Transformation from book to screenplay, Part II

Here is the second part of the process of transforming Mustang Fever into a screenplay for my LIT 289 class at Pima Community College:

We may need some backstory, or more about the situation. In Mustang, Where is Chance coming from? What motivates him? We find him in Nevada with a broken heart, recovering from having loved and lost a Polynesian princess when he was on duty in American Samoa and other exotic islands, providing upper atmosphere weather for nuclear testing in the Pacific; too late came his redemption—he overcame his upbringing and the fears of marrying a woman of a different race, a different color, a different culture, a different language, a different religion, but it was too late, and Moana was lost to him. Cheyenne, the Southern Paiute Indian girl he meets while providing weather support for missile warhead testing at the nearby Nevada Test Site, suffered from her own heartbreak years earlier. Both are wounded, fiercely independent, and uninterested in being hurt again.

Turning Points: every film has at least two Turning Points--one at the end of Act One, leading to Act Two, and a Second Turning Point at the end of Act Two, leading to Act Three. These keep the action moving, they help the story change direction; new events unfold; new decisions are made. Due to the two Turning Points, the story achieves momentum, and retains focus.

They move the action in a new direction; they raise the central question again; it’s a moment of decision or commitment for the main character; it raises the stakes, pushes the story into the next act; takes us into a new arena, gives us a different focus
In Witness, the first turning point is a strong action: McFee tries to kill Book, and Book realized the Sheriff is crooked as well.
With Mustang, the first turning point could be where two cowboys try to get Cheyenne killed for trying to help the wild mustangs, and Chance is riding with her. Now Chance has civilian enemies as well as a military enemy; the stakes are higher.

The second turning point does all that the first turning point does; in addition, it speeds up the action and momentum and urgency.
The second turning point often has two beats: the first is a dark moment (the case seems unsolvable), followed by a new stimulus. In Mustang, it could be when Chance has to face a court martial and possible imprisonment for seemingly illegal actions. He has to take new actions.

Spirit of the Mustang - The Extra Mile

This is a really beautiful video!

Transformation from book to screenplay, Part I

In my Pima Community College's LIT 289 class we are in the process of transforming Mustang Fever into a screenplay. Here's how it goes:

Begin with AN IMAGE.
Visualization brings strong sense of place, mood, texture, sometimes the theme.
Create a metaphor for the film, telling us something about the theme.

Find the CATALYST.
After the initial images begins the story; we need to be introduced to any important characters, and information about the situation. In Mustang Fever, the intial images are dawn and we see seven wild mustangs appear out of the darkness watching Chance as he ties pilot balloons to creosote bushes, and then we see a nearby nuclear explosion out of the early dawn darkness at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site north of Las Vegas.

To start the story: the Catalyst. It begins the action of the story. In Mustang Fever, it could be Sgt. Ochs with a pick-up truck trying to drive the wild mustangs away or maybe trying to get them to run over Chance and warn him or even kill him.

This leads to THE CENTRAL QUESTION. Every story is a mystery. It asks a question in the set-up that will be answered at the climax.
In Witness, the central question is, Will John Book get the murderer? In Jaws, the central question is, Will Martin catch that killer shark? In Mustang Fever, it could be, Why does somebody want to kill Chance? And, “How do the mustangs fit into the story—what will happen to them? Will they be killed as a result of radioactive poisoning?

The Spirit of the Wild Mustang

No single fish, fowl, or animal captures the spirit of
America’s Golden West more completely, more dramatically,
and more romantically than the wild mustang—magnified
incrementally and exponentially even more so because the
mustangs traditionally live and travel in family units, bands and
small herds.
The movie or documentary photographer who captures a
herd of wild mustangs running free up and down mountain
plateaus and across the high desert of the Great Basin transmits
so much more than images to the viewer. Emotions pour through
the lens and into our hearts. We know what freedom looks like
and feels like.
We feel the joy of watching mustangs do what they do
best—run with power and with stamina, and run free, run
natural, run in harmony with each other, run in harmony with the
earth, run in harmony with the wind and the sky.
Mustangs are America’s natural athletes. They live wild in a
hostile environment. That which does not kill them makes them
stronger. They are independent and self-sufficient. They can
sense another animal coming up a ridge out of sight a quarter of
a mile away.

Veteran's Day Tribute

I extend my admiration and gratitude to those who daily demonstrate strength, character, and purpose; who symbolize dedication and obedience, upon which foundation rests the integrity of the military spirit.

• To all your fellow Air Force warriors, Army soldiers, Navy sailors, Marines, and Coast Guard servicemen, who love our country and who stand guard and fight every day to preserve our independence, our beloved union of fifty states, against all aggressors.
• To my two sons, currently on active duty in the Army National Guard and Reserves, of whom and for whom no father could be prouder or more grateful, who have a passion to defend and protect their fatherland. They volunteer for the most dangerous and challenging missions, model the seven Army elite values (loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage), and quietly live the Soldier's Warrier Creed as officers and honor graduates of two Arizona universities:

I am an American soldier. I am a warrior and member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and the Army values. I will always place the Union first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade. I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough... I stand ready to deploy, engage and destry the enemies of the United States of America in close combat. I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life. I am an American soldier.

