First, happy new year to you both.
Also: What's happening, guys? Did you talk Friday night after all? For a week now that one conversation, that first conversation I egged you on about, got pushed and pushed and pushed. I'm getting pressure from Julia to know where things stand; and while I can handle HER, the fact is: this clock is ticking, and if we don't deliver this book, a book that she's excited about (and you can tell she wasn't excited about the outline, which she feels was done with the back of the hand. They'll cancel the contract with nothing more than a shrug if they don't have a damn strong draft in hand on March 20th. This is a rich deal from Amazon's perspective; they'll cut-and-run, and save themselves $175,000, if you don't get serious. And just think of all the assholes out there who'll jump on the story and submit you all manner of humiliation and public scorn. Goodbye movie prospects, goodbye income, goodbye credibility for future books (since you couldn't deliver this one, the obvious one), goodbye lectures,
and on and on and on. That 'exciting' book Julia's going to demand requires tons-more detail interview-wise, to say nothing of shitloads of serious--FULL-TIME--writing.
Guys: this needs to be your full-time job, starting TODAY. YOU CAN'T WRITE A BOOK WITH THE BACK OF YOUR HAND. So pull back from your ops, your tweets, OWS, Stratfor, OpCartel, all that stuff: get this thing done. Barrett, if you're not spending eight hours a day on this book, starting right now, then we're dead. Gregg, if you're not INSISTING on making time for Barrett, every fucking day, and if you're not insisting, also, that Barrett is working eight hours a day on this book, and making that possible by making time on the phone and answering scads of correspondence every single day, you're guaranteeing that THIS BOOK WILL NOT GET WRITTEN.
No joke, guys. Do you remember that originally you'd told me you'd deliver the book January 1? That's today.
Please don't tell me about other responsibilities, higher priorities, mitigating circumstances. I don't want to hear about progress you've been making at the margins, Barrett. The standards for this kind of narrative are excruciatingly high, and we still don't even have an outline that Julia really believes in. I don't care about the outline, so long as the story's told beautifully. But I'd say we've got about a 5% chance of making that happen, unless you guys get serious here. 8 HOURS A DAY, or we're facing a very public, very costly failure.
-D
________________________________
Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House
________________________________
From: Barrett Brown [barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 5:24 PM
To: Daniel Conaway
Cc: greggatghc@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Housh/Brown ANONYMOUS outline
No, we're supposed to talk this afternoon, though.
From: Gregg Housh [mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com>]
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 10:38 AM
To: Daniel Conaway
Cc: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com<mailto:barriticus@gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: Housh/Brown ANONYMOUS outline
Same time, 10pm my time.
From: Gregg Housh [greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com>]
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 11:34 PM
To: Barrett Brown
Cc: Daniel Conaway
Subject: Re: Housh/Brown ANONYMOUS outline
We have to start tomorrow. The night did not work out in a way which would let me do this. I had a server go down and am just now at a point where I am taking a few minutes break from it. Then, back to work for a few more hours probably.
On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 7:24 AM, Daniel Conaway <
dconaway@writershouse.com<mailto:
dconaway@writershouse.com><mailto:
dconaway@writershouse.com<mailto:
dconaway@writershouse.com>>> wrote:
Hi, gents--
So Gregg: you've got to make time for Barrett to fill in these gaps. Barrett's point about crunch-time is absolutely right. No joke. You guys now need to be in constant communication with each other. And these conversations I've been arranging with film people? Well, obv it'll be great for all of us when we sell film rights; but I'm going to tell CAA that we need to postpone those until the book's done. Every hour you would have spent on the phone in LA is an hour I need you to call Barrett instead. He needs your focus more than we need an early film sale. This has to be the absolute priority; the film stuff will have to wait.
Also, Barrett: by writing to Julia about what you need from Gregg, you signal to her that this communication I allude to isn't already happening, and we don't want her to know too much about how the sausage gets made, lest it diminish her confidence / enthusiasm. So keep J out of the loop on that stuff going forward, OK? Use me to communicate to her.
For example, she asks when she'll have the first chapter. Let me know how it's going (perhaps we can discuss that amongst the three of us) and I'll answer her--for the time being, that's how this should work, OK?
For now: I want you guys to set firm times for a minimum of three phone calls per week. These aren't optional; even if you're not sure what the topic will be, it doesn't matter. You guys HAVE to be speaking, on a constant and regular basis. And Gregg, I need you to be proactive--ask Barrett what he needs, where he has gaps, and then fill them in for me.
Can you both email me back about this? Thanks.
