Over a period of several months, they worked to gradually re-write the poem into a sweet and modern children's fable. The story was illustrated and shopped to the large children's publishing houses in New York, where it met with the universal tag of being a "great story" with "nice illustration" that "just doesn't fit into any category of children's book." We were told to "cut the story in half," or "add another hundred pages and get rid of the illustrations." Neither of those suggestions seemed right.
After shelving the project for a year, it started to draw us back in. We couldn't help but think that the story just needed to find a way to be told. Books no longer felt right. A stage play? We just weren't sure we could pull off the whole flying magi thing. A movie? Nah. Well... Maybe? Maybe we could animate it? We knew the story was great, but wondered how it would transfer to a different medium. On a whim, we decided to give it a try.
We had no great high hopes or expectations, but just thought we might be able to create a simple short film to test the waters. There was no budget for production. Just a laptop and a bit of reckless abandon. After a couple months and a million curses (to the guys who created the Adobe Flash animation program), and The Girl started to come to life. It was about this time that three wise men (though, we would be hard pressed to say that they are tiny and can fly), and a couple of wise women appeared to help out.
Artwork Jamal, the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame's Blues Vocalist of the Year, signed on to narrate the story (in the most amazing and soothing voice you have ever heard). Allan Phillips, Emmy Winner and two-time Latin Grammy nominee, agreed to do the soundtrack (just try not to tap your fingers as you hear it), and Chad Hughes (Emmy nominated, himself) agreed to do the sound design. Sandra de Fontanes wrote a theme song that almost magically seemed to fit the cadence and feel of the story's rhyme scheme, and Marci Heit contributed a voice that literally brought The Girl alive. Magical gifts, indeed.
When the short film was finished, we knew we had something special, but we weren't quite sure what to do with it. Film festivals? Was it good enough? Boy ... that questions was answered quickly. On first submission, the prestigious KIDS FIRST organization gave it their stamp of approval by accepting it into their Spring 2010 Film Festival. Then the San Diego International Children's Film Festival announced that they had chosen it to premiere at the 2010 International Comic-Con in San Diego. Comic-Con! Not to be outdone, the LAShortsfest scheduled to screen it the next day for its Los Angeles Premiere. The DCShorts Film Festival and Rome International Film Festival jumped on board soon after. Wow.
We were then brought full circle. A seasoned children's book illustrator at the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) saw an early draft of our book and recommended that it might make a great graphic novel. Of course! Why didn't we think of that in the first place!? We decided to do a major push to finalize a version for Comic-Con. It was an extraordinarily easy transition from film to graphic novel (far easier than from book to film!). In the end, this might be the absolute best presentation of the story. It's tremendously fun.
As for The Girl's future? It feels awfully bright. With patience, hard work and dedication, she's come a long way already. Next up: A full length movie musical? A television or web series? Another graphic novel, for sure. A world of stories, rich in detail and full of heart are in the works. With a little hope, no small amount of continued effort, and perhaps the gifts of a few more wise folks, anything is possible.
