My First One-Minute Wilma Wallaby Episode — and the Wild West of Vertical Series

If you've been following along on my YouTube Channel, you know I've been working on turning my Wilma Wallaby: Genius Girl Detective books into a vertical mini-series using the latest in AI Animation tools. At the beginning of the year, I finished the bible; 60 episodes outlined and the first three fully scripted. Last month, I actually produced the first completed one-minute episode. 

Why not watch it? https://youtube.com/shorts/1AFtTGoNuJw?si=L3620ddzB7os2TXL

Six hours. One minute of content. But let me back up, because understanding why I'm chasing this format is as important as the "how."

My older brother, Stan, was a bully. Not the garden-variety kind; the kind who locked me in a closet for hours when our parents weren't home, broke my front tooth, and once left a message on my answering machine saying if I ever came back to Escondido, he'd kill me. My parents adored him. He was handsome, charming, and a terrific liar.

I was the gangly, stuttering, big-eared little sister who "bruised easy" and "ran into things a lot," but I was smarter and knew how to hide from him.

When I started writing my Wilma Wallaby, I gave her the older brother I survived. Winston is 14, smug, and utterly convinced he runs the house when their parents aren't around. Wilma is 13, brilliant, and Wilma has spent her entire life training to outsmart him. The series opens with her crammed into a hotel closet after overhearing a murder plot. Her survival instincts aren't metaphorical. They're earned.

I wrote what I know. And now I'm trying to get it on your phone.

If you haven't heard of vertical series, also called "micro dramas" or short dramas, you're about to. These are scripted shows filmed in 9:16 portrait orientation, designed to be watched on your phone. Each episode runs 60 to 90 seconds and ends on a cliffhanger.

The numbers are genuinely jaw-dropping. Consumer spending on short drama apps grew from $1.8 million in Q1 2023 to nearly $700 million in Q1 2025 — an 8,000% increase in two years. U.S. revenues hit $819 million in 2024 and are projected to reach $3.8 billion by 2030. This is not a fad. It's a new entertainment category, and the race to own it is very much on.

Most of the content right now is aimed squarely at women 45–65, and the titles tell you everything: My Billionaire Secret Husband, The Heiress He Underestimated, Fated to My Forbidden Alpha. Werewolves and CEOs and secret inheritance reveal scenes. It's a soap opera on steroids, and people are absolutely watching it.

Which brings me to the opportunity hiding in plain sight: virtually nobody is making this for teens and middle-grade audiences. That market is almost entirely untouched.

I took a Stage32 webinar from Ramo Law last month, and I've been studying the deal landscape: it's truly the Wild West! Here are the big three - and there are dozens more!

ReelShort (https://reelslink.com/cps/bTLd7R) is the category-defining platform — the one that put vertical series on the map in the West. It's owned by Crazy Maple Studio, a Silicon Valley company launched in August 2022. Their breakout hit, The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband, has over 500 million views. ReelShort generated approximately $400 million in revenue in 2024 and is aiming to produce 400 shows in 2026. Their monetization model is ad-supported; watching ads unlocks about six episodes every 24 hours, plus coin bundle purchases. The core audience is adult women, and most of their catalog reflects that, but their animated series Next Door Spy https://reelslink.com/cps/bTLd7R hints they're at least experimenting with younger audiences. Deal terms are closely guarded by NDAs, but producers typically receive a flat licensing fee, estimated at $5,000 to $50,000 per series, depending on exclusivity, territory, and track record, with more established creators negotiating back-end participation and IP retention. The standard window is a two-year exclusive license. After that, rights can revert or be renegotiated.

DramaBox is ReelShort's closest competitor, with $323 million in revenue and $10 million in net profit in 2024 — and notably, they're actively expanding beyond the adult romance lane. Business Insider reported that DramaBox has explicitly stated its ambition to move into family content, choose-your-own-adventure formats, and kids animation, and the company landed in Disney's 2025 Accelerator Program with plans to adapt children's IP for the format. They've also opened a New York office. For a female-led, family-friendly animated mystery series, DramaBox may actually be the better first call for me than ReelShort right now. 

