Part 15: THE ONLY WAY OUT's Exciting Financing Deal...

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This Herculean carrot may not be dangling, but our first financing deal certainly was.

November 2022

I was still completely shocked and buzzing with excitement about the incredible partnership deal my film's producer, Steve Schklair, was putting together with the German studio.

To refresh your memory, the studio's CEO offered to put up half the below-the-line budget for the film. Although I can't say exactly what that number is, let's just say it's not small.

In fact, it's well into the jaw dropping multimillion-dollar range. But what does 50% of the below the line budget actually mean?

An Explanation of Above the Line versus Below the Line Budgets

Film budgets are broken down into two categories, above the line and below the line.

The above the line budget only covers fees for the producer(s), screenwriter(s), director, and key talent. These are the only people on a film who are guaranteed to be with the film from start to finish. It's this team that drives the film's production and approves all of the creative and budgetary decisions that need to be made before, during, and after filming. They are responsible for getting the film made and for maintaining the unique vision for the film and for meeting studio mandates.

With screenwriters, although they may not be on set during the shoot or have any say in the editing process, they'll have the opportunity to do a certain number of rewrites (based on the contract). Even if the screenwriter moves on and the script is rewritten by another writer or writers (as often happens in Hollywood), the original screenwriter will, per WGA rules, still get the screenwriting credit for writing the initial script.

Additionally, screenwriters may also be given the opportunity to participate in certain marketing events for the film. However, even if the screenwriter doesn't do anything more than sell the script and walk away, the film would not exist without the script, which is why the screenwriter is considered an essential worker from start to finish.

Also, above the line rates are typically fixed per guild rules. The producers, screenwriter, director and key talent will earn a certain negotiated fee based on the film's budget and their specific guild's specifications. Below the line budgeting is a little more challenging in that Hollywood is a gig economy.

Also, not everyone on the below the line cast and crew are needed every day during filming. For example, a day of shooting on a set that involves simple set ups, key cast members only, and no company moves can be shot with a skeleton crew, whereas a day shooting an epic battle scene will be an all-hands-on deck situation.

Also, many films that shoot in different states and countries chose to fill below the line roles with locals to save money on travel costs such as meals, housing and other per diem costs, for the crew, and to gain access to precious local film incentives. Not only that, but a film staffed with multiple units (crews in various places) can, and often do, shoot in multiple locations on the same day. One unit will film principles (key talent) while the other, for example, will shoot stunts or B-roll (shots not involving cast members).

Back to the Story

While Marty and Steve were working on the partnership deal, Marty was also working alongside my manager, Stephanie Rogers. Both were continuing to submit the script to major studios. It was beyond exciting!

Marty, Steve, Stephanie, Eric and I were all so incredibly optimistic. I was told, and everyone firmly believed, that once the studios knew we had secured financing for half of the below-the-line budget, we'd get some serious traction on the film. I remember Marty and Stephanie both saying something to the effect that once the first chunk of money comes in, it's a lot easier to secure the rest.

So, with a sizeable chunk of money on the table, two amazing producers, an award-winning screenwriter with an award-winning script, and a director who had worked on Academy Award winning films, Marty, Steve, and Stephanie believed they could garner interest from the major studios and secure the remaining bit of financing and distribution for THE ONLY WAY OUT rather quickly.

With a fully financed film backed by a studio, they said it would be a lot easier to secure the A-list talent needed to greenlight the film. Even if the film wasn't fully financed, having studio backing and A-list attached to a studio film would quickly solve that problem. All our ducks were beginning to fall in a row and, it was at this point that Marty said that once we had a studio, full financing, distribution, and A-list talent attached to the script, I needed to be prepared for the process to move lightning fast.

Around and Around We Go

Every day for months, I leapt out of bed, full of joy and excitement waiting to hear more wonderful news for my script. Marty and Stephanie were pitching the script and submitting to the biggest Hollywood studios. In the time between November 2022 and May of 2023, the script went to:

• Focus Features (who said they weren't producing scripts in THE ONLY WAY OUT'S budget range)

• Amazon's Feature Film Division, where it made its way up the food chain and garnered Marty, Steve and Eric a pitch meeting with the creative execs at Amazon only to have Amazon ultimately pass with no explanation as to why.

