Watch out for that tree!

So my friend sends me this story today, that was sent to her. We had been talking about focusing on the things you're grateful for, because if you do, then more of that comes into your life. Then she gets this story sent to her that says that exact thing. It's a story about a parachuter and as he's heading towards the ground, he sees a big tree right in his way, he keeps focusing on that huge tree, wishing he wouldn't hit it, but of course he lands right in the tree! The instructor tells him once he's on the ground, do you know why you landed in the tree? The guy answers, yes, it was right there, I was heading right for it! The instructor goes on to say, no, you were focusing on it, so that's why you hit it. If you focus on a tree, then yes, you'll land in it, there was plenty of open land for you, but you focused on the tree.

And the story goes on to say that this works for life too. So if you focus on all the lack of success or how hard it is for your writing career to take off, or all the contests you're not winning, and no director emails me back after my queries, well, guess what's going to happen? Yup! Exactly what you're focusing on!

So focus on your successes, no matter how small. And set your sights for what's on its way, things that you want to come into your life. Success! Eye that open land ahead of you instead of that big tree you're about to hit. Just remember, you're only getting snagged in your career if that's what you focus on. Happy landings!

It's your option

So, an indie director wants to option one of my feature comedies. Yay! That's a good thing. But reading the option, holy moly, not such a good thing. I felt like understanding Calculus in college was easier to do. So this is a post on how I handled my option, in case you get to this point in your career someday too.

First thing I did after trying to read it a few times and still not understanding 99% of it was I reached out to a few friends to see how much their entertainment lawyer would charge to read it. Oh, yeah, it was a LOT! Why didn't I go into law again? So that seemed like a dead-end. The option was not worth me paying for a high-paid lawyer. But I also wasn't willing to sign something I did not understand. It's 8 pages of a document that doesn't make sense to me. No way could I sign that without someone's help.

So I started asking around to some other writer and producer friends. One writer friend I asked, he's had some pretty nicely paid options, well, he reads his options himself and doesn't even use a lawyer. Hmm...interesting. Okay. He sent me a couple of his options to see if that would help make reading mine easier to understand. It didn't. It just confused me more. I did learn that there are so many ways to write an option by reading his. So some of his points weren't in mine, and visa versa.

So then I reached out to even a few more producer friends, and got names from them. But they were pretty sure their friends would charge a lot too, but not as much as the ones they use. Great, that didn't help. Luckily for me, I had written a writer friend just to say hi and see how things were in her career and mentioned this option dilemma I had. Her husband is a manager and she suggested he could rep me on the deal. So that meant I wouldn't pay him out of the option, but pay him a percentage once the funding is raised. And that would be perfect!

So he and I spoke after he read the option, we went over it in explicit detail. He made all of it make sense! Imagine that! He told me what parts we needed, what we could leave out, what wasn't right for what my script was. He's going to mark it up so that it works for my needs and send to the director. Voila! I'm so relieved I finally found someone to help me with the option, and that I didn't have to pay out of pocket up front for.

If you're ever in a similar situation, please cover your butt and find a way to get a lawyer or a manager to help you through your option. You never want to sign on that dotted line till you know what you're signing.