Visualizing The Sweet Spot

Next screenplay project

With two movie screenplays done, John MacGibbon, my collaborator, and I are onto the next, a movie adaption of another of my hilltown novels, The Sweet Spot. I am excited about the possibility of experiencing the story I created in another way. John and I met Friday morning at the local coffee shop to talk about this project.

First, let me tell you about The Sweet Spot. Edie St. Claire’s rough-sawn family has lived in the hilltown of Conwell forever it seems. Her father runs the town dump. Her aunt, who lives next door, has no brakes on her opinions or mouth. And Edie is usually in the middle of whatever fun there is in this town of about a thousand people — the bar, the local softball team and her in-law’s general store where she works.

But Edie can’t let go of a deep sadness — the death of her husband in Vietnam. Gil was a sweetheart of a guy and together they had a little girl he never met. They were high school sweethearts who married young. Gil was taken by Edie’s fun-loving spirit. She adored his tenderness. They would have had a wonderful future together, except he pulled a low number during the 1969 lottery and had to go to war. The novel is set in 1978.

Edie tries to ease her pain via an affair with his married brother, but when that ends tragically, she attempts to survive the blame with the help of her family and a badly scarred stranger who arrives in town for his fresh start.

I typed the first draft of The Sweet Spot with one hand. It was summer 2004, and I was recuperating after getting hit by a car when I was in a crosswalk. I remember coming home from work and letting the words flow one after the other. I don’t know where this story came from, but there it was, 80,000 words later. I also got quite good at typing with only my right hand.

To prepare for writing this screenplay, I reread the book. It had been a while, but I still enjoyed the story and saw its potential as a film. So did John.

So this week, I will work on a healthy chunk in the program Fade-In, then email it John for his changes, edits, and opinions. We typically meet Friday mornings to discuss, as we did Friday morning, the characters, scenes, what could be expanded or shrunk or eliminated. I learned long ago that what you read in a book might not be in the screen version, and vice versa.

As for the other screenplays, John and I feel they are solid. We have moved onto the next steps that involve other people, that is getting them made into films. Wish us luck.

By the way, here’s the link to The Sweet Spot.