OK, so I had some good luck come my way not long ago. Here’s what happened:
Last October, I submitted a thriller script to a prodco here in L.A. (This is a company which I’m sure most of you have heard of. A solid company and they produce quality thrillers.) Though they really liked the script, they said it wasn’t quite up their alley. But…they asked if I would like to do a rewrite on an existing script they already had in development.
I had a couple of meetings, which went very well, then my rep worked out the details…and I was hired to do the rewrite. Two drafts, which I ultimately completed in about six weeks. I’m told the flick goes into production later this year. (Unfortunately, I won’t receive screen credit.)
Then…about a two months ago, the development exec at this same prodco gets in touch with my rep, asks if that original script I submitted last October was still available. (It seems that particular script was suddenly up their alley!) “Yes, it’s still available,” was the reply from my rep.
So I went in for a meeting…they suggested a handful of fairly minor changes…the deal was worked out…and I went to work on the changes.
I turned in the revised draft about two weeks ago.
A few days went by and we didn’t hear anything back. A full week went by, still nothing. Finally, they got in touch…and they really liked what I did with the rewrite. Great!
OK, so a couple days go by and we get this call from a producer at the company (a fella we hadn’t dealt with before), and he says: “We’ve decided to put your project on the shelf.”
WHAT?!
Then a few hours later we get another call from the same company, but this time it's from our main contact there. Turns out that the previous call about putting the project on the shelf was in error—“ooops, sorry”—and rest assured, my script was still in active development.
Anyway, as things stand now, the company wants me to do one more pass at the script. No major changes, just trimming up a couple of scenes. Not a big deal at all. If things go well—and really, anything can happen—they’re confident the script will go into production in spring 2011.
The roller-coaster ride continues. I’ll keep you posted on any further developments.
