Re: films

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/22/2005 8:20:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

JUNG-FIRE writes:

Yup, tenacity + who you know, can get a crap concept made into a

movie or record.

I must have read several dozens of scripts last year I was asked to forward.

99% were garbage. Talent counts. Really huge talent. Writing a good

screenplay nowadays is the same as writing a really good symphony. Most people

don't have a clue as to how complex it truly is.

And, then you need a ton of street smarts, LA is one very, very tough town,

it is not for the dim-witted, you need to be hellaciously fast on your feet.

I was twice offered a screen test, once by Gerard Depardieu and then by Jack

Nicholson who was working out in a gym I was working out in and I'll tell

you what, that guy can work out! He was overweight and was at it for five

hours. I'm not sure that had I accepted I would have survived. It's a tough

town. And, I survived the tech world well, was the first woman to get truly

paid in sales, and helped a female attorney I worked with be the first on the

Board of Directors. We had to threaten class-action lawsuits to break the back

of the company to get the guys to pay us, it was a very rough battle. And,

having successfully negotiated with brilliant engineers, I am still very

doubtful I would have the savvy to survive LA.

The legals for film deals make every other deal I've ever done, and I've

worked on some huge deals in the past couple of years, look like a walk in the

park. The legals are more complex than IPOs, tech deals, international real

estate deals, Hollywood has some extremely brilliant minds.

You also have zero margin for error. Tick off the wrong person and you are

gone. Ever watch Foxx's interview with Tom Cruise? Very typical

Hollywood, suck it up, and suck it up hard.

Love,

me