Show Business

March 29, 2007

I'm bored with writing about literary agents and since nobody had any comments, maybe you are, too. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me. I'll do my best to answer.

My agent asked me on Monday to put together a pitch for THE SERPENT'S KISS that she was going to send to a movie guy. I did, and the response already was something along the lines of: "I'm in. I'm absolutely in unless the book is totally boring."

So now the movie guy is reading the novel and we'll see.

I told my agent that I was optimistic but wildly skeptical, which strikes me as being a healthy attitude when dealing with movie people. As Jody Picoult wrote in a recent Writers Digest piece on her experience with film, the biggest difference she's discovered between publishing and the movie business is that in publishing they tell you they hate you for years and years and then grudgingly allow you in, while the movie business tells you they love you and then do nothing.

Still, it's exciting. This has happened before--not quite so quickly or enthusiastically and it's the first time I've written the pitch--so experience suggests that my skepticism is reasonable. It's hard not to wander off into daydreams of buckets of money, hit movies starring George Clooney or Matt Damon, a franchise, opening night, trips to California, a chance to write a screenplay (I said this was a daydream, okay?), blah, blah, blah, blah...

So I'll just sit here for a moment and savor the moment.

Cheers,

Mark Terry