination is irrelevant…it’s about the journey.
Breathe in the ocean air and enjoy it. The good and the bad. The high…and the low.
Slow down and look at the fish. What’s the rush?
Go to the ocean…or whatever equivalent battery recharger you use. Go to that place. Your place.
And embrace it.
And dance.
Aug 17th, Millennium has an issue with the title Drive Angry. We don’t really understand the reasons given. Something about the way it translates foreign. We fret. DeLuca thinks it’ll likely go away.
Later in the day we hear that Hammer responded to our meeting. Still waiting on word from the UK on Parasite. They dug our Silo pitch but want more details before pulling the trigger. And they loved our Golden Vamp but want the full pitch before moving forward. What we find interesting is that we pitched three stories at different levels of detail and they didn’t pass on anything.
Kristyn, Tom Jane’s assistant creates rawstudio emails for herself, Tom, Bradstreet and me.
On August 19, fellow writer, Mark Swift beckons me to pay attention to Guild politics. I sigh but know he’s right. I start reading.
Aug 20: Dark Country Screening. Driving in for the screening I learn that Dark Castle never got one of my VERY important forms and that THIS is clearly the reason we have not been paid. You know the one. The form I faxed months ago. The form which the fax receipt says was received without error. Yeah. That form. They didn’t get it. I change my plans and swing by Paradigm to fill out another.
While there I drop off copies of Alien Pig Farm.
Dark Country was good. Not great. Major tech flaws but pretty strong for a first time director. The crowd seemed to really dig it. It’s a crazy little movie. Above is the mock-up DVD cover Bradstreet did. Amazing. As Dean Lorey said when I showed it to him…”I walk into a store and see that, I stop and pick it up.”
Aug 21: Patrick and I meet with Brad Schenk from Paradigm. He gives us his actor recommendations for Piper, Jonah and the Accountant. The three mains making up Nic’s co-stars.
Nights in White Satin H2 trailer is awesome. Suddenly I’m stoked for the movie.
We learn that Universal is featuring MBV3D as their big horror nights thingy. We email Mike and John. They know nothing about it.
Aug 22: We send the Paradigm list to Deluca and crew. They hint that they have lists from other agencies and that the agents have been crazy about the script. When we ask about the other lists they tell us we gotta wait on WME. Sigh. I hate waiting.
So I run. 4 miles in the Agoura Hills heat. Sheesh.
Aug 24: Patrick and I go to John Wells meeting. I invite Dean as well but he tells me to go and decide and he’ll vote for whoever I tell him to vote for. In the end he ain’t quite that much my bish, but we discuss and research over the next week and the three of us all find Wells the better choice.
On Aug 25th, Aint it cool gives Tom a good review for Dark Country
Aug 26: Avi calls Patrick. Tells us we need to come up with a new title. This goes round and round. Deluca gets involved.
Comes down to “Drive Angry” or “Drive to Kill”.
Look! It’s an…Air…
…pluh…
..ane!
On Aug 27 we finally get the agency cast recommendations. Holy cow. Name your favorite actor. Good money says he and/or she is on this list. It’s sort of overwhelming. And cool.
Aug 28th: We hit Dimension to pitch our take on Kristy to Matt Stein. Good pitch. Good response. Next step is Bob.
Later that night Patrick and I take our bromance to see H2. It’s dark. And the ending was different from the script. We weren’t anticipating that. But we have our workaround before we reach the car. Not that it’ll matter. We never heard anything after our initial pitch on H3. We figure IF it moves forward it’ll depend on this weekend’s performance. Maybe we’re still in the running. Or not.
As is the case every year. LA burns.
On the 29th we send Matt an email as a follow up to our Kristy pitch. We mention we saw H2 and know how to continue the story. His reply is quick. He and Bob will shortly reach out to us on Kristy and H3.
Later that afternoon I get the following from the son of an old high school buddy.
I blurred the last name since he’s a minor and there’s probably some rule. That and I didn’t want any of your pervs bugging him. Anyway, thinking it sort of funny, I forward this to Matt with the question:
“What should I tell him? :)”
Matt responds that we’ll talk this week!
