I Was in a Movie!

This is me. Right here, at the table. Look how focused I am!






I'm not sure if I'll be up for an Emmy Award next year, this time, but my acting skills look amazing in this TV movie, from what I've seen, which is only this photo.

The Producers

In early June 2019, I drove all the way across the state of Washington to be an extra in a movie by two women producers. One is JD, my agent/literary manager and the cracker jack who sold my Christmas Romance screenplay recently to a company who will film in the next months, the other, Robin, is a producer who bought the option to make The Dream Jumper's Promise into a feature film. (Both really want to make that movie and I absolutely love them for that!)
So when they had a shooting schedule for their TV movie about a barista falling for a guy who builds houses for poor people, I really wanted to be any part of it they might tolerate. I didn't write the screenplay but I still wanted to be on set.

I got in the car the day before my casting call and drove across the state on my adventure. I was getting over bronchitis, still coughing and hoped that my hacking cough would settle down by tomorrow. There wasn't much that was going to stop me from being in this movie, or at least supporting these two #womeninfilm because I was so excited I was creeping them both on social media for on set photos every day.

Stopped at a Rest Stop to show how flat E. WA is

I checked into my Air B&B, settled in for the night with takeout dinner and watched Always Be My Maybe on Netflix, a film that made me laugh out loud a lot.
The next day, I woke and got ready for my big day on the set of Home Sweet Home, a few miles away. It was a lovely sunny day in Spokane Washington, something that was beneficial when you have scads of electrical equipment outside a coffee shop while you film inside.
Snafoo: Pulling on my jeans, I realized they no longer fit. I'd recently gained a few pounds and although the jeans were stretchy, they weren't that stretchy. Dang. My other pants were white, a movie no-no color. I covered the front with a long top, did my hair to try to get some height from my increasingly thinning dome and realized I'd forgotten hair spray, something my wispy, thin hair cannot go without. Another dang.
I left the little cottage I'd rented and set out for the drug store for hairspray and Ross's Dress for Less to buy jeans. I'd seen the clothing store when getting takeout the night before. If I skipped a Starbucks run for caffeine, I'd have enough time to buy jeans and get to the meeting place for extras to sign in at 10:15.
Pulling in to Ross's parking lot, I realized my jeans had stretched enough on the drive that I could fasten them closed so I got back in the car and went for hairspray. Once I had my hair sorted out, I still had time for coffee. I believed. One grande latte later, I was on my way to the set of the movie.
Our meeting place was a big church parking lot but upon arrival, I didn't see anyone out and about. Nobody with a clipboard, no movie looking people. I drove around looking for signs of actors, directors, wardrobe people but nothing.

Outside the coffee shop 

I was right on time. Where was everyone? After checking my emails to see if I got the location wrong, I saw someone who looked like movie crew enter the church. They were inside the church? I hadn't gotten the memo.

I parked and ran through the parking lot to the church door, now ten minutes late for being slightly early. Inside, I found a big room with a kitchen and people and snacks and clipboards and I realized this was Command Central for the movie. I checked in with Suzanne, the casting director, and ran back to the car to get my clothing choices for the day so the wardrobe lady could choose. I thought I was dressed exactly like the photos sent the night before as a guideline however, I had a rip in the sleeve of my cute green jacket in the back and had to change, which was perfectly fine but slightly embarrassing to arrive on set looking like a hobo with a ripped jacket.

Working the camera

Once I got changed, I went to the makeup room for face powder and then we were shuttled in a van to the coffee shop where the stars were waiting. Shots were set up, and I was eventually moved inside the coffee shop to a table where I could watch and listen to the Director, DOP, prop people, Assistant Director, actors. Inside I could really see how a movie is made. Most of the extras had worked on a zombie show called Z Nation which shot in Spokane, so it was interesting talking to them about their experiences as zombies and towns folk.

Observation: Those poor actors have to say the same line 20 times over and over sometimes, not because there was anything wrong with their execution the first time, but to get the correct lighting, positioning, camera angle. I realized that movie making is more about lighting than acting. The real diva of the day seemed to be the camera and its need for good lighting.

When my day inside the coffee shop was done and the extras were shuttled back to the church, we gathered up our stuff, signed a bunch of paperwork, said our goodbyes and headed off to real life.

Ben Elliott, the star

I didn't get a chance to meet the female lead that day. Natasha Bure stayed quiet and in character, plugged into her phone and music when not working. I did meet the two male leads, one being a lovely young man from Spokane named Gabriel who plays the suitor who is all wrong for the girl and the other being the polite young man, Ben, who plays the guy who gets the girl. When I sat down beside Ben on the curb, he got up to offer his chair, which was a gallant gesture. Chivalry is not dead. I didn't need his chair but it was nice of him to ask.

