I have some time on my hands. Today I turned in the manuscript for my 12th Monk novel, MR MONK ON THE COUCH, which means that, for a few weeks anyway, I don't have any deadlines hanging over my head. I still have to come up with the plot of my next Monk book over the next couple of days (the book is due in June), but that's not worrying me too much.
So I'm sitting here trying to decide what project would be the best use of my time, creatively and financially, over the next four-to-six weeks (assuming some paying gig, like a job on a series or a freelance script, doesn't come along!).
1. THE HEIST MOVIE. I've got an incredibly detailed outline for a big heist movie, a project I developed a year or so back for a Big Name Movie Producer…but the project fell through. It's all mine, there are no strings attached to it, so I could write that up as a new spec feature script.
2. THE CRIME NOVEL. I have 20o pages and an outline that I wrote two years ago for a crime novel called KING CITY and then had to set aside for some paying gigs. I could finish that up and give it to my agent…or publish it directly on the Kindle. Or…
3. THE SPEC PILOT. I could go in a different direction and write KING CITY as a spec TV pilot script, since the idea originally began as a TV series pitch that a lot of folks liked, though not enough to actually buy it.
4. THE WALK SEQUEL. My wife thinks I should write a direct-to-Kindle sequel to THE WALK to take advantage of the book's success. The sequel would be set over the same three-day period as the book, but would focus on what was happening to the hero's wife while he was walking across Los Angeles. I have some notions, but I still need to plot the whole thing out.
I'm mulling them all and waiting to see which one inspires me the most over the next couple of days. In the mean time, I've got Men of Mystery to attend in Irvine tomorrow, I want to finish reading Justin Cronin's THE PASSAGE, and I've got lots of episodes of BOARDWALK EMPIRE, NIKITA, and some other shows to catch up on.
I’d either go for the spec pilot or what the wife said. IMO. 🙂
I’d love to read KING CITY, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
I have a better idea for a TV pilot. A much better idea.
I have an even better idea for a TV pilot. Let’s write mine first.
Make sure to write a review of THE PASSAGE when you’re done with it. I want to know if it’s worth the effort of reading.
You only get so many times at bat, so why not swing for the fences? Considering all the work you’ve already done on the Heist Film, why not complete it? If it gets made, this is your greatest possible return financially of the four projects, and, if made, would raise your profile in Hollywood (I’m guessing), opening a lot of new doors. As well, if the script is completed, you are working with the universe in activating “the luck/serendipity factor” — with a completed script, you’re “likely” to run into or attract a hungry producer whereas why would you attract him if you don’t have a completed script to show him, or her?
Still, it’s up to how you feel, I guess.
I think your title, “King City,” is terrific. It would very likely make a terrific pilot. A sequel to “The Walk” might work, but who knows? What you know for sure is where you want to be, and so whatever project will get you there is the one.
If you follow your wife’s advice and write a WALK sequel about what happened to the hero’s wife during the hero’s trek across LA, then your daughter will want a book about what happened to the hero’s daughter when the hero was walking across LA and the hero’s wife was defending their home.