As a newly-working screenwriter, I’m always curious about what other writers have going on.
A few of my favorite newsletters (Mickey Fisher and David H. Steinberg, as well as h/t to Colby Day and his great year-in-reviews) often share what they’re working on. It’s so fun to see what other writers are juggling, as well as where they’re successful and where they’re (similarly) striking out.
But it’s equally helpful to take stock for yourself: What went great? What sucked? Where did I waste all my good goddamn time?
In that spirit, here’s my 2022 Year in Review as a baby screenwriter who’s just broken in.
JANUARY
A bunch of general meetings, all off the back of a BUZZY BIOPIC I wrote in late 2021. Confession: I hoped it would hit the Blacklist and was bummed when it didn’t. Still, it gave my career a Blacklist-like boost. That spec hit the town around Halloween 2021 which meant a ton of meetings in November and December: a supposedly dead period. The meetings continued into January, including meetings with Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated producers: we’re swimming in the deep waters now, baby!
Because of BUZZY BIOPIC, I had my first actress meeting: a tabloid fixture in the 00s who has since been recognized as a more serious actress. (Chops and awards to prove it.) She loved my spec and threw her hat into the ring, saying she was dying to play the lead and would slip it to a great director she has a good relationship with. Exciting! It is privately decided, however, that actress may not be A-list enough to secure financing. Boo.
One of these meetings lands me a job: a consulting gig on a TV show for a huge streamer.
FEBRUARY
Just before the New Year, I sold a show and signed with CAA for TV writing, feature writing, and novels (hooray!) My feature agent has started to send me OWA opportunities. I begin prepping for one, TWISTY BIOPIC, which involves reading a 500+ page book full of sciencey-science and then coming up with an easy-to-digest non sciencey-science take. First, I read the book. Then I meet with the producer for an “initial thoughts” conversation. Later in the month, I pitch my take to the producer. She has notes, but on the whole, loves it. I can feel in my BONES that I’m gonna get this job.
I also put together a pitch for a SUSPENSE FEATURE with a hot actress already attached, which I’ve been offered (no audition!) based on the strength of BUZZY BIOPIC. This one’s an adaptation of a popular book. They initially wanted it to be a TV show. But - hold that thought - now they’ve decided they want it to be a feature. So I have to rejigger the pitch. No prob, no prob. I’m eager to please!
Other projects: pitching on yet another OWA (a MUSIC BIOPIC), a panel for Barnard Women in Entertainment (I’m on the board), and the ongoing drama of trying to set up BUZZY BIOPIC at a good home. The pervasive sentiment I hear during scores of meetings is “HOLY SHIT THIS FEATURE IS BONKERS I HAD TO MEET YOU RIGHT AWAY CONGRATULATIONS SERIOUSLY WOW…but it’s not right for us sorry.” My manager warned me: this script would knock down all the doors (and it has) but it might never actually get made. Noted.
One cool thing does happen, though. A director friend sends me a text full of crying laughing emojis: another agency (not their agency, not my agency) has tried to poach them using my script (“we’ve got this hot spec you’d be perfect for!”) as bait.
MARCH
The producers choose me for the MUSIC BIOPIC OWA! I have a few meetings with them to hone the pitch. There’s financing attached. All we need to do is get the actress’s okay. It might take a while to set, though: she’s up for an Oscar and won’t be free for weeks or even months.
In the meantime, I take more general meetings, help put together the panel for Barnard, and agree to pitch on an ACTION COMEDY OWA. I know more established writers warn against spending all your precious time/energy on OWAs, but since I’m newer and still trying to make a name for myself/meet people, I figure it’s good practice. This one is produced by an actress from a show I used to love, but she doesn’t want to star in it. The ACTION COMEDY OWA moves fast, and I go from initial meeting to producer pitch to actress pitch in just a few weeks. The actress likes my take! Next step: pitching the streamer where she has a deal. Things are happening!
Switching gears back to SUSPENSE FEATURE. I pitch it to the actress attached, as well as to all the producers. The Big Boss producer loves it, clapping when I’m done. I hear through the grapevine from three different people that he spent a full two minutes gushing to his company at their weekly meeting about what a fantastic pitcher I am, and said “Nadine is a star!” I mentally dine out on this when I’m feeling down, which is often. Neurotic writer, and all, hahahaaaaaa
Huge opportunity! The Academy Award-winning producers I met generally with for my BUZZY BIOPIC want to hire me for a BIOPIC POLISH, to do what my manager calls a “BUZZY BIOPIC pass.” This movie is an awards-season contender type, with an Oscar-nominated actress attached, and another Oscar-nominated actress in the “maybe” camp. I put together a proposal, explaining what I see as the issues with the script, and what I would do to fix it. It’s between me and another writer and…I get the job! The director is on their way to A-list, responsible for one of my all-time favorite shows.