Producers JD & Robin, Stars Natasha Bure & Ben 

Home Sweet Home is a movie about a young man who builds houses through his church and meets a somewhat superficial barista woman who pretends to be handy with a hammer to get on the build site to meet this man. It's a cute story, written by a fellow Seattle author and screenwriter, Lesley Ann McDaniel, and with a distribution deal, it's scheduled to be released Valentine's Day 2020. I, for one, can't wait to see what the rest of the story holds. I know the coffee shop scene pretty well but it'll be fun to see the movie in February and watch the story unfold.

If you ever get a chance to be an extra on a set, you'll be surprised how long it takes to film a page of screenplay and what goes in to making a movie. The camera is the star, the diva, the one they pamper, not the actors, and not the extras who are sitting on the periphery watching the pieces of the puzzle fall into place to make a story. But together, we all contribute to make the story come to life to bring it to you on the screen. Let me know in February if you think my performance is Emmy worthy.
I'll just be happy to not end up on the cutting room floor!


KIM HORNSBY is the bestselling Amazon Author of The Dream Jumper's Promise, Book 1 in her Bestselling Supernatural Suspense series. With 9 published novels and several screenplays circulating Hollywood, Kim lives in the Seattle area and writes stories for women about overcoming tragedy, adversity and coming out the other end triumphant.

     Find her on Amazon Books

     www.twitter.com/kimhornsby
        www.facebook.com/kimhornsbyauthor

My Dream HAS Come True!

I'm trying to be really professional this week, displaying just the right amount of excitement but it's difficult to contain my enthusiasm.

My novel, THE DREAM JUMPER'S PROMISE, is optioned for film.

That means a film production company has paid me money and signed a contract to reserve the book (all three in the series, actually) for a set amount of time while they prepare to begin pre-production to make the first book into a feature film.
This is a dream come true. I've been working on getting this story to a big screen for over a year and now it looks very good.

There is no doubt in my mind that the company who optioned my books will go into pre-production with this project in the next months. They are very serious about making this film. I know this because when I first met the president of the company in May, she'd just finished reading the first book and was a HUGE fan.

Luckily, at the time, I had no idea who she was and promptly gave her the next two books, thinking she was simply a reader fan. She read the second one in the next two days and we talked about Jamey and Tina and their struggle to get back to each other and Jamey's gift of entering dreams, which ruins his life sometimes. We were simply having a reader/writer conversation about my book. I was at an exclusive conference in Spokane Washington called Connecting Writers with Hollywood, hobnobbing with Hollywood people who'd flown in to teach, connect with prospective clients and listen to pitches. I'd arrived knowing my manager, JD wanted me to meet someone and was hoping to drum up some interest in my book series, not realizing the drum had sounded, someone answered the call and I was talking to her as I answered questions about the first book.

On the recommendation of J D deWitt, who represents this series and introduced me to the film people (and happens to run the conference-- CWWH), I came home and proceeded to write the screenplay for the first book and was glad I'd taken classes in screen writing AND had a friend who's a produced screenwriter with advice and how-to books! Of course, I had to go to Maui to write on my friend, Lynn's, deck for my inspiration. I wrote the spec screenplay, came home to work on polishing it and finally submitted it to JD and some others who know more than I do about screenwriting.

Cut to mid-July, the Pacific Northwest Writers' Association Conference in Spokane Washington, and the president/producer flew in with JD specifically to talk with me. Over margaritas and enchiladas we discussed the books, what was my fondest wish if it went to the big screen, and all three of us agreed it would best translate to a feature film, not a Netflix series to be watched on a phone. The scenery is too lush, too visual to be reduced that way.

We were on the same page, and I left that dinner knowing the producer would honor the story I'd written and wanted to make a gorgeous, compelling film. I can't tell you the particulars of how I know this without betraying private conversations but if you believe in amazing connections between women, you'll understand my confidence that I can trust this woman even though she is a business woman first. I know she won't change my characters drastically, or the location, or the story line.
At that dinner meeting, JD listened, added her ideas, directed the business conversation and represented my books like the pro she is. I'm in awe of this process, and her, and how it all came about like three ends of a rope coming together to form a beautiful knot.

We had a verbal agreement. Cut to the last days of July when the contract came through, honoring everything we talked about, giving me everything I ever dreamed of for this book and dispelling all doubts I had about handing over my baby to these people. With a few tweaks, the contract was signed and now I am an author with a book optioned by an Indie Film Company.


