On Becoming More of a Prick

When Gates of Fire was first optioned by Universal Studios in 1998, the director Michael Mann was attached. I sent him hand-written congratulations and a signed first edition. I never heard a peep. I thought, “What a prick!”

The all-time champ, Ming the Merciless

The same thing happened with Robert Redford on The Legend of Bagger Vance. Again I thought, “What a prick!”

But I gotta tell you, the more I’ve thought about it over the years, the more I see both Mann and Redford’s point of view.

They have to protect their time. Their assistants have to keep “asks” and potential “asks” at bay. Surely both directors thought, if in fact they ever got my packages, “Uh-oh, this writer’s going to be a major pain in the ass; the last thing I need on the set is some hyper-possessive literary type peering over my shoulder saying, ‘I would’ve shot that scene differently.’”

(Whether a movie director should meet with the writer of a book he’s adapting is a whole other question. Don’t get me started on that one.)

The bottom line on saying no to “asks” is this: if it’s okay to ask (and it is), then it’s okay to blow off an ask.

We’re not being pricks; we’re protecting our time.

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