#katehudson, #annehathaway, #Jlo, #jenniferlopez, #martykatz, #steveschklair, #amygiaquinto, #theonlywayout, #maggiegyllenhaal, #kathrynbigelow, #thehurtlocker, #zerodarkthirty, #stephanierogers, #frankmarshall, #kathleenkennedy, #academyawards, #jurassicworlddominion, #netflix, #jurassicworld, #coloradoriver, #California, #malibu
June 2022.
We blazed straight home from California, stopping only to sleep, get gas, make food, use the bathroom and burn some energy in the Colorado River.
As a family, we were having a ball, but I was super anxious to get home and get back to work, super ready to be done paying record high gas prices every fill-up, and super ready to be out of the truck.
My back and legs were killing me thanks to some nasty nerve and disc issues in my spine. Although we were all having fun, it felt like an endlessly long trip home. I was so excited and anxious to get back to work, to rewrite the synopsis for Marty, and to send my pitch deck to Steve and his incredible wife, Eva, so they could use it as a marketing tool to secure financing for the film.
I was so excited that the moment we got home, I used the restroom, washed my hands, slid into my office chair and went right to work. I rewrote my synopsis for THE ONLY WAY OUT and sent it and my pitch deck to Marty and Stev several days before I had promised I'd get it to them.
During our lunch in Malibu, Marty mentioned that he had a lead on Kate Hudson and was hoping to make contact with her about starring in the film. He was also chasing down leads for Anne Hathaway and Jlo.
Better yet, we were still waiting for Frank Marshall to get back with us on the script about possibly producing and directing the film. If Frank signed onto the film as producer, director, or both, the odds were great that his wife, Kathleen Kennedy, an 8-time Academy Award nominee and one of the most successful producers in Hollywood, would also be attached since Frank and Kathleen are business partners.
I was bursting at the seams with excitement. I had dreamed of working with all of these people my whole life and now there was a real possibility that was going to happen!
Things just kept getting better. At the end of June, Marty and Steve had a phone meeting with some big-time investors who were incredibly interested in the project and wanted to do a face-to-face meeting in July to discuss the project in more detail. Marty and Steve's goal was to get them to put up the $5 million pay-to-play money to secure a lead actress.
Better yet, Marty also passed the script along to a couple of his producer friends who thought Maggie Gyllenhaal would be amazing not only in the lead role, but also as the film's director. I couldn't agree more. I was on pins and needles. Things were moving fast, and every day brought with it more excitement than the day before.
Meanwhile, Stephanie, my manager, and I compiled a list of female directors for THE ONLY WAY OUT. Maggie was high on the list, but we ultimately decided that Kathryn Bigelow was our top pick because of her incredible work on ZERO DARK THIRTY and THE HURT LOCKER. Marty and Steve agreed.
And just when steam was really picking up... SCREECH! Everything came to a screeching halt.
Frank Marshall asked for more time to read the script. At the time he was on a world tour promoting JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION. He said he'd read the script and get back to Marty when the tour was over.
Then the investors Marty and Steve were supposed to meet with cancelled last minute. Apparently, one of them had a dental emergency. The meeting was never rescheduled.
Then Marty's connection to Kate Hudson didn't pan out and his avenues to Anne Hathaway and Jlo also wound up being dead ends, despite a tremendous amount of work on his part.
But instead of giving up, Marty got the script into Netflix. They LOVED it but said that they couldn't move forward with the script unless we had a director (or an A-list star) attached. And so, Marty and Steve hit the ground running in search of a director.