5 X 5 Media is best known for reality TV like Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Fashion Star, and The Rock's Wakeup Call as well as a TNT weekly tv show with Dwayne Johnson, The Hero. They always planned to head into film production for features and now they will, with my book.
This project was not taken to the studios like Sony, Paramount, Universal etc by 5 X 5 because of the possibility it might be optioned and never made, taking a place on some shelf like hundreds of other possible screenplays that mega studios had optioned, paid money for, and let fall by the wayside. THE DREAM JUMPER'S PROMISE does not need $20 million but only a few million because there are no huge crowd scenes, no special effects, no location changes. The whole story takes place on Maui except for some flashback scenes of Kandahar, Afghanistan that can be done on a set. Having an Indie Film Company at the helm would insure the story stayed true, the film got made and the people who believe in this story, will be in the driver's seat.

In the next year, I hope to learn a hell of a lot about this process, if they let me. I've made a good case why they should at least let me lurk, having been a scuba instructor on Maui and having a direct link to movie people in Hawaii because of my entertainment connections. Regardless, I plan to document this process every step of the way on this blog so if you want to keep up to date on the making of the film, I suggest you follow my blog at the very least. Look to the right to the follow button.


Here's my social media info too where I very actively announce everything:

Facebook
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And if you're interested in checking out the little book that is in the Development Stage of a Feature Film (I'm capitalizing everything that sounds cool!) pick up a copy of THE DREAM JUMPER'S PROMISE here for only .99 this month.
In September the price goes up.

Kim's Amazon Page

KIM HORNSBY is the Author of Award-Winning The Dream Jumper's Promise available on Amazon Books. She is a Bestselling Supernatural Suspense Author who lives in the Seattle area where she writes during the rainy months.

Books Make Great Films!

I just returned from a conference in which I behaved like the Prima Donna I want to become.

Don't get me wrong. I wasn't mean to people, I didn't trash my hotel room rock star style, I didn't have people toting and fetching for me (well maybe I asked someone to run upstairs to get my business cards) Oh, I did ask someone else to run to the ballroom to cancel my next meeting while I talked about the logistics of making my book into a movie but both my fetchers were friends, going that way anyhow. Phew! I behaved like a Prima Donna in believing my own PR. I am big stuff. I write books. We tend to downplay that but I'm going to up-play that now! I want to be an approachable celebrity, one to make people say "She's so nice, considering her success!" Now I just need to get successful.

Last weekend, I attended JD deWitt's Connecting Writers with Hollywood Conference in Spokane, Washington, a lovely, small city close to the Idaho border that is teaming with creative people. I heard Chuck Palaniuk speak (author of Fight Club), Jess Walter (Beautiful Ruins), Shawn West (The Wayne Agency), Brian Bird (BIG producer and writer in Hollywood!), talked adaptation with producers, film makers and directors and generally felt like an author who might possibly get a movie deal someday.
I signed up for the Con last summer to attend in September 2016, it was moved to May 2017 and by the time I attended the thing I had a book to film agent and interest from a production company who loved my novel The Dream Jumper's Promise.

When May rolled around, I didn't need to pitch to agents, but schmoozing was on the agenda, something I love because I'm a super-social person. I went to the conference to socially network, increase my visibility, teach a class on self-confidence in public, meet potentially interested and interesting people and represent my business, which is me.
I tacked on a book signing and talk at the famous Indie bookstore--Auntie's on the Saturday afternoon to make the trip more worthwhile and then forgot my box of books on the doorstep back in Seattle! So, I talked and peddled my friends' books.
I'd heard that adapting a novel to a movie is entirely possible but had always assumed you needed a screenplay to pitch. Turns out you can pitch the book without having someone write the screenplay.
Last year, I went to see the movie Nerve, a YA thriller written by a Seattle author, Jeanne Ryan, who got a call one day from Lions Gate Films to say they wanted to buy the option on her book. I'm sure there was more to Jeannie's story than just answering the phone, but the point is that her book was made into a movie. Someone hired by Lions Gate wrote the screenplay. See where I'm going here?
Book Adaptations are golden nuggets of material for studios, producers, and all the folks who need good stories for the big screen. I've heard this enough now that I believe it to be true. Great books make great films for the most part and are sought after, sometimes more than a screenplay in Hollywood. If you are a successful Indie author with a successful novel and a built in reader base, your book might be attractive to an film maker. The story is there, the characters are already fleshed out, the locations are chosen, the platform is there.
That was a clear message from everyone who spoke at the conference this weekend and one I attended last year. Books that have done well make great options for film and TV. Especially if you have something unique. Don't look for a trend because by the time you write, film, and produce that project, the trend is over. Instead, set your own trend.
If you are an author with a great book, consider learning to write a treatment, which is a 4-20 page synopsis of the book, complete with more information about the logistics of your book's success.
The treatment often has dialogue from the book. Choose only relevant, clever passages.
Once you have that, consider getting an agent who specifically handles book to film. They are out there. Google it. Most studios will not take a look without representation, I've learned.
Once you get that agent, get ready to field offers while you sit in your office with fingers crossed. Let the agent do their magic while you dream about who to play the leads! Like Stephen Amell would be perfect for the role of Jamey in The Dream Jumper's Promise. He looks the part, is the right age, has the acting chops, is a swimmer, likes Hawaii, might be available next Spring when we shoot (I'm getting way ahead of myself here but that's OK) and we have the same birthday and are both from the Toronto area. It's kismet. If you know me or read my books, you know that I believe in all that mumbo jumbo like numerology, kismet, co-incidence, intuition. Oh, and Stephen worked with Brian Bird who I met this weekend and has a connection to my agent. AND Stephen has a winery in Walla Walla which has absolutely no connection to anything except it's in Washington State, where Jamey, my character, is from.
Tomorrow's blog, I'll drop my first choice pick for the role of Tina!

