April 21, 2004
holy shit! (project greenlight update #11)
Can you believe this shit?
I sure as hell can't.
Two things stun me about this achievement. One, as my wife pointed out, this round was judged by a group of paid readers, so the fact that they selected our script indicates that they would pay to see this movie. Second, these same readers had the task of turning 1000 scripts into 100; that is, they had to reject 9 out of 10 scripts they read. They were looking for any reason to throw out a script...and they didn't find a reason to throw out ours. Un-fucking-believable.
So now, the next step is a three-minute video that introduces ourselves, and tests whether or not we can follow strict rules. As Martin said, this hoop has more to do with seeing who looks okay on camera and who they want to fuck with for the course of a movie production. Still, making the video should be fun. What's not fun is the 18 (!) page background check that we each have to fill out. Criminal record, who our high school friends were, toilet paper roll hanging over or under... They should make us CIA NOCs after this.
But as Martin also said, after the Top 1000, it's all gravy. We never, ever expected to get this far, especially on a two-week draft. What the hell can we do if we, as the SOS Band said, took our time and and did it right?
Actually, the answer to that is coming sooner than you realize...Mu-wah-ha-ha-ha!
(Which is partially to explain why I haven't posted anything in a long while. Maybe hopefully soon...)
Oh, and big ups to Grimm, the only script I'm familiar with that also made the cut. Good job!
Where we saw it: project greenlight | We deign to rate it: outta 100Posted by kza at 11:21 AM | Comments (6)
Whoa, holy shit. Congrats, man!
Posted by: Steve at April 22, 2004 11:29 AMHot damn KZZZA -- good work you guys!!!!
Posted by: mobbSF at April 26, 2004 01:08 PMI've been telling people for weeks about your script. I'm not the least surprised, dude, but still congratulations.
Posted by: Dan at April 27, 2004 02:49 AMYeah that background check is insane!!
What the hell does being on Academic Probation during high school or college have to do with making a movie?! lol
I thought it was only the 2 pages of the YES/MO questions til I printed it out.
Good luck man! June 1st is the next cut, and I'm already having trouble sleeping.
Even if nothing comes of it, at least we can put on query letters in the future that our screenplays made top 100 in the contest.
Posted by: Jack at May 8, 2004 06:44 PMHey Jack,
Good luck to you, too! It'd be really neat if one of the people I've contacted about PG3 made it to the top.
And hey man, get some sleep! Personally, I think they've already decided who they want (and using the videos to make sure they aren't freaks), and so, we're already in or out.
At least, that's what I tell myself :)
Posted by: Kza at May 9, 2004 04:16 PMActually I think the first thing they'll do is run a background check and ya know, eliminate all convicted felons, dead-beat dads, porn stars, life long criminals etc...
So I imagine that'll take care of about 10% of people. Then I imagine they'll take their favorite scripts (or at least the scripts that got the highest ratings) and watch the videos, and go from there. Hppefully we make it into the Top 5. At least you have a real good shot of having your script optioned (even if you don't win). I read that 3 people from PGL1 had their scripts purcahsed for mid six figures!!
Also, don't you think it'd be nice to get your hands on the reviews done by the 3rd party paid readers? I've had my script read by a pro reader and their insight is amazing. They pick up shit that your average reader (aka friends) never pick up on. I recommend Pete over at scriptsurgery.com He helped me out a lot. Don't worry I don't get kick backs or anything =)
Posted by: Jack at May 10, 2004 04:29 AM