Hollywood Dreaming
Movie of the Week
I watched the movie Fun with Dick and Jane last night with my wife and I laughed all the way through it. Anybody that's struggled in their job or financial life at-home can relate. Jim Carrey plays Dick who loses his job after an Enron type scandal. He's forced to work at a Wal Mart type store yet gets fired from it. He's forced to robbing convenience stores to pay the bills. I loved when his sod lawn was repossesed. He goes around the neighborhood ripping chunks of sod from other lawns to jigsaw his back together. The underlying theme of this movie is that we're all vulnerable in this day and age of conspicuous consumption. We're of a day and age where everyone thinks they're entiled to the life of a wealthy person. Everyone should have everything they want. I admit I long for a new car or perhaps getting my cavities filled. We're of a generation that demands stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.
Spring Cleaning
Well, I have to put my snowblower away and get out my lawnmowers, my weed wacker and all my other spring/summer gear. Time to take down the storm windows, clean the screens, take out the gas grill and perform a cellar cleansing. I hate doing all this. It takes me an entire day but I'm pleased when it's out of the way. Houses sure are a lot of work. No wonder people live in apartments. Just think of all the brain space you can use for other interests if you didn't have to worry about lawn care and blah, blah, blahbiddy - blah.
20,000 Words
Well I just hit the 20,000 word mark on the soon-to-be-rejected memoir of my life. Lots of crap and nothing of particular interest. I never saved a life, climbed a mountain or had tea with the Dali Lama. I have picked up pine cones, ate some Doritos, and drank flat beer. Sounds like a winner, eh? As soon as I'm done with this I have another idea for a historical novel. It takes place in London and will require a lot of research so it might tie me up for a long time.
Hollywood?
What's the biggest misconception of being a published author? That I made millions and I can retire from my day job. At least 72,000 books a year are published in the United States and this number doesn't count vanity press, self-publishing or subsidy publishing. The authors that make enough to do it for a living are very, very small in %. I'd guess 1/2 of 1%. They say that a typical publisher rejects 90% of submissions then of the 10% they decide to look at only 1% will get published. Out of these published books, less than 10% will be optioned by Hollywood. An option means that someone in Hollywood is interested in seeing if they want to make a movie based on your book. They usually pay the author to hold the rights for 1 year. At the end of the year they can option it again, let it go or take the next step. This means writing a script and seeking financing and possible distribution. The odds of getting published, even by a small press, are very high and the chances of being optioned by Hollywood and making a ton of money is way higher. That's why 99.9% of published authors still work a day job. I'm lucky because I have a job I love. I have no delusions of grandeur. The odds of me being optioned and becoming a best-selling NY Times author is about the same as you going outdoors and having a blue chunk of airplane toilet ice smacking you on the head.
I watched the movie Fun with Dick and Jane last night with my wife and I laughed all the way through it. Anybody that's struggled in their job or financial life at-home can relate. Jim Carrey plays Dick who loses his job after an Enron type scandal. He's forced to work at a Wal Mart type store yet gets fired from it. He's forced to robbing convenience stores to pay the bills. I loved when his sod lawn was repossesed. He goes around the neighborhood ripping chunks of sod from other lawns to jigsaw his back together. The underlying theme of this movie is that we're all vulnerable in this day and age of conspicuous consumption. We're of a day and age where everyone thinks they're entiled to the life of a wealthy person. Everyone should have everything they want. I admit I long for a new car or perhaps getting my cavities filled. We're of a generation that demands stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.
Spring Cleaning
Well, I have to put my snowblower away and get out my lawnmowers, my weed wacker and all my other spring/summer gear. Time to take down the storm windows, clean the screens, take out the gas grill and perform a cellar cleansing. I hate doing all this. It takes me an entire day but I'm pleased when it's out of the way. Houses sure are a lot of work. No wonder people live in apartments. Just think of all the brain space you can use for other interests if you didn't have to worry about lawn care and blah, blah, blahbiddy - blah.
20,000 Words
Well I just hit the 20,000 word mark on the soon-to-be-rejected memoir of my life. Lots of crap and nothing of particular interest. I never saved a life, climbed a mountain or had tea with the Dali Lama. I have picked up pine cones, ate some Doritos, and drank flat beer. Sounds like a winner, eh? As soon as I'm done with this I have another idea for a historical novel. It takes place in London and will require a lot of research so it might tie me up for a long time.
Hollywood?
What's the biggest misconception of being a published author? That I made millions and I can retire from my day job. At least 72,000 books a year are published in the United States and this number doesn't count vanity press, self-publishing or subsidy publishing. The authors that make enough to do it for a living are very, very small in %. I'd guess 1/2 of 1%. They say that a typical publisher rejects 90% of submissions then of the 10% they decide to look at only 1% will get published. Out of these published books, less than 10% will be optioned by Hollywood. An option means that someone in Hollywood is interested in seeing if they want to make a movie based on your book. They usually pay the author to hold the rights for 1 year. At the end of the year they can option it again, let it go or take the next step. This means writing a script and seeking financing and possible distribution. The odds of getting published, even by a small press, are very high and the chances of being optioned by Hollywood and making a ton of money is way higher. That's why 99.9% of published authors still work a day job. I'm lucky because I have a job I love. I have no delusions of grandeur. The odds of me being optioned and becoming a best-selling NY Times author is about the same as you going outdoors and having a blue chunk of airplane toilet ice smacking you on the head.
posted by dennis at 7:50 AM
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