Aug 30, an old dead project comes back to life. FJ DeSanto and I created this story called Sleepers. This was back when he worked for Uslan and it never got off the ground. When FJ left he took it with him. He shot me an email. He’d run into Jim Lee from Wildstorm and gave Jim the quick pitch. Jim loved and set a meeting to hear the full pitch.
Later, Bob Weinstein announces that he’s been in talks with a director, that he’s going to release H3D in the summer and that Zombie won’t return.
Our phones, emails, facebooks and myspaces light up. We were…vague. While we had discussed the idea of doing H3, we’d heard nothing in the form of confirmation or denial. My standard reply was, “I cannot tell you what I know and I don’t know what to tell you.”
It was getting hot, my friends.
So I ran.
It was all very interesting. Final Destination 3D had opened and opened huge. At 28m. TFD was the lead headline until Bob’s announcement derailed them. And his announcement was top news until…
Aug 31st, Millennium and Nu Image announces the purchase of Drive Angry, a 3D road movie with Nic Cage attached and to start shooting in the spring. Patrick and I make the cover of the Hollywood Reporter. A first for me. We didn’t see that announcement coming either. But it was good to see we were getting to keep the title Drive Angry.
Later in the day we get an email from Matt congratulating us on Drive Angry and asking what our shoot schedule will be like.
Looks like Bob was indeed referring to Patrick.
Wow. Seems the next month is gonna be an interesting one (We had no idea just how interesting.)
As another month comes to a close we are exhausted and happy. We are hugged and kicked in the nuts. The Yin and the Yang of it all never ceases to amaze.
And for those who are keeping score, it has been 87 days since we delivered our draft of ISWYD and still no pay from Rona.
Let’s take a moment to interrupt our July broadcast to deliver a message from modern day. Couple nights ago, I see the digital camera sitting on the desk, I grab it, hit record and toss it on top of the printer. I forget about it. Music’s playing and Patrick and I have a deadline which I’m pounding away to meet. Later the mem card finally fills up and the camera beeps. I ignore it and keep writing.
Tonight I notice the camera sitting there and download the vid. While I can’t share it all, when a certain couple of songs played back to back it made me smile so that much I can share.
Please ignore the oddly goofy way my head bobs and weaves. I do not know what that is about and wish it could be nuked. But alas.
Now back to your previously scheduled trip back to July:
July 1st, Jake, the manager, calls. He tells me DeLuca now has Fright Night. I tell him been there done that. I fill him in, catch him up. Told him the job went to Kring. He calls back later, he’d spoken to someone at DeLuca’s office. Kring didn’t get the job either. Job is still open. Crazy business.
We catch world that DeLuca sent Drive Angry to Norm Golightly, who read, loved and gave to Nic Cage to read. Exciting but you try to keep that sort of excitement in check.
July 2nd, Patrick and I join Ludon on a call to Singapore to speak about possible Korean content funding. It’s similar to Canadian Content except it is not as good a deal and unproven. We leave the phone call with less confidence than when we entered.
July 3rd. Agent hits us with an email. An offer came in via Relativity for Drive Angry. Agent left it in office. Well call us Monday morning.
…sigh. Assumption is…the offer blows and no one wants to tell us that going into the weekend.
July 5th I get a last minute request to do a Horror House interview for Scott Sigler talking about Messengers II and Raimi. Ends up being easy. They shoot me some questions, I boot up the mac and let it film my answers. I shoot them a hi-def file and tell them to edit, cut, work their magic as they please.
July 6th Patrick informs Zach and Josh that Paradise 3D heads to location on the 20th. If they and Relativity want to meet them then the meeting needs to happen before the 20th.
Later that day we remind the agents, “Hullo? Offer came in Friday? Uh…it’s Monday? Hullo?”
Conference call with agents and lawyer. Offer is dismal.
Within two hours we counter via our lawdog extraordinaire, Jeff Frankel.
July 7th Ludon has been arranging meeting for Tom Jane and I for Comicon. Meetings with investors and meetings with different vendors and producers. Tom’s also published graphic novels of Alien Pig Farm as well as Bad Planet. Wolfbane, Devil’s Commandos…this promises to be our busiest Con to date.
July 8th, I suggest Ludon and his investors take a look at Patrick and Joel’s Condition Dead 3D. Patrick shoots me the latest draft. I read again then send to Ludon. He calls me fast. Wants to meet with Joel.
