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SH - Chapter 23: Good news
🕑 Added 2025-09-13 18:08:52 +0000 UTCThree days passed before Owen received the email from A24. In it, they sent him an attachment, a PDF file.
Owen downloaded it and began reading carefully, line by line.
“Twelve months of option… exclusive use… maintaining writer’s credit…” he murmured to himself, going over the terms.
Everything was clear and professional. They were offering him $10,000 USD for the initial option, with the possibility of a six-month extension for an additional $5,000.
At first glance, it was a good offer.
For a debut screenwriter, amounts between $2,000 and $5,000 USD were normal in deals with small independent studios.
But A24 was not a typical indie studio. It was a company with international reach, its own distribution, presence at world-class festivals, and productions that grossed millions.
Even more importantly: his script did not require major rewrites.
They might tweak some dialogue, sure, if the director felt it necessary. But structurally, the script was finished. It was, word for word, the exact version of a story that in his past life had reached theaters and been acclaimed.
Owen knew he wasn’t selling a vague idea, but a finished product, ready to be made. Having such a polished script saved a lot of time since it didn’t need rewrites.
He opened a new email. He thanked them for the offer, expressed his enthusiasm for working with A24, and, politely but firmly, requested that the option amount be adjusted to $15,000 USD on the grounds that his script was already very polished and required almost no rewriting, something Cristian himself had said in their video call, and that the reader who evaluated it on The Black List had also noted.
He wasn’t asking for something outrageous, just a figure more in line with the real value of what he was offering.
The response arrived the next day.
[We have reviewed your request. We can agree to an adjustment to $15,000 USD. Please find the updated contract attached.]
Owen opened the new PDF, confirmed everything was correct, signed it digitally, and sent it back.
A few minutes later, he received another email:
[Thank you. Your contract has been successfully signed. We look forward to working with you. A24.]
Owen looked at the email and then relaxed back into his chair. The $15,000 would arrive within ten business days at most. That money would come in very handy, and even with his current monthly expenses plus his savings, he could live for the whole year on what he had.
If A24 decided to produce the film and purchase the script outright, he would receive much more.
He could finally breathe easier on that front. He wasn’t euphoric, just relieved, with a sense of concrete progress.
An hour later, Sophie and Matt arrived almost at the same time.
Both asked the same urgent question the moment they stepped into the apartment: “Did A24 get back to you or not?”
“Yes, they replied,” said Owen, nodding.
“And!?” Sophie pressed, crossing her arms impatiently. “Did they accept the raise? The fifteen thousand?”
“Yes,” Owen answered with the same calm expression.
They both stared at him for a second… and then reacted at the same time.
“That’s amazing! You can’t just say that so calmly!” Sophie exclaimed, smiling and hugging him tightly.
Owen accepted the hug with a smile, then Sophie looked at him and kissed him on the lips.
“Congratulations! Are you made of ice or what?” Matt laughed, giving him several firm pats on the back, as if trying to shake the excitement out of him by force.
“It’s only an option deal. What’ll be great is if they buy it outright and produce the film,” Owen said with a faint smile.
“But it’s fifteen grand, man, show some joy,” Matt said.
“I am happy. Just because I don’t show it effusively doesn’t mean I’m not,” Owen replied with a shrug.
It wasn’t that he didn’t value the money or the opportunity. But the script, no matter how carefully he had adapted it, wasn’t truly his. He didn’t feel he had created it. It was a work replicated with precision, not a personal creative achievement.
That’s why the satisfaction was more rational than emotional. His true creative achievements in this life had been playing Drake in Paranormal Activity and overseeing the entire production of the film that had passed through his hands. Also, the script, since he had improved it greatly and adapted it to the present day so it would work, he did see that part of the writing more as an accomplishment.
“Those aren’t the best news,” Owen said with a faint, mysterious smile.
Sophie and Matt exchanged a quick glance.
“What do you mean? What else?” she asked.
“After I signed the contract, Cristian wrote to me,” Owen said. “The Creative Executive at A24. He sent me a personal email. He told me he wasn’t obliged to do so, but that he was interested in seeing the first cut of Paranormal Activity, if I was willing to share it.”
Sophie’s eyes widened. Matt froze for a moment.
“Seriously?” Matt asked in a trembling tone.
“Yes. Of course I sent it to him,” Owen replied.
Sophie and Matt fell silent, until the latter finally broke it, “Do you realize what that means?”
“If A24 shows interest in Paranormal Activity, that could mean the film gets real distribution,” Sophie answered solemnly.
“Yes… it could reach theaters or streaming platforms,” Matt nodded.
