CALLING ALL GREEN DARKNESS BLOG FANS!

                Angela and I are embarking on a publicity campaign to draw attention to our adaptation screenplay of GREEN DARKNESS the novel.

                Normally, this would be the job of a producer’s publicist, but, for now, since we took the initiative and optioned the screenplay rights to the book… well, we have to continue to think outside the box and break new ground that will lead to getting our script optioned.

                To that end, we need your help. Whether you’re from Spain, New Zealand, Russia, America, England, Canada, France, Germany, Australia or any other country that has shown up on our visitor stats, we ask you to do one or all of the following:

- Tweet #GreenDarknessadapationscript. Tweet and re-tweet until it’s trending worldwide!

-‘Like’ our Green Darkness Adaptation page on Facebook

-Post #GreenDarknessadapationscript on your LinkedIn sites.

-Comment on this blog site, telling us about Romance Writers Groups, Romance Novel fan groups and networks, Romance readers’ book clubs, etc. that we should contact to advise them about the work we’ve put our hearts into to bring this classic story to the big screen.

                These actions, along with others you may think we have overlooked, will make producers notice that we have a great script available to be optioned and purchased.

                Wide-spread mention online = producers taking notice = producers developing a passion for our project = a demand for the script.

                Help us shine a spotlight on our GREEN DARKNESS script and we’ll see you at the cinemas in record time.

                Thank you and keep reading this blog for progress --

Cheers

Marla & Angela

HALLOWE’EN

It’s Hallowe’en week.

This year it’s been overshadowed and drowned out by catastrophic weather events in the Eastern US. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected by the storm.

It’s the end of Daylight Saving Time too—tonight we turn back the clock. Oh, how we wish that was truly possible! Yet in our imaginations and on film we can do just that.

At this time especially, we turn to entertainment to lighten our loads when possible. Entertainment seems so trivial most of the time, but we humans most need it when the world looks its bleakest. We go to a film to live someone else’s reality and be moved to forget our own cares.

As writers, we can slip into that alternate reality probably more easily than most. We live in our imaginations. We create new worlds and spice them with characters who challenge and entice us.

This time of year draws me and Marla right into the heart of GREEN DARKNESS. One of the pivotal scenes in our adaptation script takes place on that ghostly night. It’s on Hallowe’en at Cowdray Castle that our script makes the transition into Act 2. A violent event there precipitates all that is to follow. The protagonist launches onto their journey --into the past-- to unearth the underlying cause of their present day circumstances.

It’s a colorful and visually exciting scene as the drama unfolds… The really cool fact is that there IS a celebration at Cowdray Castle every Hallowe’en. http://www.frightnights.co.uk/home/index.php?cid=1797
Townsfolk dress in mediaeval costumes and dance the night away within the Castle’s haunted ruins. Some hold ghost vigils. Mwa ha ha.

Personally, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the night. Can you?

Here’s hoping your Hallowe’en was more “treat” than “trick”!

Till next time...

Angela and Marla

GOOSEBUMPS AND "SIGNS"

Rev. Dr. Rowland Dilke Taylor

I am constantly amazed at how much stranger life is than fiction.

As writers we try to pay extra attention to the world around us, hoping to find that next wonderful idea that will be "the one". Marla and I also believe in "signs", even though those have let us down in the past. We're both optimists at heart. Otherwise, why would we be in this crazy business?

This week, Marla's ever-expanding search for ancestors, has brought us a "goosebump" moment, which we'd like to share!

Marla's story pertains to GREEN DARKNESS, Anya Seton's fabulous novel set in the turbulent era between Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. These were times when religion was determined by the monarch  First came Edward VI, then Lady Jane Grey and "Bloody" Mary.

In that interim, Catholics and Protestants were put to death for belonging to the "wrong" religion of the day. So it was that many were burned at the stake during Bloody Mary's reign.

One of those victims turns out to be Marla's ancestor!

Here we are centuries later, writing about the very times her ancestors lived and died in. We even refer to the events--in one of the earlier versions of our adaptation.

We have to ask ourselves: what drew her to the story? Was it just an accident that she was so caught up by my description? Or, could it have been the ghostly hand of  Rev. Dr. Rowland Dilke Taylor, Marla's 12th great-grandfather, guiding her, and me? We'll never know for sure, but it makes us wonder. 

For those who are interested, here's a link to his remarkable story: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/23141487/person/12800603101/media/2?pgnum=1&pg=0&pgpl=pid%7cpgNum

Till next time

Angela and Marla

For Now, Silence is Golden

Hello, Green Darkness novel fans.

Yes, we mean you... all 3,000 of you who have been reading our blog since we began posting. We truly appreciate your dedication to dropping in on this site. Especially since our updates have become rather sporadic.

We both dislike the cliché 'no news is good news', however, in this instance, concerning our GREEN DARKNESS adaptation screenplay, it truly does hold an element of truth.

This entry wouldn't be complete without mentioning another adage that actors have long claimed describes their working conditions on a film set - "it's all hurry up and wait".

The time has come for screenwriters to claim shared ownership of that expression. It aptly describes some of the frustrations we encounter when dealing with the Biz of Hollywood. That saying is at least preferable to the interminable 'silent no'.

Keep checking this blog, fans.

The news, good news, could come at any time.

Regards

Marla & Angela

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

While we twiddle our thumbs patiently (not!) waiting for the lull to pass and our adaptation of GREEN DARKNESS to move into the next stage, we thought we'd share some information on the locations in the screenplay.

