What a Day!

Wow. I have had such a perfect day.

Seriously.

Of course, the main reason is that my movie deal has been just ESPLODING! But also, Wednesday is Bookscan day and I had better numbers than I was anticipating. Yay! It is also birthday week in the Pike house and my husband's birthday was Monday and my son's birthday is tomorrow. That means much cake and ice cream was sitting around my house today. (Notice the "was" part.:D) And then, I found out this afternoon that after dropping off the NYT Bestsellers list last week, Wings jumped back on this week! (And this is before the movie announcement; go Wings go!) Also, I reached an all time low Amazon ranking of 736 this afternoon. I'd never even been in three figures before! I gave a pretty good shout the hour I hit three figures.:) Then I went to my favorite class at my new gym and soaked in the hot tub when I was done.

Perfect. Day.

And a day I have been looking forward to for a long time. Since January. No really.

You ready for the story? Here it is.

At the end of January, I got an email from my agent letting me know that my film agent had given Wings to Miley Cyrus' agent and Miley's agent thought it was perfect for her, and was going to give it to Miley. There was much squeeing, and also reminding myself that this was SO far from a done deal. But it was fun to think of the possibilities.

Then, about a month later, Jodi emails me to let me know that Miley's Mom loved Wings, and was now going to give it to Miley. Well, that was definitely a step in the right direction as well.

Fast forward two months. To May first. Like, four days before my book comes out. I'm packing for tour and really haven't given the whole Miley thing another thought. Hollywood does this. They get all excited about something and then . . . . nothing. They are infamous for that. I figured it was a dead end and, well, that was okay. Jodi calls and tells me, seriously, like in one breath, Mileylovedthebookandwantstobeattachedandtheproducersoftwilightalsowanttogetattached andtheyaremeetingforlunchtoday.

WHAT?!?!? My dead end just turned into a six-lane freeway!!!! So I leave on tour with hopes of hearing something Any. Day.

Fast forward another month. I am sitting watching the amazingness that is WICKED. Intermission comes, I dry my eyes (good theatre always makes me cry) and go out to the lobby and check my mail. Jodi again (I LOVE my agent!!) letting me know that the attachments are official and that Wings has gone out to every major studio in Hollywood. Whoa!!! I love how these things come out of the blue.

So then, like when books go out on submission, you hope for a fast sale, but knowing you have to be realistic, you hunker down for a long wait.

Four days later I am leaving on tour for San Francisco and Jodi emails me. I read the email as I am walking down the concourse to my place. She says that Disney is preparing an offer and that she should have it in the next day or two.

People, I walked onto the wrong plane.

I kid you not! I almost went to Kalispell, Monatana. I was in my seat with my seat belt fastened before anyone realized I was in the wrong place. TSA=FTW.

So I jittered through the next 48 hours until two competing offers landed on Jodi's desk on Friday, June 5th. Negotiations went on all day and there were many phone calls from Jodi. Finally, at almost seven that night, Disney basically said, "That's our final offer, take it or leave it, you have ten minutes." (Apparently that's how a lot of movie deals end. *shrug*) I got the final call in the car on the way to my first event with Claudia Gray, Kim Harrison, and Kelley Armstrong for Supernatural Summer. That was a good day too!

Okay, so now the nitty gritty:

1.) Disney has OPTIONED the movie rights. This means that we are still several steps away from actually having a movie. At the moment my producers (who are AMAZING!) are looking for someone to write the script. They have spent much of the last month reading writing samples. After that there are about twenty steps to go through before the director (ha! One of those steps is finding a director!) says, "Action." At ANY point along the way, the whole project could just be dropped. So although I have done my share of screaming and yelling over this, it's not a movie yet, and may not ever be. But I have some very excited producers and, apparently, that is a big step in the right direction.

2.) My producers are contracted; they have their own in writing agreement with Disney to produce the film. My talent, Miley, is "attached." That is a very fluid agreement. What that basically means is those of you with your hearts set on Miley, don't get too attached to her just yet. It might not happen. And those of you who are violently opposed, *shrug* it might not happen. But it might!!

3.) Please don't hate Miley. No really. I am an author. The most important thing about Wings for me is, the book, Wings. The biggest advantage of any movie based on my book, in my opinion, is that it is basically a two-hour long advertisement for my book. It gets the title out there! It alerts people that my book exists! Even movies that completely flop (and let's face it guys, no movie with Miley Cyrus in it is going to flop) raise the number of reader who go out and read that book and its sequels. That is important to me. So aside from any appearance/acting/whatever that you feel that Miley may or may not bring to the cast of Wings, she brings her fans. I want all those Miley fans out there to know about Wings, to give Wings a read. And there are a lot of Miley fans out there. And yes, most of them are tween girls. But, um, last time I checked, I write for tween girls!! My adult fans are some seriously awesome icing on the cake, but in the end, I am most happy to put a smile on a teenage girl's face.:)

And really, Laurel is a 5'2 lithe, cute girl who plays the guitar and sings. Miley is a 5'2 lithe, cute girl who plays the guitar and sings. I honestly think she could bring a lot to this movie, and I am really excited to have her onboard.

4.) I have gotten a lot, a LOT of emails wondering about casting and auditions. I have absolutely zero control over those decisions. No, less than zero. I have negative 4.25 control over those decisions.:) If there is any kind of open casting call for extras, I will let you know, but I don't believe that is standard procedure for Disney. So sorry! But that just isn't something I have control over.

But all in all, I am thrilled with Disney, I am thrilled with Wyck and Marty and Amanda, and I gotta tell you, I am thrilled with Miley.

I'm just all around thrilled!!


Linky-linky: A couple of highlights of the day:

People.com (as in People Magazine, whoo-hoo!), and a really good article on MTV.com (they actually did some research and were one of the only sites all day who spelled Wyck's name correctly.)

And I just died laughing at the comments thread on Oh No They Didn't, but as the language on the whole site is not teen appropriate, you'll have to look that one up on your own if you want to read it.:)

Ciao!