Why do I do this journal again? I do it because I have been rode hard and hung up wet. I do it because I’m stretched thin like butter over too much bread. I do it because I have kilt braincells that I shouldn’t have kilt. I do it to remember. I’m not here to blow smoke. I’m not here to make it sound pertier than it is. So, here’s the ugly…
The lowball offer from Relativity was a gutshot. A nutcracker. A demeaning girlslap like Kurt Russell bitchslapping Chubby Billy Bob in Tombstone. We have done so much work. Not only did we not get Fright Night…we not getted it twice. We took The Fly right up to the door of the big meeting at which point the big suits locked the door and didn’t even want to hear our take because we weren’t either visionary Zack Snyder or Chris Nolan. Haunting in Tennessee, Ghost Rider 2. Passes. We write a spec that everyone seems to love but that no one wants to buy because they’re too busy laying off their work force. Even our big win with MBV wasn’t a win. The studio made 93m on a 16m investment and no return business. Hollywood. High highs. Low lows.
This was a low.
We asked our agents to call Matt at Weinsteins’ and see if that outline gig was still available.
At the end of the day we hear that Nic read Drive Angry and LOVED it. Wants to do it pending a meeting with Patrick.
Like I said. High highs. Low lows.
This was a high.
July 9th we get the reply from Matt. “Maybe.” Then he sends a script to consider rewriting and a book to consider adapting. Patrick reads the script immediately. I read slow. We all have our crosses to bear. Patrick digs the script, alot. It reminds him of another movie and was likely written to capitalize on that other movie but we eventually come up with a take that keeps everything that’s so cool while not ripping anyone else off. We get back to Matt with interest and tell him we’ll work up a pitch.
July 13th. We get our second offer from Relativity. Nic’s interest does nothing to raise their interest in us. In fact, their offer comes down. In a move I’ve never seen before, they actually came down on their already insulting offer. Nic has a deal with Relativity so none of this made much sense. We assumed they were simply calling our bluff. Bottom feeding. Figured no one was buying, they’d grab it up for pennies.
DeLuca jumps on the phone with them. Do you want this or not? He warns them that we are about to walk. We’d rather have nothing as what they’re offering. They assure him they are interested. Excited even. So we jump on the phone with agents and lawyer and come up with another counter.
Sanity. There’s a reason Hollywood types are so freaking weird. Others are otherworldly insane. It’s due to this never ending, crazy roller coaster of evil that we willingly ride day in and day out. I try to get off the coaster from time to time. It’s how I keep any semblance of sanity. And it’s a part of my story.
I only mention this because I got a semi-snotty email recently commenting on all my daughter pics. Tell you what, numbnut. You got two choices. One, if you don’t like it you can go read someone else’s blog. Or two, we can meet up in LA, face off, bow and then I’ll punch you in the forehead.
July 20th it is recommended that we put the Weinstein stuff on hold and see how Bastards and H2 does.
We also learn later in the day that Nic’s agents sent Drive Angry to Millennium, who Nic also had a deal with. Not only had a deal but the deal’s deadline was approaching. Millennium had a couple of project they wanted Nic to do but he wanted to do ours.
Many things happen very fast.
One, Millennium wants to know if this can be done without DeLuca. We say, “No.” We gonna go home with the one what brung us.
Two, Millennium wants to meet us on Tuesday before Comicon. We scramble to make this happen.
Three, we catch word that Nic is toying with the idea of playing the villain in Green Hornet in the fall. Millennium wanted to shoot in the fall. This would push us to February.
The Millennium meeting was confirmed for July 21st at 11:30am. I was booked to fly to San Diego on the 22nd. In typical fashion, the airline would not let me change the flight so late. So, not wishing to leave the girls without a car, I borrow Allen’s car and drive. I arrive at Patrick’s at 9:30am. I park Allen’s ride, pile in with Patrick and he drives us to meet DeLuca, Zach and Josh and as a team we head in to meet Joe, Danny and Boaz of the team Millennium/Nu Image.
Meeting goes…well…goes very very well. The LOVED the script. Loved the 3D concept. Suddenly the roller coaster has picked up speed again.
July 21 word hits that Rob Zombie is remaking Season of the Witch H3. Interesting.