• Apple Studios that also had several meetings with the producers and our director. They seemed very interested, but ultimately passed because, "I thought that the script had some fun moments, but ultimately the concept wasn’t quite right for us." The email left all of us scratching our heads and wondering if the reader had confused my script with another script. My manager was particularly confused by the response because THE ONLY WAY OUT is a serious, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting action thriller. Huh... Moving on...
  

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• Warner Brothers Discovery passed because they are focusing exclusively on developing DC properties and IP, more specifically IP related to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

• Thunder Road's Asbury Park Division. Marty followed up with David Gersh about our submission to Thunder Road's Asbury Park division. David Gersh said he never heard back from them.

• The script went to Little Film Studios International where it received amazing coverage.

• It went to Lionsgate where it spawned an internal discussion and the following response: "After discussing internally, this one is unfortunately not for us, partially because we have another project that is similar yet has been difficult for us to push through our current content strategy." They also mentioned passing due to the cost of acquiring A-list talent.

• Hidden Pictures, a company with a 5 year first-look deal with Lionsgate where the exec said the script was very strong, but thought it was too dark for him and for this reason he didn't feel he'd be a good producing partner.

• It went to Millenium and several smaller production companies and individual producers and investors with no luck.

• A top executive at Paramount referred Marty to submit the script to Skydance. We had previously been turned down by Skydance. This was before Eric Schwab signed on as director, so Marty figured we should try again now that Eric was attached. I don't have anything in my notes, but I'm assuming they turned the script down yet again, for the same reasons as before, it just wasn't big enough, as in expensive enough. At Skydance, they love hundred million dollar plus films.

It was now May 2023, and it quickly became apparent why we weren't having any luck when my manager spoke with Steve, who was spearheading the deal with the German company. Apparently, they were not willing to put up first money and had decided to wait until we had a star attached to commit any real money in writing to the production.

DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!

Although the German company is still interested and on-board, not having first money, or any money at all so far, (just the promise of money) is as good as... NOTHING! Also, because there was no official contract in place, we weren't even supposed to bring up their interest in financing the film to other studios. It was beyond frustrating.

All the joy, all the hope I'd been hanging onto for the past few months fizzled. I was beyond disappointed, beyond frustrated, and beyond upset. After all this time and effort, we were right back where we started, at square one, stuck in a Hollywood catch-22.

Worse, from May 2023 until December or 2023, there was literally NOTHING happening with the script. I mean I know Marty and Steve were working their connections and having networking meetings and trying to score introductions and referrals for the script, but I have nothing in my notes about who they spoke with or if the script was submitted anywhere. Marty said he was working leads on some of the A-list actresses he knew. Meanwhile, Steve was working some leads, but was also juggling that with starting a new business.

I was moody and depressed. My adrenal glands were maxed out from all the ups and downs I'd endured with this script during the past 3 years. For the first time in my life, I had to force myself to write and when I did, I wrote a super dark, low-budget script my manager said was a good read, but unsellable as a film. (She wasn't wrong.) That was just one more kick in the guts, one more thing sucking the life out of my motivation.

I think the worst part about the situation was that I felt so completely out of control in terms of trying to get this film made. Family and friends were continually asking how things were going, and I was constantly mumbling something about how hard the team was working on finding financing and/or connections to A-list actresses, connections who could get the right actresses my script without having to go through their agent.

I felt like a failure. I felt like no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't win. I've always put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed at the highest level and having to admit, after all this time and energy spent pursuing my dream, that success might not happen was killing me.

It was even worse considering everyone around me seemed to be so damned successful in their own right and here I was with my husband, cobbling together old cars and figuring out how to fix or jury rig the endless laundry list of stuff that kept breaking around the house. I was also fighting with autoimmune disease flares, exhaustion, and spinal disc issues that were creating excruciating nerve pain down my legs and muscle spasms and muscle weakness so bad I couldn't move. Everything felt like it was falling apart. EVERYTHING!

