Our Valley
Hello everyone:
Long time, no write. Thanks to everyone who dropped in with a question or comment and to everyone who answered those questions or comments with more comments or questions.
So what's happening in the world of me?
Just finished the screenplay for Monster, and we are now in the middle of contract negotiations with a film company to produce Monster as a motion picture next summer, a year from now. I'll have plenty to do in the meantime: lots of preparation besides some more writing, so I'll be busy. Someone wanted to know if the ape characters are going to be CGI -- we're planning on both CGI and live-action, so smoothly blended and intercut that you won't know the difference, right?
Namesake Entertainment is going to begin principal photography on House July 15 over in Poland. These guys keep getting better and better at what they do, so House should be quite the motion picture -- a little reminder, this film will not be for the faint hearted. Ted Dekker is over in Poland right now, representing the two of us on the movie set. I know Ted will keep them all in line.
This Present Darkness movie... last I heard, 20th Century Fox is still in script development, so at least things are moving forward on that project. That's all I know at the moment; if any of you hear anything, let us all know.
Someone wanted to know if they are going to be any more Veritas books. Not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all. I will probably give priority to a third Darkness novel, but we'll see which idea comes to the front burner first. The Cooper adventure books would make great movies, but they would be very expensive and complicated to produce because of the bizarre settings and special effects. We'll see if the market is ready for any other movies by Peretti and then take another look at that question.
Another question: since it seems I'll be doing Monster first, does that mean that The Oath movie project will be put on hold? Yes, The Oath will have to wait until Monster runs its course. My hope, dream, and prayer is that Monster will do well enough that we will immediately have sufficient personnel and resources to move right into production on The Oath, and of course, I will write and direct.
Another person asked if I used a particular voice dictation program when I write. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this blog using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a voice dictation program I have found to be quite good, even remarkable at times. No, it doesn't work miracles and I still have to make corrections from time to time, but I usually have to make corrections when I type manually anyway, so the time efficiency is about even. I will say that it sure saves a lot of wear and tear on my hands, and you can't beat it for speed. When I type, I type as fast as I can type, which is not as fast as I can say something. When I dictate, Dragon NaturallySpeaking can keep up with me even as a talk at a normal pace. So there, there's your commercial.
Speaking of software, I outline my stories using Power Structure, a very helpful tool for novels, screenplays, anything you want to work on. For all you screenwriters out there, let me recommend Truby's Blockbuster. Another outstanding program for outlining is Storyview, a very nice graphic display of your outline which helps you to see your whole story at a glance. For writing screenplays, I use the old standard, tried and true Final Draft.
Anyway, thanks to all of you for participating in this web site, and by all means continue to make full use of the wonderful forums and chat opportunities. I really appreciate the way some of you have lent your kind criticism and advice to the budding writers who have submitted material. I'll be floating around the web site eavesdropping and seeing what you folks are talking about, but of course, I won't be able to reply to everyone. Hopefully, I can gather up questions and answer them in a general way in a blog like this one.
Meantime, on the crass commercial side of things, the bookstore is doing pretty well and we've had a lot of interest in Frank Peretti product. If there's anything Peretti you can't find anywhere else, let us know and we'll see if we can get it on the shelves at the web site. We aim to please.
I'll be around.
Frank
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