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The months between December 2023 and June 2024 were incredibly exciting. B from our brand integration company was diligently sending products for the team and I to review as possible brand partners for my film, THE ONLY WAY OUT, and I was working my tail off as an Associate Producer, pitching to the brands I believed we could integrate into the film.
Our branding partner was operating on the expectation that we were getting the script to Scarlett Johansson. This is why my pitch deck/lookbook featured Mrs. Johansson as our lead. Marty Katz (my film's producer) was working on getting the script to Mrs. Johansson, but he didn't want to go her through her agent, Bryan Lourd at CAA (who Marty and Steve Schklair ((my film's other producer) both know), since Marty knew it wouldn't be taken seriously due to our lack of financing and distribution.
And so, while I worked on product integration proposals, Marty worked on trying to find an alternate way to get the script to Mrs. Johansson.
"If she just reads it," he said enthusiastically every time we talked, "I know she's going to want to do it. We just have to get her to read it."
Before I continue, let me back up for a moment. As I said, Marty and Steve both know Mrs. Johansson's agent, Bryan Lourd, so you're probably wondering why they can't just give him the script and have him pass it along to her as a favor. It's because in Hollywood, and in big business, there's something called social capital.
Because Hollywood is a relationship-based business, it truly is all about who you know AND what you've done to help each of these people succeed. This is why you can't just go to your "friend" and ask them to do you a favor, like passing along a script or introducing you to a key financier or distributor, without having earned that favor well in advance. It's very much an "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" business. It's also a business where nobody wants to waste anyone's time, ever, because time is the most important commodity in the industry and time is money.
In Hollywood, social capital is gold.
When you're a Hollywood player, it's essential to carefully consider exactly how and when you're going to spend your social capital, especially with Hollywood's big players and especially since social capital is very difficult to earn and there are so many people with whom you're trying to earn it. The more capital you earn and the more ways you can find to avoid spending that capital, the better.
Back to the story. After several weeks, Marty was striking out on finding a way to get to Scarlett Johansson and B at the brand integration company was continually pressing us on the issue.
"Where do we stand with Scarlett?" He kept asking through email.
"We're working on it," was always my reply because we were indeed working on it.
But I was getting nervous it just wasn't going to happen. Then what? Would our brand integration partner drop us? Would we fail to raise any money for the film? Would this entire task become one, giant exercise in futility. I was not about to let that happen, so I put my thinking cap on and began brainstorming.
Sparked by my interactions with B and the constant pitching I was doing and, fueled by the steroid, methylprednisalone, that I was on for severe back pain, I began digging into Scarlett Johansson, searching for a way in, Six Degrees of Separation style.
I looked up all her recent films, the producers and directors with whom she has worked, the charitable organizations to which she contributes, and tried to find information on whether she had her own production company or ran her own business. The research paid off. I discovered that Mrs. Johansson had recently launched her own skincare company called, The Outset, with her business partner, Kate Foster-Lengyel. Bingo!
As a super busy someone with sensitive skin I hadn't had much time to devote to skincare, so I decided to treat myself to the travel pack of products and ordered the Travel Size Skincare – The Outset online. While I waited for those products to arrive, my mind was racing faster than the speed of sound.
What if, I thought, I crafted a product integration proposal for The Outset's skin care products and then found a way to reach someone in marketing at The Outset, or better yet, Kate Foster Lengyel herself? And what if she read the script, loved it and the product integration proposal so much that she decided to pass the script along to Scarlett? And then what if Scarlett loved it enough to say yes to starring in the film?
I knew this was a long shot. I knew Ms. Foster Lengyel probably had some kind of deal with Mrs. Johansson not to be a conduit to her in any way when it came to the film industry, but I had to try. I knew others had probably tried, too, so I wanted to make sure that when I tried, I knocked it out of the park. Once I sampled The Outset's products, I fell in love. I knew they'd be an amazing fit for the film, but I was also stupidly anxious about approaching someone so successful about integrating their product into my film.
At the time, while driving my kids to and from school and activities, I had been listening to Sara Blakely's amazing MasterClass.com detailing the inspirational journey of how she created Spanx and then successfully grew the brand to the multi-billion-dollar brand it is today. I was inspired by her hutzpah and her feet on the ground approach to marketing. I was inspired by how she found people to talk to and found ways to get yesses. I had used some of her tactics before, but never had the confidence to go all the way.
While listening to her class, I was struck by how similar we seemed. Like Mrs. Blakely, I'm always thinking of inventions and new and unique ways to do things AND I've always been an entrepreneur at heart (Giaquinto Productions, LLC is the 4th official business I've owned, the 5th I've been a part of since I helped my husband run his business for a time), but despite doing crazy things, like once driving 26.5 hours from Colorado to Ohio to spend 12 hours with a professional motocross racer, then driving 26.5 hours home and going back to work (my 2 jobs) the next day in order to score my first nationally published print article in "RacerX Illustrated," I've never enjoyed the success Mrs. Blakely earned with Spanx.
I asked myself why. I had always envisioned a certain level of success for myself, but I have yet to achieve it. I realized, listening to Sara's class, that the only thing that's been holding me back from success is me, namely my debilitating anxiety, fear, self-censorship and the way I'm constantly devaluing my products and services.
Until I was in my late 30s, I had no idea I had a pretty debilitating anxiety disorder and, as an anxious people pleaser, it dawned on me that I've spent a lifetime censoring my ideas, really great ideas out of fear of rejection, fear of not fitting in. Also, while reflecting on my journey, I realized there have been so many times I've gotten to the brink of major success only to crumble and/or run away from the opportunity.
I was sitting in a highway/parking lot called I-70 in Denver with the smell of Purina dog food permeating everything when I consciously decided these self-defeating behaviors HAD to stop. I consciously decided I was going to get help for the anxiety, stop running away from success and opportunities, stop censoring myself, and appropriately value the products and services I worked so damned hard to create so that I could make my dream come true.
I then had an internal conversation with myself, one I'd had many times before, but one I took much more seriously now. "What's the worst that can happen?" I asked myself, "Someone, a total stranger, is rude to me on the phone? I get a no? I feel embarrassed? I make a fool out of myself?
Per Sara's advice, I began to keep a journal of really cool ideas I had for new products I wanted to invent and stories I wanted to write, fiction, nonfiction, everything went into this journal no matter how crazy. I was feeling energized in a way I hadn't ever felt since I was an 8-year-old building my own airplane (it was GOING to fly, so I could fly to and from school, of course) out of 2X4s, plywood, training wheels, and a lawnmower engine I was mustering up the courage to ask my parents to donate to the cause.
One of many products I came up with and designed thanks to Sara Blakley's inspiring Master Class.
Fighting anxiety and self-doubt, I shared my idea of contacting Kate Foster Lengyel with the team. I'd draft an email pitch and find a way to get it to her and the top marketing person at The Outset. I knew it was a long shot, as in getting struck by lightning twice, long shot, but I had to try. After all, my film's producer, Steve Schklair, was struck by lightning, twice (I am not making this up), so there was hope. We had nothing to lose.
I pitched the idea to the team, and they loved it so I set out to craft the best pitch possible for the film in the hopes that, we could kill two birds with one stone by integrating The Outset's amazing products into the movie and working a deal with Scarlett Johansson to be the star.
To read about how my pitch went, be sure to check out Risk Taking with The Outset: It Can't Hurt...
To be continued...
Positive self talk is powerful! Going to have to backtrack and read how the pitch went.
It's so inspirational following your journey. Thank you so much for sharing!!! Hoping to see sometime soon that you have a star attached financing and distribution and are beginning filming.