Is Green Darkness YOUR Favorite Book?

Recently, we were thrilled to hear that one of our blog followers had found a mention of GREEN DARKNESS in a book she was reading! The book was THE UNFINISHED GARDEN by Barbara Claypole White. A character declares that Green Darkness is her favorite book!

 

Our curiosity was tickled, so we contacted Barbara White and she confirmed that it is HER favorite novel as well. I guess the character was speaking from the author's heart. :-)

 

We were so delighted with her response and enthusiasm for a film version of the book that we decided not to let the momentum lapse.

 

We then contacted Barbara Samuel-O'Neal who wrote the preface to the latest edition of GREEN DARKNESS. She was thrilled to hear of our project as well and said she'd mention it in her blog. 

We have heard from a number of our blog readers, who have told us the same thing. 

 

GREEN DARKNESS is not just a "well-loved" book it is a FAVORITE!

 

GREEN DARKNESS was on the Bestsellers list for 6 MONTHS! We can't get firm statistics, but we estimate AT LEAST 250,000 copies sold during that time. 

 

The book has been in print almost constantly since 1972.

It has been translated into at least 9 languages. 

There's a study guide online.

Amazon.com has designated it a "Rediscovered Classic". 

 

We asked ourselves, if this was the favorite of novelists, then there must be hundreds, perhaps even hundreds of thousands? of others who are still  great fans of this book. 

 

We need to find them. Are you one?

 

If GREEN DARKNESS is one of your favorite books, please let us know!

If you would like to see this on the screen, please let us know!

 

Waiting to hear from you~~

Angela & Marla

STANDING ON A LEDGE -- LOOKING UP!

Let the bells ring out, and the small banners fly -- our little blog about adapting the novel GREEN DARKNESS into a feature screenplay hit the 5,161 viewership mark on April 3rd.

We can add Argentina, China, Sweden, Latvia, Poland, Turkey and Afghanistan to the countries from which our fans check out our blog.

Angela and I often feel like we're climbing our own form of Mount Everest. We have obviously left the base of the mountain, but we can't quite see the pinnacle -- in our case that could be two things/events  a. signing an option agreement with a producer or b. watching our screenplay-turned-feature-film on the big screen at the premiere.

So we'd call having our blog pass the 5000 mark our first 'base camp' along the climb. (Finding the number of yearly tourist visits to Ightham Mote, Cowdray Castle, and Naworth Castle was an estimated 500,000 was like having someone toss us down an extra safety rope coated with encouragement!)

This base camp is a safe ledge area where we stop for a breath, look up at what we have to achieve next.

We've come so far, it's true, but we never look back -- always look ahead!

Stick with us. Give us a push as often as you can. We will get the GREEN DARKNESS movie made!

Cheers

Marla & Angela

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

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

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 –

Getting Historical

We were jubilant when we obtained the rights to GREEN DARKNESS. Since it had been on the NY Times Bestseller List for 6 months, it was sure to have a large fan base. That was back in 1972, a long time ago -- but --  it had also been reprinted more recently.
Once we'd signed on the dotted line, we realized the full horror of what we’d undertaken. GREEN DARKNESS is a period piece. Everyone “in the know” will tell you that period pieces don’t sell, despite the fact that every year period films are nominated for Academy Awards.  In fact, three-quarters of GREEN DARKNESS takes place in the past. The past is what gives it its unique flavor and texture. Fans of the book always remark on how well it evokes the Tudor era and draws you right in. Recreating the past means $$$. Big budgets go hand-in-hand with big name talent.

After some conflab, we decided that our first hurdle would be to minimize the use of the past without compromising the story. Since the “present” of the book is 1968, that’s already the near distant past and costs money to recreate, so we’re modernizing the “present”. We’re going to try to ensure that it carries the flavor of the original. But in 42 years a lot has changed.

Really, the book could even become a mini-series, along the lines of THE TUDORS, since it flashes back to the era immediately after King Henry VIII's death and deals with the turbulent years of his succession. Religious upheaval, death and destruction, witchcraft, stake burnings are all part of this story--what fun!! It's a screenwriter's dream! But a mini-series is not what conventional wisdom recommends for two relative unknown writers. We’ll stick with a feature-length script -- at least for now…

As we mentioned in our past blog, screenplays average about 20,000 words. I’m guessing that GREEN DARKNESS is close to double the average 250,000 word count for a novel. All we have to do is condense 591 novel pages into 110 – 120 (max) screenplay pages. If you’re familiar with scripts you will quickly realize the extent of this challenge.

Have you read the book? Do you have a favorite part that you’d hate to see left out?

Stay tuned~~the plot thickens~~
Angela