So, after months of letting the project simmer on the back burner, I get a call from Friend Producer. She partnered with a fellow producer and they acquired (well, almost) the novel rights to the book! Hoorah!

Almost?

Well, it's a handshake deal, but it'll happen. And it did. The producing team went back and forth and came up with a contract and now Friend Producer has 50% of the option rights to the novel. Now all they have to do is come up with financing in order to get the project going.

Friend Producer sets up a meeting with me and her partner. Partner Producer has never met me, never read my writing, and now has a 50% stake in the project. Friend Producer still wants me to write the adaptation, but must convince Partner to get on board with the idea. Let's Do Lunch.

We do lunch. We have a great lunch meeting, and we all seem to get along, and have similar ideas for different paths the movie could take, with different budgets and different plans of attack for financining the film. In fact, I will write a trailer for the film, that Partner can film on digital video, and use that to entice The Establishment to part with a few million. I give Partner one of my scripts, shake hands, and go back to my normal life.

And I'm quietly amazed that it's gotten this far. Like I said, Friend Producer is a friend, but after several months of nothing, the flurry of action seems too good to be true.

So, Partner Producer reads my script, likes my writing style, and would like to go with me writing a treatment for the teaser that they'll used to get the money for the film.

Confused yet?

I'm going to write a treatment (basically a narrative outline) for a teaser (basically an advertisement) for a movie that doesn't yet exist.

Heck, I'll go with it. Partner Producer will forward a contract as soon as the last wrinkles in the option agreement are settled out and we'll get to work.

Trailer ideas spin through my head, excitement grows. I jot down notes, run ideas by those near and dear to me (but not Friend or Partner Producers), and try to be patient. I wait before diving too deeply into the treatment/teaser. I want to see the ink glistening on the dotted line. I give Partner Producer a fax number for the promised contract. I'll run it by my agent, and then I'll give Partner notes and promised treatment.

Agent, what do you mean, agent?

(I have an agent. My agent's contact info is on the cover of my script. I figured that Partner would have noticed it, but apparently not.)

Right. Well, I'll call you. (says Partner)

Uh-oh.