Part 38: Sandra Bullock & Angelina Jolie, My Meeting with Mike Goldberg at Story Kitchen, Hangin' with Naomi Grossman and Some Encouraging News!
- Amy Giaquinto
- Jun 30
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 14
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June 2025
When you're a mom, the best intentions are often derailed by life. I had every intention of editing and sending my letter to Scarlett Johansson, but I simply haven't had time to get the job done. That's on my list of priorities as soon as I have more than a second to think and a few brain cells to focus. This summer has been busier than ever with physical therapy, doctor's visits, kids' activities, camps, routine appointments, and necessary summer travel. It's pure insanity.
When I left off, I'd sent an email to the VP of Development at Utopia Distribution asking for $5 million. Well, after not hearing back, last Friday, I sent a follow-up email. I don't imagine I'll hear back from the VP of Development, but I could be pleasantly surprised. I'd love to think she's in meetings to see how to help finance my film, but I know better. Oh, well, moving on.
I also sent a follow-up email to a contact of mine at Innovative Artists since I hadn't heard back from him, either. Can you guess what happened? Crickets. I plan to send one more follow-up before moving on, just in case. If his email's inbox looks anything like mine... Let's just say I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
In the meantime, I received a message from my friend, Emmy-Nominated actress, Naomi Grossman, best known for her role as Pepper in the second and forth seasons of AMERICAN HORROR STORY. She was coming to town and had organized a little gathering at a local bar/grill in Parker, CO. I was excited my schedule allowed me to head down to Parker for a visit. It was so much fun! Naomi and I had attended the same high school,
and she'd invited several high school teachers, people I haven't seen since I graduated.
I reconnected with my history teacher and the choir teacher who played piano for me while enduring my terrible audition for the musical, "Chess", an audition I'd been last-minute dared to do, a terrifying audition during which I sang the Lita Ford/Ozzy Osborne song, "When I Close My Eyes Forever," despite never having sung in public before in my life.
Yes, go ahead and laugh! I'm laughing. My only saving grace was that I have perfect pitch, but perfect pitch does not a great singer make. Just because I could harmonize with the piano, didn't mean I could sing.
When I'd finished the song, I just remember the choir teacher smiling at me kindly and telling me how I sang like I played piano. Maybe that was because I did play piano and I didn't know squat about singing. To this day, I truly honor and value his integrity and the fact he didn't completely crush what little self-esteem I had at the time.
Hanging out with Naomi and her friends was great. I had a lot of fabulous conversations, met a lot of new people, saw some people from other Naomi gatherings. It's always a gift when she comes to town. She has a way of bringing really great people together!
Anyway, while I was there, we talked about the state of the industry. She said she's headed to India to get her Yoga Certification. She said that the industry is in shambles, and she expects AI to replace actors in the not-so-distant future. Her way of coping is to become a Yoga Instructor because, in her words, "I don't think AI will ever replace a real-life Yoga Instructor." It's really saying something when someone as talented as Naomi is struggling to find work. Ugh!!!
Moving on, the following week I called to check-in with Stephanie Rogers, my manager, and see how she was doing after a surgery she'd had. During the conversation, we brainstormed ways to reach Sandra Bullock and Angelina Jolie to play the lead in THE ONLY WAY OUT.
She spoke with Marty (the day before he left for Malta) and Marty said he had worked with Angelina Jolie's manager in the past and would contact him when he got back from Malta. Stephanie also realized she had an additional phone number for Fortis Films, Sandra Bullock's production company, so she passed it along to Marty. Again, Marty said he'd call when he got back from his trip. Stephanie also followed-up with him on another production company, Radar Pictures, I wanted him to pitch to. Again, Marty said he'd get on it when he got back. So again, we wait.
Marty's trip to Malta should be coming to an end in the next couple of days and I'm hoping Marty he's able to score financing for THE ONLY WAY OUT. At the same time, I have a hunch that if someone had agreed to finance the film, he'd have called Stephanie and me to tell us the good news. There's still time, but I'm not feeling overly optimistic. Damn!
In the meantime, I met with Mike Goldberg, the head of Story Kitchen, a company that specializes in adapting video games into films. I was so excited to meet with him, but let's just say it was one of those games and I was NOT on my A-game for the meeting. Not even close. I hadn't been sleeping, so I was beat.
Worse, I was beyond stressed, furious, and frustrated. I'd had major surgery ACDF (spinal fusion surgery) and here I was getting completely ghosted by the neurosurgeon's office. This was not okay. I was not okay.
Immediately before my meeting with Mike, I'd just finished emailing the neurosurgeon's office, just finished leaving yet another (4th) message for the office supervisor, begging for someone to call or email me to answer a bunch of unanswered patient portal questions I'd been asking for the last 2.5 months, pertaining to my recent ACDF (spine fusion) surgery.
It wasn't more than 30-seconds after I'd hit (maybe punched is a better word) send in the patient portal, that I put on a smile and hopped on the Zoom meeting with Mike. Of course, the beautiful pitch, all the wonderful things I had wanted to say disappeared into the ether of my foggy, raging, sleep-deprived brain.
I have so much experience screenwriting, editing, directing, etc. I have a great education, and yet I came across as a bumbling, inexperienced idiot, a novice screenwriter who didn't know squat. I also completely whiffed pitching the other projects I had. It was an absolutely epic, smoking, flaming, exploding fail, the likes of which make a SpaceX rocket explosion look like a tiny fireworks show.
It wasn't all bad. Mike was genuinely kind, and we talked a lot about the state of the industry and the projects he's had luck with setting up and other projects he can't for the life of him setup (all amazing, incredible, but original action scripts). We talked video games, of course, and ironically when I told him about one of the games I thought should be turned into a film, he laughed and said he'd just pitched a story around that game to Amazon. That was fun.
By the end of the call, Mike said he couldn't send an unknown writer to one of the studios to adapt any video game into a film or do a rewrite. Studios want known writers, writers with real, feature credits. He the offered to a resource/mentor of sorts for me as I marched forward with my career. We wished each other luck and said goodbye. All things considering, I guess it wasn't that bad. I enjoyed talking to Mike and really appreciated his offer of support, so I wrote him a handwritten thank you card, mailed it, and moved on. You win some, you lose some and some are a draw. I'd say this was a draw.
On the bright side, I received an email that THE ONLY WAY OUT is moving forward as a SEMIFINALIST in The Writer's Lab's screenplay competition. The Writer's Lab is a mentoring, script development lab dedicated to helping women writers over the age of 40. I've been wanting to submit to The Writer's Lab since before I turned 40, so, regardless of the outcome, I'm incredibly proud of myself for FINALLY making it happen. It would be an unbelievably amazing opportunity to be selected to attend The Writer's Lab in New York this November. I guess we'll see what happens.
In between the craziness, the family and I had a chance to slip away to Idaho and Wyoming to celebrate my brother-in-law's 40th birthday! That was a much-needed break, a reminder that no matter how crazy and frustrating and infuriating things get, your family (I hope this is true for all of you) and Mother Nature will always be there to bring you back down to earth, put things into perspective, and remind you of what truly matters.
For now, that's all I have. Stay tuned for the next post. Hopefully, Marty will have been successful in Malta and hopefully he can reach Sandra Bullock and Angelina Jolie's manager. My fingers and toes are crossed.
To be continued...
In the meantime, check out my newest MAMA FIX IT episode. Thanks so much for your support!
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