Writing Books For Movies
A number of years ago, my editor with Summerside contacted me, saying they were in desperate need of a book set in Sundance, Wyoming, for their Love Finds You line, and asked if I had sold one that I’d written yet. I said no, but my agent was shopping it as a three-book series. Long story short, their contracted author had some kind of setback, and she was unable to fulfill the contract and turn in the book on time. They offered it to me, but at a lower rate than I or my agent wanted to accept. Finally, I reluctantly decided to move forward and give up my plan of using it as the first book in a new series. After all, I’d first written it thinking it might be a good fit for the LFY line.
The book was published in the late summer of 2011, a very fast turnaround time. A couple of years later, I got word that a Hollywood production company had optioned several of the LFY titles, including mine set in Sundance. Three Love Finds You movies were made and aired on the UP Channel over the next two years, but nothing more was said about Sundance.
Producer Chevonne and Miralee
Then, in 2015, I received an email from Chevonne, the associate producer who had made those movies, followed by a phone call. Imagine my surprise when she asked if I’d be willing to write a book for them. They were no longer producing the Love Finds You books into movies and were working on a totally different project for UP, a possible three-movie series, and she hoped I might be able to work with them. As anyone would be, I was curious why she’d chosen me. She explained that she’d optioned Sundance two or three years earlier and loved it. Of the thirty-five or so titles she’d read of the line, that was her favorite. However, UP didn’t want to make historical or Old West movies, so she’d had to shelve it.
Imagine my surprise when she asked if I'd be willing to write a book for them. -@MiraleeFerrell Click To Tweet
During that time period, I’d gotten my rights back to all of my LFY books and had retitled them Finding Love in Last Chance, California; Finding Love in Tombstone, Arizona; and Finding Love in Bridal Veil, Oregon. Love Finds You in Sundance became Outlaw Angel, and all four are still in print.
With God in Charge, All Things Are Possible!
Behind-the-scenes from on the set of “From the Heart.”
Here’s the amazing part. I came very, very close to turning down that contract offer with Summerside for Sundance. I was disappointed in the advance and royalty rate, and shortly after they released it, they sold the line to Guideposts, and that company didn’t continue the line much longer. Understandably, sales waned on their final releases, and I was disappointed with my sales from that final book as all three of my others had done quite well.
For a long time, I wished I hadn’t taken that contract and held out for one with another company for a three-book series. However, had I done that, I doubt Runaway Romance or From the Heart would ever have been written. It was Sundance that grabbed Chevonne’s attention and caused her to contact me.
Kathy and Isaac from “From the Heart.”
Since then, I’ve been blessed to get to meet Chevonne and her husband George (the producer) a couple of times, and we’ve developed a friendship. We chat often on the phone or email, and I’ve been able to help brainstorm several projects. Right now, we have three movies that have been filmed, and two of them, From the Heart and Finding Love in Mountainview (based on the book Finding Love in Bridal Veil, Oregon) will release later this year. I recently finished writing a screen treatment (no, I don’t write the screenplays) for another movie that will also be a book and will contain Amish elements to go along with Runaway Romance and From the Heart. Hopefully, they’ll be able to start filming that movie later in 2020. God has indeed blessed me, and He’s allowed me to learn so much that I didn’t know about the movie industry—it’s a ton of work, it moves very slowly, but it contains wonderful people who I’ve loved getting to know.
Miralee Ferrell, owner of Mountain Brook Ink, is also an award-winning, multi-published author.
Her first novel, The Other Daughter, contemporary women’s fiction, was published in 2007, with a sequel, Finding Jeena, that came two years later. During that same time period, Summerside Press contracted Miralee for their Love Finds You line in historical romance, starting with Love Finds You in Last Chance, California. Three more Love Finds You novels followed over the next three years, ending with Love Finds You in Sundance, Wyoming, which was awarded the Will Rogers Medallion for excellence in Western fiction.
In 2011 David C Cook contracted Miralee for a three book series, Love Blossoms in Oregon. Book one, Blowing on Dandelions, which released June of 2013, made the ECPA Best Sellers list early in 2014. In mid 2012, her publisher at Cook also contracted Horses and Friends, a four-book series of middle-grade horse novels. The first book, A Horse for Kate, released March 1, 2015.
In early 2015, Mountain Brook Ink published Finding Love in Bridal Veil, Oregon (previously Love Finds You), and another LFY title, changed to Finding Love in Tombstone, Arizona. Miralee currently has ten titles with Mountain Brook Ink.
Can they give first love a second chance?
Kathy Yoder left her Amish community ten years ago and became a successful travel guide writer, which took her to exotic places around the globe. Her personal life includes a man back home who adores her and wants more than friendship, and a career she could only have dreamed of as an Amish teen. Everything seems great until a phone call comes out of the blue. The sister she hasn’t spoken to for years leaves a message telling her their father has died. The call comes too late, and Kathy missed the service—and it appears, her sister doesn’t intend to forgive her for that, or for leaving all those years ago.
Isaac Mast has never forgotten his first love, Katrina Yoder. When she comes back to settle her dad’s affairs, he’s reminded of his life before Katrina left the Amish community. However, a lot has changed. He married, had a daughter, lost his wife, and his life moved on. He’s committed to his Amish community, but Katrina is an Englischer, with both feet firmly planted in the modern world.
When a revelation about Isaac comes to light, Kathy decides to take things into her own hands. Will her decision destroy even the friendship they once had, or possibly bring them together?