FlareFlow is the newest platform I'm watching, and it's a sleeper. Owned by COL Group (the same parent as ReelShort), FlareFlow launched in April 2025 and, within weeks, hit the Top 5 Entertainment apps on Google Play and the Top 8 on the U.S. App Store. It crossed 10 million downloads in three months across 177 countries. Because it's actively building its catalog from scratch, it may be more open to genre experimentation than the established platforms. New platforms need content; content creators need distribution. That simple math might produce me a better deal.

For me? I tend to be overenthusiastic, so doing a query to all three this month. The development process outlined in the Stage32/RAMO Law vertical series webinar is useful here: come in with 2-3 episodes written and a complete series outline. The platforms can immediately tell whether a script was conceived for the vertical format or whether it's a feature screenplay that got "chopped up." My Wilma Wallaby vertical series was written specifically for this format — every scene is designed for close quarters, faces, hands, closets, and theme park crowds. That's an advantage.

For most companies, production budgets run $50,000 to $300,000 per season in the U.S. Lead actors currently earn $600 to $1,000 per day. And some series — not all, but the breakout hits — pull in $2 million a week in micropayment revenue from viewers unlocking episodes. What's my secret ingredient? I'm both the creator and producer with my company, SmilingEagle. I'm using modern AI animation tools. No actors, no writers, just me. I can produce an episode for free and all in the time it takes to drink a ginger ale, once I get going.

Here's what I didn't fully anticipate: the learning curve is steep. I'm suffering from high-altitude sickness because it was so steep!!! Producing a vertical episode isn't just writing. It's voiceover direction. I'm using ElevenLabs AI voices. I'm recording my own sound for the metallic clanging, door slamming, the toilet flush and the thudding footsteps. Everything is scripted down to the specific cue. I'm doing my own subtitle formatting, timing, and pacing up to the final cliffhanger frame. Episode One is 60 seconds. Yup, it took me 6 hours to make a 60-second video, and before that, over six months of learning 4-5 different software tools. But, being a former programmer and technology company owner, it was possible.

AND here's the thing — it's done. I learned how to do this. It exists. I spent the past 60 days creating a "system" to make this easy for me. I call it Development Notes. And now that the pipeline is built, I expect future episodes will take about four hours each. Once I hook up with a platform, I'll find out their "rules" for the 9:16 landscape, exports, etc., and since I have 2 more episodes in Season One ready to produce, I'll time it and calculate the time for the other 57 episodes. My guess is 30-60 days for the whole season, and it will be done by summer.

Then, I have the Wilma Wallaby Jazz Jinx and Drugged Ducks books ready for Seasons Two and Three. I'm writing book 4, Kidnapped Kangaroo, in my free time. Then there are two more full series: Kira and Henry, with 4 books published and Carmen and Cypher with book 2 ready to publish.

I should be busy for years, and I only have to wait for…. me! Unlike my technology company - I'm everything; writer, producer, director, talent - all in one. The shocking thing is the results. I've had a YouTube channel for years, and my typical video gets around 50-100 views. Over the years, I've created 128 videos and have about 100,000 total views. But this little movie had over two hundred views in the first few hours! Yes, I have one video with 28K views, but it is about "packing light," and I have to think it probably gets forwarded way too much by the half of a marriage that thinks the other person packs way too much! I can't wait to see how many total views this little movie gets after a month.

The teen and middle-grade market for vertical series is, right now, almost entirely wide open. Wilma Wallaby is a 13-year-old girl detective in suburban Florida who uses her survival skills — skills she earned outsmarting her bully of a brother- to solve real crimes. She's funny, she's dry, she speaks directly to the camera, and she makes the audience her partner in every case. That's the kind of character vertical series needs more of.

The question isn't whether this format has a future. It clearly does - AND... my YA and middle-grade market is mostly untouched… AND it will help sell my books! It is a win-win-win, and I'm ready for the Wild West!

Binge-read the full Wilma series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FRST9BLT and be sure to Follow me as an author on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sandi-Jerome/author/B0DHL94PTT

How do you get a star to read your script? You get their agent to send it to them. Everyone has told me that sending emails would be horrible for my image - and I'd look like an amateur. For me, that was great news! An amateur is someone who pursues an activity for pleasure rather than for money. The word "amateur" comes from the French word for "lover," indicating a person who loves doing something for its own sake. I recently read Cynthia Erivo's book, Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They’re Too Much. That's me! I always do "too much!"