Why is this interesting? Well, although I’m writing all of this as if I were still living in July…fact is…it’s late September and the beans have spilled. A month or so back, Weinstein Co started talking to us about a number of their projects. We ended up pitching four of them. One of those pitches was Halloween 3D. Not the Season of the Witch 3 but a sequel to Rob’s two films…but in 3D. While told they loved all four pitches…we never heard really got a yes or a no to any of them. Thus hearing that Zombie was doing Season of the Witch was, in fact, interesting.
July 22, I hear that Raimi will be directing World of Warcraft. I drool. He’s perfect. I’m happy and jealous.
Melanie, in an attempt to keep me sane, will send me multiple daily pics of Izzie.
July 23, We give Millennium the numbers we initially gave to Relativity.
Comicon 09!
Let’s sum up.
Tom self published Bad Planet and Alien Pig Farm trade paperbacks. They move like mad.
Ludon introduces us to guys with money. Possible investors in our two companies.
Wolfbane teaser is a big hit.
We do the annual dinner with Darabont. I’ve never taken pictures at the party, at least I never publish them…because it seems too…intrusive. But this shot of Tom and Frank afterward was cool.
One highlight at the party was when the talk turned to Cameron and Avatar’s 3D. I mentioned that Cameron had recently called my latest a giant step backwards in the 3D movement. Gale Ann was quick to jump in saying how much she loved MBV. Wasn’t until later I remembered that she and Cameron were married at one point. I always think of her with Hensleigh…as it should be.
Ran into Jaime King who had spoken with Kevin about Monkey’s Paw. She loved the script. Tom walked up and I noted that I had actually written it with both of them in mind. She and Tom bantered about the script.
Tom takes us to the True Blood party. Nelsan sits with us. I’m giddy as a school girl. The whole cast is there. It’s Anna’s birthday.
There’s cake. And blood.
Business-wise it was a great weekend. Personally it was the worst. Egos clashed and I left early Sunday.
July 27, Patrick passes on recutting Wolfman as we wait to see what happens with Drive Angry.
On the 28 we send Alex our outline for Parasite as we feel it would make a great Hammer film. Could even plug one of their old titles into it. 3D 15m budget. Slam dunk. We do this in prep for our thursday meeting.
July 30 with Alex Brunner and Tobin Armbrust re: Silo, Golden Vamp and Parasite. It’s a good meeting. They loved Parasite and sent it to the UK for approval. We pitched a rewrite for Silo and gave them a teaser opening pitch for Golden Vampires.
July 31 we learn there are issues with rights between Virgin and Cradel & All. Must be dealt with before we can continue.
July 31, I have a Long Island for the road and tool home. I arrive with gifts for Izzie and even grabbed a gift for Mark Wheaton’s daughter (as of late September I still haven’t put it in the mail cuz I suck).
And thus we reach the end of July at which point we can do the math and learn that 56 days later Rona still has not paid us for Delivery of ISWYD.
June 1st uncovers the mystery of the Weinstein biz affairs offer. It’s interesting to say the least. It’s a one step deal. Not for a screenplay but for an outline. Over the previous months we came up with four takes which we pitched. This was one of them and the company was offering to buy it. Not exactly thrilling to us for numerous reasons. Our guess, the previous writers still owed a draft and would likely be handed our outline.
Look folks, I’m a fan of writers. ALL of my best friends are writers. I correspond with young writers, offer advice, encouragement, whatever I can. Mark Wheaton rewrote me and ended up getting credit and we are good friends. I read scripts for writer friends. I like writers. I respect writers. Writers automatically start out with my loyalty. You don’t gotta earn it…its a freebe. Basically for me to dislike a writer…they gotta eff up. Bad.
These cats effed up. Bad. I won’t get into the details because it doesn’t matter but we couldn’t really stomach handing our idea over so that these two jokers could take credit. I know Hollywood is a town that prides itself on rewarding bad behavior but no. Can’t do it. There aren’t as many jobs out there as there used to be. The idea that some fakers are taking jobs from good writers annoys me. I’m not saying that I should be King and decide who is worthy and who isn’t but I want to be King so I can decide who is worthy and who isn’t.
We passed.
