Irons in the Fire
There is something about being a writer that never, ever gets easier. And that’s waiting for the phone to ring. Or the email to arrive. Or AI to whisper softly to you through whatever technology you prefer.
The message you’re waiting for varies. Sometimes you’re waiting for notes on a new script from your reps. Or they’ve sent your script to a producer and you’re waiting to hear what they thought. Or they’ve gone out “wide” - which means your script gets read by anyone and everyone and that call/email/AI whisper might very well change your life.
It usually doesn’t.
But waiting for those messages to arrive is a big part of being a professional screenwriter. And it sucks. Like, really sucks. But there’s one thing that makes it suck a little less. And that’s having multiple scripts in development. Or what I like to call:
Irons in the fire.
It’s simple math (from a guy who should not be trusted with anything involving math). If I have one script out in the world, the chance that the phone rings today with some news is rather low. But if I have THREE scripts out in the world, then my chances of receiving news are three times better. The official math looks like this:
Low x 3 = better
It’s not exact science, but I know my odds go up the more active projects I have out there. In fact, I ‘ve always felt like it takes three active projects for one of them to turn into a paycheck and maybe a movie. I don’t have the numbers to back this up, just a gut feeling over a career doing this sorta stuff.
When it comes to having scripts in active development, you can use whatever metaphor you like but irons in the fire work for me. I like the idea that my scripts are out there slowly building up heat. And I guess I should define what I mean by active development. When an agent or manager sends out a script to “the town” then I call that “making the rounds.” Meaning, people are reading it and considering it. Sometimes everyone passes. This is bad. Sometimes one person expresses interest. This is good. Sometimes many people express interest. This is awesome (and rare).
I have lots of scripts. A handful are available and good enough to get some sort of traction in the industry. But they’re not in active development until:
Someone other than me or my reps tries to get it made.
The first person to try and get a script made is usually a producer. But sometimes it’s an actor or a director. Or if things are going really well, then it’s a production company or studio. But it’s gotta be at least one person who sees some real potential in this script I’ve written and are going to devote some of their precious time to try and get it made.
I currently have three scripts that I consider irons in the fire, and I might write about their journeys from time to time so I thought it’d be helpful to list them here, using very rudimentary code names:
BIG FUN ACTION MOVIE is a script I wrote a while ago when everyone was looking for “gritty action.” Now the trend seems to have turned back toward “fun action” so this one has a shot. I recently signed a deal attaching two producers. Plus, a big action director is considering it. This all feels very promising.
CONTAINED ACTION/THRILLER is a lower-budgeted script that means a lot to me as it helped bridge the gap between my eras of “not working” and “working.” But that’s a story for another time. This one currently has two producers and a director attached. Last I heard, a famous actress was interested in starring which would definitely help us move this one along. (EDIT: Never mind, she passed. Onward we go!)
SPY DRAMEDY is a script I dearly love. It’s got some action, some drama, some humor, all set in a small town. With spies. A relatively new production company responded to this one and is just starting to try and put it together.
As for how movies get made, what combination of actors and directors and producers are enough to trigger financing, all that is complicated and head-spinning. Long story short, it’s super hard. But that’s why producers are very good at their jobs, because someone has to make sense of this crazy business and somehow get movies made.
In addition to those three projects, I have a movie in post-production. Classified moved from iron to the fire to “hey, we got one made!” But now I’m waiting to hear about who’s distributing it and how people will be able to see it. So I’m still waiting on phone calls or emails about this one, but at least the check already cleared.
And on top of all that, I have a brand new script that I co-wrote with my often partner-in-crime, Ben Rock. We’ve been working on this one for a little while now and our reps just now signed off on our current draft, meaning this is the one we’re gonna send to producers. I’ll call this one:
FUN HORROR MOVIE WITH BEN - it’s not technically an iron in the fire, as we haven’t attached a producer or anyone else yet, but we’re super excited about it and hope other people agree. Or at least one person. It only takes one committed producer to move a script from a stack of pages (or a PDF) to an active project.
But that’s how movies begin. With a script. Followed by an avid supporter. And then a thousand other steps and collaborators and wins and setbacks and more wins and hopefully someday that little iron in the fire becomes a movie.
Until then, I’ll keep waiting for the phone to ring or the email to arrive. And writing the next one, of course. Always writing the next one.