The Walk

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.

1 thought on “The Walk”

  1. Did you ever hear the story about Steve Hamilton’s McKnight series? A producer called up after reading Cold Day in Paradise and loved the story, wanted to make it into a movie.
    There was just one problem. Alex McKnight, the central character, didn’t work for him. Who’d buy a middle-aged ex-cop and former minor league ballplayer? How about making Alex a woman?
    Hamilton, if I recall his talk correctly, hung up the phone.

    Reply

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