Shame too. Because we wanted to be in bed with the Weinsteins. Patrick’s made 22 films with them. Not even Lucas understands the true symbiotic relationship that’s going on there. And I was more than happy to tag along.
While I didn’t write down passes on Drive Angry…we did have them. But again, they were praise passes. Weird. I’ve gone out with specs before. Most of the time you simply get, “pass”. Not this time. This time it was just weird. We LOVE it. Wish we could buy it but we can’t. For instance, Adam Goodman LOVED the script. Loved us. Kept saying he’s got to get us over to Paramount to write for him. This was before Adam took head office. He said if they were still making 20 pics a year it would be a slam dunk…but with less than ten slots…
June 2nd we finish ISWYD. We’d sent it to friends. Other writers. We had collected the feedback, tweaked, adjusted and were pumped at the outcome. Of course, we had yet to receive our contracts. Sigh. A phone call was made informing the powers that be…that we had a finished draft in hand. Four weeks early. Contracts showed up at the lawyers office an hour later. Imagine that.
It would take a few days to reach an agreement. At which point it was recommended that we hand in the draft. This actually annoyed me a bit.
When did we drop from “a finished script forcing a check to arrive” to “a finish script forcing an agreement to be reached”? You know what they do to you at the drive-thru don’t you?
But…we did as we were told. We handed in the script.
June 4th. Lesher/Weston out. Adam Goodman takes over as Grand Poohbah at Paramount. Interesting.
On June 8th we learn that Dreamworks passed on Fright Night. We were told that Spielberg had decided to go in a different direction.
We also learn that Relativity is doing a budget for Drive Angry before they’ll make an offer.
June 9th: We get paid for Commencement on ISWYD…even though we delivered four days ago. And only Commencement. NOT delivery. Even though we delivered four days ago. Even though it was a one-step deal which we delivered four days ago.
We also begin the heavy lifting that comes with creating a pitch. The Eyes of Laura Mars. It amazes me the amount of energy and brain power required to create a pitch. It is a massive undertaking.
That evening…around six or so…we learn that Relativity wants to meet at 10am the following morning. Only time they have. Quick shower/shave and I’m in the car. Pacific Grove to Agoura Hills. I’ll crash with Patrick. Two hours later I see an email about the meeting being postponed. I call Patrick. He’s on the phone with Zach. There’s much debate…will it or will it not happen? Finally I turn around and go home.
June 10th the Relativity meeting takes place at 11am. I miss it. But Patrick meets on our behalf and they love our little screenplay. Wheels are in motion.
June 11th. Rona responds to ISWYD. “It’s exactly what you guys said you’d deliver, but I’m having buyers remorse.” He tells us he feels the villain should be changed to a masked killer or a ghost because that’s what the kids want to see. But Andrew, we pitched you Three Days of the Condor in High School. Collateral meets Breakfast Club. Rona said he needed to think about it and get back to us.
We knew the romance was over.
Later we have a call with the producers on Eyes of Laura Mars. Turns out Clint owns the rights and hasn’t signed off. Sigh. Without Clint’s consent it’s all a waste of time. We try to explain this to the producer. Deer in the headlights.
June 15th: We meet DeLuca, Zach, Avi, Ari and Rachel at Sony and pitch Ghost Rider 2. We LOVED this pitch. We gave Ghost Rider a kryptonite. We created a smart villain who could go toe to toe. It was full of action. It had a smart, empowered female lead. It was scary. We pitched what we were asked to pitch, the horror version of a superhero story.
The pitch can be a high. You can tell when it’s going right. When it’s simply smoking. You can feel the electricity. You can see the sparkle. The giddy bounce of excitement in the listeners. The smiles, the laughs, the nods of enthusiasm. Now. None of that means anything in terms of getting the job or not. But it does mean the pitch went well.
On June 16, on her own, Jaime King sends a beautiful email to Avi and Ari praising what it was like working with us.
Later that day Jaime tells me she and Kyle are looking for a thriller that can be shot for under 15 million. I send her Riddle Me This. I also mention Monkey’s Paw which I wrote for RKO. She and Kyle are good friends with Kevin, an RKO exec. I tell Jaime that I actually wrote it with she and Tom Jane in mind. She says she’ll call Kevin.
