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Match Me If You Can: The Origin Story
Betsy here. I’d like to tell you about the wild ride that put my script in the hands of Marian and Monica. Oddly enough, this part of the story has nothing to do with hermit crabs or wind-up toys or zombies. Like you might expect.
So, I have a beautiful, brilliant friend who was in a dating slump, as can happen when women ease toward 40. (And every decade after that, if we’re being honest.)
One day, my friend had an “oh-what-the-heck” moment and signed up at a Major Online Dating Site (MODS). After slogging through an eternal list of questions, she sat back, nervously waiting for her list of potential dates.
But instead, she got a message from the MODS that began “Every now and then, we have a candidate we feel shouldn’t…” Yep, these creeps rejected my amazing friend. REJECTED her! WHAT?!
And this is where it gets weird for writers.
Because while my heart broke for my friend, I also realized it was a fantastic premise for a rom-com. This stuff happens to writers. This was not the first “I know this sucks for you and all, but uh…” conversation I’ve had. As it turns out, my friend was quite open to slapping a happy ending on this sad tale, if only in a movie.
Once the script (then called e-LOVE) was done, I entered it in my favorite screenwriting event: the Austin Film Festival, and before I knew it, I was a comedy finalist and packing my bag for the festival.
Being a finalist at Austin is like being royalty for a few days. You have a special badge, you get exclusive access. Strangers ask about your script, then wish you good luck, and tell you they hope you win.
But I’ve been an Austin finalist before–this time, it felt different. There was extra attention. People said cryptic things like “Oh YOU wrote e-LOVE! Ha! Monica is looking for you.” Monica? Who is Monica?
It took a while, but I finally got the full story. AFF had a safeguard: Every script bumped out in the first cut was reviewed by a second reader. If the second reader liked it, a third tie-breaker read it. Turns out e-LOVE tanked out in the first round! And this mysterious Monica was the second reader who brought my script back from the dead and freed it into the wild, where it made its way to the finals.
So now, I was looking for Monica, if only to hug her and say “thanks!”
Finally we get to the awards luncheon. I’m nervous because: (1) This involves talking to people I don’t know, (2) I have an unfortunate habit of dropping food down my shirt, and (3) When you lose, you don’t lose alone. No, a tableful of people watch you lose.
I finally find my assigned table…and as luck would have it, I am sitting right next to the mysterious Monica! Of course, she’s an absolute delight and we immediately hit it off. And that made it extra nice…because when I won, I was sitting with the person who had championed my script. It was wonderful.
So….fast forward several years. I’d done some re-writes. Renamed the script to “Match Me If You Can.” And Monica and I stayed in touch on social media.
Long story short (TOO LATE!): Monica starts working with her long-time friend Marian. They come to San Diego Comic Con, we meet for a drink, which turned into two. Marian is wonderful. They’re looking for scripts. e-LOVE gets mentioned, Monica asks to read the re-write….
And here we are.
We’ve come full circle. My script’s future is in the hands of someone who already has a track record of taking care of it. And we’re all so excited to be working on this together.
p.s., That Austin story has become a thing. I have—more than once—had someone tell me about “The Script That Got Eliminated Then Won It All [tm]”.
p.p.s., Ever since I’ve been talking about this script, I have met person after person who was rejected from that same MODS. So yeah, definitely some shenanigans going on there.
So listen to me because this is important. If some dating site, in fact if ANYONE, tries to tell you that you don’t deserve love and respect, you offer up a rude hand gesture and your best “Bye Felicia.”
And walk away. You don’t need that nonsense in your life. There are billions of people out there you haven’t met yet. And there is magic all around us.
