About three months ago, at my friend Leon’s reading, I read a story about something I did one summer, and then a few days later I got an email from a man who works at a movie production company. His e-mail said that he was at the reading and he thought there might be a movie to be made out of the story that I read, and he asked me if I could e-mail him the story and also if I would like to meet with him and we could talk about it. I said, “Sure!” but I doubted that anything would come of it because movie studios must go through like hundreds of ideas that never make it past a few emails or one meeting.

I googled his production company to see if it was legitimate and it looked like it was, and then later that week Angelica and I went to the movies and one of the opening credits at this pretty big movie we were seeing was a credit for his production company, and then i was pretty positive it was legitimate. And then we had the meeting and I sort of verbally expanded the story and told the man from the studio about some characters and events that were peripherally involved in my story but that I didn’t get to write into the story that I read out loud at the reading, because then it would have been like 30 many pages of unnecessary details. He told me some ideas he had about how it would get made and I sat there mostly in disbelief that he was talking seriously about doing this.

And he asked me if I potentially wanted to write the screenplay for the potential movie and I said yes, and he said they would eventually probably have to bring in another screenwriter for me to write the screenplay with because it is hard to pitch a project to investors if it’s written by a 22-year-old with no screenwriting experience and no related education or qualifications, and I said that would be okay.

Then he said, “So would you have any interest in being in it?” And I was like, “What, as like an extra?” And he said, “No, as yourself,” and I thought about it and said, “Yeah, I guess so? I’ve never acted except in like Guys and Dolls at summer camp, like when i was 15,” and he thought about that for a second and I said, “But, like, I can’t think of anyone else who would be better suited to play me, you know? I would just talk and act like I always do if that would work…” He nodded and then we talked about some other stuff and I thought about that Shins line where James Mercer says, “…And a movie so crass and awkwardly cast that even I could be the star”.

And then for about two months, nothing happened. I thought the project had gotten shot down and that was the end of it and I was disappointed but I hadn’t really gotten my hopes up so I wasn’t totally crushed and I thought about this quote on a fortune cookie that I got one time that said, like, when one door closes another door opens, and i just waited around for another door to open.

And then one day I got an e-mail and it said, like, “Hey David, we moved offices and have been having a hectic few months, but i think it’s time to move on to the next step with this — you should think about who you might want to direct it and i will talk to some screenwriters.” And I emailed back said I wasn’t really familiar with that many directors who would do something like this because I mostly watch horror movies and am not familiar with that many directors. The man from the production company said that he would look into it.

And then a week later he emailed me and said he sent the story to a screenwriter who was interested in working on it, and then we had a meeting with the screenwriter and talked about it and he started working on an outline, and then the man from the studio said he had also talked to a director who was into the idea but he had another project coming up so it might not be feasible for him to work on it.

A few days after he emailed me about the screenwriter, the screenwriter sent me a reworked version of the events in my story. Two of the characters were combined to be one character, the order of events was a little different, the ending was a little different. It was bizarre to read someone else’s fictionalized version of my life — imagine what it would be like if you wrote something about all the things that have happened to you so far today and sent it to me and I sent you back a version where I wrote that you ate something different for breakfast and the three coworkers you ate lunch with were actually just one person and then instead of walking to work and listening to music on headphones, you actually took the bus to work and had a heated phone call while you were on the bus! Wouldn’t that be weird to read that? But I was okay with it in the service of a better or more filmic story.

And then one night I met the man from the studio and the director and his partner, and I told the director my expanded version of the story and he said he was interested, but he had another project in the works so it might be hard for him to do it, but he would be glad to help push it along or help in any way he could that wasn’t, like, actually directing it. I liked him and I was sorry that he didn’t want to direct it or couldn’t direct it.

But then last night I had another meeting with that same director. He has been in touch with the screenwriter and since we talked he has gotten progressively more excited about turning this story into a movie, and now he’s so into it that he decided he wants to direct it and has pushed his other project back and wants me to start writing the screenplay, and he doesn’t think the other screenwriter will be necessary because he will help write it, and we have to get the wheels in motion here because he wants to shoot it this summer. He also said that if a known actor were to express interest in playing me, he would probably go with that actor over me, and I said, “Okay, I understand.”

So later this week the production company is optioning the story and I am also signing away my “life rights” for the period during which the story takes place, meaning that someone else will legally own my memories and experiences! It’s crazy that someone else can own your life rights. Well, just for one summer. And i have thought about how to deal with writing a screenplay and also writing a blog and remembered what someone older than me who is a professional writer once told me: the reason he hasn’t written a book yet is that he has so much other writing to do that it wouldn’t be feasible to write a book as long as he has so much other writing to do, and I figure it will be like impossible to write this blog in the way that I would like to write it when I am also writing a screenplay, so I won’t be writing in this blog as much until after I learn how to write a screenplay and then write a screenplay. This isn’t the last post on this blog but maybe it will be a while until the next one.

Part of the reason for that choice is, like, i would like someday to possibly make any money off writing, and writing a screenplay is a way for me to do that I think. I have said no to the people who have asked me to put ads on this blog, people who wanted me to take it off Tumblr and then put ads on it, other people who have emailed me with other ways to monetize this blog’s traffic, and when I sold tote bags I didn’t make a dime off those. When I have written on other websites I didn’t make any money off that. I write this blog because it is something I like to do, and a lot of the people who inspired me to start writing it would be disappointed in me if they opened my website and an advertisement that told you to buy some trendy clothes or something popped up, but sometimes when I am at the dinner table and I am arguing about my future with my parents, my Mom reminds my Dad that his son writes a moderately popular website about music and stuff, and he says, “What does this mean if there is no money?” I can only be a disappointment to my parents for so long before it becomes onerous to go home and talk about why I haven’t applied to law school yet. I hope you understand.

So anyway, I didn’t want to just disappear without explaining where I went, and maybe this whole thing will fall through and I’ll be back really soon. Who knows?