MAKING MOVIES

Let’s just assume that I have come into a great deal of money and I have decided to produce a movie. The blockbusters usually have Hollywood stars, special effects and are very VERY expensive. So expensive in fact that President Obama could possibly balance the budget with a series of successful movies. I said successful.

However, I am going independent. I have always wanted to see several of my favorite books made into film. My first choice a few years ago would have been “Dragon Riders of Pern”. These books have a huge fan base. Making this movie would take the best people who made all three Toy Story films for the special effects. All those lovely intelligent dragons, y’know. The main female part, Lessa, would take a small dark beautiful woman, Winona Ryder type. Need a handful of good looking Dragon men. Yeah, perfect. There are at least ten books in this series and the public demand for the continuation of this particular universe would be greater than that of Star Wars. But that project will have to wait until the stars are in proper alignment.


My next choice would be from the War Prize series. This would be an epic film all about the horse culture, (Hello Mongol Hordes) and the castles of a small middle European country invaded by such. The main female lead is a blond healer who is half-sister to the ruling not so enlightened king type person. The warlord himself is a very good horseman. This would be swords, fighting, a little loving. And lots of employment for the media. This project might have a greater chance of actually making it to film as it is not so technically challenging at “Pern”.


Third choice? There is a lovely old Sci-fi book called “Dream Snake”, it is post apocalyptic society. Our heroine and her genetically selected tiger striped pony are traveling about looking to do good deeds. Actually she is looking for a dream snake replacement. An alien visitor brought the serpent, they became very handy with the healers as they carry anesthesia needed by the good traveling doctor. Her dream snake was accidentally killed. She needs a replacement desperately. Her other two snakes can do things like create some pharmaceuticals, but not anesthetic. The story is all about her journey of discovery amongst various civilizations in her search. All very doable, some special effects, but over all very green.


My best option is the books of the Change by S.M. Stirling. Start with “Dies The Fire”. Basically it is survival story. Something happens on the East Coast, flashes around the world in minutes and all things electrical no longer work. The film starts with a small plane crashing in the Bitterroots. Mike Havel lands the plane in a creek in the near dark and manages to get everyone out. One woman has a bad fracture of the thighbone. A small party of six must fight their way out to save themselves.


The second story also begins with a plane crash in downtown Eugene where Juney McKenzie is playing her Celtic style music. Again, a survivor story and quite wonderful.


Of course there are lots of bad guys, the biggest bad guy is Norman Arminger in Portland who immediately takes control, he knows that after the die off from starvation, he will be in a position to run things. This would be a chance for an established actor to get a chance at a lovely bad guy part, I could see a younger Mel Gibson type going for this or maybe Tom Cruise if we could afford him. Hmm, wonder if Tom wants to be a producer? Since Norman is a professor of the 9th through 14th century history, his interest is in Kings, castles and armies. He acts accordingly recruiting Society for Creative Anachronism types and gang bangers to create his version of Camelot and he, of course, wants more.


These three stories eventually meet up over the course of three books. As with most trilogies the second book is a little weak because you have to wait for the third book to see how it all turns out.


I would love to cast non-Hollywood types who due to the success of these films, go on to ridiculous heights of fame, fortune and all the other dangers of excessive living and they become incredibly expensive to keep employed.


Mike Havel is 5 foot 11 inches tall, dark, a combination of Finnish, Norwegian and his Anishinabe grandmother. He is ex-marine, a pilot, he becomes Lord Bear of the Bearkiller outfit. We need four tall Nordic blonds for Ken Larson, his son Eric and two daughters, Signe and Astrid (who is a genuine Tolkien fanatic, bow and arrow carrying 14-year-old). His wife Mary was killed shortly after the plane crash.


We need a Danny Glover look-a-like who plays the part of Will Hutton, all around horse trainer, his wife Angelica is Tex/Mex and their daughter Luanne is a lovely mix of each. Mike and Ken rescue them from a group of evil, wicked, bad and nasty survivalists.


The third main casting call is for Juney McKenzie. She is a short red haired Irish pixie type. She has a 14-year-old daughter, Eilir who was born deaf and Juney home schooled her, they all speak sign and she reads lips very well. Oh, and Juney is Wiccan with a genuine talent for calling up real power. No nose wiggling stuff just the ability to sense when the Gods and Goddesses are lending an ear.

There, now all I need is money, endless patience, a good screenwriter who actually LIKES the books and luck. The locations are a snap; Idaho, Oregon and later on bits and pieces of England and a few concrete block castles. What a swashbuckler! All those war horses and sword work and stuff. Swell!