    I don't mean to date myself, but I was an early adopter of email. In the 1980s, while in college, there was a bulletin board system that enabled my classmates, especially those of us taking programming classes, to communicate. In the late 80s, I used Prodigy and CompuServe, and then the one I still have today, AOL. Don't laugh! Keith and I have had our shared email of sandikeith@aol.com for over 30 years! I'm a loyal person; been married to the same guy for over 50 years, still have my two best friends from before my teens. As long as something "works," I stick with it.

Sure, we get about a thousand emails a month, including one from my high school civics teacher after I send him a monthly update of my writing.  Yes, I treasure those who helped make me who I am today, and I have a long memory! Like I said, I'm loyal to those who are kind.

I was originally going to title this blog - email is dead because for many, this has gone the way of fax machines and landlines - but I was wrong when I sent out 30 experimental emails to agents. Two things happened: I got instant responses from agents! Yes, one was within a day, sending me release forms, and another was a phone call - a few hours after I sent the email! Both plan on sending my project to their A-list talent. It makes sense; a star would expect their agent to send them scripts to read. Sure, the proper procedure is to first get a producer, then investors and development funds - and then pay a star to read your script - but think about it - many stars have their own production companies and they NEED great scripts; scripts that are written by a writer who is eager! A writer who is "too much!"

Nobody can tell me that email doesn't work, or that my enthusiastic emails are "unprofessional" for a writer. I was able to build a multi-million-dollar tech company that today operates in dozens of countries - via email. While building my company, I didn't take on any debt. I had a 15,000+ email list from my years as a consultant. I used it first to attract attendees to my workshops so I could stop traveling over 200,000 miles a year and stay home to program. 

 When we started installing the systems, I needed to stop all travel and workshops to support those systems 24/7. I used that email list to sell my training guides and books, and keep us out of debt. Eventually, I needed employees, hosting and expensive certification. I used my email list to attract investors. It was one of those emails that alerted one of my earliest investors that I should consider merging with a bigger company - and we worked out all the details for the next few years -  everything happened via email! 

    

When I started down this path to becoming a professional screenwriter, Keith and I wrote software to handle emails and queries to producers, agents, and managers, SmilingPitch. We are still perfecting the software, and I'm the only user. Sure, we might be building another tech company, but in the meantime, we have someone lined up to take over the company if we both get hit by a bus. For now, my hubby and I are handling all the programming, testing, and modifications. Why? Because it works and it is a blast!

    

When will SmilingPitch be ready? You'll know when you get an email! We're still testing it and sending more emails. Be sure to visit my website, click the Free Stuff Link, and enter your email address. You'll also get my free e-book, Writing is Life!

I've named March Marketing March Madness. I'm learning how to market my books. I've spent the past few years writing and writing - and now I have lots of books, but now it is time to get the word out. My strategy is simple; I've picked 3 books, and for each, I'm doing a different plan and my budget? Less than $300 for all 3 books!

1.  Blood Moon Wolf – This is my latest book release and the first in my Cherokee heroes series. I'm going "wide," posting trailers, and focusing on my Amazon Author page. My A+ content (formerly Enhanced Brand Content) and Editorial Material were approved and uploaded by Amazon today. I also published this book everywhere - from Apple to Nook. No cost yet, but I might try a few Amazon promos.

1. Wilma Wallaby Series – I'm a Platinum member of Written Word Media, which sends out hundreds of thousands of emails. I'm running stacked "promos" and pricing the first in the series at "free." One went out a few days ago and tripled my sales for the month - and my big 3 promo goes out on March 10th - for 4 - only $189.

1. Kira and Henry Series – Targeted Social Media – writer’s groups, because it was a semifinalist in the Kindle book review, and I have book #4 being released in March. I'm building a mailing list by offering free downloads on my SandraJerome.com website. I've already made friends with a new producer who downloaded a free example of my script pitching tools. I'm looking at Reedy Discovery too.

What works? Stay tuned, and I'll give you the results - yup, via emailed newsletter!

I Married a Beast

There's a moment in Disney's Beauty and the Beast that always makes me catch my breath. It's not the ballroom dance or even the transformation scene. It's earlier, quieter - when the Beast, nervous and awkward, throws open the doors to his library and watches Belle's face light up with wonder.

