EYEWALL, THE MOVIE… WELL, NOT QUITE YET

As I’ve mentioned before, a lot of readers have told me they thought Eyewall would make a great movie.

Yes, it’s a dramatic story. But the novel may also exude “film appeal” because I tend to think cinematically as I write. I don’t do that with any ulterior motive, like hoping the book will get made into a movie. I do it because that’s how I find I can best embed readers in a scene: sights, sounds, smells, actions and dialogue. I essentially develop a film clip in my head and then attempt to replicate it with words.

But back to getting Eyewall from a little screen (Kindle, Nook) to the big screen. Quite frankly, I don’t know much about how that works. I do know I probably can’t sit around waiting for a film producer to show up at my door with a sack full of money, jam it in my hand and say, “I want your book.”

Given my egregious lack of background in the book-to-movie business, I decided it’s time to do some learnin’. There’s a great writers’ conference in Portland, Oregon, in August hosted by the Willamette Writers that attracts dozens of not only literary agents (I’ve already got one of those), but people in the film industry as well. It’s a West Coast thing, I guess, given that Hollywood is a bit more proximate to Portland than Atlanta.

All-in-all, It seems like a super opportunity to gather knowledge and make contacts. I must admit it will be with some trepidation I plan to slash into a jungle populated with entities such as Scooty Woop Entertainment (Scooty what?), Circle of Confusion (that should help me a lot) and Zero Gravity Management (how well grounded can that organization be?).

Hollywood, I guess.

Where are my shades?

P.S. I’ll still be attending my favorite writers’ conference in June, The Southeastern Writers Workshop on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

-March 19, 2012-

2 Comments

  1. Tom on March 19, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    Buzz…I know it's a tough nut to crack (unless it's a comedy or PIXAR-type)… but hope it happens… It would be a good movie… Good luck !!

  2. Bob Swanson on October 8, 2024 at 10:11 am

    Buzz — I was just telling my astronomy students about “Eyewall” yesterday. We were on the topic of Newton’s law of gravitation, satellites and geosynchronous orbits. With Hurricane Milton in the Gulf, it was a good opportunity to talk about GOES-East (and, since we’ll be getting into a module about light, a chance to talk about visible and IR imagery).

    Anyway, this Robbie McSwanson is still (to quote Gloria Swanson –no relation), “Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.”

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