The Unlikely Road to Becoming a Screenwriter

Thursday, 5/24

It's been a few weeks since my last "entry", and though I wouldn't say there's been any earth-shattering developments…still felt like an update was overdue.

This is where things stand:

Right now, it looks more and more like the film will be made with Mayhem and Not Russian Dave as the main producers. Interest appears to have grown somewhat exponentially. Mayhem's forwarded me the occasional e-mail where someone (a director in Romania, an agent in the UK, and so on) is dishing out ridiculously head-swelling compliments about the script. It's all very weird. People are now contacting Not Russian Dave offering to invest, and Mayhem also has a few folks lined up as well. The minimum commitment for any investor is $25,000.

HOWEVER…

With one notable exception (which I'll get to in a minute), Not Russian Dave & Mayhem want to cap the budget at $750,000 if at all possible. Now, you may wonder why they'd want to keep the budget that low. Here's the reason: the more investors -- the more points given on the back end, and the more people money has to be divvied between. But there is ONE exception to this that will be MORE than acceptable…

Mayhem has been contacted by the head of a production company that I referred to back on April 10th. I've nicknamed him "Big Mac". They're a major up-and-coming production house and have been mentioned in many a Variety or Hollywood Reporter article, doing something with Scorsese and other major filmmakers.

Well, they want to take a meeting with Mayhem based on this script. One could say they wouldn't waste time with a meeting if they weren't interested in doing something. But even Mayhem (who is far more of an optimist than I could ever be) is downplaying this upcoming meeting, not expecting it to result in anything.

BUT -- if they DO want to get on board…it would definitely be (1) as distributors. That's huge. They MAY also want to be either (2) producers and/or (3) investors. The odds are if they did get involved, the budget would be expanded to $2 million and not only would we lockdown a major name for the lead role of Barry, but chances are we'd fill out a few of the other parts with solid names (the detectives, the wife, the villain, et al).

We already feel we can do that with the $750,000 budget -- but if "Big Mac" gets involved, that just guarantees it (as well as distribution in most markets). Still, we are proceeding under the assumption that this is NOT going to happen. I THINK we will know if they're going to be involved within the next couple weeks.

In the meantime, Mayhem and Not Russian Dave are continuing to put the budget together as well as shoring up the investors and the equity behind the production. They are initially attempting to eschew the agent route as they search for the right director. The general thinking is a "young, up-and-coming, fresh out of film school, maybe some shorts, music videos and/or commercials under their belt" kind of director. Then throw $100-200,000 at a star for the main role (that should only be a couple week's work).

If an agent does get involved (or if "Big Mac" is in the mix) -- then we may instead end up getting a "name" director. After that, the cast can be filled with more recognizable actors. It's been an amusing couple weeks, as I'll get the random text or phone call from Mayhem asking my opinion on names like Ethan Hawke or Ed Burns. Mayhem's dream if we have a major budget is Bradley Cooper, and if we have a more limited budget -- Josh Holloway.

Me, I'm still not at the point where I can take casting questions seriously.

ONE MORE THING….

Mayhem and I are probably going to enter into a binding option agreement. This will give Mayhem the legal right to represent himself as a producer and developer of the script when he takes meetings and deals with investors, agents, directors and so on. The agreement would probably grant him such rights for a year.

Furthermore, the agreement would dictate that I be paid something NOW against a larger amount later. So, that would mean I would be paid something like $3,000 soon, and then my subsequent payment would be a percentage (most likely 5%) of whatever the official budget is for the film. The written agreement will spell that out further -- actually stating things like "If the budget is between A and B, then I would be paid C. If the budget falls between D and E, then I would be paid F." You get the idea.

However, you cannot incorporate language about points and money on the back end in such an agreement. That would be done separately. Because of my relationship with Mayhem, he is making sure I will get points on the film. He wants to do that not just because he feels I deserve it, but also because the hope is we will continue to work together on future projects if this all goes well.

Just to clarify -- the points/backend covers money based on all grosses, all DVD sales, all money from distributor deals in foreign markets, all cable deals around the world and so on -- for the next several years. This agreement probably won't be put together for a few weeks, and I will have an actual entertainment lawyer look it over to make sure it's solid and fair before I sign it.

It would be nice to get a LITTLE something right now, especially considering my current income issues. I'm fully aware that this project could get off the ground this fall -- but could also take several more months…and I wouldn't be paid anything during all that time. Hence why I'm playing the lottery and starting to sniff around for a steady paycheck for at least a few months.

And so it goes...