"It's wonderful!" she breathes, spinning among the floor-to-ceiling shelves.

"It's yours," he says simply.

In that moment, the Beast doesn't offer Belle jewels or gowns or empty flattery. He offers her what matters most to her - a room full of stories, ideas, and imagination. He sees who she really is. And in seeing her, he reveals himself. Two bookish souls, finding each other among the pages.

This is where their real love story begins, not with physical attraction or instant chemistry, but with shared passions and the slow recognition of kindred spirits. I had a moment like that soon after meeting my husband. I was dating the training manager at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, and Keith was engaged. We decided to go to the beach one day after work, and he noticed my old beach towel. I joked about it - I come from a family that gets every last drop out of a bottle of catsup. The next day, there was a new beach towel on the driver's seat of my car. This was during the days when you didn't have to lock your car, of course. 

Beauty and the Beast has endured across centuries and countless versions because its core truth remains relevant: real love requires looking beyond the surface to see someone's true character. Belle doesn't fall for the Beast's appearance - she falls for his kindness, his growth, his vulnerability, and yes, his library. She sees the person beneath the curse. The beast would have given her a new beach towel.

I kid my husband, Keith, that we're Beauty and the Beast - though I should clarify, he's actually quite handsome, and I've been known more for brains than beauty. But he can turn into a bit of a beast when he's hungry (hangry is real, folks) or when he encounters difficult people. More importantly, like the Beast with Belle, he's fiercely protective of those he loves. He guards our granddaughters and me like he's sitting on that proverbial fence, watching for any threat, ready to defend. As he says, "You want me on that fence!"

Like the Beast offering Belle his library, Keith and I have built our own collection of shared passions after fifty years of marriage. DVDs fill our shelves. We have close to 2,000 books in our Kindle Library that we own and subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. We understand each other's protective instincts, our quirks, our hunger-induced mood swings. We've learned to see past the "beastly" moments to the person underneath - and to let ourselves be fully seen in return.

In our current world, where we swipe left or right based on a photo, where first impressions are formed in seconds from social media profiles, and where we're constantly judged by superficial metrics, this message feels more important than ever. We live in a society obsessed with surface-level perfection, yet starving for genuine connection. The Beast's story reminds us that transformation happens through patience, understanding, and truly seeing one another - not despite our flaws, but through accepting our whole, complex selves.

And like Belle and her Beast, I didn't fall in love with Keith immediately. Our story is more like Ashley and Melanie in Gone with the Wind - though that comparison might raise some eyebrows - they were cousins! Stay with me here. In Margaret Mitchell's novel, Ashley reflects on how he and Melanie are suited to each other because they share the same background, values, and understanding of the world. They speak the same language, he says - much to Scarlett's fury, as she could never understand that compatibility built on shared foundations could be deeper than passionate physical attraction. She's beautiful and surrounded by suitors. Why couldn't she have Ashley, too? She didn't discover until after Melanie died that he wasn't right for her. Melanie was Ashley's one true love.

Keith and I discovered we were cut from the same cloth, like Ashley and Melanie. Our backgrounds were similar. Our fathers were born in Colorado, a few hundred miles apart. We both had devout Catholic mothers and fathers who converted to the religion - an unusual parallel that shaped both our childhoods in similar ways. We both love to read, losing ourselves in stories the way Belle treasured every book in that library. We both love movies, sharing that joy of storytelling in another form. We even both played hockey - he played ice hockey, I played field hockey. These weren't superficial similarities. They were the threads of shared experience and values that wove us together. We're the same age, know the same songs, and can speak in "movie speak" as we call it. We constantly use lines from movies, books, and songs to communicate. We're passionate about the Olympics and Oscars.

But our love wasn't love at first sight. It was the slow building of trust and understanding. It was finding someone who spoke my language. We met in February, started dating in July, got engaged in August and married the following February. 

That's the real magic of Beauty and the Beast. It's not about the spell breaking or the prince returning to his handsome form. It's about two people learning to be vulnerable enough to show their true selves and brave enough to love what they find. It is about loving the person who makes you feel comfortable.

And speaking of Disney love stories we cherish - I'm starting a new YouTube series - Writing is Life, and I'll use my storytelling skills to write the next chapter in some of Disney Studios' masterpieces. If you been wanting to become an author, or learn screenwriting from a different angle - or even learn more about AI and animation, visit https://www.youtube.com/@sandijerome and please subscribe! I'm not trying to make money on YouTube; I'm trying to promote my books and screenwriting career.