In the next week, I'll be blogging about all the informational nuggets I learned at Connecting Writers with Hollywood, so become a follower of the blog if you don't want to miss that information.

Or like my FB page over here www.facebook.com/kimhornsbyauthor  where I will probably post as a new blog goes live.
Or twitter www.twitter.com/kimhornsby

And if you have a book that would make a great movie, whether it's Blockbuster of epic proportions or a quaint Indie story that takes place in the same two rooms with only two characters, you could see your name on a book to film contract someday. Find an agent, pitch that story and keep your fingers and toes crossed!

Kim Hornsby is the author of Award-Winning The Dream Jumper's Promise available on Amazon Books. She is a Bestselling Supernatural Suspense Author who lives in the Seattle area where she writes during the rainy months, escaping to Maui when possible to scuba dive and get fodder for her next books.

Page to Screen - Pitching Tips for Book to Movie

Are you an author? A screenwriter? Have you ever pitched your work to a producer or a studio in hopes of seeing your book on the big screen?

Now you can.
In Spokane, Washington. The link to Connecting Writers with Hollywood is at the end of this blog, if you think you have something that would adapt well.

I've written blogs and magazine articles on my experiences pitching to producers, studio heads, screenwriters etc but today I want to offer something more hands-on, practical, to anyone who is headed somewhere with the intention of pitching their book to anyone who might adapt it to a big screen (or a little screen!)

First, remember that you have a product to sell and you're not taking up someone's time if their job is to acquire material (product) for their company. You don't need to feel beholden to the person you pitch to. They are looking for people like you and should be eager to listen to your pitch.

Do your homework. Prepare until you are sick of the sound of your own self-promoty voice.
Here are some questions that will help you prepare your pitch so that you come off as the confident sales person you are.

Book or Screenplay?:
Title:
Genre: (High Action War Movie. Romantic Comedy, Dystopian Young Adult etc)
Logline: (One sentence crux of your story- see below blog)
Short Pitch (in about 200 impact-filled words - Each section must drive the action and build the suspense of what’s coming next. The conclusion should be tight and must tie up all loose ends.)
Why will your project make an AMAZING movie?
-Location/Setting (See your setting through a movie camera lens)
-Story line (Touch on Goal, Motivation, Conflict)
-Action (make a list of all the action scenes in your story)
-Characters (Make them come to life in description)
What is the Essence of your story? (Describe the soul of the book in one sentence)

What actors could play the leads (Use well-known, current, successful, popular in that genre stereotypes, not your favorite, little-known actor who usually doesn't play this type of role)
Film or TV Series (Imagine how your project would look as a Feature Film, an Indie Film, or on an HBO limited series, or a sit-com on Network TV)

LOGLINES: Very important! Take time to write a great one. 

WHO?

GOAL?

OBSTACLE?

If it doesn't take you at least an hour to write the perfect logline for the movie of the adaptation, go back to fine-tune it. A meandering log line or pitch suggests a poorly written story.

Here are example log lines from movies:

A Pennsylvania steel-town ambitious and hot headed high school coach tries to spoil a football hero’s scholarship dream. 

A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.

A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.  

An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more. 

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

 A writer and wall street trader, Nick, finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby.

   __________________________________________________________________________

Now go write a log line.

Just before you pitch, gather all the enthusiasm you can muster (think of the time someone asked you if you love your newborn baby) and pitch like this is the best idea EVER and the person in front of you will benefit greatly from your genius. Pretend you are telling a campfire story, not rattling off sentences.
You only get one chance to pitch and then it's GONE!

Join us in Spokane!
Connecting Writers with Hollywood - Spokane Washington, May 25 - 27th
www.cwwh2016.com

(Don't be fooled by 2016 - This is the site for the 2017 Conference where I'll be teaching on the Thursday afternoon - just before Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote The Fight Club!)

Kim Hornsby is the Author of Award-Winning The Dream Jumper's Promise available on Amazon Books. She is a Bestselling Supernatural Suspense Author who lives in the Seattle area where she writes during the rainy months.