December 2024
When we last left off, I was still waiting to hear whether my film's Producer, Marty Katz's, contact at Netflix had given him the name of the right creative executive to whom we needed to submit our package for THE ONLY WAY OUT.
As you know, I was working on another rewrite, which I finished and was actually happy with. I decided I wanted to get an idea of how good the draft was, so I submitted it to The Athena List, a screenplay competition for women and female-driven scripts. We'll see if it makes the cut.
And, as you might also remember, I was waiting for Steve to do a side-by-side comparison of the new script and the previous version to make sure all the changes worked. Well, a few more weeks passed, and I still hadn't heard from him. In the meantime, I created and released more episodes of my hilarious MAMA FIX IT DIY series, worked on another script, and created MAMA FIX IT merchandise.
I also created hats and mugs for screenwriters and writers, updated some of my T-shirt designs, opened an Etsy Shop and started a Tik Tok channel and shop while still doing all of the MAMA FIX IT things life throws at us moms.
We're talking touring high schools, attending school meetings, volunteering for events, earning my Jr. Black Belt, prepping for black belt testing, competing in a karate tournament, maintaining vehicles, enrolling the kids in school for next year, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and planning all of the activities and gatherings that need to be planned for the holidays. Dare I say keeping busy is a wonderful distraction?
As I mentioned before, as a screenwriter, you spend a lot of time waiting to hear back from people, waiting for X person to contact Y person and for Y person to get back with X person and for X person to get back with you (or someone on your team) so you (and/or someone on your team) can be invited to a meeting to chat about the script.
At that meeting, the script will be pitched and hopefully that scores you an invitation to submit the script and all accompanying materials to Person Y. Of course, everyone's super busy, so this whole process often takes weeks, if not months or years. If you don't keep your mind occupied, it's enough to drive you crazy!
And then once you get the script to Person Y, there's more waiting because Person Y will usually forward the material to Person Z, a reader, and wait for that reader's coverage.
If the coverage is negative, the script is dead. If it's positive, Person Y will read the script and call a meeting (or several) to discuss whether the story fits with the studio's mandate, how it aligns with the studio's budget, etc.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the script isn't a fit for one reason or another (especially if there's no talent attached), and all the time you spent waiting and hoping for a deal is simply gone and it's back to square one.
I digress... Back to Steve... Out of the blue, one day he emailed me apologizing for not having had time to compare both versions of the script.
He'd been working on a super amazing 3-D music video project that fell through for one artist but took off for another. In other words, he'd been swamped.
The good news was he was coming to Denver to shoot a 3-D concert video he and another major producer were working on. He figured since he was coming to Denver, he'd see if we could meet up and invited me to meet him for dinner. This was great! Fabulous! Perfect!
Wait! Not so perfect. As a super busy mom, screenwriter, blogger, MAMA FIX IT/business owner, I don't have nice clothes anymore. I just don't. And shoes... Oh my God, don't get me started with shoes. I own one pair of sneakers with at least a million miles on them, sneakers that look like they've been beaten to death with a weed whacker because, well, they actually have been beaten to death with a weed whacker.
I needed an outfit and fast. I own one pair of high heels, but they don't really fit since I bought them a long time ago for another emergency meeting. Yeah, that's how I roll.
And so, I grabbed Justin, my husband, and we went shopping. We started with the most ridiculous outfit we could find, one that reminded us of something Kaitlin Olson's character, Morgan would wear in the new hit TV series, HIGH POTENTIAL.
Lo and behold, the pants and super fuzzy light pink coat made a cute, and I mean super cute combo (I couldn't have been more surprised), but the pants were too baggy, and they didn't have a smaller size. Of course.
And I also wasn't going to pay a fortune for a coat I'd feel ridiculous wearing in Colorado, a coat I'd likely only wear once or twice. However, the satiny red and black shirt I found was cute, so I bought it, even though it didn't quite match the pants. I don't often find shirts I like that fit well, so I couldn't resist.
It was back to square one. Luckily, I did some hunting online and found a different pair of the same type of pleather pants at a Target in Lakewood. This time, I took my 8-year-old daughter, AKA, my official fashion consultant, with me.
I tried on the pants, and they actually fit and looked great!!!
But we couldn't for the life of us find a shirt that matched. We did, however, score a cute pair of boots on clearance for $11.99, the only pair left in my size.
I couldn't believe they actually fit despite my super swollen foot that I'd injured while sparring in a karate tournament two days earlier. It was fate. I bought the pants and the boots and remembered I had a cute, fuzzy black shirt I could wear with the combo, one that my daughter thought would look awesome and keep me warm at the same time.
(Sorry, I didn't manage to take any pictures before I blazed out of the house to meet Steve for dinner. After picking up my son from school, I literally had ten minutes to change and get out the door. Taking a selfie was the last thing on my mind.)
In that moment, I felt incredibly lucky. I've never found an outfit so quickly before in my entire life. Let me rephrase that, I've never found pants and boots, or any type of shoes, that quickly in my life. Pants and shoes (well, bras, too) are the bane of my existence. I'm sure every woman who reads this can relate.
I got dressed and remembered a time when I had a sense of style and actually got dressed up more than once a year. It felt good! Really good! We moms get stuck in our routines and it's great to break out of them whenever we can. I need to do that more.
I rode the Light Rail to Denver to avoid sitting in traffic until I was 90 years-old, and then walked to Steve's hotel, The Thompson. When I arrived, Steve was outside smoking a cigarette. I was a little early. We exchanged a quick hug to say hi, then he headed back to his hotel room to change while I went to use the bathroom.
We met back up in the lobby and walked a block to The Water Grill, which is one of his favorite places to eat in LA. He said he was thrilled to see one here in Denver. I'm not a huge dinner person, so I ordered a salad, which was absolutely delectable! I can't remember what he ordered, but he ate pretty light, too, and we had a wonderful time laughing and talking about everything from family to politics to marketing to studios and my script.
He said he knows how to make a film from the technical side of things and Marty knows the people who can get it made. In other words, at this point, it's up to Marty to use his social capital and connections to get this thing off the ground. That was good to know.
We talked about the concert Steve was producing and filming and the technical challenges he and his camera crew were faced with because she was performing in the round (360-degree stage) as opposed to performing on a proscenium-style stage. It was fascinating. Time flew. It was a fabulous night!
After dinner, we walked back to his hotel. He went to his room and grabbed a little package for me while I went to the bathroom, again.
We met back in the lobby, and he handed me three T-shirts that read: MAMA: MAKE AMERICA MORAL AGAIN. He explained that he'd been making these shirts in an attempt to help V.P. Kamala Harris get elected as the next President of the US. I LOVED them! As MAMA FIX IT, they really fit me and my style!
He walked me to the mall shuttle and waited with me until it arrived. We hugged, wished each other well, and I boarded the shuttle to Union Station, then took the train back home.
The one thing I love about this business is the community and how the people you work with often become like family because you have the amazing opportunity to work with them for a very long time. In my case, I've been working with Marty and Steve since 2021 and with Stephanie since a long time before that. I'm so grateful and lucky to have found this amazing team!
And speaking of luck...
To be continued...
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