Tom Sawyer (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tommyboysawyer) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} valarlogs,@ 2013-10-08 18:57:00 |
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What: Meeting and a Chat About Bringing Huck's Novels to the Big Screen
When: Backdated: Friday, September 13th. Afternoon
Where: A Restaurant
Rating: Family Friendly
Status: Complete
After speaking with H.B. Finn, Tom had made a few calls and got a reservation at a restaurant that he enjoyed having meetings in, because it wasn’t as noisy as some other restaurants in the OC. Sure, he could have chosen one in Hollywood, but Tom preferred to have his meetings outside Hollywood so he wouldn’t come off as just one more money grubbing person in the movie industry. He had with him a copy of The Patchwork Monk as well as a short list of actors he had in mind when he was reading it. He was also curious to see who Mr. Finn had in mind and if he’d based any of his characters off anyone specific. Taking a sip of water, Tom glanced around the restaurant to see if Mr. Finn had arrived yet. While they’d never met, Tom had googled the author some time ago and was well aware of what he looked like, so he kept his eyes peeled, watching for his arrival.
Huck was excited. Giddy, even; though he tried not to show it. He was eager to hear Sawyer’s vision, to see how much he’d be allowed to be involved with the creative process. Perhaps he was even a bit intrigued at the hilarious prospect of ‘Tom and Huck’ being paired up for an epic adventure. He had to admit, it would make for great publicity, even if their names were only a coincidence.
It hadn’t escaped Tom’s notice, once he’d found out what the H.B. stood for that their names were quite a coincidence together. He’d always wondered if there were other Tom Sawyers out there, but had never actually thought there was anyone actually named Huckleberry Finn out there, not until now.
Tom was sipping his water when he spotted the very man he was waiting for, enter the restaurant. Setting the glass down, Tom stood, “Mr. Finn.” He gestured to the author to join him.
"Mr. Sawyer!" Huck didn't even try to hide his amusement at this meeting. He approached the table, and extended a hand in greeting. "It's good to meet you in person."
Tom shook Huck’s hand firmly, smiling, “It’s good to meet you as well.” For a time Tom had thought that this meeting would never happen and he’d have to put aside his want to make these books into a movie, but now that they were there that dream was one step closer to becoming a reality. “Please, sit down.” Tom said once the handshake ended and he gestured to the other chair, “Thank you for meeting with me, by the way.”
“Thank you for calling,” Huck replied, taking the seat across from Tom. “I looked up some of your work, and I like what you’ve seen so far. I know it’s hard to impress audiences and critics both, but you seem to have found a pretty good balance.” Plus, it sounded like Tom had a personal interest in his stories, beyond the fact that they were marketable, and that seemed like a good sign when going into a potential movie deal. “So tell me, when you first picked The Monk up off the shelf, what was it that grabbed you?”
Tom always enjoyed hearing that people enjoyed his work. True, he might have only produced the movies he'd worked on, but a producer was just as important as the director or actors. When Huck posed the question, Tom didn't even have to think before answering, "It's different than anything else I've seen recently. Most young adult novels and movies are about vampires and team so and so against team so and so. It's all marketed towards teenage girls, which is the reason it's so successful, but your book has something that none of those have and I want everyone to see it." He knew that steampunk had a fairly big following, but he thought that this book turned into a movie could take it to the next level.
Huck nodded. He hadn’t written it specifically for girls, teenage or otherwise. He’d tried to create something that would appeal to a broader audience--even if it was within a specific niche. “I can’t deny that when I’m writing, I play the story out like a movie in my head,” he said, “And I would be both thrilled and a little terrified to see it on the big screen.”
Tom nodded as he listened, “I have to ask, why steampunk? How did you get into that?” It was one of the things Tom had wondered as he’d read the first book. He hadn’t realized just how big steampunk was at the time until he’d googled it and found that there were conventions for it all the time.
“Why not Steampunk?” Huck asked in response. “The market is so saturated with vampires and werewolves--and they say zombies are the new vampire--so I wanted to get my foot in the door with something that hadn’t already been done to death. I took some of my favorite escapes from when I was young--Back to the Future, Gulliver’s Travels, Star Wars, and what have you--and shook them up with a dash of Jules Verne, and twist of Mark Twain, a pinch of faerie dust, and a puff of dragon’s breath--and up you go!”
The author became quite animated as he spoke, raising his arms overhead as he concluded his speech. Then he chuckled, and sat back, glancing around as if to make sure that no one was looking. “So yeah. Why not?”
As Huck explained his reasoning behind the genre of his novels, Tom couldn’t help but smirk. Tom liked the way Huck didn’t try to sound overly professional and instead let his personality show through, which only made Tom liked him even more. He hated talking to people who took themselves too seriously. “That sounds like a good enough reason to me. For the last few years I’ve cringed every time a new book or movie was released where there are more supernatural creatures than there were humans. It’s as if they think that people don’t want to read about ordinary people anymore.”
“I think what people want is to see ordinary people do extraordinary things,” Huck said, “To believe the unbelievable--and to feel like they’re a part of it.” He grinned. “The best movies, the best books, are the ones you walk away from feeling like you were really there. Like you just stepped out of this amazing world that’s a million miles away, but as close as the next room. So that’s the kind of world I tried to create.”
And, judging by the steadily increasing interest that was being shown in his books, he’d succeeded. “If we could bring that to the big screen...wow.”
Tom nodded along as he listened to Huck, fully engrossed in what he was saying, "I completely agree. And if I have anything to say about it, we'll be bringing this story to the big screen and I'd want you to be as involved as possible. It's your world and your characters and I don't want anyone else to mess with them."
Huck grinned broadly. He nodded, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. Of course they’d have to work out all the contractual ins and out, but he liked what he was hearing so far. “Mr. Sawyer? I think you and I are going to be thick as thieves.”
Now Tom was grinning, “I was hoping you’d say that.” Tom would certainly work out all the contractual stuff once they got greenlit, which he was hoping would happen soon. Now that he’d spoken to Huck this project could get rolling and Tom was really looking forward to that.