James Robert Smith's 'The Flock' Takes Flight
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Deals, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand
I believe what you are about to read might be the first movie deal to spring out of an online flame war. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Don Murphy and John Wells are teaming up to produce James Robert Smith's debut novel, The Flock ... but how they found the novel might just be worth a movie on its own.You see, Murphy -- who's always been a huge fan of Cinematical -- was alerted to a mean comment on Eddie Campbell's blog. Alan Moore fans know Campbell as the artist on Moore's Jack the Ripper epic, From Hell. Smith was posting comments that were critical of the film adaptation, and Murphy tracked him down and discovered he had written a book called The Flock. He ordered a copy, expecting to hate it and trash it, and decided to buy its rights instead. That's the Internet for you, people. A very thin line between love, hate, and stalking. (Campbell has the story up on his blog, too, if you're interested. Also, there's beautiful art!)
The Flock could actually be this generation's Jurassic Park, though. (Lord knows they need one.) It's all about a group of super intelligent prehistoric birds who are roaming a last scrap of wilderness in the Florida Everglades. Naturally, once discovered, everyone wants to exploit them or their land, and its up to a young Fish and Wildlife officer and his girlfriend to save them. Or be mauled to death by the cunning, vicious birds. Either way, it'll be interesting. If it's not, maybe it'll cause a flame war that will see another thriller optioned!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-15-2009 @ 4:28PM
James Robert Smith said...
That's pretty much how it happened. Don nabbed a copy of my novel hoping to be able to thrash it online. Instead I got an email from him telling me it was one of the best books he'd read in a long time and inquiring about option rights. I'd had some inquiries about the option at that point, but none of the producer had followed through. Don did.
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