who controls hollywood?

So, Dakota Fanning won' t be playing Mia.

That's the latest news on the rollercoaster that is the If I Stay movie. Except, according to my friends who work in Hollywood, rollercoaster is how Hollywood rolls. Ups and downs, starts and stops, stars and directors dropping in and out of movies like balls on Oscar night. I show up. I leave. Maybe I stay six weeks and make a movie. Tralalala.

I got upset when it first happened. A year ago Catherine Hardwicke was the director and I was starting to hear news of who might get cast in the movie. And then another studio greenlit another movie Catherine was also working on—she has lots of movies in the works at any given time; check out her As she herself said at the time, before Twilight was greenlit (Hollywood speak for funded) she was working on a bunch of other films, waiting to see which one would go first. It's like a giant horse race, except the winner is the one who leaves the gate first (who finishes the race first is a whole other contest!).

Anyhow, I was bummed about Catherine. She just seemed perfect. But experience in life had taught me that just as there is more than one true love in life per person—I don't buy that single soul mate business; in a world with nearly 7 billion people and you're going to find The One? Really? What if he's a Massai herder?—there is more than one perfect director per movie.

So, Dakota. Yes, I think she would've been great. But so will other actresses. Her reasoning for not doing the film she was never officially signed on to do (she was "in talks") is that she wants to finish high school. At first, I thought this excuse sounded very Publicisty, i.e. the thing you say when you don't want to say the real reason. But then I read an article in this week's New York Times Magazine about the Fanning Sisters about how NORMAL they are—they share a bathroom! They make their own beds! And how un-Lohan-esque their parents are—totally un-stage parenty—and now I think it might be true. I hope it is. It seems like some modicum of normalcy in the teen years is the only way that child stars can transition to adulthood without losing their marbles completely (see: Natalie Portman, Jodie Foster, who seem sane, though what do I know?).  Maybe Dakota likes being Homecoming Queen. Little sis Elle's career is kicking ass right now, so let Dakota have some teen time. For reals!

Now here is something the outside world does not get: The movie part of If I Stay is completely out of my control. I have zero, zilch, nada, to do with it. I'm not writing the screenplay (like Suzanne Collins did with her book The Hunger Games) or directing the film (like Stephen Chbosky is doing with his book The Perks of Being A Wallflower–how excited am I that this is going to be a movie!). There's a certain Zen that comes with having no control. I really don't sweat the ups and downs. I just put on my safety belt and ride the roller coaster.

But you know who does control these things, besides the studio execs in their Armani suits (actually they always wore jeans when I met them but I enjoy a stereotype now and then)? You guys do. Now, I am a superstitious person and don't normally say things like this, but I believe If I Stay will make it to the screen and be a pretty kickass movie. Why do I say this when the road to film is littered with carcasses? (Hmm, maybe bad metaphor given the source material I'm discussing, no?) Well, I still believe it, for two reasons.

#1) , the woman who wrote the awesome screenplay for Whip It—have you seen this yet? Go Netflix it NOW—has written such an amazing screenplay. Some beloved books have a hard time making a transition to screen (You can read about the craziness of the original Twilight screenplay here. And The Lovely Bones. Loved the novel, liked the movie okay but as its own thing. Did not think it captured the book at all. Eat. Pray. Love. People I know who loved the book HATED the movie. Have not seen it myself yet.  It's a tough thing to capture a book's essence. And Shauna NAILED IT!

#2) Every second person who reads IIS asks me this: IS THERE GOING TO BE A MOVIE? At the end of the day, that's what will get a movie made. People reading a book and begging for a film. Studios are scratching their heads trying to figure out what movies will lure you guys to theaters. Action films! Paranormal romance! Transgendered cowgirl rodeo romps! You make your voices heard, they will listen. It might take a while—I read somewhere the average length from a film getting optioned to hitting the screen is nine years, lordy! But as a wise woman I know said about movies, "better slow and good then fast and bad." Which pretty much applies to everything.

Anyhow, there's a lesson in this about control. Worry about what you can control. In my professional life that boils down to one thing: the quality of the book I am writing now.

So, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work.