Fund "Hate Storm" Film Teaser Scene
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Here's a link to the news story Barbara Ryelts from Northland News Center did on "Hate Storm": http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Hate-Storm-A-film-about-Duluths-Lynchings-344308662.html
Here's a link to my website: www.curlyvic.com
HELLO, WORLD. I’m looking to fund the filming of one scene in my award-winning screenplay, “Hate Storm”, to be used as a teaser scene to help attract a producer. Anything you could do to help in this project would be hugely appreciated. The reason why is explained below:
On June 15th, 1920 ten thousand rioters stormed the Duluth, Minnesota jail and lynched three Black prisoners suspected of raping a White girl, – Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie – despite the heroic efforts of White police, firemen and civilians to save them.
This horrendous incident was allowed to be quietly swept under Minnesota’s rug of history, until Coon Rapids, Minnsota author, Michael Fedo, wrote the first edition of his book – now titled, THE LYNCHINGS IN DULUTH, which is due out in its third printing in November of 2015.
I was first introduced to THE LYNCHINGS IN DULUTH, by a director friend, Matt Cetnar, who had agreed to direct a reader’s theater version of our co-authored 2-act stage play, “Devils, Dancing and Dead People” (which incidentally, went on to win an honorable mention award at the 2006 Writer’s Digest competition, placing 70-something out of over 18,000 entries). I remember we were at Lake Superior
on the shores of Wisconsin Point, talking about the play, when he said he’d just read a book he wanted to adapt to stage and he said I needed to read it. I told him, “Matt, I don’t have time to read books right now.” To which he replied, “How bad do you want me to direct the play?” I said, “I’ll read the book.” Matt has since passed away and we all miss him dearly.
I hadn’t gotten 1/3 through the book before I knew I HAD to do something with it. I was captured with one man’s exhausting efforts to save the three young men. Duluth Police Sergeant Oscar Olson may not have been what we would call a civil rights crusader, but he did have deep, passionate respect for the law and its application to everyone equally. At least, that’s what I gleaned from Michael’s book.
Not long after, there was a commemoration ceremony at the memorial site. I introduced myself to Michael and asked if I may adapt his book…on speculation. He agreed and told me he had been approached by others in the past, but that the treatment they offered skewed the storyline in a way that he didn’t feel was appropriate. Taking that into consideration, I worked on the script for the next year or so, off and on. Then, sometime in 2006 I think, I sent him the first draft, which was then titled, “ALAMO-DULUTH: Anatomy of a Lynching.” He approved of it. Then, I told him I needed the rights to the book, or producers wouldn’t let me within a block of their offices. He agreed. The next thing was to crawl on my hands and knees into the bank and ask for a loan to buy the book rights. I was floored (not far, because I was already on the floor) when they agreed.
The next few years were full of writes, rewrites and rewrites of rewrites; followed by literally dozens and dozens of rejection slips (having beaten my head against the literary wall for decades, it has become somewhat numb to them). In 1996, my screenplay, “The Romeo and Juliet Scam”, made the quarter-finals at the Austin, Texas Film Festival, placing in the top 15% of 3,200 entries. I decided I’d try the festival circuit. In 2010, I was originally going to enter it into the Austin festival, but the Screenwriter’s Expo in L.A. caught my eye. Why did I decide to go with that, instead? Don’t know. Let me begin with faith in some omni-present entity…be it God, some earthly collective life-force that emanates from the ground upon which we trod or some infinite mega-computer that opens and closes our own personal diodes precisely at the correct given time for us to accomplish that for which we are destined (I prefer the first). I really don't know. But, that's all right. I'm very comfortable in not knowing the whys and wherefores of faith and very suspicious of those who claim they do.
I placed as a finalist, borrowed money from the bank and headed West. As they were reading the runners up and the placers, I thought that being a finalist was good enough to help me find an agent. When they announced me as the $20k Grand Prize winner, all I could say to myself, as I walked up to the stage was, “Holy sh_t.” Hopefully, it was enough under my breath that nobody heard me.
Now, one might think that snatching such an award would have the producers beating down my creaky door. Wrong answer. Because it’s an ensemble piece, a social piece and a period piece, attracting the money necessary was and is difficult. As part of my prize, the script was given analysis (coverage, in movie-speak) by Jim Cirile of coverageink.com . After he told me everything he thought worked and lots of suggestions to fix things he thought didn’t work, he said:
"The ray of light at the end of this tunnel is that the material is potential Oscar bait. So given an idealized version of the screenplay as outlined above, an actor’s production company (especially an African American actor) could well be interested in this material and use their personal connections to push it through. With one of those guys behind it, this thing has a real shot."
Encouraging words, to say the least. Some of the suggestions he made were, I’m sure, similar to those suggested treatments Michael had received from other interested parties. In ANY adaptation or depiction of true incidents, one must take poetic license, not only to enhance drama, but to explain things in one short scene of a film what might take half a chapter in a book. One of the possibilities had Oscar Olson and one of the Blacks having been friends at one time…I assume to create a more personal connection. After passing that memorial in Duluth several times, I decided I just could not go that far. I knew I needed some scene changes, so changed a few and added a couple, but I had to make sure they did not overshadow the tragic story of the three victims. One suggestion I did make was a title change. Thus, it is now titled “Hate Storm.”
