Thread by @jakethornton

So as promised, here is my #screenwriting thread on how me and @ben_lustig sold our first script together in 2014.

#screenwriter #writerscommunity #filmmaking #Motivational 1/

I’d been working with Ben for about four years. We’d been repped for two of then, and had written a couple of specs that had hit the town and not sold. We had also been dropped by our manager. Yay. 2/

I was working part-time at the Apple Store in the Beverly Center, LA. I was also driving for uber four nights a week. I had a new son, less than a year old, and me and my wife were struggling financially. Hard. Borrowing money from family to make ends meet. 3/

My father in law, after the birth of our son, had a talk with me. “So… what’s the plan?” I looked him hard in the eyes. “I’m gonna sell my first script for a million dollars.” He smiled. “No really… what’s the plan?” 4/

Ben too had been managing a restaurant and was contemplating going back to school. If we didn’t sell something soon, life was going to start looking pretty different. 5/

One day, me and Ben had an idea. Why had no one done the origin story of Santa Claus? And what if he was…cool? What if he was a disgraced knight from the crusades? What if he wasn’t always the giving, jolly old elf of myth, but had to get there? So we wrote it. 6/

After we’d finished writing it, we met with a producer, Lawrence Grey, who pitched us an idea. “Why has nobody done the origin story of Santa Claus?” We thought he was joking and that our new reps had pitched him the script. Nope. No idea. “We have that script!” 7/

He read it and felt it needed some work. So we worked on it. A lot. Over 6-8 months. The Knight became a Viking. And we borrowed a lot of elements from L. Frank Baum’s Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. So now we had double IP. Santa, and the creator of the wizard of Oz. 8/

But we knew then, and even more so today, about the value of a package; multiple elements attached to a project to make it more appealing for buyers. So Lawrence went out, and found some great directors. 9/

These were Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, who’d gained notoriety fir their excellent Oscar Nominated film, Kon Tiki. From Norway, they gravitated toward the Norse Mythology. We did a pass for them too. 10/

Lawrence had some amazing artwork commissioned, and here is a little example of what the tone was going to be. This is Nik, and the protagonist, Jack Frost. All dark and gritty. 11/

With all the elements lined up, it was time for it to hit the market. It was February of 2014. Our agent sets meetings for Larence and the directors to take it around town. We weren’t included, which felt sucky, but we were new so kind of understand it. 12/

The directors have a whole set of visual boards to help pitch their vision for the movie. Our agent starts to get interest, but tells studios to hold off on their offers until Friday. He’s playing them off against each other. He wants a bidding war… 13/

And me and Ben are beside ourselves with excitement. Is this REALLY happening? Yes. Yes it was. Disney and WB drop out of the race, leaving it between Sony and Universal…

The day ends, and still it’s up in the air as to who is going to get it. And it’s Oscar weekend... 14/

We don’t want the momentum to die, so our agent goes to a bunch of Oscar parties and we get a call at 10.30 at night on Saturday. The heads of Sony and Universal met at an Oscar event. And Uni bowed out. Our price had gone up to $1M, and we had just sold our first script. 15/

I still look back on this story with awe. I quit my job at Apple within a couple of weeks and was able to commit, full time, to being a screenwriter. I was able to stop working nights and weekends, and spend time with my new son, and lovely wife. 16/

I fully appreciate that this kind of story is rare and feel incredibly lucky. But anything is possible. It took a lot of work to get to that point. And like I said at the beginning of this thread, it really was a deciding moment in mine and Ben's lives. We needed this sale... 17/

Anyway, the point is: have a dream and work your ass off to make it happen. Anything is possible when you work hard and believe.

And I got to show my father-in-law that I really could sell my first script for $1M. END OF THREAD!