Hollywood Comes Callling

/ roughwighting

Hollywood, movies, fantasy, romantic suspenseI knew it would happen, sooner or later.

When my critique group finished the third draft of my (then) unpublished romantic suspense novel, The Right Wrong Man, each of them independently concluded their final review with a list of the actors who should play my characters in a movie.

“Guys,” I responded modestly. “I need to get this published first. Then let’s dream about Jennifer Lawrence for Meredith, and Channing Tatum for Parker.”

Channing Tatum, fantasy, Hollywood, writing, creative

Gregory?

“No!” They all chimed in. “Channing should be Gregory!” I ignored them, dotted my “i’s” and wrote two more drafts before I hit “Ping.”

Amazon sold 10,000 copies by week 6.

On week 8, I received an e-mail from Julia Robert’s agent.

On week 9, Bradley Cooper phoned me directly.

The bidding war began.

On the first anniversary of my publication date, the movie was optioned, sold, and at my insistence, I had a role as 3rd screenwriter on set, which became larger as each day of shooting progressed.

Jennifer Lawrence, imagination, fantasy, Hollywood, writing, novel

Meredith?
(credit to:HRC/ WENN.com)

The chosen actress to play Meredith (and I can’t divulge that secret here), knocked on my trailer at 8:10 every morning. “Ms. Wight, the other writer says Meredith belches. Meredith would never belch. Please, please rewrite the rewritten script and fix it!”

I fixed.

Then the actor I hungered over, um, I mean, that Meredith hungered over, joined me for a glass of wine at the end of the day’s shooting. “We have a problem,” he stated in his famous deep growl. “The director is demanding I punch Carlos in the face and break his nose. You and I know that is NOT Parker’s style. Please, fix it!”

I fixed.

I taunted the producer, tweaked the direction, tamed the actors, and a year later, the movie THE RIGHT WRONG MAN was a hit.

And guess who was nominated for Best Screenwriter?

What?

Oh, yes, this is a fantasy. But you do know the definition of “fantasy,” don’t you?

That’s right:  “The creative imagination.” Or, “unrestrained fancy.”  

A writer should never be restrained, nor lack creativity OR imagination.

Because, my dear readers,  as Einstein explained;

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

Now, speaking of coming attractions, who would YOU choose to play Parker and Gregory?

Just so, you know, I’m prepared when that phone call comes in.

fantasy, author, writing, romance novel, Hollywood

“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.” ― Lloyd Alexander

19 thoughts on “Hollywood Comes Callling”

  3. OK, you had me going! Thanks for the reminder, the importance of fantasy. Didn’t Anne Rice say something along the lines of: Life is SO bizarre these days that fantasy seems the best way to get at its truths. Something like that. . . .

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  6. I am woefully unprepared to answer your question….honestly don’t know any of the young actors or actresses! But, it is fun to think of your book turning into a movie and you a screenwriter, so I definitely think you need to prepare! If not for The Wright Wrong Man, than surely for Twin Desires!

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    • That’s what good fiction does – convince the reader it’s real, right?

      On the other hand, I know you have some psychic abilities, so maybe it IS real, just not quite yet…

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  9. I love the Einstein quote! What a great example of how important it is to dream and never stop dreaming as a writer. It’s what keeps us going.

    Dirty little secret: When I do my character charts for a novel, I scour google and find the best people to be my character (often actors and actresses. LOL)

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    • Thanks for sharing your secret! I think a number of us open the same secret (on-line) door you do. (I also cut out pictures from magazines that look like the characters I’m writing about…)

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