Daily Dialogue — November 8, 2015

MILES: Hey, Evelyn, it’s your favorite client.
EVELYN: (ON THE PHONE) How’s the trip?
MILES: Good, good. Drinking some good wines and kicking back, you know. So what’s happening? Still no word?
EVELYN: Actually there is word. I spoke to Keith Kurtzman this morning.
MILES: And?
EVELYN: And… they’re passing. Conundrum’s passing. He said they really liked it. They really wanted to do it, but they just couldn’t figure out how to market it. He said it was a tough call.
MILES: Huh.
EVELYN: I’m sorry, Miles. (off his silence) So I don’t know where that leaves us. I’m not sure how much more mileage I can get out of continuing to submit it. I think it’s one of those unfortunate cases in the business right now — a fabulous book with no home. The whole industry’s gotten gutless. It’s not about the quality of the books. It’s about the marketing.

Miles is at a loss for words. A distant RUMBLE begins to sound, the familiar harbinger of an anxiety attack.

— Sideways (2004), screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, novel by Rex Pickett

The Daily Dialogue theme for the month: Writers and Writing.

Trivia: Rex Pickett later produced a sequel in novel form named “Vertical”, in which Miles writes a best seller and is again reunited with his mother and Jack. However according to Pickett, Alexander Payne had no interest in directing a film version of sequel.

Dialogue On Dialogue: “They’re passing.” Oh, boy, as a writer, you have to get used to hearing this. Passing on your spec. Passing on your pitch. Passing on you for an OWA. Passing on you for representation. There are a lot of obstacles to being a successful writer. Getting passed on is enough to… uh… well… like Miles… drive you to drink.