Having a movie based on one of my books is a dream come true. The experience felt as surreal as an actual dream. Here are the highlights.
First book optioned for film. My debut novel, Love Finds You in Sun Valley was part of a line of books set all across the country and written by a variety of authors. I was a nobody, but because all these other authors had a stream of readers, my story got swept along in the current. It was printed in hardback, sold at the airport, and I even had a Costco book-signing. What a way to start my career!
Sadly, I was going through a divorce and didn’t want to write romance anymore. This was at the same time my agent decided to focus completely on romance. Thus we parted ways. Which is probably why I found out about the film option the way I did.
When I first watched Love Finds You in Sugarcreek on television, I was just like, “Wow. That author must have had a Hollywood connection.” Then Love Finds You in Charm got produced, and I saw photos of the author at a film festival with Courtney Cox. At that point I was all, “Hmm… I wonder if any more of the books will be filmed.” I googled. The first article that popped up in the search engine, mentioned my main character’s name.
In shock, I opened the link. The article listed Sun Valley first of the seven Love Finds You books optioned. But nobody had told me. And I had trouble believing it. I ran downstairs and held out my phone for my husband to read so I’d know if I was imagining things or not. Apparently, my overreaction made him falsely assume someone had died.
But nope. Nobody was dead. In fact, my dream was coming to life.
Second book optioned for film. After that first option, I started telling everyone I had a book getting made into a movie even though I didn’t know what I was talking about. Thankfully, I ran into author Miralee Ferrell who also wrote for the Love Finds You line and who did know what was going on. She’d been contacted by a movie producer who liked her books, and she’d decided to get her rights back and rerelease the romances under a new title of Finding Love In. She helped me get my rights back too so I could join her. On top of that, because my hero was one of four brothers, I instantly had the makings of a series—Resort to Love, which she published through Mountain Brook Ink.
I specifically wrote Finding Love in Big Sky with the hopes of getting a film option, and the contract was signed before my book even came out. That was back in 2016. Again, like the over-optimist I am, I started telling everyone I was going to have a book made into a movie. But my hope dwindled as time passed and I heard statistics of how many optioned books actually get produced.
Filming. Every year there seemed to be development on my movie. The first couple of times I heard the plans, I’d dance around and get excited. After a few years I started to shrug it off. Then I became cynical. Especially with Covid and the producer’s husband going through cancer. Yeah, filming wouldn’t be happening. Or so I thought.
I was in line at Walmart last year when my publisher called. “They start filming in Montana tomorrow,” she said. I ran home to freak out my husband with more hysterics.
We were invited to be extras in the cowboy ball scene, so we drove to Montana. I tried to keep my expectations low, but as you can see from the above overreactions, I have Clark-Griswold-sized expectations. Yet, my experience on location somehow blew my expectations all away.
The actors made me feel like I was the VIP. They welcomed me warmly and asked all kinds of questions. They signed copies of my books and requested paperbacks of their own. We laughed and joked between takes. We posed for pictures together, and they posted them on their social media sites.
Jim and I were only there one day, but I got to see the best scenes come to life—both kisses and the mentor scene. I may have cried a little. As for my hubby, he would have preferred to be in the scene at the mechanic shop. He even took his coveralls to Montana just in case. When he told the actress who played the mechanic, she suggested they could film him on a green screen then edit him into the autobody shop. Of course, they didn’t, but she did something almost as amazing. It wasn’t until I was watching my movie for the third time that I realized she calls back inside her shop to a “Jim” offscreen. I messaged her to ask if she’d added this in his honor, and she had. She made my husband a character in my movie.
Even as I write this blog, having a book turned into a film still feels surreal. I’m still a nobody. I still don’t know what I’m doing. But somehow my dream has come true in spite of me. And what really matters is that I now get to share my dream with you.
I hope you enjoy the book, the series, and the upcoming movie premier. And I pray these highlights inspire you to follow your dreams as well.
Angela Ruth Strong was first published by a national magazine while still in high school and went on to study journalism at the University of Oregon. She has won both Idaho Top Author and the Cascade Award for her novels, and she started IDAhope Writers to help others pursue their dreams. She is also a member of Team Love on the Run.
Besides writing, she teaches group fitness classes, travels with her kids on youth group mission trips, and often gets herself into silly situations like hamster ball races or riding on the shoulders of a unicyclist.
The day of this post, April 14th, 2022, is Angela’s 2-year chemoversary. Congratulate her on being cancer-free!
Bright Star Ranch led him to her—but will he stay?
Josh Lake is forced to head home for the holidays after he’s suspended from his job in the city, but running into Paisley Sheridan could be exactly what he needed. Not only does she board him at her ranch in exchange for his advertising expertise, but spending the Christmas season with her in Big Sky, Montana, brings more joy than he’s felt in a long while. Is he willing to give up the lavish lifestyle he’s worked for in exchange for the gift of love?
The last thing Paisley wants for Christmas is to spend time with Josh Lake—the guy who broke her heart in high school—but until her bank loan goes through, she has to take all the free help she can get. Unfortunately, Josh seems to want back in her life again, and the town’s quirky coffee shop owners don’t help by hanging mistletoe at every opportunity. Will Paisley succeed in driving him away, or will she find the healing needed to have hope for a future together?
Miralee Ferrell
Angela Strong