-Dan
Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2011 09:34 PM
To: Cheiffetz, Julia <juliac@amazon.com<mailto:juliac@amazon.com><mailto:juliac@amazon.com<mailto:juliac@amazon.com>>>; Gregg Housh <greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com><mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com>>>
Cc: Daniel Conaway; Salisbury, Katie <katiesal@amazon.com<mailto:katiesal@amazon.com><mailto:katiesal@amazon.com<mailto:katiesal@amazon.com>>>
Subject: Re: Housh/Brown ANONYMOUS outline
I'll take a look at these comments when I get home. If you're referring to the section on the scientology affair, this was done over the course of a dinner I had with gregg in nyc a few weeks ago, and the text it was based on was written with the intention of appearing later in the book, rather than the first chapter, which is where it's now slated to appear, so it doesn't yet have all the background and spelled-out implications that we'll be putting into the final product. Additionally, I hadn't yet gotten all the details from him that would be needed to truly bring it alive. Regarding that, I'll need gregg to go through his e-mails from that era and pick out any text that might be useful for me to draw upon, and now that we're approaching crunch time, I'll need him to also start jotting down notes in the notebook I suggested he get so that things that occur to him/are remembered throughout the day will also be available. As for getting you a chapter, I've been working on the second one this week, which consists of his own personal story from childhood til his arrest, and the two of us are scheduled to talk again this weekend so that I can get further info from him on his warez days, as currently I only have an overview. Altogether, I'll need more info from gregg on some of these topics if we're to have a chapter and a half on them from birth to release from info. One thing that occurs to me: you might write up a short list of questions that strike you as especially interesting about what you know of his life thus far and send them to both of us so he can start thinking about them. In the meantime I've gotten a lot done on the other chapters but still plan on finishing chapter two first if I'm able to get the necessary details from gregg in the next few days.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
________________________________
From: "Cheiffetz, Julia" <juliac@amazon.com<mailto:juliac@amazon.com><mailto:juliac@amazon.com<mailto:juliac@amazon.com>>>
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:37:20 -0800
To: Barrett Brown<barriticus@gmail.com<mailto:barriticus@gmail.com><mailto:barriticus@gmail.com<mailto:barriticus@gmail.com>>>; Gregg Housh<greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com><mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com>>>
Cc: Daniel Conaway<dconaway@WritersHouse.com>; Salisbury, Katie<katiesal@amazon.com<mailto:katiesal@amazon.com><mailto:katiesal@amazon.com<mailto:katiesal@amazon.com>>>
Subject: FW: Housh/Brown ANONYMOUS outline
Hi Barrett, Hi Gregg,
See my comments attached. The book should be colorful narrative that is fun to read. You dive into the weeds too quickly without explaining what is at stake, or how Anonymous is an emerging form of civil disobedience. With each chapter you should ask yourself, why does this matter? What is at stake? Why should the reader care? And what is the central theme of this chapter.
When can you get first chapter to me?
Happy to talk next week.
Best,
Julia
From: Daniel Conaway [mailto:dconaway@WritersHouse.com<mailto:dconaway@WritersHouse.com><mailto:dconaway@WritersHouse.com<mailto:dconaway@WritersHouse.com>>]
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:50 PM
To: Cheiffetz, Julia
Cc: 'Barrett Brown'; greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com><mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:greggatghc@gmail.com>>; Stephen Barr
Subject: Housh/Brown ANONYMOUS outline
Julia
Just got off the phone w/ Barrett; heres his revised outline. Barrett continues to draw Gregg out in terms of personal stories, so therell be a LOT more than what you saw in the proposal. But he and Gregg dont feel that theres quite enough material to toggle back-and-forth (a chapter to Gregg, a chapt to Anonymous, and so on)or, to put it another way, getting enough MORE out of Gregg to make it work as a (roughly) 50-50 split would take months longer than weve got. Nonetheless, they understand well that there needs to be a lot more Gregg woven throughout.
Re the outline: Basically Barretts changed it so that the second chapter includes the bulk of Gregg's story from birth to his arrest. The third chapter begins and continues with his incarceration, release, and introduction to the nascent Anonymous culture. Subsequent chapters will expand on events mentioned in chapter two while sometimes including new ones, with such things being integrated in at those points where they may be relevant to the Anonymous narrative.
Meanwhile, FYI, theres a TON of interest in HollywoodGregg speaks with producers and directors two-three times a week; several hes had multiple conversations with; theres interest for feature, theres interest at HBO
Two producers flew Gregg out to LA Sunday night for a face-to-face meeting, and last night they made an option offer for feature. Its not yet what were looking for, but I feel confident that well have something to brag about in the months ahead.
Im sorry for holding this material as I didthese growing pains have been fraught, as Im sure youre sick of hearing, but anyway heres the outline, and of course were ready to talk whenever you are.
Best,
Dan
Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House
(212) 696-3825<tel:%28212%29%20696-3825><tel:%28212%29%20696-3825>
--
Regards,
Barrett Brown
512-560-2302<tel:512-560-2302><tel:512-560-2302<tel:512-560-2302>>
--
Regards,
Barrett Brown
512-560-2302<tel:512-560-2302><tel:512-560-2302<tel:512-560-2302>>