Greed: How Three Self-Indulgent Idiots Ruined My Multi-Million Dollar Network Tv Deals

By Angelo Bell

They say that good luck is where opportunity meets preparation. Unfortunately, regardless of how much practice has been established, naiveté, greed, arrogance, and stupidity will always reign supreme.

This is my story. It is a story of how four years of pitching to one of the largest Network television companies in America resulted in two television pilot deals, and how the mere idea of money – not a lot of money – made three of my colleagues lose their minds. They went for the quick buck instead of the long-term financial and creative strategy, and we – meaning me – lost everything.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angelo Bell
• Release date: Jan 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215556191

Angelo Bell

Angelo is an author, a screenwriter, an award-winning director and a producer with credits in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the UAE. His blog has been active for longer than most and he freely shares his creative experiences. I have organized industry contests, worked film festivals and supported award shows. His experiences include a decade of making films, screenwriting, independent-filmmaking, and pitching TV shows (he had TV pilot development deals). His first love has always been epic sci-fi/fantasies and action thrillers. He hopes to merge the two genres in his book-writing career. In fact, he has his next three sci-fi thrillers already titled, outlined and ready to write.

Book preview

GREED

How Three Self-Indulgent Idiots Ruined My

Multi-Million Dollar Network TV Deals

By Angelo J. Bell

eBook Edition

Copyright 2023 Angelo J. Bell.

Other books by Angelo J. Bell:

Kiss of the Black Mountain

Deterrence Theory

The Gray Melia

Renascence Odyssey

Upcoming books by Angelo J. Bell:

Presidents Day

Level Up Your Career

Escape Route

Kindle Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

~~~

Dedicated To:

Israel, Cimone, Zachary and Imara, the Bell4Pack, my primary inspiration.

Nghia Nguyen, my one true love, whether near or far.

My mother, Erma, for graciously passing down to me her love for writing.

The people mentioned in this book for teaching me difficult and painful lessons.

~~~

Contents

BLOWN DREAMS AND DOLLARS PREFACE

CATCHING A TIGER BY THE TAIL

TIME TO BITCH-SLAP YOUR EX-FRIEND AND HIS LAWYER

TALL FENCES MAKE BAD COLLEAGUES

NOW WE ARE FREE: TALL FENCES MAKE BAD NEIGHBORS

SHOULD YOU ADAPT YOUR SCREENPLAY INTO A NOVEL?

GUN SHY NO MORE

WERE WE IN THE SAME MEETING?

I SEE YOUR TRUE COLORS, AND THEY’RE DARK AF

DUDE, WTF! WE TALKED ABOUT THIS

IDEAS REMAIN IDEAL

WHERE ARE WE TODAY

Blown Dreams and Dollars Preface

When you work on the fringes of Hollywood you often see people who were once very skilled at their craft now relegated to teaching positions within the industry or completely removed from anything resembling what they used to do. Powerful actors resort to teaching classes at acting Studios. Creative writers now teach Screenwriting 101 at Community College. Producers who once had access to hundreds of film and television ideas now have to sell Insurance for low-budget production companies.

During my brief time on the fringes of Hollywood, from 2001 until 2016  I saw many people just like those mentioned above. I often wondered what happened in their creative lives that compelled them to give up their careers, desires, and dreams and fall back onto their plan B.

In my mind, I always imagined some deeply personal tragedy sucked the life out of their creative goals and force them to look at life not through Rose Colored Glasses but through the pragmatic nature of an accountant trying to balance a ledger. In short, I imagined the mundanity of regular life sucked the joy out of them.

This industry is ripe with negativity. There is failure and rejection all around you, and sometimes that failure reeks so badly that it turns the most gloriously sunny day into a dull gray rainy siege. 

However, what's more, upsetting than the negativity and rejection is the unmitigated arrogance of some creative people and how rapidly they fall under the hypnotic spell of money.

It doesn't take much to kill passion and desire – and greed is one surefire way to make short work of passion. It doesn't take much to quell the thirst for creative expression. No amount of