“Betty Ryan and Carinn Mammen had their script, ‘The Guy’s Girl’ optioned by Ruthe Rosaler, Head of Production at Empire Entertainment. This is their first option.”
Wow.
I spend much of my day in front of the same computer screen I am writing from now. That certainly is not a complaint because that means I am among those fortunate enough to chase my dream every day. The downside of being a screenwriter, however, is that you have to wait months and months–and more often years and years–to see what kind of impact your work makes on people.
The rest of the time you just write–and cross your fingers.
One of the reasons I love my SagePresence life is every time I step into an event, someone walks up to me and tells me how our teaching transformed their life for the better. How they got the job or the promotion. How they started the business. How they stood up for a cause. How they were inspired to follow their heart and now had the tools and the presence to make the journey possible.
I’ll let you in on a little secret…many days, it’s the most gratifying part of my day. Even over the writing. Because there’s nothing like seeing someone else succeed. And there’s really nothing like feeling like you were even a small part of that success.
A couple of months ago, Dean and I were in Seattle to speak to the Northwest Screenwriters Guild. We had a great time, the NWSG folks had a great time, and we feel like we really made an impact. Everything was great.
Until this news, and suddenly “great” was taken to a whole new level. I will turn it over to NWSG member Betty Ryan now, as the story is best told through her wonderful words:
“In December 2007, my writing partner Carinn called me and said, “My husband
wants to hypnotize me into liking football…let’s write about that.” I said,
“That’s brilliant!”
“In May of 2008, Bill True & Dean Hyers gave the
Northwest Screenwriters Guild an amazing presentation by SagePresence, helping
us with pitching. Afterwards, they held a pitching competition and using the art
of “appreciation” that Bill & Dean had taught us, I won! Not only did they
help me improve my pitch, the feedback they gave me helped my writing partner
and I with a final rewrite as well. They really LISTENED and told me what was
lacking in my story.
“The grand prize for the pitching competition was a
ticket to The Great American PitchFest. I went to the GAPF, met with Empire
Entertainment, and gave them the same pitch I had told Bill & Dean just a
couple weeks earlier…but this time I added what Bill and Dean told me was
missing.
“Last week my partner and I were optioned by Empire
Entertainment. We couldn’t be more excited.
“Thanks so much to
SagePresence and Bill & Dean. Without them, we would be
nothing!
“Betty Kim (& Carinn Michele) : )”
I remember a conversation I had with NWSG President Aadip Desai a few weeks before Dean and I headed to Seattle. A month or so earlier, I’d suggested that we do the pitch competition as a way to get people to take their pitches to the next level–simulate at least a measure the the “high stakes” pressure they would feel in Hollywood.
Aadip was worried that no one would participate, to which I responded that Dean and I would simply have to come up with prizes that would sufficiently entice them. And so I made a number of phone calls, and suddenly The Great American Pitchfest, Movie Magic screenwriting software, and the Austin Film Festival were on as sponsors.
Anyway, in the conversation in question, Aadip was marveling at how far above-and-beyond we were going for them.
“Why would you do this for people you really don’t even know?”
“It’s simple,” I told him. “This isn’t just another business for us SagePresence guys. It’s another calling. And we’re obligated to do whatever we can to set the stage for the people with whom we interact as well as we can, so they have the best chance to succeed.”
Well, I have to tell you…it’s sweet when it all works. When you can be a part of helping talented people reach their potential.
Congratulations, Betty and Carinn!