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by Eva Marie Everson @EversonAuthor
In looking at stories of “humble beginnings,” such as those I have shared over the past two months, I came across this inspiring tale.
The year was 1939. November to be exact—and the Christmas season was joyously coming in. Inspired by all he saw, a writer named Philip Van Doren wrote a short story titled “The Greatest Gift,” which he then tried to sell to publishers.
Undaunted, he created a 24-page pamphlet and gifted copies to family and friends during the Christmas season of 1943. (If you are doing the math, this means that Mr. Van Doren had tried to sell his work for four years without a bite.)
Sometime later, celebrated actor Cary Grant received a copy of the pamphlet. He liked it so much that he showed it to his agent who decided to try to shop it—this time not to publishing houses but rather to movie producers.
The following year, RKO Pictures purchased the rights to the story, paying Van Doren $10,000. Today, that would be an option payment of over $175,000. Not bad for a storyline that couldn’t get a publisher, don’t you think?
RKO hired several writers to turn the short story into a feature film, but none of their adaptations caught the vision of the inspirational holiday plotline. The option for turning The Greatest Gift into a movie was shelved.
Years later, director Frank Capra read the story and saw its potential. He did the necessary research and discovered that several movie scripts sat on the shelves of RKO, who he offered another $10,000 to for the rights.
RKO sold the rights and the screenplays to Capra. But Capra scraped the screenplays and hired new writers. Armed with a suitable script, Capra began filming in April 1946 with a plan to release the movie in December of that same year.
(Again, if you are doing the math, seven years have now passed since Van Doren wrote his little story.)
The movie released . . . and it bombed, losing $525,000, which is a whopping $7,706,634 in today’s figures.
Oh well, Mr. Capra. You win some, you lose some.
Right?
Wrong.
In 1951, Paramount purchased Capra’s company, including the shelved, overlooked, under-viewed little film based on Van Doren’s idea. Even though it sat “on a shelf,” every year Paramount had to renew the copyright, which they faithfully did . . . until 1974. In that year, a clerical error failed to file this important paperwork, which meant that TV stations could begin to show the movie.
So it was that, in 1976—30 years after it was written as a short story—It’s a Wonderful Life came to the small screen and, in turn, became a staple of the Christmas season. Remarkably, today, It’s a Wonderful Life is considered to be one of the ten greatest movies of all time.
Is This Really an Unusual Story?
I cannot tell you how often I hear, “I signed a movie deal for my novel . . .” but I never see the movie come to any screen, big or small. Nor does anyone else.
I understand. I’ve done the same. In fact, several times there were hopes for a movie option based on a particular novel I’d written and seen published. I have to be honest with you—I was so excited, I told everyone and their brother, only to be left red-faced when nothing came of any of the opportunities. Sometime later, I had another option offer, only this time I actually signed on the dotted line and cashed the check. Screenplays were written and, beyond excited, I sat and read them, envisioning the moment I would see Based on a Novel by Eva Marie Everson on a screen. This time, however, I waited to tell. In fact, I didn’t even tell my husband until the check had cleared the bank.
Unfortunately, the writers’ strike occurred and my little moment in the sun came and went, died and was buried.
But guess what . . . I found myself fine with it. Do you know why? Stories like Van Doren’s and the knowledge and understanding that if it is supposed to be, God will make a way. It may not be in this decade. It may not be with that film company. But it will be. And if it is not . . . well, how many people can say they signed with a film company?
Many of you have written short stories, blog posts, articles, books, and scripts . . . and you’ve shopped your baby but to no avail. Or perhaps you have signed on the dotted line and cashed the check only to have the excitement slip to disappointment. In this business, that is not an unusual story. In fact, one of my novels (Five Brides) was sold to two publishing houses before it went to print, then shot to #1 on the ECPA Bestseller List. What initially was euphoric had turned to disappointment and then went back to euphoria again. But there’s an even deeper story there . . . a difficult story. My original work—85,000 words told in first person POV—had to be rewritten as a 125,000-word novel told in five third person POVs to suit the publisher. And . . . I had two months to complete the task.
Which I did. I scraped 85,000 words and, two months later, turned in 125,000 words to my editor. Then, many months later, I sat open mouthed as I stared at the bestseller list on my smartphone.
You see, our job is first and foremost to write. God’s job is to determine the best time and place for the work to come to fruition. This doesn’t mean we “shelve” it with hopes that someone will supernaturally come along, see it and say, “What’s that sitting up there?”. Our part is to do our part . . . and once we have done so, we let God do His part.
These are humble beginnings.
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Don't Miss the Other Posts in this Series!
I absolutely love this post. And the author is amazing. So credible. Believable. Authentic. She wears her battle scars well. A lesson for all of us. A lesson I won't forget.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jim!
DeleteEva, thank you so much for this post. Sometimes it's easy to sit back and have a pity party because other people's books hit the best seller lists or are made into movies while ours aren't. However, we don't see the time, effort, waiting and disappointment those authors have been through before their work was recognized. A good reminder and reality check.
ReplyDeleteSo true! So true!
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