I pitch TWISTY BIOPIC to the studio, who loves, I mean, loves my pitch. I start mentally wondering how many movies I can feasibly write simultaneously because wow! This Hollywood thing is great!
Still no money, though.
I end the month by Zooming with an Academy Award-winning actress who wants to do BUZZY BIOPIC. I have no power to say yes (wait, do I?) and mentally vow to learn how to produce.
In my spare time, I start my next book. I’m gonna adapt it and produce it.
APRIL
The general meetings based off BUZZY BIOPIC are dwindling, but still a few here and there. And then a big meeting happens: the Emmy-winning producer of one of the biggest and most talked about shows of the last several years wants to do it. So…let’s do it!!!
Nothing is signed.
Any news back from TWISTY BIOPIC studio about my pitch? No? Oh. Huh.
Marquee event: the kick-off call for the TV show I sold last year.
We pitch our take on SUSPENSE FEATURE to the authors of the book it’s based on. I worry they may hate it, because we’ve made some significant (but necessary) changes. No need to worry: they’re thrilled!
Soon after, SUSPENSE FEATURE actress wants to talk. She is genuinely lovely and she also has thoughts. Can we change…everything? And turn it back into a TV show? After a lot of personal angst and with the support of my manager — am I really at the stage of my career where I can afford to say no to a project? — I decide to step back. I’ve put months of free work into this and it’s gutting to walk away.
But most of this month is devoted to the BIOPIC POLISH, which eventually becomes a BIOPIC REWRITE. I fly to New Orleans to meet with the real people the movie is based on. There is a moment when we’re all outside by a hot tub, bonding. It’s an Academy Award-winning producer, an Academy Award-nominated producer, a DGA/WGA-winning director, two Pulitzer Prize winners…and me. I am overwhelmed and grateful.
I know from listening to Scriptnotes that you’re supposed to reach out to previous writers when you’re doing a rewrite. I ask a trusted writer friend: is this really true? Like…all the previous writers?! She says, no, only the writer you’re immediately rewriting. It’s just business, but…be a human. If they’re cool, they’ll be a human back.
I put on my big girl pants and I reach out to the writer. We have an awkward but lovely phone call and I promise her that my simple goal is to kick this into production. Her script is great (it is!) and I’m not looking for a credit grab: my responsibility is to the feature itself.
Back home, I begin working on the script, poring through the 40 pages of notes I took during the weekend, as well as scores of pages of producer notes. Most of the work is done in the passenger seat of my car, overlooking the ocean in Santa Monica or the park in Culver City, while my almost two-year-old car naps.
MAY
I pitch the ACTION COMEDY OWA to the streamer where the actress/producer has a deal. The pitch does not go well. (When I’m done, the exec says, “Wow, that was…thorough.”) Sure enough, they pass. I later find out that I didn’t “win” the OWA after all, and in fact they’d gone to the streamer with two options. The other writer I didn’t know I was in the mix with landed it, and I feel like a big ol’ loser. Lesson learned: should have asked more questions with this project to understand more fully what was happening behind the scenes.
More work on the BIOPIC REWRITE, more generals, more work on my own TV show and the show I’m consulting on.
JUNE
Summer! I submit the Biopic the day before my family goes on vacation back east. Time for a break! My (now) two-year-old spills water on my computer hours before I leave. We decide not to bring the broken computer and (after trying to fix it) to fully deal with it when we get home. While gone, seemingly every project I’m working on needs my attention.
The Biopic producers read my draft immediately and schedule a call for a few days later. I Zoom with them from a hotel room in Boston while my family is out on the Commons. They like my first stab a lot, but have a ton of notes. I only have a few weeks to turn them around, so I have to work off my Surface, iPhone, and my husband’s computer all throughout the vacation. This job could be my real foot in the door, so I give the producer’s pass everything I’ve got.
BUZZY BIOPIC is still sort of floating around out there with not much movement. My manager hears through the grapevine from another agency that one of their big actresses is attached. To star? To direct? What is happening?? Producer doesn’t return calls.
JULY
I get my first check as a screenwriter! It’s the BIOPIC REWRITE commencement.
Back home and with a now-working computer, I finish the producer’s pass and submit it. I immediately get a call from one of the producers: she’s opened it and it’s way too long. But the studio needs it ASAP: is there any way I can shave off pages? (Like, a lot of pages…let’s say…15?) Somehow, I do. I shave off 15 pages that very night. And it reads tight as hell. After I press send for the second time, I go in the bathroom and cry. I’m exhausted and emotionally spent. I second-guess myself and believe the producers/director will hate it and just generally feel like a noob and a failure.
