September 22, 2017

Years ago, a co-worker at the Tribeca steakhouse “Dylan Prime” kept encouraging me to turn one of my short stories into a film. Jim Tierney was a persuasive waiter/actor who would occasionally do me the favor of reading some of my fiction. “The Blame Game” would make a great indie movie, he thought. “Working for Dean Droll”. “The Fiction Diary”…

The idea that he was an actor searching for a gig was not lost on me, but he stressed how if we put in our own money this could easily be done. Not wanting to waste my funds on a vanity project, I proposed that if he found a director to put in an equal amount of money, I might consider doing something, since this meant an outsider would see enough value in the material to contribute as well.

Jim thought this would not be a problem.

And then one late afternoon, while waiting for the restaurant work to begin, I recounted to him one of the stranger evenings of my past - and Jim practically flew in the air, proclaiming, “That’s it! That should be our movie!”

Well, I had recently purchased the screenplay app “Final Draft”, and composing a story that was already written might be a great way of learning to use it…

So there you have it. After studiously avoiding capturing true stories as “fiction”, I’ll freely admit - to the few of you reading this blog - that “Lori and the Landlord’s Grill”, as crazy a story as it is, is almost completely true. The short screenplay is now available on the website, complete with pics from the movie.

The movie will be on michaelaba.com soon. And my two other full-length screenplays, too. If any director out there wants to do something with those as-of-yet-unfilmed entries, please get in touch!

So far most of my other crazy real-life stories have not surfaced, either as screenplays, stories or songs - but the day may come. Jim is still a good friend, and I probably only need a little bit more prodding on his part!