How much did you sell your movie for?

USLatin said:
Three goats and a chicken.
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Tsk tsk, you should have held out for two chickens, or at least had them throw in a cow too. That's the key to having a good agent. If Ari was representing this deal, I'm pretty sure he'd have gotten you at least four goats, two chickens, and a cow, MAYBE even an ox.
 
Hey great story, inspiring! I'm mostly telling myself I can't do it, so things like this are great! :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

JonathanLB said:
I think sometimes it's best to be a little bit naive or at least stubborn enough that you think you can do something other people indicate is extremely difficult. For me, that example is when I was in high school. I was 15, started collecting articles about Episode I, which later became known as The Phantom Menace. My parents kept bugging me about it, why I was collecting every article, magazine clipping, you name it. I finally said, "Because I'm going to write a book about this movie!" My dad laughed and was like, "You hear that hun, he's going to write a book!" I wasn't too amused, and while my parents were always very supportive, I just thought yeah ok whatever, you guys will see. I'll show you. I kept researching, then when I was 17 I started writing the book, which I finished by the time I was 18 and still in high school. I read some books about finding a literary agent, which everyone said was very difficult and that some authors had written for decades without being able to break through. Well, no matter, I figured I'd give it a try. I wrote a proposal, sent it out to a few agents who had requested it based on my query letter, and one agent called it "a gangbuster proposal" and "one of the best I've read," which was amazing to me because I thought what the heck? I haven't even done this before, I'm an 18-year-old kid, how could my proposal possibly be that good? Are other people just retarded or something? [I think there is a pretty clear indication that 95% of people in this world can't even follow basic rules and do the simplest things right, so that would pretty much be my conclusion but I digress] No matter, it was very encouraging. But I had my proposal with another agent, who I was waiting to hear from. He wrote back, told me he loved it and was very excited to read the book. I sent him the book, expecting to have to wait 6-8 weeks for a response. Four days later, he sent me back, he told me he loved the book, and attached the agency contract to the e-mail. This wasn't just any agent, it was Leonard Maltin's agent (who gave me a positive endorsement to use for publishers, which was kind of cool), a guy who had written 50 books himself and been president of the organization of agents that represent authors. I was officially the youngest person ever to sign with him, before I even had my high school diploma; my mom was still driving me to school! lol. I'll never forget going into my dad's room, "I just signed with one of New York's biggest agents!" He was really happy for me, haha, but I think he was in disbelief, like, "Holy crap he actually did it!" I don't think they believed in a million years that I would be able to write a book in high school, let alone find a top agent, haha.
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JonathanLB said:
I love being told what I can't do, what is nearly impossible, and how badly the odds are stacked against me -- it makes it that much sweeter when I succeed. What is success without overcoming obstacles? A hollow victory.

Usually when people tell me what I can't do, I'm very amused because what they're really telling me is what they can't do. And that's their problem, not mine.
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Thank you! I almost went on a similar rant in another post the other day. It's one thing to point out difficulties and what not, but (you see this everywhere, not talking about just here or just this thread) the natural state of most people is to think things are impossible. It's much easier to blame circumstance and "the man" for being a failure than to own up that you didn't even try. Pay attention when you talk to people, most of them are big sacks of excuses and reasons.

But I'm glad, leaves more pie for those of us that try.
 
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