It took me a long time to understand that Hollywood folks' thought processes were distinct from everything. What finally brought it home for me was when I realized I was semi-consciously translating things my reps were saying in seemingly plain English into what they actually meant. In my experience, the difference in perspective between H'wood people and everyone else is most pronounced when it comes to anything scheduling-related. (I should point out that all this is spec work related--I'm hoping things tighten up a little when it comes to something someone's invested actual money in. Admittedly, it's a very faint hope at this point.) When I hear H'wooders say "I'm doing it right now", I translate it as "I plan to do it today some time." If they're doing it tonight, they mean they plan to do it tomorrow some time. Maybe. "I'll get it to you by the end of the week" means "I'll get it to you by the end of some week." "Soon" means the exact opposite of soon. And all of that only holds true until their next phone call, when what they said to the last guy gets tossed out the nearest window. Early this year I finally reached the point where I only ask my reps/producers/directors about timeframes in order to 1) further refine my Hollywood translation skills, 2) make them aware that I'm keeping track of that stuff, and 3) wring some grim amusement out of the ridiculous amount of time I'm spending waiting for notes on a script they're "excited about" (another term that doesn't mean exactly the same thing in H'wood as it does in my world).

Andrew, you might want to read another TBOS post: Hurry up and wait. It's maddening, isn't it?

Yeah, how is it that most of us can write an entire script faster than a producer can give notes on it? :) Well, it's all part of the fun, isn't it...

Oh yeah. I spent *years* being absolutely infuriated by the waiting game--not that I was waiting, but because I was waiting much longer than I'd been told I would be. The sentence I've never said to my manager the most is "Why are you lying to me?" One of my agents finally got me to adjust my thinking a few months ago when she scolded me for not writing new material during the two weeks I'd waited for notes on a script I was supposed to get within 24 hours. I'm not a great multitasker and I work fastest/most efficiently if I can build momentum on something without being distracted by something else. In spite of this, my agent seemed genuinely perplexed that I'd hold off working on something else because I believed I'd soon have notes to revise a "high priority" script with. Since then I've given up on the idea of sustaining a roll from first draft to the going out stage. I now make it a point to always have a list of four or five things to do while I wait for a response on the project everyone's excited about (just not excited enough to actually read and give notes for any time soon.) I sent my reps a spec pilot they asked for in early November just before they broke for Christmas. I sent them a second one (which I'd been working on for months before I finally managed to break the story in early December) on Boxing Day, and if I don't mess around on Monday I'll have another (this one new--I came up with the idea early last week and it broke really fast) in their inbox by the time they return on the 3rd. I expect I'll get notes on the last one sometime in June. Maybe. But I think I've finally wrapped my mind around the idea that things happen on their own schedule in Hollywood; that schedule has nothing to do with the schedule various parties may give me; and I've stopped taking other people's not meeting their own deadlines related to my stuff personally.

Fear... Hollywood types are driven by fear, moreso than any other industry and industry town. Fear of losing ones job, fear of growing old, fear of being the guy responsible for the next big clunker movie and the fear of not being successful. Difficult way to live in an industry where nobody knows anything.