Film Courage: Can you recall the meeting you had with Ridley Scott?
Corey Mandell, Screenwriter/Instructor: Like it was yesterday!
And I will answer that but I’m going to be annoying and answering something…I want
to talk about the meeting I had before Ridley Scott because I think there is a teaching
moment in here.
So I had an idea for a movie and I pitched it to my agent and she goes “Oh!
I think this is great.
Let’s take it out to the marketplace.”
And then she said “Let’s make a list of our dream places that we want to sell it to.
So if you could sell it to anyone, who would it be?”
And it was so heady I thought “Oh yeah, who would I sell it to?”
And I said “Ridley Scott!”
And she kind of laughed like “Okay…yeah.
We will take it there and then when they pass we will go down the list and then we will
go to places that actually could.”
So I go into Ridley Scott’s and I pitch with Sue Williams, who is a development executive
(smart, nicest woman).
And this is really important when you are pitching is you are trying to get as much
information.
So I was pitching her this project and at some point I saw her body language shift and
I go “Oooh, is something off about that?”
And she goes “Ridley doesn’t like these kind of things.
I think this is really exciting for him but not if it is going down that road.”
And I’m like “What kind of things does Ridley Scott like?”
And so she started sharing things and it was so helpful so we could kind of retool the
pitch together.
And so she was instrumental.
When you go to someone you are pitching you are trying to get as much information from
that person.
And sometimes writers have ego and they’re like “Yeah I’m going in and I’m pitching
to the lowest person on the totem pole.”
That’s great because you get information about the decision maker.
So Sue Williams helped me reformulate the pitch in a way that would be a better fit
for Ridley Scott.
So that was amazing and I will be forever grateful for her.
Then I got brought in to pitch to Mimi who at the time was Ridley’s producing partner
and this is a long pitch.
This is almost an hour pitch (a 50-minute pitch).
This is not a short pitch.
I always hate when people say “Your pitches have to be this amount of time.”
There are no rules.
Like first of all when someone says you have to do your pitch in 10 minutes people think
that people will listen to you for 10 minutes.
They will listen to you for as long as they’re interested.
And if they’re not interested in you for 30-seconds, they will tune you out.
And most pitches that sell are longer pitches because people want to have the confidence
that this has been worked out and what they are buying is legit.
Anyways…it’s a long pitch.
So I’m pitching to Mimi and it can’t be going worse.
She is sitting back like this, she’s not making eye contact, she looks like she is
in pain.
This pitch is so bad that it’s making her go crazy.
And the only reason I have a career is at the time I wanted to be doing stand-up or
improv so I was pursuing that.
And in improv I was learning that one of my problems was (my weaknesses) when I thought
things were going well I was alive and animated.
But when I thought things weren’t going well, when I didn’t think the audience was
into it, my fear of rejection runs through this, I would sort of back out and tune out
of the scene and kind of like “You guys take it.”
I would just sort of drop out of the scene which is you don’t do that when improvising.
So what I was being taught was when you think things are going terrible walk to the center
of the stage, take focus, say something and just stay in there, stay alive.
Don’t worry about peoples’ judgments, follow your process.
So I’m pitching and after about 7 minutes I’m like “She hates me, she hates this
pitch, she’s never going to buy it, she’s in pain.”
And that voice says “Do the short version and get out of here.”
This is painful for her, this was painful for you.
Ridley was never going to buy this pitch.
Just get out of here, wrap it up and go (which I would do as a stand-up comic, terrible habit).
But another voice would go “Okay, you’re never going to be a writer as evidenced by
the pain you are causing this woman.
Maybe you can be a performer.
So use this as a way of practicing your improv stills.
Stay engaged!
Stay Engaged!”
That voice went through my head.
I stay engaged and I just did the pitch with focus and gusto and try not to look too much
at Mimi and see how much pain she is.
And then there was just silence, painful silence.
And then she stands up and goes, “I don’t get it.”
And then Sue Williams said “Well what don’t you get?”
And she goes “All of it.”
Then she looked at me and said something like “Maybe we will be in touch.”
And walked out.
Sue didn’t know what to say.
I didn’t know what to say and I left and I drove home and called my agent and was like
“You were right.
Ridley is not going to buy this.”
Then Sue calls me and I pick up the phone and she goes “Hey when you pitched with
me you were really good.
But when you pitched with Mimi…”
And I know where this is going “You were on fire!
Mimi loved it!”
Now there’s a lesson in this which is don’t try to read the room because I’ve pitched
to heads of studios that laughed and loved it because when someone is hearing a pitch
they are trying to decide “Am I going to buy this?
Am I going to take this to my boss.”
That can be stressful.
I pitched to a studio once where he knew right away he wasn’t going to buy it because they
had a similar idea in development so he relaxed and just had fun with me.
We had a great time but he already knew he wasn’t going to buy it.
I found out that Mimi only takes one or two pitches to Ridley and when she was hearing
this pitch she was like “Oh my gosh!
This is something Ridley would really love.”
And I can’t speak for her but maybe she was nervous because maybe she was thinking
“Do I really want to put my career on the line with this guy?”
