Tom called today to see what is up with me. I then proceeded to play counselor and advisor with regards to what he needs to do to keep the momentum going on this project. (AKA the art of managing your manager. :-) We talked about what he can and can't negotiate (his big thing is that he wants to be involved with the film from points A to Z, and doesn't want to get sidelined).

Well, since you can't negotiate power, he's going to have to settle for the realization that if John accepts his compensation request, John will put him to work for the money. I don't think John's the kind of guy to spend money on someone just let them be lazy and not work. I just had to convince Tom of that.

I also took the opportunity to get Tom working on contracts today. Not just his, but those between me and Paul. He can do a bunch of work prior to our meeting, so I helped him organize his to-do list. He's worrying about the specific wording on a document, and I guided him to a realization that he doesn't have to reinvent the wheel.

After our talk, I spent a couple of hours preparing for my part of Tuesday's meeting. Impatient me wants us to have a package to present to John by Wednesday, if possible. Let's get this project going, people!

The Writers Guild of America, of which I fervently hope to be a member soon, provides standard contracts on their web site for writers to use. I downloaded the Word format one and put together a proposed contract that Tom and I can review and negotiate over on Tuesday. There shouldn't be too much for me and Tom to talk about, since I've been talking with him about fees and rates since last week.

However, since Paul's piece of this is a big unknown, things may change. Right now, my contract is based on a 50/50 percent share of work , credits and compensation. Since neither Tom or I really know what Paul wants out of this, I'm trying to come up with more negotiating points, figuring out where my bottom line is, etc.

Now, my nerves have gone from "excited" to "anxious." The "what if" questions are starting to raise their scratchy, fingers-on-the-blackboard voices. What if Paul demands too much? What if Tom drags his feet? What if John gets turned off by something that Tom does? What if the contract parts go right, but John's Vegas partners don't want to put up their money until John gets more committments?

I want to hope that once I have a track record as a writer that these anxieties will go away, but I suspect that each negotiation will bring its own set of worries.

In the very least, I think that I'm ready for Tuesday. I'll fax my proposed conctract to my agent tomorrow, so that he can see what's what. I will then have my set of minimums -- I'm not going for less than what's on that document. If that's what works out on Tuesday, Tom and I can sign right away.

That will make me feel much better, I think.