Sometime around the lunch the next day, I start getting phone calls and texts and FaceTimes from the producers and director. THEY LOVE IT. They don’t even need to speak to the studio to know: after five years, this is going to finally kick the movie into production. I’m at the park with my two kids and I start to tear up yet again.
Monday morning, I get a text from the head of the studio, asking if we can get on the phone right then and there. He gives me a grand speech about how, in his thirty years, when you find a writer who pulled off what I pulled off, you keep them close and how I’m part of the family now. What do I want to write next? Let’s schedule a Zoom with his team.
BUZZY BIOPIC producer still kinda not returning calls.
I get paid again this month! Three checks: my commencement for the BIOPIC REWRITE, and two payments for my TV show. I make more from these three payments this single month than I did last year (or the year before…or the year before that) as a freelance writer.
AUGUST
Big month. Birthday month! During the Zoom with the Studio Head, he says he will not let me off the phone until I agree to write something else for him. His exec pitches me two movies and I connect with one of them (an ACTION-DRAMA REMAKE), so agree to come up with a take.
The director calls and wants to bring me into her next project.
The producers text and want to bring me into their next project, a SWEEPING ACTION-DRAMA.
IS THIS REAL LIFE HOLY SHIT. I think…I am now “in the system”?
Dinner with my feature agent and my manager, who are very proud. I have a spec feature I want to write next year, and we begin strategizing. I feel like a “real” writer. They mention that they finally heard back about TWISTY BIOPIC (all the way back from February): it’s a pass.
Meanwhile, we’re gonna move on from BUZZY BIOPIC producer. Finally, this warrants a callback. He apologizes, stuff got crazy with the big show, which is obviously his priority. (I understand: if my show goes, it takes priority, too.) Everybody parts ways amicably.
I get my delivery check for the BIOPIC REWRITE and I also get invited to the WGA as an associate member. (!!) I should be a full member because of BUZZY BIOPIC option, but since it was verbal and not official, it doesn’t really count. Cool.
Finally, I spend much of the month working more on my next book, something BIOPIC REWRITE/SWEEPING ACTION-DRAMA producers have expressed interest in potentially optioning. My final novel word count for August: 18,437 words.
SEPTEMBER
Work on the pilot for my show, as well as get assigned a polish on the pilot for the show I’m consulting on. My polish is a make or break for the show: after more than a year of active development, the streamer is ready to move forward or pass. No pressure.
My two-year-old starts preschool!!! It’s only a half-day, but whatever. Total game-changer. I no longer have to write trapped in the car while she naps. I can work from my bed like a grown-up. (*NOTE: currently writing this Substack from the car while she naps, so)
ANOTHER BIOPIC REWRITE opportunity! I begin the process anew: read the script, read the underlying IP, come up with a plan, pitch it to the producers. The producer meeting goes great, so step two is pitching it to the director. Easy breezy, I got this. This meeting is harder to figure out. I log off unsure if he liked my take…or me.
Sure enough, a few days later, my manager says the director wants to Zoom with me, one-on-one. I knew it, he hates me. Not so fast: it turns out the job is between me and another writer: an Academy Award nominee. I prepare HARD for this meeting - I really, really want this job. Despite my lofty competition, I still believe I can be the writer to kick this movie into production. (That’s part of what it takes to succeed in this industry, I’m realizing: genuine, unshakable, bordering-on-sociopathic faith in yourself, no?)
During the one-on-one, the director and I immediately bond. He’s cool, thoughtful, and super smart. I like the hell out of him, and am relieved when I realize the feeling is mutual. He lets me know something I said during my pitch threw him — the idea that this Very Serious movie is missing a humorous spark and has to have some funny moments — but then he thought more about it and agreed. He says I’m his pick and he’s going to bat for me. A few days later, I officially land the job. (!!!)
I begin working with my previous BIOPIC REWRITE producers on our next project together: the SWEEPING ACTION-DRAMA based on a true story. I’m also developing the ACTION-DRAMA REMAKE that Studio Head offered me, working with one of his executives.
And my manager asks: would I be interested in revisiting SUSPENSE FEATURE? Another actress is now attached. She read BUZZY BIOPIC and is dying to hear my take. No more free work necessary, promise promise.
I write 11,000 more words of the book.
OCTOBER
Pitch ACTION-DRAMA REMAKE to Studio Head. He’s impossible to read. I expect a quick “not for us, but let’s find something else to work on together.”
More development work on my pilot. (Being vague for reasons, but this is a dream project.)
I meet with new actress about SUSPENSE FEATURE and pitch her. She is thoughtful and savvy and I like her instantly. The producers reach out after the pitch: she liked it and is “leaning in.” Would I be open to her changes? I want to work with her, so I say yes.
