Me and Sloppy

Last week Easy A, a female-driven teen comedy, landed second in the box office and Sophie Jordan’s young adult novel, Firelight, was nabbed by Mandalay Pictures, Entertainment Weekly’s “Pop Watch” blog asked What Young Adult Novel Should Hollywood Adapt Next?

At the top of EW’s list is Megan McCafferty‘s Sloppy Firsts. I couldn’t agree more. Sloppy Firsts has moved hundreds of thousands of readers to LOL, scream OMG! ♥ Marcus Flutie, and find a BFF in Jessica Darling, the series’ protagonist. I’m one of those readers, and for the last five years I’ve been thinking of the book as a film. In Jessica’s one-of-a-kind voice, the novel brilliantly, hilariously, and heartbreakingly captures the humor and drama of the teen experience. Jessica “Notso” Darling is an unforgettable, modern day heroine who we’ve been waiting for since Molly Ringwald abandoned the throne.

My absolute passion for Megan’s NYT best selling “Jessica Darling” series lead Gabe Reiter (Taurus Road Productions) and I to option Sloppy Firsts with The Operating Room earlier this year.

Since then I adapted the book to a screenplay. The script is now being considered by buyers who will hopefully agree with EW’s rallying call and the huge audience who spent around $791 million supporting the Twilight franchise and who are certainly hungry for their own Hughes-esque classic. I know I am.

Episode 5: May I Be Direct?

I’m one of four guests in this week’s Film Method podcast!

We recorded Episode 5, which is all about directing and the director/producer relationship (hence yours truly showing up to blab) last week, and now the 87 minute conversation is available on the Film Method site and iTunes.

Cindy Freeman, the podcast’s creator and host, invited me to participate in the director-focused episode and to bring along Gabe Reiter, one of two producers I work with on a daily basis.  My APPOINTMENT IN VANCOUVER producer, Seth Caplan, can be heard unpacking the producer’s role with elegance and assuredness in Episode 2: The Producer’s Approach.  Apparently, my team is full of excellent podcast guests. Oh. And excellent producers!

Andrew Robinson and Jenna Edwards, the director and producer of APRIL SHOWERS (released in April 2009, APRIL SHOWERS tells the story of the Columbine school shooting through the eyes of a survivor), joined us for this week’s discussion. I enjoyed comparing and contrasting our approaches to filmmaking. Example: Andrew is a self-admitted control freak, and my first directing gig was a truly outrageous JEM performance with the neighborhood kids.

My only regret of the podcast is that I didn’t go after Andrew more when he commented on film school kids’ lack of variety in their favorite films.  That we reference all the same cinematic models. Ha! As a film school graduate x 2 and survivor of many film student-infested cocktail parties, I am 100% sure that film students’ favorite films tend to be more ecclectic, obscure and wildly interesting than the common moviegoer’s.  They should be, right?  These people are paying big bucks to get schooled in cinema. Most of them are happily exposing themselves to a wide range of films and embracing more than THE GODFATHER. That said, I’ll admit THE GODFATHER is on my list, but so is WALKING AND TALKING and THE CONFORMIST!

About the FILM METHOD Podcast (by Cindy Freeman):  Have you ever wanted to make your own film, but you’re not sure where to start? Film Method is the podcast that will take you through the nuts and bolts of independent filmmaking. In a roundtable discussion format we will meet guests from all walks of filmmaker life who will share their golden nuggets of wisdom about everything from hiring a producer, to finding a composer, to seeking out investors. Season One will focus on the development phase of making a movie starting with the seeds of inspiration and writing a script or finding material with a particular audience in mind.

A Producer Added to the Team

Today Gabe Reiter and I made it official that our last months of feature development is a bona fide joint venture.  I am 100% certain that the film we make will be tremendous.  

Working with Gabe has been such a joy for a thousand reasons that I can’t even begin to list, but I will say this — it’s absolutely invigorating and inspiring to have a partner who consistently listens, contributes, and routinely has the same script notes, business opinions, and plans of action as I.  It’s easy to be on the same page when you ARE on the same page.