An assistant at an agency emailed me last week. This is the relevant part of the exchange:
"Good day. I read your script earlier this week. Wow. One of the best I've read in a long time. I'm enjoying reading your blog and all crap you're dealing with. I will say you have a great start by getting [casting director and actor]. Good luck with the film, I really can't wait to see it.
Take care"
I replied back, asking where he/she worked, etc. The response:
"Yeah, I work in [somewhere in Hollywood]. But I'm not evil, really.
What I liked most about the script, was how often I was surprised where it was going. You totally had me at [plot point I won't reveal], and then when he started [another plot point I won't reveal], well that was it for me. I'm glad no studio mitts will be all over it. Just keep standing your ground.
As for JT as Tucker. Ohgodno. I read the Jumper script two years ago. It was awesome. They hired a 'nobody' for the lead, which was perfect. Last minute the studio freaked and demanded Hayden Christensen, then rewrote half of it. Then it sucked.
So you have good instincts."
This is so weird to me. I am used to being an internet person, where though my fans can interact with me in real time, they are normally at a distance with business stuff. They only know the stuff about me that I publish on my site. Same even with reporters; they only know what I tell them, they only see the side I show them. I have always been able to keep the business side of my projects to myself and those involved until I was ready to let them out to the public for consumption.
That is just not the case in Hollywood. Here, once you start making a movie, EVERYONE has access to the script. EVERYONE knows what actors you have attached, who you are having fights with--almost everything on every project, the gossip wire picks it up and everyone knows. That means that at this point, anyone in the right places in Hollywood--agencies, management companies, studios, production companies--can get access to any info about my project they want.
All that being said, it's always nice when random people you don't know in your industry take the time to email you and tell you how much they like your stuff. This has happened to me a few times already, but I never pay attention when a development executive or producer tells me this--they always want something. The assistants are much more honest. I showed this email to someone I know who is very experienced in Hollywood. He told me he'd never heard of an assistant emailing a writer/producer something like this, which I thought was weird--it's not like I am first person who wrote a good script. Whatever.
[PS--I said thats probably because none of them make themselves available. Welcome to the next generation of writers and producers. But that's a different post.]
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