The Spread Eagle Tavern (www.spreadeaglehotelmidhurst.com) is today the Spread Eagle Hotel and Spa, in Midhurst, Sussex, England. It dates back to 1420.

Cowdray House at www.cowdray.co.uk is the Cowdray Castle we envisioned. This is actual estate Sir Anthony Browne owned. Because of its condition, more ruin than liveable quarters, we changed Browne's ownership to Ightham Mote for the sake of making it easier for prospective location scouts and filming.

Ightham Mote (pronounced Item Moot) can be seen at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ighthammote and www.ighthammote.co.uk. The second link includes a video about the actual restoration of the estate house. C.H. Robinson built a replica of this historical treasure in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and named it 'Hidden Court'.

Naworth Castle, home of the Dacre and Howard families in Scotland, appears to be very receptive to movie film companies. www.naworth.co.uk Walt Disney enjoyed a visit at this splendid estate in 1935. (We can't help but wonder if award-winning director Ron Howard can trace his ancestry back to this piece of heaven in Scotland.)

Your assignment – should you choose to accept it and we hope you will – is to check out these sites. We hope that seeing these real  sites will stir your imagination as it did ours!

Can’t you almost SEE the GREEN DARKNESS characters living, breathing the story in these real places? We can!

 Until next time -

 Marla & Angela

 

IN HOLDING PATTERN BUT STILL ACTIVE

As the title suggests, our screenplay adaption of GREEN DARKNESS has slipped into another holding pattern on its journey to fruition on the big screen.

But that doesn't mean there's a lack of activity. To the contrary. Angela and I have renewed our option on the rights to the novel with the publisher... we are find our footing in the maze that is the world of entertainment lawyers and their roles in the Biz... 

We did indeed complete our consultations with screenwriting mentor Bill Boyle (see our April 22nd blog) to our great satisfaction and his delight with the project (we are delighted that Bill's delighted)...

And thanks to you readers, we wanted to update you on where in the world the blog views originate. From the highest number of views to the lowest - the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Malaysia and France. The admin stat reports don't include all locations, however we remember many views from Romania, Brazil and the Ukraine.

If you're astonished that Russia, Australia, Malaysia, Romania, and the Ukraine have shown up in our stats, imagine how we feel - Surprised! Pleased! Grateful!

Your encouragement keeps our spirits raised on those days when our energy reserves momentarily flag over promoting our project.

Ever onward to our goal -

Marla & Angela

TRULY AN INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON

As we approach what could be our last consultation session with our screenwriting mentor, Bill Boyle, over our screenplay adaptation of GREEN DARKNESS, we decided to do a more comprehensive dig into the publication history of the best-selling novel.

It turned out that there wasn't one single site online with all of that information. So we compiled data -

English has been the primary language for publication. However, the popularity of this classic historical romance also caught the attention of publishers internationally. The book has been translated into French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Turkish and Dutch. Two other variations were created that further widened the book's marketplace - books in large print and books on tape.

Whether the publisher was Houghton Mifflin, Hodder & Stoughton, Chicago Review Press, Fawcett Crest, Buccaneer Books, Emece Editores, Random House, Inc., Ulverscroft Large Print, The Book Club, Corgi, Coronet, Amereon or Books on Tape, GREEN DARKNESS has been published in some form almost continually from its first edition in 1972 to the most recent in 2009.

Considering that every edition can have multiple printings, it’s no wonder we can’t discover a final tally for the total number of books sold!

   

It would be equally difficult to determine the number of copies that were bought, read, enjoyed and passed on to friends so they could relish this tale.

Talk about a built-in international marketability factor for our screenplay!

Until next time -

Marla Hayes & Angela Falkowska

FOR THE LOVE OF GREEN DARKNESS

"Is Green Darkness a film?"

"Is there a Green Darkness movie?"

“Was Green Darkness ever made into a movie?”

Those kinds of questions have been repeatedly googled, weekly actually, ever since our blog started -- and probably long before that!

Our reaction is, well, frankly, mixed... we're thrilled that there is obviously interest in seeing the novel brought to the big screen... we're pleased that the novel is still held dear in the hearts of its vast number of readers... we're satisfied that our adaptation project and blog are still being talked about in book and movie circles around the world (we’ve had 1963 hits of our blog and many others on the FB page)... and we're encouraged to keep slogging along the road to bringing our screenplay to producers' attention…. 

Getting a producer to appreciate the hunger of the novel’s fans is the key!

As to what we've been doing to achieve that goal since our last posting -- we continue to work with screenwriting mentor, Bill Boyle.

“Angela and Marla are an exceptional screenwriting partnership that has an truly organic understanding of the screenwriting craft. They exhibit as a team a very shrewd and entertaining approach to their screenplays as expressed in ‘[Green Darkness]’ which is a complicated piece of work that flows from scene to scene skillfully and seductively.“  Bill Boyle

Thank you, Bill for those kind words! It's been a creatively exciting process-- gradually revealing our baby to a working pro who has never read the book and who sees our script as something that must stand on its own merit.

HOORAY: We pat ourselves on the back for finding a way to justify changing the title of our script back to GREEN DARKNESS from our working title PREORDAINED.

It wasn’t easy! 

Anya Seton quoted a poem in the foreword that contained the words, but that wasn’t good enough for us. 

Does anyone remember the controversy over VANILLA SKY?? We didn’t want to go that route. 

But we’re happy to say we’ve solved the problem –at least for ourselves. You’ll have to be the judge when you see the movie. And we’ll be awaiting those comments!

Let the tweaking continue as do the improvements –