What's your favorite moment in Beauty and the Beast? Have you found your own love story in an unexpected place? Share in the comments below.

 

Catch Me If You Can

I recently received a 1-star review for one of my books. All the rest are 4s or 5s. I know exactly who did this. Yes, I have high-tech skills, and yes, I'm a computer hacker, but I'm confused about why this person did this. For me, doing this is stealing. It is the low of lows. Their revenge isn't a victory; it’s a revelation.

I once worked for a man who was suspicious of everyone, and he suspected employees were stealing from him. I was provided a free new car to drive as part of my job, but I had to pay for the gas. One day, I was underneath a huge printer, changing the ribbon, and Mr. Boss came into the parts department and asked the manager, "Is Sandi paying for her gas?" I came out from under the printer and took Mr. Boss aside. "Look," I told him quietly, "if I want to steal from you, I will steal the whole gas truck, not just a few gallons a week. With my computer skills, you'd never find it."

Yes, I am a hacker. I started using computers in the 70s, before most hackers' PARENTS were born! Computer science was my minor in college, and accounting was my major. As a CPA, we know where the money is buried. The IRS provides a 10% reward for turning in cheaters, but if I had ever done that, I'd be writing this from my yacht instead of my Florida home. But CPAs are not like lawyers; if the IRS asks us for information, there is no client/CPA confidence. We have to spill the beans. In fact, we have the responsibility to report fraud. Tax professionals, including Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and tax attorneys, are obligated to report potential instances of tax evasion or fraud by their clients. He once argued with me that 3 years had passed on a questionable deduction - but in cases of fraud, the statute of limitations for assessment of tax never expires. The IRS can go back as many years as it wants to investigate and assess taxes, penalties, and interest. I let my boss know that, and now he had two things to worry about, but theft was his main focus.

Mr. Boss began weekly sessions in which I would tell him various ways I could steal from him. The gas truck theft would be easy, I explained to him. I'm the one who orders and approves the fuel tanks to be filled. I'd issue the purchase order, but then have the gas delivered to one of the parents on a soccer team I coached, who owns a gas station. I'd split it with the guy. A pretty easy way to steal $28,000-$40,000 every few weeks. But I explained to my extremely wealthy boss that there are three types of people. The first type is totally dishonest. They will steal at any opportunity. It is their true nature. But fortunately, most of these people are working the streets, running cons, or sitting in prison. The second group is totally honest. Born honest and raised honest. When they find a twenty-dollar bill, they pick it up and ask around, "Did anyone drop this?" I like to think I am in this group. It is the way my parents raised me. Plus, why would I ever risk everything I have: my CPA license, my home, my family, my freedom –  just to steal? Money has never been a motivator for me. It is only a measure of how much I'm appreciated.

The third group? That's where it gets interesting. They are honest until they're not. Something happens that makes them feel entitled. They feel underpaid or unappreciated. They rationalize. "That person owes me." That's when the trouble starts. I gave a workshop at the annual AICPA conference on employee theft, titled "Catch Me If You Can." I think it is the only CPA workshop where you can't buy a DVD of my presentation. The board was worried employees would use it to steal from their employers! I had so many ideas!

I came up with the title after reading the 1980 book Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale Jr. and journalist Stan Redding. That book inspired the 2002 Spielberg film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. The book describes how Abagnale donned a pilot's uniform and copiloted a Pan Am jet, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a license, passed himself off as a college sociology professor, and cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks – and all before he was twenty-one. It's written in the first person and reads almost like a thriller. Fast-paced and entertaining, Abagnale recounts his various cons and escapes across multiple countries.

Here's where it gets interesting: the book is acknowledged to have been partly fictionalized, and the factual basis for the events has been challenged. Abagnale himself acknowledged issues with accuracy. He stated, "I was interviewed by the co-writer only about four times. I believe he did a great job telling the story, but he also overdramatized and exaggerated parts of it. That was his style and what the editor wanted." More damning, in 2020, journalist Alan C. Logan conducted an in-depth investigation and found documents that contradicted many of Abagnale's claims. Logan's investigation revealed that Abagnale was in Great Meadow Prison in New York between the ages of 17 and 20 (1965-1968). That was the exact time frame during which Abagnale claimed to have committed his most significant scams. So ironically, the greatest con Frank Abagnale may have pulled was convincing the world his cons were real in the first place. Today, he'd probably be a computer hacker.

