Last year a Producer friend organized a meeting with a famous Director who I was thrilled to meet and collaborate with despite his insulting wage offer. Little did I realize that was a sign of more rubbish behavior to come. Not only was the contract offer wack and the storyline even more insane, but he would whatsapp me ridiculous revisions at all hours of the night. He was never satisfied with my pages which I could only get to on weekends (shitty screenwriting salary = keep your day job), so even though I submitted a complete 90 pages, I opted to go no further (i.e. second and third drafts, plus on-set presence during the shoot) and was given a paltry sum for my efforts.
Cut to six months later when the original Producer friend (yes, I gave her the drama….she was shocked) contacted me with her storyline, a very attractive contract plus a downpayment. Hello??!!! Already, I’m more perky and ready to (figuratively) dust of Final Draft. This lady was completely confident in my abilities, our meetings were light and fun-filled (usually with food and wine) plus she was more in tune with the creative process and chill with the timelines. What a difference it made to my writing.
I’m currently at 30 pages and can’t wait to immerse myself further to ultimately produce a funny, fish-out-of-water, culturally-diverse, family-friendly script. Catch you on the other side.
Update: November 2019
I’m now at 70 pages and through an alignment of the stars, also found a co-writer who can help me with some parts I’m struggling with. Again, great chemistry (think he may have been black in a former life) and I can’t wait to work with him, hopefully spending hours on the phone discussing format, dialogue, style and genre at nauseum.
The goal is 100 pages, so look out for that update.