Mustang Fever available!!!

After much anticipation, Mustang Fever: Run Free With Wild Mustangs is available!! It is a page-turning adventure full of surprising twists and turns, fraught with peril and high-stakes rescues, blessed with budding romance and filled with personal revelation. Mustang Fever paints a stunning portrait of the American West and the last bastion of its wildness—the mustang. Originally slated for a Spring 2007 release through Koboca Publishing, it has now been released through Aisling Press. It is available for purchase through Aisling Press or Amazon.com. Enjoy!

My first copies of Freedom of Vision sent from Amazon.com

Remember the song, “Oh, Happy Day!” Here’s a picture of what the song looks like to me.

· The arrival of--The Prison Anthology: Freedom of Vision:
Just One Look--Is All It Took.

I experienced rebirth one magical spring morning, as I picked up the baton from my first teacher and friend of my youth, Henry David Thoreau, and ran the lifelong wilderness trails he urged me to run: He promised me If I advance confidently in the direction of my dreams and endeavor to live the life which I have imagined, I will meet with a success unexpected in common hours….And if I have built castles in the air, my work need not be lost; that is where they should be.
Now put the foundations under them.
With the spring birth of our Prison Anthology, Freedom of Vision, and your help, we will take each copy, brick by brick, and fashion foundations for the castles built out of the dreams of all the Voices From Behind Prison Walls.

My daily going forth to teach in prison on a small scale mirrors a deployment on a training mission in a foreign country. In a twenty year career similar to the military, I address a platoon-sized contingent of my natural enemy, and during the process of education, I train them to become my spiritual friends. I clothe myself in vigilance--a form of body armor, I learn another language, I employ incident management techniques to keep the battlefield environment safe. How inspiring and gratifying for me to go forth from and return home to Beautiful Wife Betsy, whose angel radiance warms our home, nurtures our children, and lightens my days in so many ways.
The beams of love from her eyes, soul, and heart— traveling at the speed of light--are the windows of the landing tower beacon to send me on my way and to bring me home every day.

We're all doing time here.

There are fifty ways to leave your self-imposed prison. "Get a new key, Lee. Make a new plan, Stan." We're all doing time. We are strangers in a strange land. We are spirits caught in the web and bars of our own bodies. Gravity keeps our feet in place on our planet, despite our desire to soar like eagles above. Only in dreams and in meditations can we strike a blow for freedom and escape. We visit places and see people in dreams and meditations unlimited by space and time. Our Western society is trapped in materialism and mind control from the media. We need to be stars behind bars, and stop loading our bodies down with pounds of fat gravity gravy. Throw out those ingested bags of sand and lift ourselves skyward with new thoughts, new heroes and heroines. Make our own media and broadcast our own freedom news. There is a new day dawning. Greet it with light feet. Up, up, and away.

Watch for our Prison Anthology: Freedom of Vision. Coming soon.

FREEDOM OF VISION

Edited by Stephen B. Gladish

and Robert Yehling

EDITOR’S NOTE

My first contact with Stephen Gladish, the co-editor and a major contributor to Freedom of Vision came through the Society of Southwestern Authors and the Wrangling with Writing Conference, where I present a variety of workshops. Steve was developing a trilogy of novels for which he wanted feedback (they became Moonlight, Missiles & Moana, Mustang Fever and the soon-to-be-published Tornado Alley).

I asked Steve about his background, and he said, “Twenty years teaching in state penitentiaries. I began as a college teacher and career counselor in Ohio prisons. Arizona hired me as an ex-offender rep, designing and teaching pre-release programs. When funds dried up, I begame an adult education teacher in all subjects, specializing in writing/creative writing."

I said, "You've got to write a book about that!"

In time, Steve warmed up to the idea, but with a caveat that reflects the quality of the man's heart—that it transform into an anthology that included writers throughout the country who were either incarcerated or former inmates, with his experiences serving to further illustrate life behind bars.

Our development started with the title. We agreed that we didn't want this to be a forum whereby convicts could air out their grievances about their sentences, living conditions, cellmates or correctional officers, or how they came to be incarcerated in the first place. Nor did we want a collection of pieces that spoke only of the dim hopelessness of serving lengthy sentences in maximum-security facilities — anyone can get a glimpse of that by watching TV or reading the newspaper.

Instead, we hit upon a simple truth: Everyone’s soul yearns to express itself without walls, fences and gates. If we could invite our contributors to share with us their visions of freedom, and their abilities to express themselves creatively while serving their time, then we'd have something that would connect with freedom-based readers on the other side of the wall.

