Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Hear that?

It's the sound of the rent being paid.

I received a confirmation email yesterday that Velvet Steamroller and the Director of THE SOUND liked the way I tied their notes into this last draft, and that a final check is on its way.
It's funny, because I initially fought the note, then sat back, relaxed and thought, "They want this. They really want this, so you got to make it work Bill."

Sometimes, you have to give them what they want to see, fulfill their expectations, and make it work for the story structure you've set forth. If this is a big payoff scene then you have to lead up to it. Do some reversals of expectations. Make it harder for the hero. Make the hero fail only to ultimately fix the problem by putting himself right into the thick of it. Make it personal.

So I printed the script, got my red pen out and went to work:
A cut there. A change here. An addition or five...and voila!

107 pages. Done.

AND the story works. Win / win.

Now onto next month's rent...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

cool stuff...

Steve Peterson said...

Muchos congrats!

Grubber said...

Congrats as well Bill!

Cunningham said...

The latest script isn't D2DVD - at least not at this stage. This will probably have a small, very limited theatrical release (similar to what happened with HOUSE OF THE DEAD) However, anything is fair game at this point. There have been some cool numbers bandied about, but that would be telling. :)

No residuals for this guy. Most D2DVD isn't. It all depends on what you can negotiate. There are all sorts of step deal structures available. I was brought in to rewrite the picture so I have no deal beyond what I've been paid. BUT, if things go as well as they have been, then my next picture will!

I'm celebrating by paying bills, and I'm already hard at work on other things.

Cunningham said...

1. HotD was made for $5M.
2. Grossed $9M at the box office.
3. Did about $7M in DVD in this country alone.

I ain't laughin'...

Curt Purcell said...

Meant to say this a while back, when I first read the post: CONGRATS!! Always nice to see the good guys come out ahead. ;-)