I don’t know about you, but when another writer wins a prestigious award, options a project, or releases a film, I celebrate their victory while feeling like it will never happen for me. I cringe inside, because, after years of working to perfect the craft, I have little to show that I have what it takes.
But I keep going. Why? To make money? A shot at fame? I like feeling like a loser? No.
I LOVE films and writing. Silent films, black & whites, animation, live features, you name it. Storytelling gives me faith in humanity. Maybe like you, I can’t think of a better way to process the quantum possibilities of this crazy world and my self?
I’m learning that screenwriting requires the commitment of an Olympic athlete – years of focused effort and training before you even enter the main stage. Setbacks, letdowns, and quiet moments of angst, are all part of the journey… I’m proof that if you hang in there long enough, and work diligently, so are victories!
In the great scheme of film making, this award is a small victory. Winning a credible award could be compared to getting honors in college. But selling the project, actually getting it made AND released, is like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
So, my friends, if you’re struggling, as my mentor says, self-doubt is often a part of the creative process. Yep, some days you feel like a soggy tortilla and cold beans, and then, you get back to what you love to do. The webinars, and coverage, and mentoring, and revising will pay off. Instead of saying, “I’m failing,” why not ask, “What am I capable of?”
Cannes Cineverse LES FINALISTES / THE FINALISTS Balochards // Sylvain Jouret Lucid // Ina Mertesacker Teddy Summer of Love // Jacin Guillienne Gayent Dixon RETURN – 2039 // Richard Vadimsky LIBIDO ON STEROIDS // Nicholas J Szegedi The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman // Robin Gregory LUNAR NODE // Jean-François ROTTIER Jeez and the Gentile // Stephen W. Hiemstra Coffin Couture // Denis Moretti One Swell Foop // Jay Nuzum
Congratulations to all the other nominees who placed in the lineup for this distinguished award!
***Next blog: news of re-lease of the novel!
***P.S. I changed the screenplay title from HALFKIN back to THE IMPROBABLE WONDERS OF MOOJIE LITTLEMAN – same as the book.
#magicalrealism #literary #juvenilefiction #fantasy #fiction #childhealers #early California – 20th century
“Well, son of a gun,” you may ask, “where the heck have you been?”
I know, I know. Greetings, BRIGHT SOULS! Salut! Buenos dias! Buon giorno! It’s been a minute since I last posted.
No excuses. Just…
I planned for my first novel, THE IMPROBABLE WONDERS OF MOOJIE LITTLEMAN, to be part of a trilogy. For refreshers, here’s the logline: A troubled half-human, half-celestial boy mourning his adoptive mother’s death focuses on winning back his estranged dad, while juggling time between outcast kindred beings and a surly grandfather.
It introduces Moojie as an adopted, foundling child with superhuman powers who wants a family more than life itself. Slow to walk and talk, he struggles to conform to his first family’s expectations, but is haunted by identity and abandonment issues. After his mom dies, his disapproving dad, Henry, abandons him to her dad, Pappy Finnegan. At fourteen, Moojie meets the elusive Light-Eaters, his celestial kin. Through relationships with them and gruff Pappy, he struggles with self-acceptance, forgiveness, and tries to suppress his out-of-control paranormal powers. When the Light-Eaters return to their dimension, will he overcome the past and take the lead in helping his community survive a prophesied natural disaster?
I thought this would easily segue into a second novel…
Now Moojie (18) is living with his hapless adoptive dad, Henry, and meddlesome Auntie Tilda. He’s inherited his grandfather’s goat farm and is struggling to establish a healing ministry. Natural disasters are occurring in other continents. Moojie knows it’s just a matter of time before another big quake hits the region. Henry, self-serving and conniving, tries to arrange a marriage between Moojie and the daughter of a wealthy mobster to settle a gambling debt. Neither Moojie or the girl wants it. When Moojie helps her escape to the city to go to college, the mobster threatens his life and the forced sale of the farm. After Moojie finds out the mobster can’t legally take his farm, he embarks on a journey to the Mojave desert with his eccentric Light-Eater buddy, Abu, to find a mountain portal. He hopes to reunite with Babylonia, his first love, to bring her back to marry and start a family. But when he gets to the other dimension, there are more than a lion’s share of challenges to face. In undertaking new risks and challenges, his character is further transformed, and he’s ready to start his own family.
So, how’s that going for ya?
Before I get through the revisions on Book #2, I meet distinguished director/actor/producer/writer, John Crye, at a media conference in Hollywood. For longer than I care to admit, I’ve secretly housed a dream to write for motion pictures. I love the medium but, I kid you not, it’s ENTIRELY, UTTERLY, LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL different from novel writing. Webinars, seminars, networking helps. A mentor helps. Reading others’ scripts helps. Scrutinizing films helps. Bottom line, humility helps.
John and I brainstorm ideas about adapting Novel #1 for a feature. Before ya know it, we’re undertaking a creative conspiracy that lasts years. We worked together, and as a team with screenwriter, Quinn Sosna-Spear, imagining different versions, including a TV series.
Flash forward. There’s a polished feature script for Novel #1. I’m signed with a super entertainment lawyer. Offers are coming in to adapt other projects. Yay! The Moojie script (current title HALFKIN) is being circulated and reviewed by producers and critics. It will soon be packaged for submission to studios and networks. A tidy sum of development goes into this process: budget, pitch deck, signing producers, director, actors, crew, and finding financiers. Whew!
Here’s a mock up of the pitch deck cover:
When I started the adaptation process, I had no idea that the average time it takes to develop, produce, and distribute a feature from start to finish is typically eight – YES – eight years. Also, only 1 in 1,000 films that get optioned actually get produced. Sheesh.
And here we go, scouting locations…
What in my life could have possibly prepared me for this journey? Working for decades on something I have a passion for, knowing that it most likely may never be realized?
Well, I must say, even if the film never gets made, I have no regrets. I’ve met some of the most terrific creative, supportive folks in the film making industry. I’m thrilled that my quirky first novel THE IMPROBABLE WONDERS OF MOOJIE LITTLEMAN won lots of awards and is just too weird to die.
***If you read the book and liked it, kindly spread the word. Scribble a review! Wave it out the car window! Post a picture of your goat eating it!
So, like the song says:
I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining every day; Still praying as I onward bound, Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
Meanwhile…
I’m talking to the birds outside, trying to get them to pipe down.
Robin Gregory 