Options

So, in the movie biz, see, somebody wants to reserve the right to buy this thing you wrote, so they give you some money, and they call that an option. 'Cause they want to have the option of buying your thing, without someone else buying it while they're thinking about it. Hence the name. And while the both of you are trying to decide how much they'll pay you for this option thing, you're also trying to work out how much they're gonna pay you once they actually decide they want to buy it, and hopefully, make it. And now you're trying to determine what you should get paid for this thing that you came up with in your head about a year ago and got down on paper in between your day job fixing computers and sleep. You're trying to give it monetary value, this thing you did.

So you're mulling over your options, both literally and figuratively. And you're negotiating a price for this thing you pulled out of your head, and you're wondering what's too much, what's too little, am I gonna get screwed, am I gonna miss my big chance, etc., etc., all the while reminding yourself, far in the back of your head, that, geez, people seriously want to make a MOVIE out of something you wrote. That's the cheerleader running around in the rear of your skull, trying to scream over the noise of your forebrain trying to work out financial possibilities and percentages and budgets, since you're basically negotiating all this stuff yourself. Your forebrain is scanning over sample contracts downloaded from the WGA's website, while that little cheerleader is yelling how friggin' COOL it would be to walk on the set of a film that you wrote.

And then you remember that you're starting a job on Monday at that place that does the kind of stuff you used to dream of doing when you were, like, twelve years old.