April | 2009 | Betsy Lerner

Mungo

Posted on April 30, 2009 by betsylerner

This just in from J:

” How do you obtain the contact information for producers? I want to target producers, and I have some in mind who have worked on similar projects, but I have no idea how to get in touch with them. Any suggestions??”

The quick answer is IMDB. This is the motherlode of contact and other Hollywood information. In some cases, information is only available if you subscribe to IMDBpro, but it’s well worth it. How else would I know that Hugh Grant and I are born exactly one month apart? I also know, thanks to IMDB, that Hugh John Mungo Grant:

Has long wanted to make a film about his grandfather’s real life escape from a prisoner of war camp during WWII.
Graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English (1982)
His favorite artist is Patrick Rondat.
Had a skate accident when he was a teenager. Part of the bone in his elbow is still detached from the other bones and “swims” freely between the skin and his elbow.
Fluent in French.
Piano teacher, when he was a child, was Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s mother.
In 2001, he purchased an Andy Warhol painting of Elizabeth Taylor for just under $4 million. He later sold it in 2007 for $23.5 million.

Funny, my Warhol didn’t go for nearly as much.

Filed under: Film | Leave a comment »

A Beautiful Mind

Posted on April 29, 2009 by betsylerner

5:40 Metronorth to New York. The sky still darkened by clouds, pale blue off in the distance. I sit in the last seat of the last car every day. I nurse a medium decaf with skim milk from St. Dunkin’s. And I think about the exciting day I have ahead of me in publishing.

Every day, in the aisle in front of me sits a man with a gray-haired crew cut, his knees pressed up against the seat in front of him. In his lap, a pile of newspapers. With hawk-like concentration, he circles and underlines with a blue Bic. Then he tears, folds, and inserts the articles into a deep pocket in his trenchcoat. On the platform at Grand Central, he will hover over the recycling bin snatching newspapers from commuters as they leave the station.

Now, I have to read Les’ memoir.

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Hugh Grant and I Are Born Exactly One Month Apart

Posted on April 27, 2009 by betsylerner

Got the cover letter done (after the laundry, dishwasher, and sorting of old files).

I put my list together, culled from a year of reading Variety. I targeted NYC based indie producers who have made films that I love or admire. (This is the same advice I give to writers when they need agent names — research PW, Publishersmarketplace.com, etc.)

I also sent it to three actors. This is magical thinking of the highest order, of which I am supremely capable. (“Hello, this is Hugh Grant, is this Betsy Lerner? Yes, well, I’ve just read your brilliant script and feel as if you’ve written it for me.” ) Do you think he’s just being polite?

Brought script to copy shop. They didn’t have the brass clips used to hold film scripts together. Neither did the crappy store across the street. Went to another copy shop where they sold the brass clips for 25 cents apiece. I know I’m going to be very rich and famous, but this offended me. Next stop, Staples.

I know this is a cliff hanger the likes of which you have probably never endured, but I’ve got like a dozen manuscripts I’ve got to read for work tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

Filed under: Film | 3 Comments »

Your First Cigarette

Posted on April 25, 2009 by betsylerner

I wrote a screenplay a while ago called Sugar Mountain. I got an agent who gave it to a big deal producer, BDP, we’ll call him. BDP worked with me for six intense weeks, taking the script through six revisions.

Every phone session lasted exactly an hour and his notes were amazing. He taught me how to write action. My scenes were too talky. “We’re not Woody Allen,” he once remarked.

BDP was in New York and I got to meet him for our last session in his apartment at the Pierre. Heady days for a girl with a dream and an acceptance speech at the ready.

Long story short, BDP shared my script with two or three actors who declined and then he dropped the project. Then my agent stopped returning my phonecalls. My Cinderella story ended in my own little corner, in my own little chair.

Why am I writing about this? Because I decided that I would send out Sugar Mountain to ten producers on my own before throwing in the towel.

Which leads me to: my cover letter. I have to write a freakin’ cover letter. Me, who has been advising and critiquing cover letters for nearly 25 years. Talk about stage fright. I actually cleaned out the attic this morning as a stalling tactic. Does anyone have any mending or ironing to do?

If I have the guts, I’m going to post my query letter (when I’m done mowing the lawn), and keep you posted on how my script crashes and burns. Just for sport.

Filed under: Agent, Film, Writing | 4 Comments »

Bump in the Night

Posted on April 23, 2009 by betsylerner

Last night at the Mid-Manhattan Library, 100 or so people were gathered to hear a panel discuss paranormal mysteries. My client Stacy Horn was among the panelists and, frankly, she kicked ass. Am I partial? Besides the fact that everyone there seemed to have descended from the Starship Enterprise or the Good Ship Lollipop (okay, I know, shouldn’t sterotype the kids in the Paranormal Club), but how could you not love a woman who wrote a book called Waiting for My Cats to Die.? Who followed that up with a wrenching investigation into some of New York’s grisliest unsolved cold cases in The Restless Sleep. And who then spent a year in the basement at Duke University, home to the oldest parapsychology lab in the country, where she combed through every dusty box to tell the story of the men and women who devoted their lives to proving the existence of life after death in her latest, Unbelievable.

Here are some of my favorite outtakes from the Q&A:

“What says Christmas more than werewolves?”

“A lot of people hear voices and not just mentally ill people.”

