by Scott Lorenz | Agents, Author Advice, Author Spotlight, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Publicity, Book Spotlight, Books to Movies, Books to Read, Hollywood, Interviews, Radio, Social Media
Remember- All Movies Start with the Written Word – All of Them
By Scott Lorenz
Westwind Book Marketing
Movies, like books, sometimes have humble beginnings.
Remember the movie The Elephant Man? It was a true story about a nineteenth-century sideshow freak who was saved by a doctor portrayed in the movie by Anthony Hopkins.
THE ELEPHANT MAN, portrayed by the late John Hurt, continues to be a gold standard for artful cinematic creativity today. The movie is from Academy Award-winning film producer Jonathan Sanger.
How did this movie come about? Was it an agent’s pitch? No.
Was it an award-winning script? No.
Did experienced screenwriters create this masterpiece? No.
Was it adopted from a book? No.
I recently met up with Jonathan Sanger in Hollywood when my firm Westwind Book Marketing arranged a book signing and special big screen showing of The Elephant Man at the Egyptian Theatre. Mr. Sanger introduced the movie to several hundred people where he retold the incredible story of how this movie came about.
Where did the script come from?
His babysitter handed it to him to read! That’s right, his babysitter. Sanger took the script and said he’d read it and promptly set it aside… for about a year. Then one day he came back from a trip opened his desk drawer and there it was… staring at him like an obligation.
What did he do? He read it – and he loved it!
His book “Making the Elephant Man: A Producer’s Memoir” gives us an insider’s look at the creation of one of the first ever indie films and a box-office smash, as well as a peek into the early careers of movie greats David Lynch, Mel Brooks and Anthony Hopkins.
MAKING THE ELEPHANT MAN – A PRODUCER’S MEMOIR, in Paperback and Kindle is available on Amazon or on the author’s website www.JonathanSangerProductions.com View the book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ohr4OwPsIk.
Few members of a film audience appreciate the intricacies of the myriad aspects of making a film. Sanger takes his experience as the producer of THE ELEPHANT MAN and opens a powerful discussion on the evolution of cinema, how he ‘discovered’ a script written by ‘unknowns’ Christopher DeVore and Eric Bergren finding “it was exactly the kind of story I would want to make, a historical biography about a wretched soul who had nonetheless lived an extraordinary life” – the true story of 19th century grossly deformed John Merrick, known as the Elephant Man working in a sideshow in London who was treated by a kind Dr. Treves.
“When I wrote this, I was teaching a course in independent film and using my experience with this film to teach,” says Sanger. “I realized that it would be great to get these stories down and put them in a book.” For every movie he makes, Sanger keeps a notebook about the crew, the schedules, what they ordered for lunch, and other details. He was able to tap into notes from 30 years ago that brought the whole process up fresh in his mind, including the strong emotions that gripped him upon first reading the script.
“Human stories have always moved me,” says Sanger. “I like movies about people who are outliers, who are not in the mainstream for one reason or another, even if they are famous. It’s not something I’m actually seeking, it’s just a trend I’ve noticed over the years, about myself as a producer.”
Sanger’s latest two movies, both follow similar themes. In Chapter and Verse, a reformed gang leader returns to Harlem where he gets a job delivering meals. Marshall is based on a true incident in the life of Thurgood Marshall, when he was a young lawyer, long before his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Written with passion, Sanger’s memoir takes us with elegant prose and many black and white photographs through the presentation to Mel Brooks who helped propel the young Sanger’s project into the hands of neophyte director David Lynch, the details of finding the proper crew, the cast (John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Sir John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anne Bancroft), the location, the anxieties of meeting deadlines, the technical hurdles of creating a film about such a character – facing struggles at every turn. Even the final showing of the completed film to an audience of professionals, whose silence terrified Jonathan, until he learned the silence was due to the emotional impact of the story – an unspoken Bravo!
Brooklyn-born Jonathan Sanger is a highly respected producer and director of major films, television series, and theatrical productions, having earned twenty Academy Award nominations, and winning three.
