Scripts for books 1 and 2 Finalized!

This is the prequel to the long awaited update! I know, I know, you want the final details and so do I, but we'll have to wait just a wee bit longer. All I can say for now is that the adaptation of "King's Sword" and "Shield of Faith" are completed, the presentation packages are done and the casting director is in full gear. My hope and prayer is that our first choices for Ryann and Terell come through over the next few weeks so that filming can begin in Mount Dora, Florida in October 2011.

In case you haven't followed some of the previous blog posts, the original project was picked up by Gold Pictures, in Hollywood, CA, and the budget has increased from $800,000 to $4,000,000. Award winning director, Jenni Gold, will be working with Jeff Maynard, who has over 30 film production credits.

Jeff and Jenni came up with a plan to shoot both movies simultaneously and do so in a cost-effective manner. The live action scenes will be filmed in Mount Dora; however, the fantasy scenes in Aeliana will be in animation with voiceovers by various actors, singers, and musicians. Jeff has worked on another youth fantasy movie, "Arthur and the Invisibles," in which a the characters changed into animation as they moved from the real world to the fantasy world (in that case, underground). By filming this way, all the scenes can be filmed for both movies as if they were one, while the animation company works on the rest.

Keep the efforts of all those involved currently and those who are being approached to be a part of the cast, crew and support, in your prayers and I hope to have a BIG update in the coming weeks. Eric

Great News for Ryann Watters and the King's Sword co-star Taylor Boswell

Film Works Entertainment has acquired the Worldwide Rights to the family feature film "Wind Jammers." Starring Justice Von Maur & Taylor Boswell.

Set in the Bahamas, this funny and uplifting family film follows 16 year-old Justice as she overcomes racial prejudice and brings change to her community - all while having the time of her life learning to sail! Uprooted from her everyday life in Chicago, Justice reluctantly moves with her Dad to the Bahamas when his job is relocated. In an effort to fit into their new life her Dad joins the local 'members-only' yacht club, only to soon realize that the fact that Justice is of mixed race doesn't go down too well with the founding members of the club.

If that's not bad enough Justice finds even more resistance when she begins club sponsored sailing lessons and the founding members conspire to get both Justice and her Dad kicked out of the yacht club.When Justice meets a handsome young yachtsman and fellow club member, the pair grow close and together they decide that the stuffy yacht club is not going to stop them from doing what they love...and to prove it, both enter into the annual yacht race, previously open to all residents of the island but is now a strict 'members-only' affair. Come race day, Justice is forced to make decisions that will not only affect the outcome of the race but the every-day lives of everybody on the island.Fun for the whole family, this charming film will sail its way into your hearts and show you that if you believe in your dreams, you can overcome any of life's obstacles!

Wind Jammers is the debut feature film of Producer/Writer Ric von Maur and was produced in conjunction with New York city based Rosetta Films. Von Maur says, "We are all very excited! We worked very hard on this movie and are delighted that FilmWorks will distribute it."

After finishing the script with two other writers, Elliot Lowenstien and Michael Ray Brown, on Maur tapped veteran Bahamian Filmmaker Kareem Mortimer to Co-Direct. Mortimer says, "It was a really fun script. I am proud to have been apart of it and really glad that it will get a worldwide audience."

THE LONG AWAITED NEWS...

"Ryann Watters and the King's Sword" gets a BIG upgrade!

Many of you have been asking, "what's going on with the movie?" and I am happy to say that I can now fill you in on some very exciting news. A year ago, I had no idea how the movie business worked and while I will not say that I am an authority on the topic now, I have had quite an education over the past nine months. If you've followed this project from the beginning, you know that it started out as a very low budget film. We realized that film was not reaching it's full potential and so some hard decisions had to be made. Thanks to a lot of Godly people who believe in the message of the movie and a great deal of prayer, a new direction was sought. And God has blessed the Ryann Watters films! That is right I said films. We are starting over with a 2 picture deal with a Hollywood production company at the helm.