I was a nobody, I was in film school.
I was like 23 and green as they came.
And I think that she hearing the pitch was probably having an internal debate.
Again I can’t speak for her but that is my guess.
So Sue was like “Yeah, I probably should have told you that is sort of the way she
listens.”
So don’t read people’s…I’ve been in rooms where they seemed like they hated it
and sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
Stay committed, have integrity, do the pitch.
So to your question (sorry for the long wind-up), I was told that Ridley wouldn’t be back
in town for a month.
Mimi did have one big concern that she wanted changed.
It was a hard creative thing to figure out but I’m like “I have a month to figure
it out.”
A few days later I told you I got a phone call.
Here is what I didn’t tell you.
I don’t drink much alcohol, I’m just a lightweight.
I’m the cheapest date ever.
And the night before I was at some party and I drank more than I’ve ever drank in my
life.
And it doesn’t take much to get me drunk.
I think that morning might have been my first ever hangover or it was the worst-ever hangover.
So when the phone rang I hadn’t showered, I hadn’t shaven, I was hungover, it was
my agent and she said “Ridley is in town and he would like to hear the pitch.
He has a slot in an hour.
Can he hear the pitch?”
And it takes 45 minutes to get there to Beverly Hills from where I was and so I said…and
this is not a good idea…I said “Oh that is exciting.
Can we bump it up until 2:00?”
And there was this long pause and I know my agent was thinking “Why did I sign this
guy?”
And she said “So Corey, Ridley is in town, he has a slot, he’d like to hear your pitch
in an hour.”
And at least then I was like “Of course, I will be there in an hour.”
It kind of works out to my favor, so I quickly shave and shower and drink coffee and on the
drive over I am figuring out how to solve that creative problem.
What happened was I got there with a second to spare and they put me into the room with
him.
I never had the chance to get nervous.
I never had the chance to psych myself out.
I was just on pure adrenaline.
Ridley was the sweetest person ever.
He came into the room and I started to like “It’s an honor…”
And it was!
BLADERUNNER, ALIEN, like it was a literal honor to be in a room with him, let alone
that he was going to listen to me pitch a project and he just immediately said like
“We are just two creative people.
I want to hear your idea.
You don’t have to be great at performing.
My staff loves it.
I just want to hear…”
He went out of his way to make me feel comfortable and that I belonged there.
Because I did not feel like I belonged in a room pitching to Ridley Scott.
And I was just on adrenaline, no time to prep or psych myself out and so I just started
talking.
And he was just…he listened and he nodded and he was so receptive and he was so loving
and gentle, I’ll never forget that and he was just amazing.
Then at the end he asked the question that you always want to hear which is (he said)
“So who else has heard this pitch?”
And I said “Nobody, you’re the first pitch.”
And he said “Well who else is going to hear this pitch?”
And I gave some of the places that we had meetings set up.
And he looked at his staff and then he turned to me and said “Who is your agent?”
And I told him (Dan at ICM).
He called my agent and said “I want to take this off the market.”
So that was just like…I literally thought I was dreaming!
Then I remember I was driving home in my cruddy little car, my little Flintstones car (as
my wife called it) because you had to use your feet to stop it (film school, no money
car).
And I was driving on the 405 and I started shaking, I just was shaking.
I had to pull over.
And the thought that went through my head wasn’t that I had just launched my career,
it wasn’t that I just sold it.
The thought that went through my head was “I just met Ridley Scott.”
I was so nerdy and not only that, once the deal was consummated they said we want you
on the next plane to London so that Ridley and his team will develop the structure with
you and they meant the literal “next plane to London.”
So my wife and I…my girlfriend at the time (now wife Rebecca) she was like “I’ll
help you pack,” because I don’t know how to pack.
And she is getting all of my clothes and she is like “Where is your suitcase?”
And I don’t have a suitcase.
So we ran to Target and bought a suitcase and everything.
Then they flew me first class and I didn’t know that first class existed.
I didn’t know what first class was, I grew up with no money.
So the kept bringing me food and wine and I was like “No, no, no.
I can’t afford this.
I don’t want to pay for all of this when I land.”
And then at some point in London someone said “No in first class it is all included.”
So on the way back I was like “More food!”
But Ridley treated me throughout the entire process and he called me when they weren’t
going to make it and he explained why which he didn’t have to do.
Throughout the entire process he treated me like a writer who belonged to be there and
someone who wanted to hear my opinion.
He didn’t want me to just defer to him, I mean it was amazing.
I’ll forever be grateful for that.
He spoiled me because I thought well that is how everyone…I worked with some of the
best people in the business and that’s how they treat writers and I’ve worked with
people who don’t treat writers that way.
Film Courage: When you pulled over on the 405, do you remember was there a song playing
on the radio?
Corey: I don’t…I just remember I was going to crash.
That is a good question.
Gosh I don’t remember.
I just kept thinking…I came home and my girlfriend was like “So?”
And I’m like “I met Ridley Scott!”
And she’s like “I know you met Ridley Scott.”
“Oh yeah…he bought it.”
But I was just a little film school nerd excited to meet Ridley Scott.