This is a true story…
I was in the offices of a major movie producer who had just read a manuscript version of my new novel The Walk (Five Star, January 2004) and wanted to talk about a possible screen version. The story is about a TV producer who is stuck in downtown Los Angeles when a major earthquake decimates the city and has to walk back home to the suburbs.
The executive loved the book, the human drama, and the action-adventure elements. He only had a few thoughts and concerns.
“Does the guy have to be a TV producer?” he asked.
I was prepared for that question. I knew the character might be “too inside,” meaning too much a part of the entertainment industry, to connect with a wider audience.
“No,” I said, “Of course not. We can give him a different profession.”
“How about if the TV producer was a team of cheerleaders instead?” the executive asked.
I laughed, thinking he was joking. He wasn’t. But he wasn’t done with me yet.
“And what if the earthquake was a tidal wave?”
The book remains unfilmed.