the great opportunity came down the pike yesterday... i think.
to catch you up:
while at sundance, i made it a priority to see as many films connected to my lil' ol' hometown as possible (surprisingly, there were a few). but, as it turned out, i only got a chance to see one.
the connection with this film, you ask? well, the producer of this film works in the same company as a man who owns a production company that has both an office here and in fancy nyc. realizing that the chick was in nyc, i decided to write the main guy.
i emailed him and asked if i could sit down and ask him some questions. he said sure, and in the meantime, he asked me to read a script. i read it once and then decided to take notes since i really had no idea why this person asked me to read a script.
anyhoo, i met with him yesterday and i'm not sure if it went well or not. i got there and we walked back to his office, past working people who looked very important. part of me felt like a student on a field trip pretending to be an adult and the other part of me felt like an adult - until i took off my jacket. i took it off to sit down, but it kept tugging at my back and i realized that the ripped lining was stuck to the back of my jeans (yes, i wore jeans because these are hip film people). i pulled the strands of the lining out and tore another piece and finally sat down. i did this, though, with the highest sense of professionalism and I'm sure he didn't notice a thing.
he asked me how i liked the script and i said it was funny (i did actually laugh out loud a few times), and then he asked me who set up this meeting. this confused the hell out of me because it was just me writing him out of the blue. it wasn't that big of a deal, but it led to about five minutes of 'who do we both know in town?' it's a fun game that's played regularly here.
i peppered him with questions that i'd prepared and then, seemingly out of nowhere, he said, 'so, you've done some line producing before?' and he said it like we were already talking about being a line producer, which we were not. i said that yes, i had worn almost every hat in terms of producing (which is a slight lie, but who really cares) and from that i asked him about production on the script he sent me. he said there were only a few locations and the late-blooming over-achiever that i am said, 'three main locations and nine minor.' he stared for a quiet moment and i timidly said that i'd written down the locations and characters when i read through the script.
i asked him if he had any actors in mind and he mentioned one actor he liked and i said, 'oh, yeah, for the part of XXX.' (i don't know why i said it with such confidence because it's not the main role and i could have said anything.) but he said, 'yeah. yeah, that's the part i thought - do you know who i'm talking about?' and i did because the only information i retain is actors.
okay, this is when it kind of got crazy (the term 'crazy' being used loosely). he asked me to email him my notes, which intimidated me because it's just a list of locations and characters. and then he asked me if i would be interested in putting together a budget for the film.
ummmmmmmm....yeah, no problem.
i kind of laughed and said, 'what if i email it to you and you say, "this chick doesn't even know what a budget is," and he responded with, "i could send you some budgets we've used on other films."
so i think the meeting went well, but now i have homework doing something that i, in so many words, told someone i know how to do. but in reality i kind of don't know how to do.
please understand that i am aware of the opportunity and am trying to take advantage of as much as possible, but i'm also terrified that this will pretty much prove that the emperor has no clothes.
not that i'm an emperor...