June 19th, I drive into LA to meet with Geoff Steir. Geoff and I met ages ago. We developed a take on Magdelena based on one of David Wohl’s old Top Cow Comics. By the way, hot Catholic girl fighting evil in tight spandex. BIG fan. Now, Steir’s working under Goodman at Paramount. I drove in. We chatted. Was good to catch up. Something had come up so he needed to end a little early. So. I left. Let’s recap. Six hours to LA. 20 minute meeting. Six hours home. Who wants to be me?
June 20 Tom commission John Wrightson to begin work creating a sculpture for Devil’s Commandos. He’d already commissioned several AMAZING drawings from Bernie.
Same day, Bradstreet begins working on a Wolfbane poster for Comicon.
June 23rd. We’d planned on talking to Goodman about Damn Nation. It hit our radar a month or so ago. Dark Horse wanted to go one way. Paramount another. But it turns out Damn Nation was one of Westons. Which means it’s likely on its way into turnaround.
At the end of the day we learn Avi passed on our writing Ghost Rider 2. He said our take was too violent.
June 24th: Fright Night, Ghost Rider…even though we had great feedback and solid movement on Drive Angry…we really thought both of those were slam dunks. Not getting them was tough. It was a couple gut shots in a row. So, we refocused and got back to work.
Back when we were doing Haunting in Tennessee there was talk of a rewrite at Gold Circle. We all decided to wait until after HiT played out. Then we got busy doing other stuff. We asked one of the agents to follow up with Brad. See if it was still available. It was still available. But they wanted to go more four-quadrant and felt we weren’t right for it. Right in the gut.
But since the pass Patrick and I had taken Haunting in Tennessee and renamed it The Wanting. It was ours afterall. Based on my wife’s ghost story. We debated making it our next spec.
On June 26 we’d still heard nothing back from Rona. Due to his statement that kids only want to see masked killers and ghosts…we decided to send our very detailed outline for The Wanting to Dark Castle. Patrick jumps on the phone with Gambino who reiterates how much he loves ISWYD. But obviously it’s out of his hands.
End of the day we learn that Relativity is about to make an offer on Drive Angry.
June 30 we have a production meeting with Relativity. We’re told we’ll have an offer by the end of the day. We meet DeLuca, Zach and Josh then go up to meet with Ken Halsband (head of physical production) and Jason Barhydt (suit). Overall, it’s a good meeting. It’s very clear by the end of it that Patrick Lussier is no fake. He started as an editor. His brain is an encyclopedia of movies. He knows 3D like few others. It was a good meeting.
And thus brings us to the end of June.
25 days later Rona has still not paid us for Delivery of ISWYD.
So…in recap…Patrick and I write a spec called Drive Angry. We send it to a bunch of producers. Some pass. Others want in. We meet with and discuss and DeLuca blows them all out of the water. Tough love folks but that’s how she went down.
It takes a couple of days for DeLuca and our agents to connect. But when that finally happens the trigger is pulled. Mike DeLuca and team will produce Drive Angry. Our agents inform the other producers who had shown interest.
Now…I have been doing this Hollywood thing for a looooooooong time. Here’s how it normally works. There’s a job. I go in and pitch a story. This is not unlike going in, pulling your pants down and allowing everyone to inspect your penis. Sometimes they discuss your penis while you are in the room. Sometimes they tell you to go home so they can discuss your penis behind your back. Sometimes you get a call that says, “We thought your penis had some nice girth, but we’ve decided to go in a different penal direction.” Most of the time you simply hear nothing until you read on Nikki Finke or the Reporter that said producer went with someone else’s penis. And very rarely you’ll get a call informing you that we love your penis and would love to see more of it. Again. Rare.
But this is Hollywood for the writer. It’s what they don’t tell you in the brochure. I’ve said it before. Ain’t nearly as glamorous as you are led to believe. But in the end, it all comes down to the penis.
However, in this situation…Patrick and I wrote a spec. Producers read it and some wanted to be involved. So, we met and tried to determine who we thought would be the best fit. Pun…intended We were polite and respectful and once we made a decision, our agents made calls and we personally sent emails thanking everyone for their time and consideration. WAY MORE than we ever get when we are turned down or simply dismissed without a second glance.
And you know what…everyone was gracious. Everyone understood.
