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One million dollars.

Whenever I get good news, I always take a moment to enjoy it on my own. Dahl's news was crazy good, life-changing, I'm-going-to-Japan-for-nine-months-to-make-a-million-dollar-movie good, so I lay on my bed for a long while, savoring the moment before it was tainted with anything real.

I walked downstairs, went into the living room where my dad was watching TV, and laid down on the crummy old white sofa with a huge grin on my face.

"What?" My dad asked.

"ESPN is going to pay for the movie."

He gave me a  look to see if I was serious. His face was stunned. Then he pivoted in his chair and grinned. There's no better feeling than making my dad proud. One of the first things he said was something I will never forget.

“Someone else has now given you money to make a movie," my dad said. "This is real."