April Smith's "A Star for Mrs. Blake," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith.

The entry begins:

Yes, well, we can wish, but in fact casting a movie is almost never based on ‘who is best for the role’ rather, who is available and how much will it cost? Oh, and who has the right political connections to make it happen? I know this from having written and produced a dozen TV movies as well as episodic series.

As a writer, your original vision of the character is quickly morphed by twenty-five other people – agents, executives, directors, folks passing by in the hallways – into what is expedient and what will appeal to the alleged demographic in that time slot. In television that means a TV star –not a film star -- unless you’re working with one of the classier cable nets or have a strong producer who will insist on the right match.

I’ve been fantastically lucky in that regard. Kirk Douglas, William H. Macy, Jackie McKenzie, Richard Thomas, Greta Scacchi, Patty Duke Astin, Mandy Patinkin, Claire Bloom, Mia Sara, Edward Asner, Ed Harris, Mary Stuart Masterson, Christine Lahti, Sam Waterston, Jeff Goldblum are among the fine actors with whom I have had the privilege of working. When TNT cast Catherine Bell as FBI Special Agent Ana Grey in the 2011 TV adaptation of my novel, Good Morning, Killer, which I wrote and exec produced, I was in heaven. For years people told me the role was not castable because Ana Grey is biracial – half white, half Hispanic – and the wisdom was...[read on]

Visit April Smith's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Star for Mrs. Blake.

--Marshal Zeringue