On The Line with Tony Gilroy...Part 3

A temporary solution came when he got a deal to start a band based on some songs he’d written.  “Temporary” because he was facing a dilemma:  He couldn’t pursue both music and writing.  For Gilroy, it had to be either/or.  So he took the job offer to get into New York City, but ultimately decided to quit music – “cold turkey,” he says. 

A New Chapter:  Tony Gilroy, the Writer

By that time, his brother Dan had optioned a book in college, written a screenplay and almost got the movie it made.  It seemed like a fine idea to Gilroy, “I’ll go write a screen play really quick and I’ll make a bunch of money and then I’ll go back and finish my novel.”  In practice, it proved more challenging than he’d thought.  And his familial connections didn’t pave a magic road to the top – or a road of any sort except one of encouragement.  “I knew William Goldman really well.  I think I sent him the second script that I wrote, and he just eviscerated me, but told me to write another one.”  So Gilroy did, and he played the game: “sending shit off and waiting to hear from somebody and never hearing back.”  And he was getting work as a writer, smallish jobs here and there.  “So many weird gigs…”  He trails off, appearing almost bewildered by the memory. “You’ll do Aaaanything!” He laughs, remembering one; “I think the guy still owes me like six-hundred dollars.” 

Slowly but surely the ball began to roll.  He sold his first screenplay (“I quit tending bar right off that check.”), co-written with his “best friend’s girlfriend’s friend” who was a reader at New Line Cinema.  He got an agent at International Creative Management, who he met because his co-writer’s father was an agent there.  He went on his first trip to Los Angeles, pitching ideas to the studios.  He even had a popular romantic comedy script that was making the rounds and getting lots of attention.

Despite connections getting made – Gilroy’s movies weren’t.  “You go from just trying to get work, to trying to get something made that’s good, to trying to get something made that makes money to trying to get something made that’s good and makes money.”

Getting Movies Made

But it was an unproduced script that finally got him there.  The rom-com making the rounds found it’s way into the hands of producers who came to Gilroy with an idea for what would become “The Cutting Edge.” 

Gilroy explains that the industry often wants to pigeon-hole writers, categorize them as either “starters” or “finishers”  (Either start a script and the producers will have someone else bring it home, or finish a script that is begging for a strong finale).  With “The Cutting Edge,” he proved himself fully capable to be both.  From there, he continued shining as a “starter” AND a “finisher,” earning a solid reputation for crafting stories rich with unexpected turns and complex characters on the screenplays that followed…and got made, including “Dolores Claiborne” and “The Devil’s Advocate.”

And then the “Bourne” films?  “That whole thing was an accident,” says Gilroy.  “Bourne was originally just a gig.  I didn’t have any ownership in the beginning, although that changed dramatically.”

What also changed dramatically was Gilroy’s position in the industry:  “Having a huge financial success, whether it’s unanticipated or not – and that (“Bourne”) was very unanticipated – that changes a lot of things.  I was sort of unaware how much it would change things.  Money is just everything.”

The financial boon that was “Bourne,” opened new doors Gilroy didn’t know existed:  “When you hit it, and all of a sudden the head of the studio’s calling you over the weekend, which you never had before…I thought I was really there, but I really wasn’t.  There’s another room here:  Another writer’s room.  I wasn’t aware of that.”