I'd like to finish with a thought. Is hacking stealing?

I honed my hacking skills when I owned a technology company and received a ransomware demand. I circumvented the hacker and didn't pay the ransom. I have only used my powers for good. Remember, I was raised to be good. But finding out about this 1-star review? I'm not sure I'm at peace with this person. It feels intentional. A type of revenge against me. My best friend wants me to write a "best revenge book" because I have told her so many ways to get a pound of flesh, but maybe I should let it go.

Hey, does anyone want to release an updated "Catch Me If You Can"? The best ideas in Frank's book didn't even make it to the screen, and I have hundreds more. But today, I'm not writing screenplays - I'm creating my own animated series, so I'm going to move on, let it go –  and not let this dark person get inside my head. If you want to see one of my videos that helped me decide to "let it go," please watch my YouTube video - https://youtu.be/LPUMiMM4JE0.

Happy New Year, and more about my web series next month when you catch up with me when you can!

Joyful and Fearless

 

Can I be Fearless?

In 1992, 20th Century Fox handed director Barry Levinson a blank check. Robin Williams was at the height of his popularity, fresh off hits like "Good Morning, Vietnam," "Dead Poets Society," and the voice of the Genie in "Aladdin." The supporting cast included Joan Cusack, Michael Gambon, and Robin Wright. The film had stars, songs, a massive budget, and every ingredient that should have guaranteed a hit. 

Yet when "Toys" was released in December 1992, it opened in sixth place and limped away with just over $23 million at the box office, barely half its budget. Barry Levinson was even nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Director. How could such a well-resourced project fail so spectacularly?

The answer lies in a perfect storm of missteps that began before cameras even rolled. Barry Levinson and his then-wife, Valerie Curtin, developed the screenplay in 1979, inspired by a newspaper article about Soviet naval intelligence studying American submarine toy models. The script itself became a victim of its own ambition. Despite twelve years of preparation, the screenplay seemed pulled in two directions. The producers kept describing it as "whimsical," while studios kept interpreting it as a dark comedy. 

Even Robin Williams seemed oddly restrained, playing it warm and cuddly when the film desperately needed his manic energy. The result was a film that critics found visually stunning, but the story was confused, and audiences simply couldn't connect with what they were watching. 

But there was one part of the movie I enjoyed: the song "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail," sung by Grace Jones.

I tell you of a girl, her husband was a soldier
Gone to war in some strange country far away
No word had come to her but the rumors of great battles fought
And dying in their thousands and the world full of fear
As the day would turn to evening she would light a pure white candle
And place it in a window bright from where it could be seen
As she placed it in the window softly without thinking
She said let this burning candle be a beacon
Let joy and innocence prevail
Let joy and innocence prevail
Believe that luck will never fail
Let joy and innocence prevail
And one night, asleep
She dreamed she saw her husband fall
In a great white cavalry charge
And waking in tears
She saw the candle burning in the window
She still had hope
And through the window
A man in the distance
But as he came closer
She saw he was a stranger
The stranger said, "I bring a message from a General
A captain has been wounded, his life hangs by a thread
He calls out your name and he wishes you to come to him
But the journey is a hard road and you may be afraid"
And she laughed and said, "No road could be too hard for I am fearless
A captain and a husband, I have gained this bright new day"
And she said with all her heart, she would fly to be beside him
And her love would heal his wounds, restore him to her
Let joy and innocence prevail
Let joy and innocence prevail
Believe that luck will never fail
Let joy and innocence prevail
Let joy and innocence prevail
Let joy and innocence prevail
Believe that luck will never fail
Let joy and innocence prevail
Let joy and innocence prevail!

"Toys" remains a fascinating cautionary tale about what happens when unlimited resources meet unclear vision. But there's another lesson in this film, one that Grace Jones captured perfectly in the film's haunting song. The film's central message, that we must choose joy and innocence over warfare and destruction, resonates today.

