Opportunity found me last October.  It found me in an unexpected place, but right on the map of where I’ve told you that opportunity is looking.  Because I was ready with a portfolio of good material, I got a job as a writer in Hollywood.  Hey, isn’t that what I’ve been telling you all along in my book and on this blog?  I sold an idea to a Hollywood production company purely by accident, but entirely because I was ready with what they wanted at exactly the right moment. 

To tell you the truth, my wife sold the idea.  It all started last fall when she was at a baby shower.  She happened to be seated next to a woman she had never met.  This woman was an executive at a production company.  My wife and the executive got to chatting.  My wife said that I was a writer.  Fortunately, the executive had heard of me.  The executive asked if I had any ideas that might appeal to women.  My wife said that, as a matter of fact, I did.  My wife could make that statement because I am always developing ideas on spec just in case such an opportunity presents itself.

My wife then pitched my story idea to this executive.  The pitch took maybe ten seconds.  The executive liked the idea, gave my wife her business card, and told my wife to have me call her.  I called the executive a couple of days later.  We chatted.  I pitched the idea to her again over the phone.  She asked me a few questions about the concept.  Because I’d worked carefully on this idea for a long time I was able to answer her questions satisfactorily.  She said she’d get back to me.  A few weeks later I had another phone conversation with this same executive which then led to a meeting with the creative head of the company.  That meeting led to a sale.

On this blog, and in my book, Elephant Bucks, I advise you to have a large and diverse portfolio of material ready for when opportunity comes knocking.  I also advise you to put yourself inside the Hollywood universe so that you are close to the action.  You never know when or how you might meet somebody who can hire you.

Look what happened to me.  First of all, I had already developed an idea on spec.  I had written outlines and a script on my own time.  I had material ready.  The baby shower that my wife was invited to was not given by some Hollywood big-shot.  The baby shower was for a woman that my wife befriended in a class at UCLA Extension.  My wife’s pregnant friend lived inside the Hollywood universe.  She happened to have another friend who was an executive at a production company.  It was serendipitous that the executive and my wife ended up sitting next to each other at the shower.  But you never know how or when opportunity is going to knock.  When opportunity knocked this time, I was ready.  Or, to be more specific, my wife was ready.  I had something to offer that this company was looking to buy, and opportunity found a surprising way to bring us all together - through an interior design class at UCLA.

I’ve been working on this project since January.  I spent most of my time developing the two-hour story.  I wrote draft after draft of the outline.  After each draft I’d get notes from the executives at the company.  If you’ve read my book, you know how much I believe in outlines.  We spent months working on the story before I wrote a page of script.  It was all worth it.  I have written numerous drafts of the script in the last few months, but the story has held up nicely because we got it right during the outline stage.

In September, the company hired a producer.  A director came on board a couple of weeks ago.  I’m going to turn in a final production draft of the script next week.  Casting will begin soon.  The project is scheduled to go before cameras in December.

“Does your husband have any ideas that might appeal to women?” the executive asked my wife a year ago.  My wife said, “Yes.  He does.”  Because my idea was simple and had a strong hook, and because my idea could be explained in a single sentence, the executive could instantly see its potential.  Because my idea was contemporary and because the story could be told on a small budget, it sold.

Opportunity knocked.  I was ready.  A similar stroke of luck can happen to you if you build a large and diverse portfolio of strong material on your own time, and then place yourself where opportunity can find you.