Out of the Blue

  

The Great Maybe

            Almost three weeks ago, “Alison Small” wrote me an email.  As a producer for Brown Stone Productions, she said, she had become aware of my book, A New Lord.  (Castles 1: A New Lord, is the first book in the Castles trilogy.) The theme of advanced alien technology mistaken for magic intrigued her, especially when combined with political conflict.  She was interested in the main character, an earthman named Martin Cedarborne, who had to deal with the challenges of the story’s planet, Two Moons.  Would I be interested, she wrote, in turning A New Lord into a tv production?

            What do you think?  Of course I was interested.

            I was also suspicious.  I checked online.  Alison Small is a real person, and she has a list of real tv productions for Brownstone Productions, which is a real Los Angeles based production company.  The “Great Maybe” had entered my life.

            I responded to Alison’s email, expressing both my doubts (was her email generated by AI?) and my inexperience (I know almost nothing about turning a novel into a screenplay or “creative film product”).  She wrote back, introducing me to “Hazel Johnson,” who lives in Britain; Hazel could guide me in creating a creative film product, which we could then submit to Brownstone decision makers.

            Naturally, I told Sarah about the email.  I asked Ron Mock and Dawn Shultz, who wrote the blurbs we used on the back of A New Lord, to reread the book.  If it were made into movie or tv show, what parts should I insist be included?  I told my friends in the Sunday night prayer group and the “geezers” (a dozen men with long-time connections to George Fox who meet for lunch on Tuesdays) about the possibility.

            More emails, back and forth between Hazel Johnson and me.  Hazel offered me a choice between three development packages, priced at $420, $620, and $820.  If I’m going to do this, I thought, I might as well go whole hog.  I’ll buy the full treatment.  Hazel sent me a link to an online payment site.

            When I clicked on the payment site, my Avast computer security program interrupted.  “This is a phishing site,” it said.  “Do not provide personal information to this site.”

            Hurrah for computer security!

            More online searching; I found an email address for Alison Small at Brownstone Productions.  I wrote to her, and within a day she responded that she had never written to me.  Brownstone was aware of scammers using this scheme and trying to stop them.  A day later, I got a follow up email from Chris Maddox at NBCUniversal that urged me to report the scam to federal authorities and included a link to the feds.

            “Alison Small” wrote again.  Had I contacted Hazel?  Is the project moving ahead?  I wrote back: I am very interested in turning A New Lord into a tv show, but I have no desire to be victim of a scam.

            Dreams die hard.  I have not yet reported “Alison” and “Hazel” to law enforcement with the link provided by Chris Maddox.  I think a part of me still hopes that somehow the Great Maybe could come true.