Stuff That Gets Made

August 28, 2018

I’m surprised by the work that gets optioned by Hollywood these days more and more. I’m also surprised at the choices book publishers accept. Get this …

I recently read an article that the Russo Brothers, directors of the Infinity War, Captain America and a bunch of TV shows, were part of a bidding war for a novel called “Cherry” by a first-time novelist.

Here’s the article:

https://movieweb.com/cherry-movie-directors-joe-anthony-russo/

And here’s the summary of that book:

It’s 2003, and as a college freshman in Cleveland, our narrator is adrift until he meets Emily. The two of them experience an instant, life-changing connection. But when he almost loses her, he chooses to make an indelible statement: he joins the Army. The outcome will not be good for either of them. As a medic in Iraq, he is unprepared for the realities that await him. He and his fellow soldiers huff computer duster, abuse painkillers, and watch porn. Many of them die. When he comes home, his PTSD is profound. As the opioid crisis sweeps through the Midwest, it drags both him and Emily along with it. As their addictions worsen, and with their money drying up, he stumbles onto what seems like the only possible solution, robbing banks.

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First of all, are you kidding me with that storyline?

Second of all, who the FUCK is fighting over that bullshit story to get it made into a film?

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no bidding war and I’m doubting this person Nico Walker even exists. Even if they do put a face to a name, the more I think of it, the more I’m being suckered into the full grasp of the Hollywood spin machine. Even if the man did write this basic, simplistic bonnie and clyde story on a white man’s only problem with opioids, who the fuck cares? No really. Whats the hook in that story that should make me care and I had military experience.

In fact, I think that article is actually a press release.

I have been writing for a very, very long time and I think I’ve come across every plot line and story concept known to man. Nothing is 100% original anymore, but I promise you, Cherry — as written in the synopsis — is nothing anyone would trip over themselves to buy unless Hollywood told them too. So, what happens? With news spreading that it’s a first-time author, people rush to buy the book to see what makes it a big deal. 

Reviews on Amazon are scathing when you look at the one-star reviews.

So what does this all have to do with me?

I write better. Much more original stories and I’m getting mad at the game Hollywood plays. 

So on the side, I’ve re-started writing query letters and such to get a literary agent. To be honest, I don’t think that’s the way to go. Something is bothering me that says nothing is traditional in getting a book published except who you know and I know no one.