In 1976, Sanger moved to Los Angeles, where he worked for Lorimar Television on network television series The Blue Knight and Eight Is Enough. In 1978 he was Mel Brooks’ Assistant Director on High Anxiety, which led to a long professional association. For Brooks’ wife, Anne Bancroft’s feature directorial debut film Fatso, Sanger served as Associate Producer. During this period Sanger had acquired the rights to the script of The Elephant Man – his first production which led to a successful career in both producing and directing films – films such as Frances, Without Limits, Vanilla Sky, Flight of the Navigator, The Producers, and Code Name: Emerald.
The Bottom Line: A good story well written delivered to the right person can be the ticket to incredible success. Remember- all movies start with the written word. All of them.
Check out this New York Post article about Making the Elephant Man https://nypost.com/2017/02/19/how-the-inner-pain-of-a-circus-freak-became-a-surprise-hit/
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.
Would you like help promoting your book?
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!
by Scott Lorenz | Blog, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Publicity, Book Publishing, Books to Movies, Get a Hollywood Movie Producer Interested in Your Books, Hollywood, Promoting a Book
By Scott Lorenz
Westwind Communications Book Marketing
If you want to sell your book to Hollywood, it’ll help to think like Hollywood producers and directors. Since everybody is so busy these days, you’ll have to boil down your book to a quick pitch that answers the question: What is your book about?
Your logline should SELL the story, not tell the story.
Think about it, do you have a one-sentence summation of your book to tell others? Do you have the main elements of the story composed together? If not, you need a logline.
A logline is a one or two sentence description that boils down the essential dramatic narrative in as succinct a manner as possible, says James Burbidge on Raindance.org
According to John Robert Marlow, author of Make Your Story a Movie: Adapting Your Book or Idea for Hollywood, “If you want to turn your book into a movie then understand that the people who represent and purchase books and screenplays are incredibly busy. They need a way to decide which stories are worth a closer look, and which are not—without actually taking the time to read those stories. This is where the logline comes into play.”
Hollywood Logline, Sell Your Book to Hollywood
Here’s an example of a good logline for a book from the author resource website WildSound.ca.
“The Last Thing She Did” is a romantic comedy in which a ditsy writer struggles to overcome her reliance on a dead friend’s advice in order to meet a deadline.
According to Michelle Mclean, Romance and Nonfiction author, the elements of your logline should consist of Characters, Conflict, Distinction, Setting, and Action.
“A logline is a brief description of the plot of your story, which involves an emotional hook and a twist of irony. A logline organizes a story in the briefest form possible while retaining the strongest emotional effect,” said Jen Grisanti, author of Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story.
“A good use for the logline is the pitch. This handy, dandy quick summary of your story is very useful in persuading agents, editors, and even your dentist that you’ve hit on a ‘wow’ premise that simply MUST be written. Better yet, if it’s already written, then it MUST be read,” said David Macinnis Gill, author and teacher.
“The logline is just as important as a creative tool as it is as a vehicle to spark an interest of others,” said Noam Kroll of Indiewire, an award-winning Los Angeles based filmmaker, and founder of the boutique production company Creative Rebellion.
“You do not need to condense your entire book into one sentence, but you do need to give enough information that the agent/editor/ curious acquaintance you are addressing gets the gist of your book, and is interested enough to want more,” said Michelle Mclean.
One author’s logline gained the interest of several producers and production companies as well as a major agent. “Sometimes the logline comes to me in the middle of writing a book and other times it’s the last thing I do. Whenever inspiration strikes, I capture the words immediately,” says Tricia Stewart Shiu author of the Moa Series, a Young Adult Science Fiction Fantasy. “Writing a logline is, essentially, communicating with gut instincts the core essence of a story. When you’re done, it should ring like a bell,” adds Shiu.
“Another use for a logline is you. A novel is a big thing. It’s difficult to hold the whole story in your mind, especially when you’ve finished a first draft and are still giddy from the flow of creative juices. Writing a logline helps you define—for yourself—the essential elements of the plot. It will also let you know immediately if major components of the plot are missing. This prevents episodic plots that are a string of (interesting and exciting) events that lack a complete story spine,” added David Macinnis Gill.