A decade ago, my own husband faced his own battle: triple bypass surgery, then a stroke two years later. The doctors wanted him to stay in the hospital for two weeks of physical therapy, but he wanted to come home. He complained about the noise that prevented him from sleeping, the lack of regular meals, and they hadn't started any physical therapy. I was fearless enough to sign those release and liability forms and take him home, even though he couldn't walk and I could barely get him out of the car. 

I became his personal physical therapist, watching YouTube videos and working with him all day. I put my programming projects on hold. In two days, he no longer needed the walker. In two weeks, he was walking to the mailbox. In two months, he was back at Disney, walking three miles a day. Like the woman in Grace Jones's song who said, "No road could be too hard for I am fearless," I learned that fearlessness and joy are not opposites; they are partners. You can be brave enough to defy the doctors, bold enough to bet on love and healing, while still holding tight to the joy and innocence that make life worth fighting for. "Toys" failed because it lost sight of that balance. My husband had lost the part of his brain that gave him balance and the doctors said he'd probably never walk again without a walker, but we've had a decade of travel and spending days at Disney. The walker still sits in the corner of the closet.

I'm writing the 4th book in my Kira and Henry series, War Games, while my husband is fighting his health battles again. When I write YA novels and screenplays, I use the Save the Cat! structure, and unlike Toys, I always know what my story is about and how it should be told. I become fearless and disciplined, but keep the joy of writing, because in life, in love, in the moments that truly matter, we cannot afford to lose it. It is time for me to be fearless again. And it is time to let joy and innocence prevail. 

Note: My April 2021 blog about my fearless granddaughter, Suby, tells the story of my great, great-grandmother on the Cook side of the family, who was truly fearless and went behind enemy lines to bring her captured husband home during the Civil War. 

The above picture is of my granddaughter, Tulaasi, on Mount Cook in the Ben Ohau Range of New Zealand's South Island. She and my oldest granddaughter, Chandra, fearlessly worked for years in Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Europe. My granddaughter, Vrinda, who is required to wear snake-proof boots to work as a field biologist in the Florida wilderness, is fearless. More about them in future blogs

I have been writing this monthly blog for over 6 years, every month - and I have so many stories I've yet to tell!

Happy Holidays to all of you!

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Photo by Gage Skidmore - Wikimedia

 

"You're right," my husband said last night. That was music to my ears. We've been married for over 50 years and have never had a fight, but we've had lots of disagreements. Last week, it was about the crash of the MD-11 and the death of three UPS pilots. When we saw the newscast, I said it was odd—the MD-11 only has two pilots, why did three die? My husband argued, "No, the MD-11 is the DC-10, and there are three pilots; one is the navigator." I wished my favorite producer, Melissa, was around to back me up, but I had seen on Instagram that she's busy producing a TV series. She would have agreed with me because we both knew, while working on the script Hijacked based on the book by Dave Hirschman called Hijacked: The Heroes of Flight 705 about the FedEx crash of a DC-10, that the DC-10 was modified to enable airlines to save money and remove the third pilot/navigator seat and put those instruments on the front control panels for two pilots. But Keith was right too—three pilots did die. Why three?

You might wonder about our many disagreements over the years. Was it about money like most couples? No, we both made good money in our careers. He worked as a technical writer in the nuclear industry and eventually in training for the airlines before going into computer programming. I once was offered buckets of money if I'd move to Hawaii and be the CFO for a group of dealerships, before designing accounting software and starting a tech company. The move to Hawaii was important to this pilot discussion because Keith and I both knew that the airlines consider Hawaii a foreign country and pay international bonus rates to the crew on flights there.

No, our fights were about Kevin Bacon. We'd play a form of this game on our numerous car trips that we took to ferry our four grandchildren from wherever they were living to our house to spend time with them. Eventually, we moved to Florida and bought two houses next to each other to avoid those trips, but in the meantime, we'd play our version of the game. Each of us would say an actor's name at the same time. For example, he'd say, "Sandra Bullock," and I'd say "Pierce Bronsan." Then we'd think about it—they were never in a movie together. Finally, one of us would say I can do this in three steps. Sort of like "Name that Tune." If the other one couldn't do it in less, we'd do our analysis like this: Pierce starred alongside Meryl Streep in the musical film Mamma Mia! (2008) and its sequel. Sandra Bullock starred alongside Brad Pitt in The Lost City (2022). Meryl Streep starred alongside Brad Pitt in the movie Babel (2006). This creates a chain: Brosnan (Mamma Mia!) to Meryl Streep (Babel) to Brad Pitt (The Lost City) to Bullock. Three steps.

