- A producer who had optioned my screenplay Ruby's Tune, based on my play Waitresses, called to say she had the money. Contracts would be signed over the weekend and my fat check would be in the mail Monday. Hooray! But at the very, very last minute, the deal fell through, I came to find out -- and it fell through by a rookie mistake. The producer, who planned to direct, let it be known before contracts were signed that Jennifer O'Neill was attached. She was sincerely excited by this, as in fact I was. But the money guys looked at O'Neill as someone with a series of failed TV movies, looking for a comeback they did not want to bankroll. So backers backed out and the project never recovered. No movie.
- I was the librettist for an original jazz opera by Thara Memory. We had a meeting with the Portland Opera for possible backing in pursuit of a national grant. Lots of enthusiasm and optimism -- until the meeting. Thara was in his anti-white, no compromise, angry young musician stage and his lack of cooperation, or even the appearance of it, pretty much chucked our chances. We may not have gotten the grant anyway.
- These two events happened in the 80s. More recently, a few years ago, a director wanted to make one of my favorite screenplays, The Brazen Wing, but wanted all money on the tail end, which neither I nor my agent liked. The guy fattened the pot by wanting me to direct, which if younger may have worked. But I didn't have energy or confidence I could pull this off at my age, and no one budged as regards the money, so the deal crashed. No movie.
- I was hired to write a splay based on the career of an historic figure, and all was looking good until the two producers got in a fight. One ended up taking the money and leaving town, leaving us all high and dry. No movie.
There are more but you get the idea. Every writing career is filled with stories like this, I'm sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment