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SH - Chapter 22: Meeting with A24
🕑 Added 2025-09-12 16:48:36 +0000 UTC9:59 AM
Owen checked once more if the audio was working. He had already joined the video call a few minutes earlier and was waiting for the A24 representative to log in.
A few seconds later, when the clock struck 10:00 AM, someone entered.
On screen appeared a man in his forties, with a neat beard, glasses, and a calm expression.
"Owen? I’m Cristian Méndez, creative executive at A24. A pleasure to meet you," he said with a cordial smile.
"Nice to meet you, Cristian. Thank you for the opportunity," Owen replied with an equally cordial smile.
"First things first, I loved The Spectacular Now. A very solid script, well-structured, great dialogue, and the characters have distinct voices with a very well-achieved development arc for both," said Cristian.
"Thank you. I’m really glad to hear that," Owen said with a smile. "I used a bit of my own past as inspiration."
"Oh, really?" Cristian asked, curious.
Owen nodded.
"Yes. Back in high school I was quite the party guy. I went out a lot, I liked being at the center of everything. I guess, like Sutter, it took me a bit longer than usual to start looking forward. Although unlike Sutter, I did know I wanted to act, but I didn’t take it seriously at the time. It was more of a vague idea than a real purpose," Owen explained.
Cristian nodded. Though he kept a serene expression, there was a brief flicker of surprise in his eyes.
"It shows in the script that there’s something authentic in the way Sutter is built. I must admit though… I didn’t expect your main profession to be acting. I mean, you wrote a script with very few errors. It has a solid structure, clear voices, and scenes that flow with a natural rhythm. That’s not common in someone without a track record as a screenwriter," Cristian remarked in a neutral tone, without judgment.
Cristian saw that the script was nearly perfect. At most, it only needed light touch-ups in the dialogue and little else. This is unusual for early drafts of a script, especially from a 20-year-old writer with his first screenplay.
"Yes, I understand. It’s not normal. Acting has always been my main thing, but ever since I was a child I also enjoyed writing my own stories and imagining myself in those worlds, embodying those characters," Owen said with a smile, as if recalling when he was a kid letting his imagination soar.
"This script, in particular, felt more natural to write. Maybe because part of it is inspired by me, but also because it wasn’t the first script I wrote," Owen added casually.
Cristian tilted his head slightly, intrigued. "This isn’t your first script?" he asked.
"No. The first one was Paranormal Activity. I didn’t post it on my Black List profile because I produced it with my own money. It was an independent project, with a very limited budget, but we managed to film it entirely and we’re now in post-production. We just submitted the first cut to the Palm Springs festival," Owen said, as if giving context naturally.
Cristian observed him attentively for a few seconds, his expression unchanged, then jotted down a quick note in his notebook. He didn’t comment further, but the interest was clear.
"Interesting. Going back to The Spectacular Now, the story has a lot of potential. And not just because of the content, but because of the clarity with which it’s written. We’re interested in moving forward with a purchase option. We want to secure the rights to develop it with you as the credited screenwriter," Cristian said, returning to the purpose of the meeting.
Owen nodded.
He knew that, generally, when a production company becomes interested in a script, they don’t buy it outright. First, they acquire an option agreement, which allows them to secure the rights for a set period of time. During that period, no one else can buy or produce the script.
If the production company decides to move forward, then they execute a full purchase, with a much higher payment. But that only happens if the project is considered ready for production.
If A24 decided to produce it, they would buy the script outright, where the payment would be much more generous.
"That sounds good. Would I have some kind of participation during development?" Owen asked, without much hesitation.
"Yes, you’ll be involved as the screenwriter. You’ll work alongside our development team to polish some details. The text already works very well, but there are always things that can be adjusted. That said," he added, his tone clear but not harsh, "if we go ahead with the option and the script is fully purchased, A24 will become the exclusive owner. That means you won’t have control over decisions like casting, the director, or the final cut of the film. It’s already quite exceptional that we’re keeping you on as the writer during this stage. Normally, we would bring in someone with more experience," Cristian replied calmly.
Owen listened without surprise. It was what he expected.
"That seems reasonable," he answered calmly. "I appreciate being involved at least in that part. For me, it’s already a great opportunity."
He could build connections within A24, and that was valuable.
Cristian nodded with a slight smile, satisfied with the answer, then said:
"We’ll send you the draft of the contract in the next few days. If you agree with the terms, we’ll move forward."
"Great. I’ll keep an eye out," said Owen.
They exchanged a few more brief and cordial words, then said goodbye with polite smiles. The call ended, and the screen returned to the dark reflection of the laptop.
...
Interior – A24 Office – Los Angeles
Cristian stayed looking at the black screen for a moment, thoughtful. Then he set his pen down on his notebook, lowered his gaze, and muttered softly, "Interesting…"
He reread what he had written down:
Owen Ashford – 20 years old – Screenwriter and actor – Paranormal Activity (indie, post-production).
He repeated the name, this time as if committing it to memory. He turned the page, but didn’t cross anything out. He only underlined discreetly the words Paranormal Activity.
It wasn’t common. Not at that age. A solid script that had managed to catch the genuine interest of a studio like A24, with a very strong evaluation on The Black List. And, on top of that, another script, self-financed, filmed, and in post-production, where he himself played the lead.
According to what he mentioned in the video call, Paranormal Activity had been submitted to the Palm Springs Festival, which implied a certain level of confidence in the film. And if his writing was consistent, maybe the movie would work. Or at least, it had something.
Cristian narrowed his eyes for a moment. There was a blind spot in all this: the acting. Playing a leading role isn’t easy, and a writer who self-finances his own project might be acting simply to avoid paying for a lead actor.
But he remembered Owen’s words, that acting had always been his goal since childhood.
He opened a new tab in his browser and searched: Backstage. Once on the website, he went to Find Talent: Actor & Performers: Owen Ashford.
Professional photo, age, height, eye color: gray. Jet-black hair, pale skin, symmetrical face, attractive.
'Gray eyes?' Cristian thought, raising an eyebrow. In the Backstage photos they did look gray, with a metallic tint.
But during the video call they had seemed like very light blue, maybe because of the camera lighting or image quality.
Driven by curiosity, he Googled what percentage of the population had this eye color and was surprised to learn it was shared by only about 3% of the world.
With this eye color and facial features, he already had the raw material of a model. Still, if his acting was bad, good looks alone couldn’t save him. Though, there are cases of bad actors with good looks…
Then he clicked into Owen’s profile, where his main reels and a few short clips appeared. He had done a few commercials and a couple of short films with supporting roles.
Wasting no more time, Cristian clicked on the main reel.
The image appeared: a simple living room, natural light coming in through the window. Owen facing the camera, no cuts. A medium shot.
There was no elaborate set, no professional sound. Just a direct performance, without embellishments.
In seconds, Cristian noticed something. This wasn’t an amateur performance.
The rhythm, the pauses, the breathing, the gaze… There was presence. Owen knew how to hold the camera. He conveyed emotions without needing to raise his voice or exaggerate gestures. His tone was authentic, you genuinely believed in the character he was playing.
Cristian leaned forward, intrigued. Not by the setting, clearly homemade, but by the actor’s technical ability.
He knew Owen’s professional experience was limited: a few commercials, supporting roles in short films. Nothing that could explain that level of naturalness. So he didn’t label it as experience. He called it talent.
And that talent, combined with an appearance that worked perfectly on camera, plus the ability to write not one but two scripts, made him something you didn’t come across every day.
A very complete profile, and still under the industry’s radar.
But Cristian wasn’t impulsive. In his role as Creative Executive, he had room to make decisions, propose names, develop relationships with new talent. But he wasn’t going to rush. A24 didn’t move that way.
For now, his plan was clear: observe how the option agreement for the script developed. See how Owen worked with them, whether he responded professionally and collaborated during development.
Maybe he could ask Owen to share the first cut of Paranormal Activity. Something that would let him evaluate how he performed on screen within a complete narrative, not just in a reel or an isolated scene.
It was still too early to decide anything concrete, but what he had seen was enough to justify keeping an eye on him.
He closed his notebook and moved on to his next task.
Comments
Calvin Ellis
❤️Thank you for this moment.❤️
