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September 2022
With so many irons in the fire, I was sure it was only a matter of time before THE ONLY WAY OUT was picked up by either Paramount, Thunder Road, or Skydance Media. I was so excited! The anxiety was killing me. Every day I kept thinking, was today going to be the big day?
But then I got a call from Stephanie, my manager. Paramount loved the script, but passed because they had a similar female-driven project in development. To this day, we still don't know what that project was and to this day I get so frustrated when THE ONLY WAY OUT gets rejected because a studio already has a female-driven project in development.
The asshole part of my brain immediately says, wow, you have one female-driven project (similar or not) in development and how many male-driven projects (most of which could be carbon copies of each another)?
I digress. Stephanie believed the real reason Paramount passed was for financial reasons. At the time, Paramount, like most post-COVID studios, wasn't doing so well and film production budgets were tight, and mandates for what they could make were stiff. Very stiff and the studio was relying on retooled material, sequels and intellectual property that "guaranteed" box office success.
She said, if we'd had an A-list actress attached, Paramount probably would have jumped on the project. She also said that when we attach an A-list actress, we can always go back to Paramount. She was certain they'd be happy to reconsider.
She then shared that she found out that my script was pitched to Netflix at the same time as THE MOTHER, starring Jennifer Lopez, directed by Niki Caro, written by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig.
When THE MOTHER'S producers approached Netflix with the script, Niki Caro was already attached to direct, and J-Lo was already attached to star in the film. That meant the film was guaranteed to at least break even if not completely kill it financially! Compare that to my script with only a director attached, and you can see why Netflix went with THE MOTHER instead.
Anyway, Paramount's rejection was another kick to the guts, but I was still hopeful. After all, the script was still at Thunder Road and Skydance...
A few days later, I received another call from Stephanie. Skydance loved the script, but they passed because "it wasn't big enough," as in expensive enough to produce." I laughed. Well, that was a first. I'm always told my projects are too expensive, so hearing the opposite for once was hilarious!
Skydance produces $100 million dollar plus films. At about half-that, THE ONLY WAY OUT can't compete. However, knowing Skydance produces some of the biggest films out there, films I love to watch, films that make going to theatre a joy because they put things on screen that you need to see on the big screen! With that rejection, I immediately wanted to write a $100 million dollar plus script. For a moment, it was as if I didn't think getting a film made for less than half-that was hard enough...
Once reality sunk in and my brain stopped dwelling on writing a mega-expensive disaster film, disappointment once again set in. SNAP! Damn! I thought. Was I ever going to sell this script?
Days went by, then weeks and I'm not going to lie, I got a little...no a lot...pouty and depressed. Worse, I was struggling to write. The stuff I was working on was dark, very, very dark. I wasn't creating short films, either. I was twisted up in knots, probably because I felt like I was the horsehair tip of a whip that was continually being snapped. Up, down, SNAP! Up, down, SNAP!
My mind was spinning, and OCD, anxiety, and self-doubt were dominating my thoughts. Was this script really as good as everyone said it was? If it was, why wasn't it selling? What's wrong with it? Why can't I write anything good right now? Why can't I create? Why can't I make a short film? After all, the kids were back in school and I had a decent chunk of time to work most days between school meetings, school emails, volunteering, appointments, days off, half-days, etc.
Anyway, just when my negative self-talk got to an all-time high, I received an email from Marty letting me know that the Director of Development from Thunder Road had followed up with his agent. She said she absolutely loved the script and had passed it along to the head of their Asbury Park division.
Once again, I was flying high. This was great news! Having a script passed up the food chain is always good news, but I was beginning to feel the whiplash effects of attempting to sell a script. I was cautiously excited, but a big part of me didn't have the energy to be positive about this one. I'm not saying a tiny piece of me wasn't hopeful. I'm just saying I was mentally exhausted from the ups and downs.
In October 2022, Marty called to tell me that he'd sent the script to the Senior Vice President of Development at 20th Century Fox Studios. I could not curtail my excitement, despite my best attempts. 20th Century Fox. Holy cow! I mean how many times had I seen the 20th Century Fox logo appear before a film? It was amazing, absolutely amazing! My mind was blown.
Not only that, but the universe seemed to be saying this was it! As soon as I waked into the grocery store one day, lyrics from The Doors' 20th Century Fox song filled my ears, but not just any lyrics. The lyrics literally started, "twentieth-century fox." And every movie we randomly watched just happened to be a 20th Century Fox movie. It was bizarre and energizing and weird in a metaphysical sort of way.
This had to be it! I mean the universe doesn't send signs like this just for fun! Or does it?