Gold Pictures is located on the Universal Studios lot, in Hollywood, CA. Jeff Maynard will produce and award winning Directors Guild of America, Director Jenni Gold will direct. Their plan is to convert book 2 (Ryann Watters and the Shield of Faith) to a screenplay and film both movies at the same time! They will film the practical for books one and two, simultaneously and the fantasy sections of the movie will be done in animation. Jeff is an independent producer who spent the past five years working on over 35 major studio feature films for, The Weinstein Company (TWC) and Dimension Films, where he was the Senior Vice President of World Wide Post Production and worked on animation films such as:

Hoodwinked http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3YfG7P9VHE and

Arthur and the Invisibles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0XOsRFJ9EA (a real life to animation movie along he same lines as their proposal for Ryann Watters).

They have connections with the animation groups, from the above movies and others.

Other key points:
Jenni Gold has asked Taylor Boswell to reprise her role as Liddy.

Many of the voices for the animation characters in Aeliana will be name actors/musicians familar to viewers.

Both Jeff and Jenni are Christians and are very excited about doing this project. Jeff recently left TWC and wouldn't have been available to do a project of this size just a short time ago.
There are no coincidences, or as my daughter likes to tell me, "coincidences are God acting anonymously."

As things progress , I will keep you posted. Until them, I am working on book three... but that's another post!

Ryann Watters movie actors "In the News"

BG teen scores role in Christian action movie
By ALYSSA HARVEY, The Daily News
Taylor Boswell, 16, an actress from Bowling Green, will be in an upcoming Christian film.

Taylor Boswell’s first audition for a model and talent agency was not glamorous. While the other girls were dressed like traditional model hopefuls and exuding as much cool professionalism as they could muster, Taylor was sweating. It wasn’t because she was nervous, though.
“We had just left from a basketball game,” Jana Boswell, Taylor’s mother, said with a laugh. “She was wearing her basketball uniform.”
On that day a couple of years ago, the Bowling Green girl literally jumped on the runway and started walking the path that has led her to where she is now। Taylor, 16, is getting set to film the Christian youth action-adventure, “Ryann Watters and the King’s Sword,” which is scheduled to be released in summer 2011. She will play Liddy Thomas, Ryann’s best friend.

“It’s a good, family-friendly movie,” Taylor said। “It has great morals.”

Set in Mount Dora, Fla।, and based on the book by Eric Reinhold, “Ryann Watters and the King’s Sword” tells the story of a boy who is visited by an angel and is given three gifts. Ryann must use the gifts to save a world called Aeliana. At the same time, a dark angel chooses a bully, Drake Dunfellow, to stop him.

“It’s like Narnia meets Harry Potter,” Jana Boswell said। “It has a Christian spin.”

Taylor is no stranger to the camera। She appeared in the movie “Windjammers.” She has filmed a variety of other things, including promotions for Nickelodeon, an SNL Digital Short, “Celebrity Apprentice” and a pharmaceutical industrial film used to train nurses. She is also the clear face model for Epiduo skin care.

“I love modeling, but I love acting so much more,” she said.
A former national and international speech champion, Taylor travels with her family - which includes her father, Mike Boswell, and her brother, John Mikel, 12. They live in New York for much of the year. Taylor, who attended Bowling Green Christian Academy, and her brother are homeschooled.
“The key is that my family is supportive of me,” Taylor said.
Taylor said she had never thought about acting before, but fell in love with the craft. Someone had seen her in speech competitions and suggested that she get an agent. She is represented by Shirley Grant Management.

Jana Boswell said that after Taylor won the 2009 Actors, Models and Talent for Christ Overall Best Actress award, more offers began pouring in for her. Taylor hasn’t changed, though.

“She is always out on auditions,” she said. “She’s the same girl she was before she left here. She always looks forward to coming home after filming. She still likes to hang out on the farm.”
She and the family feel blessed to be able to be with Taylor while she pursues this career.
“It’s a God thing. There’s no way we could put this together,” Boswell said. “We don’t have an entertainment background. We were homebodies involved in the community.”
Taylor said although she doesn’t have to be in strictly Christian films, she doesn’t want to compromise her faith.
“I can always make (my faith) a part of a project by keeping my morals and standards to what they are,” she said.
She also has advice for others who may want to pursue their dreams.
“If you feel it in your heart and know it’s what you’re supposed to do, then go for it,” she said. “Don’t let the dream-haters stop you.”

Taylor hopes eventually to study to be a prosecuting attorney at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and to continue to be open to doing movies and television.
“There’s nothing more exciting to a kid than not knowing what’s going to happen next,” she said. “You never know what’s around the corner. God’s got all that planned.”