The Waiting is the Hardest Part

by Andrew Zinnes

Man, Tom Petty gets to the heart of things so easily doesn’t he? Waiting…not the easiest thing for this Aries to handle and yet so integral to writing. Waiting for inspiration. Waiting for the printer to spit out your script. Waiting to get a response from readers/production co.’s/studios. And what has been sticking in my craw for the last few months: waiting for the deal to close.

Back in July, I entered into negotiations to write a script for a couple of producers and as of this afternoon, the deal remains half completed. As a creative person, all you want to do is write. Especially in this case; we had to do a fair amount creative thinking to generate a story that got the production company to say yes. At that point, both sides got excited. This could be a good movie! Both sides want to go to draft. Both sides can’t wait to see the finished product. This is part of the juice that we all crave. But it can’t happen. Not until the deal closes. And typically speaking deals move at glacial speeds.

So why does it take so long? First, your reps have to negotiate deal points and money with their business affairs people, which can take as little as a week to several months. Then the deal has to be papered – literally written out followed by more back and forth to get the language correct. This could take months, too. Finally, you get the call to sign the deal and once you do, then you can commence writing and even better, money starts to flow your way. Studios seem to have a two-week schedule for paying after you sign. Oh, make sure the agreement states that the deal goes into effect once YOU’VE signed, not when both have signed. That contract will sit around for a few more weeks until their rubber stamp comes out and you don’t want to be waiting even longer.

If both sides want the deal, then why can’t they speed things up? Well, the finger usually gets pointed at the business affairs department of the paying company. But to be fair, these people (who are mostly lawyers) are generally overworked and get the brunt of everyone’s ire because the creative side moves so much faster and wants the deal closed immediately. Plus they typically work on sometimes a dozen deals at the same time, which I’m sure is a bit of a head screw. And if they don’t get things right and the company gets screwed, guess who’s ass is on the line. Now imagine that pressure combined with everyone yelling at you all day long to close their deal NOW! That would make me reach for the Rolaids. In the long run, their due diligence means that you typically get a better deal should your project actually go forward.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not uber-painful sitting around waiting for that call that says, “It’s done. You can start writing now. And the check should be here in tomorrow.”

So I guess the lesson here is that if you are fortunate enough to get into a deal with someone, don’t go out and spend like there’s no tomorrow - for tomorrow no check will be coming. Try and be patient. Try to get your mind off of it by keeping busy with other things. That’s what I’m desperately attempting to do as I sit here trying to not wait for the phone to ring. Though, ironically, I’m working on other projects that, once written, shall go out into the world and create a new cycle of waiting.

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