This is me attempting to find pain relief at PT with dry needling.

Losing My Mind

I was losing my mind, so I took a break from screenwriting and a break from obsessing over my email every, single day to see if there was news on the script. Instead, I was determined to focus on other projects. In the span of about six months:

Me after sparring in karate.

• I shot and edited an educational documentary entitled, HONEY: FROM HIVE TO TABLE (which is now in post). It's a super cool documentary about bees and that follows the process of harvesting honey from my parents' bee hives.
  

• I began transforming one of my award-winning scripts, IN THE SHADOW OF LONG'S PEAK, into a novel (which I'm 65,000 words into).
  

• I started another novel about chronic pain and how to navigate our broken medical system (which I'm 50,000 words into).
  

• I created this website, relearning all the necessary tech and apps to do it myself.
  

• And when our pool sprung a leak, I decided to bring to life an idea I'd had for several years for a DIY home/life improvement series. I then came up with the title, Mama Fix It™ and immediately began shooting episodes on my GoPro.

• I wrote several articles for national magazines, which I now need to find time to pitch and sell.

• I created my Caution: Screenwriter, Caution: Independent Filmmaker, Caution: Director, Caution: Producer, Caution: Actor, and Caution: Writer shirts to sell on my site as a way to help fund my projects.

• I worked on several projects as an independent script consultant.

• I joined karate so I could pursue the elusive goal of earning my black belt alongside my daughter. I started going to classes 6 days a week (unless I was bedridden) and, like the overachiever I am, I began working my tail off in an attempt to catch up to my daughter's rank.
  

Mama Fix It™

Still Obsessing

But even with all the other projects and activities and kids' stuff occupying space in my mind, I still couldn't get over my disappointment that THE ONLY WAY OUT was stuck in Hollywood limbo. I was so frustrated by the lack of news, the lack of movement, the lack of forward momentum. I was still obsessing for at least part of every day, trying to figure out how to get the script into the right hands.

I've always felt with all of my heart that screenwriting was what I weas meant to do with my life and I've always felt I'd be successful at it. Maybe that's why I just couldn't let it go. Apparently, I'm not the only one. It was Thanksgiving Day when Marty suddenly called me out of the blue.

He wished me a Happy Thanksgiving and told me that although things with the industry were tough in the post-pandemic, post writers and actors strikes, not to give up because he and Steve certainly weren't going to give up. He said the script meant far too much to both of them to let it go.

"This film will get made," Marty repeated warmly, for what must have been the umpteenth time over the past three years. I felt buoyed by his warmth, kindness, confidence, and his incredible passion for my script.

We talked for a long time, and I could hear his family celebrating the holiday in the background. I pitched some crazy ideas for trying to find financing and access A-list actresses as I stumbled around my room getting ready to head out to my own family's Thanksgiving celebration.

We talked about various creative strategies for moving forward. Marty mentioned he had some people he was still trying to connect with, such as a connection he knew from Disney who was now with Amblin Partners. By the time we hung up, I felt a lot better, and I also felt a deep sense of comradery with Marty. It was the rare type of comradery and understanding that only exists between highly driven people with a ridiculous (probably to a fault) work ethic, people whose creative, goal-driven minds never stop working, even for the holidays. I was, and still am, so incredibly thankful to have met Marty and I'm so incredibly thankful for everything he's doing to get this film made.

Even though our conversation lifted my spirits, I still didn't feel all that optimistic about THE ONLY WAY OUT's odds.

But then, at the beginning of December 2023, Marty called me again. This time, he was bubbling with excitement and said he had a great idea for how to raise money for the film and he was going to email us (the team) the details for review. He wanted to know our thoughts.

Ironically, it was an idea I'd thought a lot about. In fact, I thought about it all the time while writing the script and even somewhat tailored the script to this particular idea, but I didn't think was a possibility at this point in the game. Now that Marty had brought it up and thought it could be successful was absolutely thrilling! Marty's plan was brilliant and just like that, we were back in action.

To be continued...