In 2009, the late wonderful University of Wisconsin - Superior (UWS) director and friend, Professor John Munsell (again, whom I miss dearly) directed a radio drama version of the original script, sponsored by KUWS-fm and the UWS Office of Multicultural Affairs. It aired during Black History Month that year. A copy of this radio drama can be found under its original title, "ALAMO-DULUTH: Anatomy of a Lynching", by following this link: https://soundcloud.com/wpr-superior/alamo-duluth-anatomy-of-a-lynching .
Since then, the script has had its ups and downs. Several independents have wanted to shoot it, but the budget for such a thing has always been beyond their capacity. I had a budget “top sheet” (a summary of a detailed budget) done by a firm in L.A., which was only a guesstimate, since I had no A-list actors attached; not even a producer or director. So, he guesstimated the budget (based on Los Angeles parameters, not Duluth) at about $26M. HOWEVER, most of the biz people I’ve talked to around here think it could be done for $5-10M… without compromising the artistic quality.
Some have said that I should have placed more emphasis on Clayton, Jackson and McGhie; that the film should be from their perspective. Well, there are as many ways to approach it as there were people in attendance, that June 15th, 1920. My reasoning was this: The film was not written for the Black community to learn from. They don’t have to. They know racism and hatred. They deal with it nearly every day. My main audience was us; the Whites. Why? Well, I remember watching a documentary on the evolution of Black actors/directors/producers… which is just one aspect of the Blacks’ struggle. The real pioneers were people like Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Ernie Davis and others. At least, in this past century. I remember one commenter saying that the Blacks had no stars, no heroes to look up to in movies…by and large.
Then I thought of my own childhood, when I used to look up to the cowboy heroes who understood and stood up for the Native Americans and the Whites who did the same for Blacks in the olden days. THAT is what I wanted to portray to the nation and the world. I wanted everyone – especially kids – to know that there were and are good people in the world who will fight for what is right. As I said, Oscar Olson may not have been a big MLK supporter (although, I’m thinking he would have been inclined so); but he would have fought hard to make sure MLK, et al could have walked across the Edmund Pettus bridge, un-impeded…because the law said that as a human being and a citizen of America, it was his right to do so. It’s not the Black community’s minds we have to change…it’s ours and especially our kids’.
Thank you for reading this and I hope you can help.
Sincerely,
Dale R. Botten
Here's a link to my website: www.curlyvic.com
HELLO, WORLD. I’m looking to fund the filming of one scene in my award-winning screenplay, “Hate Storm”, to be used as a teaser scene to help attract a producer. Anything you could do to help in this project would be hugely appreciated. The reason why is explained below:
On June 15th, 1920 ten thousand rioters stormed the Duluth, Minnesota jail and lynched three Black prisoners suspected of raping a White girl, – Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie – despite the heroic efforts of White police, firemen and civilians to save them.
This horrendous incident was allowed to be quietly swept under Minnesota’s rug of history, until Coon Rapids, Minnsota author, Michael Fedo, wrote the first edition of his book – now titled, THE LYNCHINGS IN DULUTH, which is due out in its third printing in November of 2015.
I was first introduced to THE LYNCHINGS IN DULUTH, by a director friend, Matt Cetnar, who had agreed to direct a reader’s theater version of our co-authored 2-act stage play, “Devils, Dancing and Dead People” (which incidentally, went on to win an honorable mention award at the 2006 Writer’s Digest competition, placing 70-something out of over 18,000 entries). I remember we were at Lake Superior
on the shores of Wisconsin Point, talking about the play, when he said he’d just read a book he wanted to adapt to stage and he said I needed to read it. I told him, “Matt, I don’t have time to read books right now.” To which he replied, “How bad do you want me to direct the play?” I said, “I’ll read the book.” Matt has since passed away and we all miss him dearly.
I hadn’t gotten 1/3 through the book before I knew I HAD to do something with it. I was captured with one man’s exhausting efforts to save the three young men. Duluth Police Sergeant Oscar Olson may not have been what we would call a civil rights crusader, but he did have deep, passionate respect for the law and its application to everyone equally. At least, that’s what I gleaned from Michael’s book.
Not long after, there was a commemoration ceremony at the memorial site. I introduced myself to Michael and asked if I may adapt his book…on speculation. He agreed and told me he had been approached by others in the past, but that the treatment they offered skewed the storyline in a way that he didn’t feel was appropriate. Taking that into consideration, I worked on the script for the next year or so, off and on. Then, sometime in 2006 I think, I sent him the first draft, which was then titled, “ALAMO-DULUTH: Anatomy of a Lynching.” He approved of it. Then, I told him I needed the rights to the book, or producers wouldn’t let me within a block of their offices. He agreed. The next thing was to crawl on my hands and knees into the bank and ask for a loan to buy the book rights. I was floored (not far, because I was already on the floor) when they agreed.
