I remember as a child seeing my first movie and wondering how I could possibly watch what other people were doing. I don’t remember the movie, but I do the experience. Admittedly, I remain a movie watcher. And now I am hopeful one of novels, Northern Comfort, can be made into one. Certainly, I am working toward that goal.
Let me back up a bit here. I recently became aware of the possibility of writing a screenplay when I began collaborating with my friend John MacGibbon, a long-time film editor who lives across the river from me. He won five Emmys as a producer, writer, and editor when he worked for PBS’s Frontline. He also produced a powerful four-part documentary series about the murder of his mother-in-law Vibeke Rasmussen. I plan to write soon about How to Survive a Murder.
At this point, the film script we worked on remains top secret due to the business end. But I so enjoyed our going back and forth on the screenplay’s edits and weekly in-person meetings. We used an affordable program, Fade-In, to write it.
I learned so much working with John that I proposed we create a screenplay of one of my books, specifically Northern Comfort. Hey, I have all of the book’s rights and I channeled the story when I wrote it. John, who had already read the book, agreed it could make a good indie film.
Northern Comfort is about the harsh realities of rural life — the haves and have nots in a small town. It’s a heavy book that begins when a child dies in a sledding accident. His death brings together three people: his mother, the man who was driving the vehicle, and the father who had abandoned him. The story begins with a tragedy and ends with reconciliation and hope. Set in the fictional hilltowns of Western Mass. like most of my books, it features elements of country living like maple sugaring.
The title Northern Comfort has a couple of meanings, including that’s what maple sugaring was called when cane sugar was no longer available due to the Civil War.
With John’s willingness to work with me on this project, I dived into writing the script’s first draft. The timing was good. I had purposely put my WIP, The Talking Table, aside for two weeks and limited my writing to promoting The Unforgiving Town, which has an April 7 release.
So, I got to work creating the script’s first draft. I developed my own system of importing scenes to be formatted in Fade-In. As I learned in the first project with John, not every scene in a book has to be in a movie. Some may even be made up. Characters can be changed or eliminated. Fortunately, this book like my others is dialogue heavy, which helps. Devoting several hours each day, it took me a solid week to write the first draft — yes, I was immersed in this project.
Right now, the screenplay is in John’s hands. He texts me with questions and suggestions, which I value. I look forward to reading the script when he is finished.
Of course, as I’ve learned, there is writing and then there is the business of writing. Turning this script into an actual film will take many more steps that involve other people. But, hey, I remain a dreamer.
Meanwhile, I will be jumping back into The Talking Table, a Young Adult novel I believe adults would want to read.
By the way, here are the links to Northern Comfort and The Unforgiving Town. Thanks if you decide to read either or both.