What we received from hundreds of convicts stopped us in our tracks. The material was stunning in its quality, beauty, emotion and portrayal of the freedom of vision and creativity. The poems, narratives, essays, short stories, letters and illustrations candidly portray their creators as expressive, dynamic souls whose lives came crashing down beneath the weight of their own mistakes of judgment and/or action. Many times, a sentencing judge has told a criminal he or she is about to send away, “It’s not your intelligence I question. It’s the wisdom of your choices.”

Here, on these pages, you’ll read from people who made the wise choice to express themselves creatively.

I believe you’ll agree that the material is wonderful. We start with our incarcerated contributors. We also feature Steve’s experiences as a teacher in the penal system, which offer deep insight into why we should never allow our culture to become so hard and unforgiving that we slam the educational door on convicted felons. We welcome National Book Award-winning poet and ex-con Jimmy Santiago Baca, interviews with Baca and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the cause celebre of Bob Dylan’s song about wrongful conviction, and Burroughs Award Winner Ken Lamberton, who made his mistakes and served his time.

We also focus much more attention on both sides of the prison teaching experience than other prison anthologies. We received a number of fine pieces from prison teachers, and convicts who served as teacher’s aides. They spoke of the transformation that happened, over and over again, when a teacher believed in a convict’s ability. I would posit to say that, in virtually all cases, this was the first positive reinforcement the inmate had received since his or her childhood—if then. With a fierce national debate continuing about the value of educating and rehabilitating our incarcerated men and women, we decided to stamp our very firm stand on this issue by showcasing prison education through the eyes of those who know best.

I've been fortunate to never spend time behind bars, though I’ve visited folks behind the walls of county jails, state prisons, federal penitentiaries and work camps. I count among my literary friends several authors who have done time. I treasure their fresh approaches to life, the clarity of their voice, and their deep honesty. I also love the way they penetrate masks and illusions, cut right to the heart and truth of matters. It’s a refreshing quality in this world. I’ve also kept on-and-off correspondences with convicts over the years. Among my visits were those with my cousin, Lisa Shannon, who will welcome the summer of 2007 as a free woman — her first summer on this side of the razor wire since 1989. Lisa contributed a fine body of work to Freedom of Vision. She also helped me to understand the mentality of long-term convicts, many of whom sit where they sit because they couldn't express themselves, cry out for help, pick themselves up from tough times, control their anger and rage when violent impulses raced through them, or simply get the hell out of the way of a bad situation as it was developing.

Lisa handed me a moral compass to use when compiling this book with Steve, a compass later sharpened through my brief conversations with Jimmy Santiago Baca—perhaps the greatest champion of the cause walking on this planet today. I would not fall into either judgment or sympathy, but would employ empathy. I would read the work and do what anthology editors do—pick the pieces that sing strong messages to our minds and hearts. I would not be swayed by one’s particular crime or length of sentence; I would only be swayed by what they wrote. This position was well-rewarded, as you’ll see from the many sensitive, heartfelt pieces contained within.

I don’t believe it’s our business to engage in our contributors' legal cases, nor do we wish for you to go there. Let’s pull one rule of the prison yard over the wall: Don’t ask about the crime. After all, our literary world is replete with renowned authors who have done time, and we love these writers and their work dearly.

Instead, we hope you enjoy this presentation from a world in which nearly 3 million Americans currently live, and because of which millions of sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, children, grandchildren, cousins, aunts and uncles are deeply affected.

Robert Yehling

Co-Editor

Spring 2007

DEDICATION

To all students in all prisons everywhere, then to all the thousands of students I worked with over a twenty-year term. To all the incognito sky pilots earning their silver wings in prison: all the teacher aides who worked to help others better themselves: all the former great staff members of Mr. G.’s hallowed classrooms:

I salute you. I thank you. I will never forget you. All our successes could never have happened without your loyalty, your dedication, your strong work ethic, your personal values, your spiritual beliefs. Individual names will be inscribed on a plaque here at home. I think of each one of you as I compose this. I wish you well. I am grateful to have worked with you. I pray for your release from every obstacle, every bar, every limit.

I hope this gets to you.

We took the hell of prison and made it into a small replica of heaven. We were there to lift people up, to encourage them to educate themselves, to have hope and faith, to believe in themselves, to do something spectacular with their lives, to practice a new work ethic, to learn how to work with others. That’s all angel-in-training duty.

You know it. The students know it. I know it. God knows it. And what you sow will come back to you tenfold. The universe will bless your efforts.

I hope you are fortunate enough to find the occasional good guy, or “crazy guy” like me who works in prison just to make a difference in somebody’s life, somebody who takes my place and does a better job at it.

When it’s your time to meet your maker, I’ll be there, if not physically, at least in spirit and in prayer, putting in the good word for you: “He’s gotta be coming to heaven, because he’s served his time in hell— and while he was there, he helped others. He cared for someone outside himself.”

If you get there first, put in a good word for me, ya hear?!

MR. G

IN ADDITION:

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF DR. PAUL BRANDEN