Should I Write Three More Scripts on Speculation?

Dear friends,

Today I'd like to share some critical decisions I need to make this week, and ask that you keep me in your prayers.

This week I was contacted by one of the groups thinking of financing the film we wrote. They have another project in pre-production, and want us to rewrite the script. They sent us the script, and while the concept has potential, there is a huge amount of work required. The question is, do we want to get involved in yet another as-yet unfinanced film project, where our payment is dependent upon their receipt of funding? Because of time pressure at their end, Nicholas (my co-writer from Oxford) and I apparently need to make this decision by the weekend.

Added to this, another director has approached us about work on yet ANOTHER film, in precisely the same situation. And then Monday we were contacted about a third project. So we first need to decide if we really want to invest another eight to ten weeks in ANY script, where our payment is not certain, and then we have to decide which one to become involved in.

This is a really important issue, for two reasons:

First, the inspirational film industry is in the process of rising up in the entertainment world. The biggest drawback to most of the films out there, in my and many other people's opinion, is the quality of story. The acting is increasingly solid, the film work, the direction, the soundtrack…But the story needs to be amped up if we are ever going to compete with mainstream entertainment.  Nicholas and I think we can do this.

But here is the second issue:  Like all independent film-making, it is very hard to find financing. And the producers can only find this financing once they have a script. Which means doing our work for nothing up front. It is a ten-week investment, with no guarantee of return.  So this is a big question, which Nicholas and I have to decide on by tomorrow, when we are slated to have a conference call with the producers.

While all this has been going on, three weeks ago I came up with an idea for a possible sequel to Lion of Babylon, the big book being released by Bethany House in early July.  The problem is, I am already working on the sequel.  This was ANOTHER idea.  I discussed it with my editor, who just loved it.  So the question was, do I file this concept away, hoping I can come back to it and be able to jump-start the emotions, or do I try and sketch out something I can then file away to work on next spring?

Isabella (my wife) had to go to Washington for a big international law conference. I decided to use this nine-day period as a launching pad, and try and get as much done as possible.  Then I could put the story aside with greater confidence that when the time came, I would be able to re-ignite the creative fire.

I wrote forty-five pages in those nine days.  Didn't do much else, really.  Just wrote and ate and surfed.  And wrote.  A lot.

Sandwiching this nine-day period has been a very active period in and of itself.  The week leading up to it, I received what are called the galley-proofs, the typeset pages, for The Book Of Dreams, the book being released by Simon and Schuster in October. I handed those to the UPS man just before I saw Isabella off at the airport. And then the day she returned, the galley proofs for this summer's release, Lion of Babylon, arrived.  They went off to Bethany House Publishers Tuesday.

While it has been busy, there is a real resonance to the days, and a good sense that important issues are being rounded up prior to our departure.  We leave for the UK on Saturday. I have a day to recover from the trip, and then on Tuesday am traveling to Oxford, where I have been asked to speak to my UK publisher's annual sales conference. Then on Wednesday Nicholas and I meet to discuss which project we should work on next, if any.

Which brings us back to the current issue. We both feel there is a solid opportunity here, but the question is, how much of this opportunity should we act upon, given the fact that payment for our work is not guaranteed.

But here's the thing.

The response to the script which we have now completed, entitled 'Unlimited', has been very powerful. And this is not just related to people inside the inspirational film community. As I have mentioned before, based upon the script, the producers have signed on the casting directors who were responsible for the Lord of the Rings trilogy – one of the top four casting agencies in Hollywood. This means that there is a second aspect to what we're calling our early-investment work; we are involving ourselves with a new industry, and building a name.

Ideally, we would prefer to wait until financing is in place for one project before taking on another unfinanced script. But the opportunities are here and now.

Your prayers would certainly be appreciated.

Warmest regards,

Davis