Looking to salvage the deal before completely giving it the axe, Michaela tried to bargain with Netflix to at least retain five percent of her rights — eventually asking for as little as two percent.
There was just silence on the phone. And she said, “It’s not how we do things here. Nobody does that, it’s not a big deal.” I said, “If it’s not a big deal, then I’d really like to have 5 percent of my rights.” The woman said she’d have to run it up the chain. Then she paused and said, “Michaela? I just want you to know I’m really proud of you. You’re doing the right thing.” And she hung up.
She said those words to me and I finally realized — I’m not crazy. This is crazy.