The next few years were full of writes, rewrites and rewrites of rewrites; followed by literally dozens and dozens of rejection slips (having beaten my head against the literary wall for decades, it has become somewhat numb to them). In 1996, my screenplay, “The Romeo and Juliet Scam”, made the quarter-finals at the Austin, Texas Film Festival, placing in the top 15% of 3,200 entries. I decided I’d try the festival circuit. In 2010, I was originally going to enter it into the Austin festival, but the Screenwriter’s Expo in L.A. caught my eye. Why did I decide to go with that, instead? Don’t know. Let me begin with faith in some omni-present entity…be it God, some earthly collective life-force that emanates from the ground upon which we trod or some infinite mega-computer that opens and closes our own personal diodes precisely at the correct given time for us to accomplish that for which we are destined (I prefer the first). I really don't know. But, that's all right. I'm very comfortable in not knowing the whys and wherefores of faith and very suspicious of those who claim they do.
I placed as a finalist, borrowed money from the bank and headed West. As they were reading the runners up and the placers, I thought that being a finalist was good enough to help me find an agent. When they announced me as the $20k Grand Prize winner, all I could say to myself, as I walked up to the stage was, “Holy sh_t.” Hopefully, it was enough under my breath that nobody heard me.
Now, one might think that snatching such an award would have the producers beating down my creaky door. Wrong answer. Because it’s an ensemble piece, a social piece and a period piece, attracting the money necessary was and is difficult. As part of my prize, the script was given analysis (coverage, in movie-speak) by Jim Cirile of coverageink.com . After he told me everything he thought worked and lots of suggestions to fix things he thought didn’t work, he said:
"The ray of light at the end of this tunnel is that the material is potential Oscar bait. So given an idealized version of the screenplay as outlined above, an actor’s production company (especially an African American actor) could well be interested in this material and use their personal connections to push it through. With one of those guys behind it, this thing has a real shot."
Encouraging words, to say the least. Some of the suggestions he made were, I’m sure, similar to those suggested treatments Michael had received from other interested parties. In ANY adaptation or depiction of true incidents, one must take poetic license, not only to enhance drama, but to explain things in one short scene of a film what might take half a chapter in a book. One of the possibilities had Oscar Olson and one of the Blacks having been friends at one time…I assume to create a more personal connection. After passing that memorial in Duluth several times, I decided I just could not go that far. I knew I needed some scene changes, so changed a few and added a couple, but I had to make sure they did not overshadow the tragic story of the three victims. One suggestion I did make was a title change. Thus, it is now titled “Hate Storm.”
In 2009, the late wonderful University of Wisconsin - Superior (UWS) director and friend, Professor John Munsell (again, whom I miss dearly) directed a radio drama version of the original script, sponsored by KUWS-fm and the UWS Office of Multicultural Affairs. It aired during Black History Month that year. A copy of this radio drama can be found under its original title, "ALAMO-DULUTH: Anatomy of a Lynching", by following this link: https://soundcloud.com/wpr-superior/alamo-duluth-anatomy-of-a-lynching .
Since then, the script has had its ups and downs. Several independents have wanted to shoot it, but the budget for such a thing has always been beyond their capacity. I had a budget “top sheet” (a summary of a detailed budget) done by a firm in L.A., which was only a guesstimate, since I had no A-list actors attached; not even a producer or director. So, he guesstimated the budget (based on Los Angeles parameters, not Duluth) at about $26M. HOWEVER, most of the biz people I’ve talked to around here think it could be done for $5-10M… without compromising the artistic quality.
Some have said that I should have placed more emphasis on Clayton, Jackson and McGhie; that the film should be from their perspective. Well, there are as many ways to approach it as there were people in attendance, that June 15th, 1920. My reasoning was this: The film was not written for the Black community to learn from. They don’t have to. They know racism and hatred. They deal with it nearly every day. My main audience was us; the Whites. Why? Well, I remember watching a documentary on the evolution of Black actors/directors/producers… which is just one aspect of the Blacks’ struggle. The real pioneers were people like Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Ernie Davis and others. At least, in this past century. I remember one commenter saying that the Blacks had no stars, no heroes to look up to in movies…by and large.
Then I thought of my own childhood, when I used to look up to the cowboy heroes who understood and stood up for the Native Americans and the Whites who did the same for Blacks in the olden days. THAT is what I wanted to portray to the nation and the world. I wanted everyone – especially kids – to know that there were and are good people in the world who will fight for what is right. As I said, Oscar Olson may not have been a big MLK supporter (although, I’m thinking he would have been inclined so); but he would have fought hard to make sure MLK, et al could have walked across the Edmund Pettus bridge, un-impeded…because the law said that as a human being and a citizen of America, it was his right to do so. It’s not the Black community’s minds we have to change…it’s ours and especially our kids’.
Thank you for reading this and I hope you can help.
Sincerely,
Dale R. Botten
Organiser
Dale R. Botten
Organiser
Lake Nebagamon, WI