New story at Popcorn Fiction
From screenwriter Derek Haas:
I just published Michael Gilvary’s “Unconditional” on Popcorn Fiction. This story is a favorite of mine… it’s a real clinic in suspense writing. A mother and father take parenting to a whole new level. Michael wrote the soon-to-be-released indie feature, Greta, and his spec script Nonstop sold to DreamWorks this year.
Thanks for all the letters to the editor and for the continued word-of-mouth about this site. The enthusiasm of the readers has been gratifying.
- DH
I’ve pimped PopcornFiction.com in the past here and here. It’s a great idea, offering professional screenwriters the chance to write and ‘publish’ short stories. And for readers, it’s yet another way to study the craft of storytelling.
BTW, Michael Gilvary’s name sounded familiar. Sure enough, there’s this post that provides some interesting background on him:
Gilvary left a comfortable gig in Vermont and moved to LA to write screenplays. In this post from December 18, 2005, Gilvary recounts his story:
Right before I left for Los Angeles, I took a quick trip to Europe with my folks. I brought a bottle of bordeaux back from Paris. It was to be my celebratory wine, only to be opened when I had my Big Break in the film business — however long that took.
Gilvary moved to LA and got some writing gigs, but he made a decision:
I decided that The Really Big Break, if it existed at all, wouldn’t come until one of my screenplays was actually produced. It’s amazing how far you can get in this business without actually getting a film made. And none of my films were getting made.
In fact, none have been made yet. I’ve worked on several assignments and have optioned or sold several of my screenplays. A couple of them are tantalizingly close to production, but I’ve been at this too long to take anything for granted.
The bottle of bordeaux remains corked, tucked away in a cabinet. My wife reminds me about it every once in a while. It might be vinegar by now. It probably wasn’t any good to begin with. But, as my father said to me a while back, “The big day will come and you’ll open that bottle, and it’ll taste like shit, but you’ll drink it anyway and you’ll love it.”
Cut to October 3, 2007 and this post:
I’ve been mum for a while because this bit of good news had not been officially announced yet and I didn’t want to jinx anything, but…
My first movie just went into production.
It’s called Greta, and it’s being produced by Whitewater Films and directed by Nancy Bardawil. It stars Hilary Duff, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Murphy and Evan Ross. It should go without saying that I’m completely floored by this great cast, especially considering that this is a pretty small movie.
Here’s an article about the project.
This project has been a long time coming. It’s one of the first scripts I ever wrote and, at one point, in a careless moment, I nearly threw away the only existing copy. A number of producers have gotten involved — and then uninvolved — over the years. But it’s finally, truly happening.
In one of my early posts, I talked about the bottle of wine that I’ve been saving until my Big Break, and how, year after year, no matter what good things had happened to me, I’ve yet to pop the cork.
Well, I’m about to pop that motherflippin’ cork. And drink the whole damn bottle.
Presumably that bottle of Bordeaux is long gone. Well, Mr. Gilvary can get ready to polish off another bottle of vino because DreamWorks just bought his spec script “Nonstop”:
DreamWorks has abducted the sci-fi action thriller “Nonstop” from scribe Michael Gilvary. “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” helmer Patrick Tatopoulos is attached to direct, and Len Wiseman is producing.
The original story line follows the passengers of Flight 209 after their plane is mysteriously abducted by an alien ship.
Gilvary, who is also repped by Alison Rosenzweig Films, penned the script for “Greta” and has “Devil to Pay” in development at Lionsgate.
Cheers, Michael Gilvary!
You can read Gilvary’s short story on PopcornFiction.com here.