A few months ago, my manager calls and says, “I sent [name of script] to this director I know. He read it and thought it was great, and he asked if he could send it to this producer friend of his. I told him to go ahead and send it. A couple weeks later, the producer calls me and says he loves the script and wants to meet us. So, Jim, we have a meeting at Universal next Thursday at noon.”
OK, sound good. So...
That Thursday, I get myself over to Universal at noon and I walk into this producer’s bungalow. My manager is not there yet, but the director (the fella who first read the script) is. So the three of us sit in this very pleasant, very spacious office, and have a chat. We talked about all sorts of things (much of it having absolutely nothing to do with my script or filmmaking). We got to know each other a bit and had some laughs. Based on the energy I’m getting from these two gentlemen, I think they’re cool, likable.
My manager eventually arrives and the meeting officially starts. The producer tells me how much he really loves the script. After the movie he just completed (due out late this year), my script is exactly what he’s looking to do next.
Great!
So the four of us discuss possible budgets, potential shooting locations, actors who might fit the various roles, etc. The producer tells me he’d like to get the movie into pre-production as soon as possible (even mentioning that he’s prepared to shell out some option cash), but first he’d like to read the script a couple more times and give me some notes for a polish.
The meeting ended somewhere after 1:00PM. I thought it went well. Really well. My manager thought so too. The director, who we spoke with out in the parking area afterward, was very upbeat.
This was in mid-March. Though my manager has maintained some contact with this producer, I’m still waiting on that second meeting.
I’m not exactly holding my breath. But we’ll see. Things tend to move really, really, really slowly in Hollywood.