Except Tripp. He was angry. He felt cheated. He said it wasn’t fair. He felt DeLuca had more time to prepare. He felt we should choose him because he met with us so quickly. He announced that if we go with DeLuca then he gets to take the script to Screen Gems. Say what? I wonder how many writers have come back to Tripp angry when they didn’t get the job. Saying they felt cheated or that it wasn’t fair. Or that another writer had more time to prepare.
As a writer I’m not allowed to get upset. To throw a fit. I have to touch my knees and say, “Thank you, sir, may I have another.”
The double standards are exhausting.
Over the years I’ve heard great things about Tripp. This was not his finest hour.
On May 3rd Tom phones. He’s gonna do a graphic novel of Alien Pig Farm for Comicon and wants a preface for the book. I pound one out. Something mostly crude and vulgar in keeping with the tone of the book.
On May 4th after informing Neal and Mike that we went with DeLuca the four of us decide to pursue an old remake together.
On May 5th we send an email to the DeLuca team informing them how thrilled we are to be working with them.
May 8th I do an interview for Written By magazine, the WGA publication. It’s for an article about 3D. Specifically about writing for 3D. As always, I don’t sugar coat it. At least two directors will later be annoyed by what I had to say.
We also send our treatment for “Virgins” to the producers. Have I mentioned this one? Not sure. Patrick and I had started an adaptation of an old Patterson novel. With the Drive Angry hoops and ISWYD and half a dozen other gigs we were chasing, we figured we’d break the rules and just send our treatment to the producers. The heavy lifting was done. Either they’d love it or they wouldn’t.
May 11th ISWYD is announced in the Hollywood Reporter. Patrick and I are co-writing. I’m producing. Patrick’s directing.
On May 13 we sit down with DeLuca, Zach and Josh. The meeting is a blast. We talks strategy. DeLuca will have to go to Sony first. It’s a first look. Sony will likely pass. It’s a violent movie. Not a sequel or remake…not something Big Sony is likely to get. If they do want to pursue then we’ll likely end up going to Clint and Screen Gems (Tripp will be annoyed). During the discussion, I mention our pitching Fright Night to Clint and how he quickly shot us down.
DeLuca grinned.
Turns out…DeLuca recently acquired the rights and cut a deal with Dreamworks. Patrick gave them the quick pitch and Mike said he’d call Dreamworks to set a meeting.
On May 15, Dean and Elizabeth’s dog Lulu passes.
May 18. Melanie and I have been married for one million years. Happy Anniversary.
We expected Sony to pass on Drive Angry. They don’t. Rachel, the exec, wants to screen MBV.
May 19th, Sony is still bullish on Drive Angry. They won’t pull the trigger but they won’t give DeLuca the pass. He doesn’t wait. He sends the script to Fox, Uni, Relativity, New Regency and Adam Goodman at Paramount. He lets everyone know about Sony’s interest.
Meanwhile Patrick and I are pounding out ISWYD. Dark Castle has been politely pressuring us to finish. It is hinted that if we can deliver what we pitched they have the slot and the money to go into production immediately.
On May 27th we meet DeLuca at Dreamworks, and pitch Fright Night to Mark Sourian. Interesting meeting. Mark tells us exactly what he likes and doesn’t like. Not sure that’s good or bad…just commenting that it rarely happens.
On May 28th we finish our first pass on ISWYD. We have yet to be paid for commencement. We send the script to our network of readers. Close. Trusted.
Later that day we hear that Fright Night is between us and Kring from Heroes. Apparently Kring and Spielberg spoke about it. No clue what that means but we are all waiting on Kring to deliver his pitch and then DW will make a decision.
On May 29th Patrick and I have a general meeting with Avi and Ari Arad, DeLuca, Zach and Norm Golightly via conference call to discuss Ghost Rider 2. It’s a great meeting. The gist: Avi wants the horror movie version of a superhero movie. We just happen to know exactly how to do that. We sort of have the pitch in our heads while there, but we will retreat to our bat caves and solidify it.
Later that day we get a call that Weinstein biz affairs has called to make a writer’s deal with us. When we asked, “For which project? (over the past month we’d actually pitched four different stories.) We were told biz affairs wasn’t sure.
And thus brings us to the end of May.