“Sensitives are like that.”

“You know, the run of the mill Dracula tropes.”

“I do therapeutic harp.”

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Twelve-Step Program

Posted on April 22, 2009 by betsylerner

Please read this article by Jon Karp, Publisher of the imprint Twelve, if you want some really cogent thoughts on the state of publishing. And you won’t need to turn your life over to a higher power except your keyboard.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6652430.html

Filed under: Editor, Media, Publishing, Writing | Leave a comment »

FAQ: I’m About to be Published – How Come I’m not Happy?

Posted on April 21, 2009 by betsylerner

R. writes, “I’ve got a new book coming out from (major trade publisher) in May. So how come I’m not happy?

R. adds that it has already received terrific early reviews from PW and Booklist (not mentioning Kirkus one can only imagine the worst — who are those anonymous Kirkus bastards anyway?). She fears the book will sink “like Sarah Palin’s reputation.”

R. further divulges that she has done well with two previous books, blogs for some pretty big deal blogs like Psych Today, writes a weekly column for her city paper (think Wallace Stevens), co-edits a scholarly journal and is a full professor at a kick ass univeristy. Go Huskies.

Why is R. unhappy?

1) R. is a writer. A happy lot? I think not. If we were, how would the shrinks make a living?

2) R’s book is being published into the worst financial crisis, slashing of book reviews and massive store closings. Never have books had to fight so hard for their readers, except during the Spanish Inquisition.

3) R. is doing everything right, promotion-wise: building a profile in print and electronic media. Could R. be doing more? Sure. Why not hire one of those grad students for a month or two and put together email & mailing lists of places where he might be welcome to talk. There are two basic ways to get attention, either through national media or a grass roots campaign. I encourage all of my clients to wage the grass roots campaign in the event that the national media doesn’t come through, but also because it’s a smart way to extend the reach of your book. Look into getting a lecture agent. Go to NYC and meet with your editor, publisher, publicist armed with ideas. The more you bring to the table, the more you invest in getting the word out, the better off you’ll be. If you’re at the beginning of your career, prepare to do everything you can to get attention for the book.

4) The real reaon R. is unhappy, I think, is because R. spent a year or more writing the book, probably nights and weekends since R. has a full time job, and there’s like a six week window (or less) to get it noticed. Let’s face it, unless you’re Malcolm Gladwell, Inc., getting published is like getting crapped on.

This may sound harsh, but I mean it in the most inspiring way possible: I think it’s really important to remember that no one asked you to write.

R., glad you asked?

Filed under: Media, Publishing, Writing | 2 Comments »

FAQ – “Fiction Proposals”

Posted on April 19, 2009 by betsylerner

Finally, I remembered to check my new gmail account and found three items: a note from a guy who dated my college sophomore roommate (this isn’t My Face, hello!), a query letter about addiction, and a bonafide question from a man we’ll call L.

L. asks if I would consider “fiction proposals from works in progress”? In a word: no. I’m not even exactly sure what the term “fiction proposal” means, hence the obnoxious use of quotations. I take it to mean synopses of incomplete work. There is no way to judge fiction except by reading it. You could send a partial novel with a synopsis, but if you are an unpublished writer, this would be a mistake (unless you are famous, if Toni Morrison recommends you, if you have a story in The New Yorker — mitigating circumstances along these lines).

As a sidebar is the whole question of including a synopsis at all. About this question there has been much debate and talmudic scholars are not in agreement. Personally, I hate them. Describing plot is like describing your dreams. Maybe, maybe, your lover will be interested but that’s about it. I really can’t bear to read them. I prefer a succinct few lines in the cover letter and then I want to read the work itself. It speaks for itself.

L., I hope that answers your question. Thanks for writing and good luck with expanding the stories.

Filed under: Writing | Leave a comment »

Merry Christmas

Posted on April 17, 2009 by betsylerner

I thought I was done with the Phil Spector story, the guns, the road littered with dead women, the Jewfro. But now this tidbit of book news from Media Bistro:

Spector Son’s Tell-All Surprisingly Not Titled “To Know Him Is To Love Him”

From Sharlene Martin of Martin Literary Management comes word of a memoir from Louis Spector, who was adopted (along with his twin brother) by legendary record producer Phil Spector when he was five; Spector then presented the siblings to his then-wife, Ronettes singer Veronica Bennett, as a Christmas present. The proposal, entitled The Gingerbread House on La Collina Drive.

I know, life is good.

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Stronger

Posted on April 16, 2009 by betsylerner

Dave Cullen’s book COLUMBINE hit the New York Times Bestseller List at #7. Did I ever say how much I love the number 7?

This was a book ten years in the making, which is a nice way of saying more blood, sweat, and tears were spilled than I can ever recall. I hope the people whose lives were affected feel that they were well served.

Mostly I want to congratulate Dave; his persistence and compassion were the guiding lights of this project. I want to thank everyone at Twelve, who took on this challenging book in the 11th hour and published the hell out of it.

I guess I want to say, too, that in a Twittery world, this kind of book is starting to look like an endangered species. Even in the olden days, few writers could or would devote ten years to a project outside of the academy. Believe me, there were many junctures when I wanted to tear my hair out: missed deadlines, long silences, outsized drafts etc. etc., but I am so proud that I got to be a part of it. When people ask what makes working in publishing worth it — this.

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