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

Surprise Choice to play Lord Ekron!

In a surprise choice, it is rumored that Isaac C. Singleton Jr., will play the role of Lord Ekron, in "Ryann Watters and the King's Sword." http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0802280/

Fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean will recognize him as one of the pirates, but he has also had roles in "Anger Management," "Planet of the Apes," and "Galaxy Quest." His extensive acting career dates back to 1997.

Isaac is a big dude... and you can tell from one of his pics from Pirates that he can definately play an intimidating role as the evil Lord Ekron.

I have been in discussions with the Producer and Director in regards to the roles of Ryann and Terell, as well as the the voices for the animal characters and all I can say at this point is that if we can get half of our dream list, it will be awesome.

I'm looking forward to getting the names out to you, but the wait is what builds the suspense :) Eric

Ryann Watters as a class project Diorama!

I love to see my book read and used in schools. My hope is that through the process of the movie and new book publisher, the Ryann Watter's series will get on the Accelerated Reader (AR) list. Some times that is the only way kids will pick up a book.

A picture of Olivia's diorama, that she completed as part of an overall book report project was submited to me the other day. As you can see, she was very creative in showing one of the scenes when Ryann travels through Lake Dora, into Aeliana. When I looked more closely, I also noticed a picture of me on top of the box.

Great job, Olivia, and thanks for sharing! If you're a parent and your child chooses to use one of my books for a class project, please let me know and we'll post it here!

Eric

Ryann Watters and the King's Sword is officially up on IMDb

IMDb stands for "Internet Movie Database," and is the officially repository for information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. The site was launched in 1990 and acquired by Amazon.com in 1998.

Ryann Watters and the King's Sword is now listed here: in pre-production.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1858527/

Screen writer, Samuel W. Reed and director Jenni Gold, are busy revising the script. Sam will be adapting, Ryann Watters and the Shield of Faith, into a script next. A Casting Director in onboard with the project and as names are added to the cast, they will be update on IMDb.


One item of note on Producer, Jeff Maynard's credentials on IMDb, is credit as Executive in Charge of Post-production for recent Academy Award winning, The King's Speech. Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

EJR

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!

MAJOR ANNOUCEMENT COMING THIS WEEK!

I know it's been awhile since I posted concerning my books, the movie, my life, etc. Well, I wanted to let you know that at the end of next week there will be a major announcement concerning EVERYTHING!

There are still a few things to finalize, but I think you will be pleased with what you read. So be sure and stop back in next Friday, Feb. 11th, to get the scoop.

Eric