The two looked at each other, still struggling to process it.
Neither of them had ever considered it a real possibility.
Their approach had always been modest: finish the project, get accepted into a festival, and if the film did well there, that was already a huge achievement.
After all, they were talking about a $20,000 movie with only four actors in total: two leads and two minor supporting roles.
They had never thought a distributor could actually be interested. But now the possibility existed in their minds.
Even though Matt always said the film would be a success, because he trusted the work he had done as director, the performances by Owen and Sophie, and everything else, his definition of success was simply that the movie be accepted into a festival and get good reviews there. Nothing more.
As for Owen, he had thought about it. It had always been his main goal for the movie to reach theaters or streaming, though he strongly preferred the former.
“Don’t get too excited. He only asked for the first cut. He didn’t promise anything,” Owen said, looking at them both.
“But he asked for it! That’s already huge,” Sophie insisted, almost unable to stay still.
“It’s true. They already trust your script for The Spectacular Now. When he sees the movie, he’ll realize the idea works, the performances are great, the direction as well, and we all know A24 values those kinds of projects,” Matt added, supporting Sophie.
“Yeah, aren’t you excited about that too?” Sophie asked more calmly, watching him with curiosity.
Owen looked at them in silence.
Matt frowned, half mocking, half frustrated, “Are you a robot? You just made fifteen grand and got A24 interested in your movie, and all you do is smile faintly.”
“I’m happy, really,” Owen replied.
“Then what do you think?” Matt asked, crossing his arms.
“Most likely, they’ll wait for the Palm Springs festival. If the movie is accepted, they’ll want to see the final version. To see how it’s received, how well it plays with audiences, if it generates any buzz,” Owen began, then paused.
“And if that goes well, it’s very likely they’ll want to talk about distributing the film,” he added.
Sophie and Matt looked at each other again. They couldn’t argue with the logic of what he was saying, but even so, they struggled to understand how he could remain so calm.
“You’re so weird, man,” Matt muttered, shaking his head with a grin.
“But brilliant,” Sophie added, with a faint smile. As she said it, she stepped closer to Owen naturally, wrapped her arms behind his head, and kissed him softly on the lips.
Matt whistled at the romantic scene. “Well, I’m proud of you too, buddy, but I’m not kissing you,” he said out loud, making all three of them laugh.
…
May 11, 2022
Two weeks had passed since Owen signed the contract with A24. The money had already been deposited into his account, and now he could afford to stop auditioning for app commercials or modeling gigs. Those types of jobs were listed on Backstage, and many actors took them instead of competing for the more demanding and competitive auditions for feature films.
Many actors worked as models for app photos, websites, and so on. The pay wasn’t bad if your appearance fit, but it wasn’t the kind of work Owen enjoyed. He preferred acting, even if it was in student short films, which usually didn’t pay a dime, for obvious reasons.
As for the script, The Spectacular Now, the first internal moves at A24 had already taken place.
Although it was still far from a confirmed full purchase, Owen had received a couple of emails from the development executive assigned to the project, with specific notes on certain passages of the script: minor adjustments to transitions between some scenes and a comment on the narrative pacing of the final act.
Nothing structural. Nothing alarming.
And in this context, that was a very good sign.
When a studio wants to rewrite a script from scratch or make major modifications, the feedback tends to be extensive, insistent, and sometimes contradictory. But in this case, there was genuine interest in polishing details, not dismantling the core structure.
The tone of the emails was respectful, precise, and positive.
From the research Owen had done recently, the full purchase of a script, that is, A24 moving from the option to the definitive contract, usually happened in two scenarios:
1) If the studio was enthusiastic but still had minor doubts, it could take up to six months to keep evaluating, review internally, do table reads, or run reception tests with certain directors or associated producers.
2) If the enthusiasm was high and the script was solid enough, with a reasonable budget, good structure, and commercial potential, the purchase could be finalized within one or two months.
The negative outcome would be if the process dragged on too long, approaching the tenth or eleventh month. That usually signaled problems: internal doubts, the need for major rewrites, a change of direction… and in some cases, the silent abandonment of the project.
That’s why, based on the timeline and the type of communication he was receiving, Owen believed he was in the best possible scenario.
And if things kept moving this way, in a month or two they might decide to move forward with the full purchase.
Nothing was certain, but the direction was clear.
With the $15,000 he had received for the script option, and now with more free time, Owen decided to take an important step: launching his own YouTube channel, which he called:
Second Take Films.
Comments
Calvin Ellis
❤️Thank you for this moment.❤️
