Reverse Adaptation Mama Dallas and Augie

  “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” — Sylvia Plath

In August this year, I did one of my hardest projects, adapting a book based on a true story into a screenplay. I love to write stories and make up new characters and story worlds, but since all the characters were real and living, my creative license was restricted. I read the book four times to learn about the characters and what happened so I could write dialog and defend it with "I think he could have said this," but I couldn't add fictitious characters or make the existing characters into something they were not. For example, five of the six pilots were men, and although I'd like to have more than one female pilot, I don't think real-life Andy would like to be played by Andrea.

When I've watched movies, I used to be puzzled by the amount of producers and wonder "How many producers does it take to make a movie?" This movie, Hijacked, started as a book option by the first producer, who is now my friend, Melissa. We have two interesting things in common. First of all, she used to own a manufacturing plant in Detroit, supplying parts to the car factories like Ford, GM, etc. I used to own a technology company that supplied software to dealers to enable them to run their car dealerships and submit warranty claims and other data to the factories. Our other connection is my manager, who owns Little Studio Films and recommended me to Melissa. Melissa and her company Helicopter Productions is now developing my series, Last Hand, set in Las Vegas - and she is co-writing with me the pilot episode. The third producer mentioned in my August blog is sending Hijacked out to 20-30 studios, streamers, etc. When one of them bites, that will mean a fourth producer and finally, another producer will actually get the movie made. In order to get certain talent involved, they might want producer credits (and a share of the profit involved.) That is how a movie ends up with dozens of producers.

As soon as Hijacked was done, I got a job to write a screenplay as a sequel to another movie being made, Mama Dallas - Five Points. I had that screenplay as a guide, along with a treatment by another writer. But the best thing was the actual person whose family this story was about. We talked and emailed, and then I researched her family and the era. I read six different books that were about this time and place and watched the Godfather series again - probably for the 4th or 5th time.  I started a Google Docs file of the newspaper articles and facts from Ancestry.com (I'm a hobby genealogist) and, at one point, commented that I could write a book about the Del Gaizo family! Guess what? I wrote a book and the author's proof arrives today!

This was sort of a reverse adaptation. Studios and streamers like to make projects based on existing IP, but so far, the reviews have been great. It was a tough project, I first got a greenlight on September 3rd, then on September 19th, a big "stop, stop!" The text said firmly,  "Don't write the book of Augie; no activity beyond the script." I was sort of fired.

But since I was still writing the sequel script at the same time as the book, I kept making my notes and writing chapters. But I had a deadline. It was my deadline only - I wanted it done before the AFM - American Film Market November 5-10th in Las Vegas, where they planned to feature the two movies. A book would show the whole story, both screenplays and if they read the first few chapters, even a prequel!

I finally got the full green light again to write the book and signed the contracts on October 22, 2024. I sent the book off for Author proofs the next day. I had already had my amazing cover guy working on the cover for a few months. It was a difficult cover because the story involved NYC, trains, ships, and five key characters. I wanted them all on the cover. I had grown to love each one.

But the fun part was that everyone was dead. Okay, that might seem morbid, but unlike Hijacked, nobody is going to say, "Augie would never say that!" In fact, my co-writer and the actual descendant of this family wrote this to me;

"Your creative license was a big jump but so intriguing. It makes the story so much deeper...for me, watching you put all the pieces together is horrifyingly wonderful! I mean that as a compliment. Fabio becomes so much more disgusting with his entitled wealth. You are a marvel." - Jody Fasanella

That one word, "marvel," meant the world to me - but I call her a jewel because she's had this jewel of a story inside her all these years, and she is truly a jewel. Although painful at times to work with everyone involved, in the end, I hope I've made a long-time friend of my co-author, and I hope she can play Mama Dallas someday or the mother in Last Hand. I need her to meet Melissa at AFM!

What's next? I'm adapting my good friend Mark Saunders's book, Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak, into a comedy pilot with 6-8 episodes, which means I go to bed each night exhausted and laughing. Stay tuned for more!