Of course, there was always a disagreement; was that Brad in Babel? But it never escalated into a fight because we're both erudite. We're fact finders. While a technical writer in the nuclear industry, his instructions had to pass NRC guidelines, plant policy, and the manufacturer's manuals. He couldn't say things like, "go fix it my way because that is how we've always done it that way." He had to provide references. I was the same way in the tech world and accounting world—it had to be right and I had to prove it. You can't take $50 out of someone's paycheck because "we've always done that." You have to know the law and follow it. I was a CPA, so I couldn't say that. I knew better.

Getting back to the "You're right," my husband did more research, and because the UPS flight was from Kentucky to Honolulu, they needed an international crew relief pilot for that flight to keep the other two pilots from being "illegal" and flying too long. Although the MD-11 only required two pilots, it needed to be "crewed" with three. To their family and those on the ground, I am sorry for your loss.

If Melissa, who has the option for the book and is producing this movie, reads this, I'm sure she will figure this out after the first two paragraphs. Not sure she knew the Honolulu/international part, and she might have thought the third pilot was probably riding the jump seat, like in our script. Over the past year, while producing this movie, I've seen her on Instagram looking at DC-10 cockpits, but most have been modified into MD-11s to reduce the need for 3 pilots and cut expenses. She would have asked like me, "Why three pilots?" The two of us became experts on the D10/MD11 planes. We had done our research.

Since writing this script, I've done a lot of research (with my hubby's help) on how movies get made. Like our software company, movies need investors. It reduces the risk for profit-focused studios and networks. Investors enable independent producers to make movies. But software investors are normally sold on two things: the product and the market. It was easier for us to get over a dozen investors who helped us grow our company before it was sold.

But a movie? They need a third thing—a star. As my screenwriting guru, Cynthia Whitcomb, taught me, "Stars earn their money." A project needs a star to get an investor to jump. Who has all the stars? Agents. But SAG-AFTRA estimates there are over 170,000 working actors. There are over 19,000 talent agents. That's where the problem lies; and where my background in software development is coming in handy.

Just like I saw inefficiencies in accounting software years ago and built a solution, I saw the chaos in the entertainment world a few years ago before I got a manager. Writers that I'd meet at conferences were sending hundreds of individual query emails to producers, agents, and managers who try to answer phone calls and arrange meetings. Agents and managers I met were struggling to track which scripts their clients have submitted, where and who is reading what. Producers today are drowning in thousands of unsolicited emails, unable to find that one promising script they saw months ago AND find an agent with an actor to read it and "attach." The disconnect is costing everyone time, money, and opportunities.

So I created SmilingPitch over 2 years ago, a platform that connects screenwriters, agents, managers, and producers in one streamlined system. It's like having a CRM for the entertainment industry. Writers can manage all their scripts, build professional queries with our Query Builder tool, track submissions, and send targeted pitches. Agents and managers can finally see all their clients' scripts in one place and search by genre when a producer asks for something specific. And producers? They can create wish lists, indicate they're open for queries, and review submissions without the email avalanche—just click Pass, Pass, Pass, Request.

The product solves a real problem, the market is there with over 170,000+ talent, 19,000+ agents, 150,000+ screenwriters and an undetermined number of people who call themselves managers and producers. The platform creates value for everyone involved. That's the trifecta investors look for. But I'm not looking to start another tech company, I'm looking for a star. I have over 20 projects I need to get made. I wonder who Kevin Bacon's agent is? He'd be perfect for six of my scripts, especially First Man, a comedy about our first male 'first lady." See more about that at https://www.sandrajerome.com/ - tell Kevin that I'll rewrite from a former major league ballplayer to a rock star - or a movie star - if he wants. I'm flexible!

Next month, I'll discuss the success I've had so far with SmilingPitch, and yes, it is working; agents are getting their clients to read my scripts. They make me sign lots of forms first, but it is working. I realize this isn't the way things have always been done, but like AI, it is working, and it might be the future.

Stay tuned!

Note: Kevin Bacon at Comic Con photo by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons