Jargon

My buddy Fleming and I have a side project where we curate industry idioms.

Please help me grow this list! Hit me up with your suggestions at evanwyck@icloud.com.

exec-speak for "lunch"

a designated time in the future where you'll probably have the same conversation you had 3 weeks ago

agent-speak for a trial run. (*See also: Throwing You At The Wall To See What Sticks)

I didn't love it

"I hated it."

I don't have him/her right now

"They're sitting right behind me frantically waving their arms and mouthing 'I'm not here'"

"intellectual" property or "rights." Seemingly wayyyy more important than an actual script. Worry about the script later. It'll be like a mad lib at that point.

it wasn't one of our top three or four submissions

a nice way of saying they hated it. (Note the humiliating rationale that if only you had come in 4th, you might have had a shot.)

it's not going any further

no.

It's not my first rodeo

I'm pretty good at pretending I know what I'm doing

I want to be in the [your name here] business

something a producer usually says when they like more than one of your scripts. Expect them to "hustle" longer than normal before they get permanently distracted by something else.

move the needle

one step closer to that elusive "green light"

no.

send it up the flagpole, see who salutes

agent-speak for finally sending your script out

skin in the game

when a production company spends more than a dollar optioning your script

spitballing (writer)

when you're given suggestions or ideas on how to improve your script

spitballing (exec)

when you're now being told what to write

take the temperature

something your agent says when they're trying to determine how much support your project has (*See: Not Going Any Further and/or Pass)

set a call or a meeting in the near future. Often used in conjunction with Circle Back.

throwing you at the wall to see what sticks

more agent-speak for a trial run. Usually an agent says they're NOT doing this as you hear them typing furiously in the background. Not quite the same as being Hip-pocketed.

what's the reason to make this movie

A question that every Exec will ask if there are no attachments, no financing, no pre-sales, no distribution, and the film is not based on a true story

we're not talking a page-1 rewrite

"Ummm... do you have anything else?"