MUSIC BIOPIC roars back to life. The A-list actress has finished filming and wants to hear my pitch. I brush up on things with the producer, and then pitch the actress. She doesn’t love it. I sign off from the Zoom knowing that this project is dead, at least for me. (Sure enough, a few days later my manager tells me she passed. Bummer. Still, I hugely appreciate a quick pass, rather than a ‘Hollywood no.’)
More book writing: this month’s tally is 6,000.
NOVEMBER
My polish has helped kick the show I’m consulting on to the next stage! We now begin working on the show’s bible. I get half of my development fee.
NaNoWriMo! I write 14,000 words of the book.
More generals, including with a cool director who read BUZZY BIOPIC and wants to work with me on a piece of SCI-FI WITH HEART IP.
I pitch ACTION DRAMA to my beloved BIOPIC REWRITE producers, who I would walk through fire for. I worry they are going to think my previous work for them was a fluke. They will hear my pitch and they will pity me and they will never want to work with me again. Instead, as I end the pitch, they love it so much they are both crying. Which makes me cry. They want a tiny tweak, but one of the producers says, “You write movie movies.” I appreciate both the compliment and the ace DWD reference.
I meet with a director about a HORROR FEATURE TRILOGY: she wants to put together a writers’ room to break story, and then each writer will go off on assignment. Horror isn’t usually my thing, but I’m really drawn to this project and it sounds like a shit ton of fun. The director and I meet, and we get along well. And as we’re hanging up, it occurs to me I should tell her about a key piece of information - a relevant family tragedy. I decide not to. It feels weird and exploitative to bring up on the Zoom, even though it would surely come up in the writers’ room. She takes the weekend to think about it, and on Monday I find out it was between me and another writer, and she chose the other writer. I beat myself up, because I’m convinced that, had I shared my tragedy, it would have “helped.” I don’t really know what the lesson is there. It just didn’t feel right at the time. Oh, well.
Still no news on ACTION DRAMA REMAKE. I am getting Hollywood no’d.
DECEMBER
This is the month.
I’ve got a big meeting about my pilot. I pitch the updated ACTION DRAMA tweak to BIOPIC REWRITE producers and they’re all in. We finally have a new producer and financing for BUZZY BIOPIC, which literally happens basically overnight. I have an excellent general with a producer who gives me FUN HOMEWORK: read this book by a Booker/Nobel Prize winner and then report back if I want to meet with the director to see if we gel. And I meet with one of the biggest showrunners on TV, who (apparently? maybe?) wants to hire me for his ACTION DRAMA mini-room, starring one of the most iconic actors in the world, because of BUZZY BIOPIC.
It’s all happening.
And then my elderly father falls at the grocery store a few days before his Christmas visit to see us. This triggers a trip to the emergency room, where he gets the flu. The flu fucks him up so badly that he has to be hospitalized again a few days later, this time for swelling around his heart. The swelling around his heart triggers a heart attack. The heart attack screws up his kidneys. He requires a blood transfusion, and there is a complication, which leads to him vomiting blood, which leads to an emergency procedure, and so on, and so on.
In the middle of all this health horror, after two and a half years of avoiding it, I get COVID on my preschooler’s last day of school, while masked (but I guess not well enough) at her Christmas concert. I cannot fly to see my father. Instead, the whole family spends the holidays in KN95s, with all the windows open and our Corsi-Rosenthal boxes whirring, attempting to keep my husband and eldest daughter from turning positive. (It works, a Christmas miracle I’ll take.)
My extended family has very loud opinions. My cough is deep, and ceaseless. I fall into a paralyzing exhaustion every day at 5pm for precisely 15 minutes. I want to hide and have nowhere to go.
I reschedule an in-person meeting with the financier of BUZZY BIOPIC. I finish FUN HOMEWORK and wait for January 2nd when I can email the producer to say “yes, yes, please, I want this, yes.” I await commencement on ANOTHER BIOPIC REWRITE. And I somehow write another 8,000 words of my next book: I’m up to 70,000 words total.
It’s a weird end to an otherwise awesome year.
Not sure what next year has in store.
We have a health care plan for my father. My two-year-old soon starts full-day preschool. I’ll become a Current member of the WGA.
The rush to complete projects before the potential writers’ strike means pressure and deadlines, and I do great under pressure and deadlines. And even if all my Maybes fall to shit, I’m still mostly hopeful for this year. I have to be.
Because, you know: genuine, unshakable, bordering-on-sociopathic faith. In this business, it’s the only way to survive.
You are SO incredible and i'm so honored to call you one of my closest, most badass friends!
This was so well thought out and enjoyable. Thrilled for all of your growth and success. Wishing you and your entire family better health this new year. xo