A Faux Pas For a New Year
January 8, 2009
We’re only into the first week of 2009 and I have already burned my first bridge. It seems I am a master at burning bridges, been doing it my whole career. This time I alienated a recent Academy Award nominated producer who happens to be the younger sister of one of my oldest and closest. Her crime? – not reading my revised screenplay in a timely fashion after giving me the best, most professional, most out of the box, notes I have ever received on any project, in any medium, on my first draft. Her punishment? — getting confronted for not returning phone calls or e-mails.
What I didn’t understand until she finally responded via an e-mail last night was that she basically read my first draft as a favor to me, not because she had any intention of adding the project to her development/production slate. In her e-mail she also admitted to being overwhelmed between her ridiculously heavy travel schedule, which had her flying all over the world, as well as having some real health issues which required hospitalization. Needless to say my reply was sympathetic, but still, hyper-sensitive ass that I can be sometimes, I did question why she didn’t just have her assistant level with me, or, better yet, get him to read the script on her behalf as I suggested both times I contacted her office in my prior e-mails in early October/early November. Or take ten seconds to blow me off. Just be direct. Be honest. Anything. Just respond. Just don’t make me feel so small.
And the moment after I hit the e-mail it hit me: I was completely blurring the lines between what is personal and what is professional, putting my time frame into the mix, and taking advantage of my lifelong friendship with her brother. I immediately sent a follow up. I apologized for causing her stress, falling victim to my own insecurities and the fantasy that we would not be developing the project together.
She wrote back. She forgave me…and she gave me great notes on the revised draft I submitted. She thought it was better, but needed more work…as do I…clearly…
I’ve been reading your blog because you’re one of the few people on this site whose writing isn’t total fluff, and it actually seems like you’ve had and are still in the midst of a real career. I cannot believe your honesty sometimes. One thing I do have to admit about LA vs New York, is that in LA, people totally accept their insecurities and foibles, and are almost proud of admitting to them.
You do this without fail, and it takes a hell of a man to not only say that he was wrong, but to go into such detail about those momentary lapses in judgement that sometimes cause you to act the way you do. Personally I understand your frustration. I go insane not having my emails replied to or my calls answered. I always interpret it as me being ignored. The way people are connected these days, with all the technology available to us, not having something replied to within a day almost always means that you’re being blown off. Obviously this lady had extenuating circumstances, and it’s great that you were able to patch things up.
thanks for the kind words. yeah — i had a real career — and started showbizzle so i could go out to pasture on my own terms…and, yeah, not ashamed to still be a work in progress.
rolo tommasi — so you’re on the usual suspects?
You almost guessed right, same kind of movie.
Well, anyone who doesn’t know that they’re a work in progress needs to be enlightened. Cheers to producing on your own. In ten years, people who know how to go it their own will be the majors, and the majors as they are now will have a difficult time running the racket that they do now. Every time I hear creators finance their own work, I silently hope they do well so we can be one step closer to doing away with query letters and bitter $50/script readers.