While writing your logline make sure it is brief. According to Wildsound.ca, brevity is an absolute necessity of creating a good logline, as well as choosing your focus carefully. It is important to choose the focus of your logline because it is the selling point of your book. You need to draw the readers in with action, the plot twists and turns, anything that will grab their attention and interest for more.
Your logline can also be brought to life by an actor through Wildsound.ca who’ll post it to their YouTube Channel, which draws thousands of viewers daily. They claim that agents and producers check the site for new content. It’s worth a look. https://www.wildsound.ca/
The Bottom Line: Creating a logline is an integral part of being able to convey to others what your book is about in a quick concise manner. Master this whether your book is going to Hollywood or not.
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.
Would you like help promoting your book?
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!
by Scott Lorenz | Author Advice, Author Spotlight, Book Marketing, Hollywood, Interviews, Marketing a Book
By Scott Lorenz
Westwind Communications
Rachael Ray heads an empire that includes hit TV shows, bestselling books, a magazine and her own product lines. Things keep getting better and better for Rachael Ray. But you might be interested to know that it was a couple of radio interviews about her book that propelled her to fame and fortune.
As a book publicist I talk to authors and clients every day and every so often one says, “Oh I really don’t want to do radio” or I’ll have a client who’ll decline a radio or TV interview and then give me reasons like “There’s only 5,000 people tuning in to that station, or such and such is a small town, or nobody listens to radio at 2AM,” or whatever. I usually respond with “If the Rotary Club in your hometown called you today and invited you to speak to their club and 450 people would be in the audience, would you go?” The answer is always a resounding “YES! I’d love to do that…” What’s the difference? Perhaps it’s perception. If you can see them, 450 people are a lot of folks. If you can’t see them, it’s too small. How about 5,000 people? But it’s not always the quantity of listeners it’s the quality of that listening audience.
Let me tell you, radio makes stars, radio interviews get people on TV, radio gets people on Oprah.
That brings me to the story of Rachael Ray and her big break in 2001. She had already sold 10,000 of her cookbooks and she had her own TV segment on WRGB, the local CBS affiliate in Albany, New York. Jennifer Pullinger, the publicist at National Book Network assigned to work on two of her books, Comfort Foods and Veggie Meals, had booked her on various radio shows for phone interviews as part of the publicity campaign. After booking Ray on a handful of small-market radio shows, Pullinger utilized one of Ray’s contacts at WAMC in Albany, New York and scheduled her for a cooking demo on Northeast Public Radio’s “Vox Pop.” The host, Joe Donahue, had had Ray on his program before and happily booked her again. Ray did her demo, and of course, listeners loved it.
And guess who was listening to that station? Someone who knew the Food Network’s VP of Programming, Bob Tuschman. That “influential” person heard Ray’s segment and told Tuschman about her. Tuschman then called Pullinger to arrange a meeting with Ray and the rest is history. Oh, and who was listening to another of Rachael Ray’s radio interviews while on his vacation? Al Roker, the weatherman from the Today Show. Al told the show’s food producer to check her out. The producer called Pullinger and booked Ray for a live cooking segment with Al on the Today Show. She was a hit. Then after a couple of years on the Food Network she got THE BIG CALL from Oprah which led to her daily nationally syndicated TV show.
Her big break(s) can be traced back to radio interviews and the groundwork laid by her publicist Jennifer Pullinger, who had previously shipped tapes of Rachael on WRGB-TV to the Food Network and all the morning shows. Think about it. A major star’s career was born from a radio interview, and one that happened at the last minute, and one she nearly turned down. PR opened the door for Rachael Ray, and it can do that for you too. Putting a value on that is hard to do but, I’d have to say it’s priceless.
I am often called by producers who want a guest at the last minute. I always deliver them a guest and since I just helped them out of a jam, they remember it.
The Bottom Line: Radio works. Small market TV works too, both are a great medium to promote your book. If you get a broadcast opportunity, take it… even if you have to drive three hours across the desert to get there!
You never know who’ll be listening.
The Book Publicist | Book publicist Scott Lorenz and his thoughts on the book marketing industry.
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.
Would you like help promoting your book?
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!
