Friday, November 5, 2010

Hollywood: The Ultimate Dangling Carrot by Melissa Clark

I used to work in television - more specifically children's television. I was a staff writer on some 'tween shows and then a freelance writer for animated kid's shows until finally, miraculously, I sold a show of my own.

Braceface told the story of 12-year old Sharon Spitz as she plowed through puberty with a new addition, magical braces. The production company was in Toronto, a far cry from Hollywood, and soon I found myself there 3-4 times a year, meeting with an excellent writing staff to come up with episodes and season arcs.  The show kept getting renewed, winning awards, bringing in ratings. It was a dream come true. By the fifth season, however, I was starting to tire of writing stories about adolescence. I wanted to move to grown-up territory. I wanted to be writing in Hollywood. My agent starting sending me on meetings for sit-coms and dramas, for freelance and staffing positions. I met with people at ABC, NBC, CBS, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Culver Studios...you name it I was there trying to secure a writing position. I met with wonderful people, drank lots of bottled water and yet never nabbed a job.

Then one day, after months and months of this routine, I was on my way to a meeting at Fox and had an epiphany at a red light. I was 35 at the time, in five years I'd be forty. In ten years, forty-five. Was I going to be fifty and still driving around the city meeting executives? The sit-com thing just wasn't happening. As I made a left turn into the lot I decided I was going to do things on my terms. I was going to write a novel. I phoned my agent and asked him to stop sending me out. "Hello," he said, as though I was the biggest idiot in town, "You can still write a book and take meetings!" No, no I couldn't. Meetings took up too much emotional time. I needed to focus. I enrolled in a workshop at UCLA and finished a draft. The book sold a few days after it was sent out - I took it as I sign that I had made the right decision.  I traveled to festivals around the country, (I met Margaret Marr on book tour, thus the reason I am even a part of the Girlfriends Book Club). I took a job teaching literature and creative writing at an art college. I started a second book, then a third.

And then the ole' dangling carrot appeared again. A producer approached me after a panel at the UCLA book fair. A screenwriter came to one of my readings and expressed interest in writing a script. I pitched my book as a television show for Lifetime, HBO and I came oh so close to optioning it to a major production company. But alas, everytime I leaned over to take a bite out of that carrot, it got yanked away.

Am I bitter? A little. Jaded? Sure. I read the trades and feel a little sting of jealousy whenever I read about a deal that closed, a Hollywood Cinderella story.  But most of all I am grateful for what has come, and for what is yet to come. My life changed for the better when I decided to take things into my own hands and write a novel, and while a part of me, a very small part, still chases that dangling carrot, I know there are other delicious vegetables to consume as well. Kale, for example. Yum.

What dangling carrot has been just out of your reach?
Melissa Clark is currently in Utah observing the Elizabeth Smart trial (which just got put on hold) as research for her new novel.

15 comments:

  1. Hi Melissa,

    Braveface! That's so clever. Sounds like you made a good decision. I enjoyed reading your story.

    My dangling carrot? There are so many near-misses in a writers life. I really wanted my last book to be optioned. There was a lot of interest but it never happened.

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  2. Melissa, I've got so many dangling carrots, I could start a produce section!

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  3. Magical braces! That's so cute, Melissa, and probably a bit of a dangling carrot for orthodontists everywhere who wish there was such a thing (they'd make a fortune!). ;-) You know, success is when preparation meets opportunity so I think you're overdue for a really big carrot to chomp on! My sad story involves a handful of Hollywood carrots dangled in the past 10 years. They get julienned, nibbled, and then...nothing. Now I don't even get worked up over them (okay, maybe a little). My current dangling carrot: the end of the novel I'm writing! Hopefully, this one will be grab-able very soon!

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  4. I loved reading about your experiences! Wow.

    I had the Holy Grail of dangling carrots: Oprah. The AMAZING publicist (Pamela Spengler-Jaffee, who's now with HarperCollins) for my debut novel, See Jane Date, managed to get me booked (for taped segment, not in studio) for an Oprah show about Generation X vs Baby Boomers. (I'm at the tail end of Gen X, but Oprah producers liked Gen Xishness of See Jane Date.) They were filming a bunch of varied authors to talk about the gap. So I taped my segment, which was supposed to air the same month as publication, and couldn't believe my luck . . . and then the "Sorry, cutting room floor" call came. Noooooo.

    But it still tickled me to no end to have almost made it on Oprah!

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  5. I never knew that, Melissa (senate)! That's why I love this blog. I get to find out all kinds of stuff about you all. If I remember correctly, I think Saralee was on Oprah.

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  6. I didn't know we had so many film/TV folks here! Cool.

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  7. Melissa S., I'm with Karin! It's amazing how freaking close you got to being on the Great O's show! Hmm, I think I'd blame Gayle. ;-)

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  8. I actually remember Braceface. Sorry to see that one go. Not enough smart, non-shoot 'em up cartoons for kids.

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  9. Ah, yes. So relevant in a creative's life. After my second book came out I got an e-mail my someone at a big production company asking if film right were still available. I got way too excited about a simple e-mail, but my agent knows how to set me straight. She said, "you know that was probably an intern, right?" She followed up, but sure enough, nothing came of it.

    I don't let the dangling carrots rule my life anymore, though it is fun to dream. :)

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  10. What good sense--turning to novel writing. Very interesting post, Melissa. I'm such a newbie I can't even conceive of a Hollywood carrot. I'm still munching the publication carrot!

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  11. Oh Melissa, I love you so! A dangling carrot you say? Hmmmm. You are right, so very right and also so very sane. Alas, I still jump for the orange veggie. Jump rabbit, Jump! You my good friend, are often the voice of reason for this hopping bunny.
    Love you much. Love. You.

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  12. Comforting to hear about everyone's dangling carrots and that I'm not alone in this sea of vegetables!!! xo

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  13. I love this post-- I always wanted to write a TV show and my Hollywood girlfriends have really showed me that it's a much better idea in my mind than in execution....

    As for dangling carrots, I used to get a call from my agent any time a Hollywood person looked at my books with an eye towards optioning. Then, inevitably, I'd imagine a whole fantasy scenario where the actor/actress and I would become best friends and I'd even get a cameo in the movie. After each meeting, I'd be told it was a no, and my heart would be crushed. No movie? No new best friend?! After a while, I told my agent to stop telling me about meetings-- my heart just couldn't handle it!!

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  14. This is so fascinating... I knew Hollywood was fickle and had ADD, but not to this extreme. Melissa, I feel for you about Oprah! Still, pretty cool to have made it that far.

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  15. I just really loooove braceface, even though I'm 31!! Melissa, have you've ever made something similar to braceface that I could watch!?!? Seriously, I think I've gone over every episode about a million times, but I think I need some more!!!

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