ding! ding! ding!
The car alarm reminds me to remove my keys before I step out. I readjust my skirt and look down at my toes. I'm wearing open-toed shoes. Since I haven't found a good pedicure place that I like -- and by 'good' I mean sanitary; I got Consuela to do my toes. And, despite a small argument over colour choice, the experience was more or less successful. But, I don't think I'll make her do it again. She isn't the greatest at exfoliating, and, seeing her scowl through the whole process takes the fun out of it for me.
Deep breath.
I open the door to this particular studio lot and walk inside. Confidence. I have confidence. I have just as much right to be here as anyone else.
Click. Click. Click.
My shoes make an echoed sound on the floor as I walk towards the offices. Alex, my Exec from Warner Brothers has set up various meetings with producers who they like working with to see if we can add to next year's slate.
OK - correction. Alex, my Exec from Warner Brothers, gave a heads up to my agent -- who is his good friend, about throwing me into various interviews because they want to create a slate with producers (who are also vying for positions) for the following year. I think that is how we're suppose to say it.
And now I'm standing in the under decorated and somewhat cluttered closet-of-an-office of one of the biggest producers in Hollywood.
He approaches me and reaches out his hand. He's a lot younger than I thought he would be.
"David?" I say with a nervous smile, and reach out my hand.
"Oh no," says the guy in front of me. "I'm Eli. David's actually on location. But, come into my office -- let's have a chat. Can I get you anything?"
I'm somewhat thrown by this younger guy. I don't know if he's a producer, or an assistant, or some actor that they've hired on a hidden camera show -- and the joke is on me, but in any case I ask for a water and follow him into his office.
"Have a seat," he says and reaches for the mini fridge behind his desk. He hands me the water and I sit across from him and take a gulp.
"Alex tells me you're a wonderful writer," he says.
"Thank you," I tell him. I accept the compliment instead of shaking it off. I don't want him to think that I doubt myself in any way.
"So...why don't we start by you telling me some things you are working on, and see if we can maybe collaborate on anything. Sound good?" he says. I like this guy. He seems really approachable. I really hope he's not the assistant and I'm wasting my time...
"Sounds perfect." I say and take another gulp before I begin.
"Well..." I say to him as I start to compose the next few sentences in my head so they can dictate through my mouth properly. But before I can begin I interrupt myself with a thought.
"Do you want me to start with any particular genre?" I say so I'm not boring him.
"Nope." he says, "Just tell me whatever you're working on, and we'll see if something flowers out of it."
OK. Sounds easy enough. Either he's going to like my ideas or he's not.
"Well, there is this one idea I had for a movie. It's basically about a girl who loses all her friends in a horrible accident, and then finds out that she is the beneficiary of their kids. And she doesn't have any kids. So now, she's responsible for like 8 children. It's heartwarming. I'm actually falling in love with the characters. Especially the really young kids that don't understand the extent of everything that happens." I say and pause to see if I've lost him.
"What are the conflicts?" he asks matter-of-fact.
"Internal or external?" I ask back.
"Start with external." he says.
I think he might be interested.
"Well, there are family members who obviously want to contest this. And at first she's relieved, but then she notices things about these family members that are in direct conflict with how her friends would have wanted to raise their children."
I pause.
There is silence.
I wait.
"Do the kids go to these family members?" he asks.
"At first they do," I say "and she goes back to living her normal life. But of course, something is missing. She thinks she's happy, but the guilt of betraying her friends' wishes starts to creep up on her. And - oh, I forgot another conflict. She's really committed to her work; and thinks that by letting these kids go back to their immediate families that she will find solace in her old life, but work is empty in comparison. She starts to screw up at meetings, and loses clients. She can't concentrate. By the end of the second act she is miserable."
I pause.
There is a longer silence.
He leans forward, but he's still in his train of thought. So I wait there quietly for a few more minutes.
"I think it would make more sense if we have her lose her job because of the kids; then she gives the kids back to their families, then she's at another job but it's anticlimactic."
That's not a bad idea...
"What season were you thinking of setting this in?" he asks. To be honest I hadn't considered it, but I guess it makes sense to lose her friends in a car accident -- so there would need to be snow on the ground.
"Oh, winter!" I say, as if it was pure madness to consider anything else.
"OK," he says and leans back in his chair. "I like it. Go write me a first draft. We'll make it a Christmas movie; so make sure there's lots of heartwarming scenes of the kids without their parents during the holidays -- you know, like a little girl singing in a choir but she's sad because no one is there to watch her, or something like that. You'll figure it out."
"Fantastic!" I say.
He tells me that he'll send a contract to my agent and let Alex know where we're going with this. We shake hands and I turn to walk out the door. Just before I leave his office I hear from behind me; "Oh, and make sure there is a dog in this movie. I like St. Bernard's. Have it go missing in the third act and tie that in to the kids and her reconnecting. Make sure it's a St. Bernard."
A St. Bernard?
"Sure," I say. I try to mask the confusion in my voice. I step a little quicker towards the door before he tells me to have one of the parents lying in a coma or something...
"Oh, Karen!" he says and chases after me. I walk a bit faster, but eventually turn around.
"I think it would also be really cool if you have one of the parents lying in a coma, and when things get tough we see this character talking to them. I want lots of tears!!"
"Great!" I say. My shoulders wince a bit, but I try my best to mask it. I can make this work. I'm going to make this the best damn Christmas movie there ever was!
I just really hope this guy isn't the assistant.
