As the new year unfolds, I’m working on three writing projects. Two are books, the other a motion picture adaptation of a popular novel I wrote four years ago. Each is exciting for different reasons. The projects are:
- Because People Matter, a business book I’m writing for managing partner Steve Mayer about the inspiring rise of his northern California firm, Burr Pilger Mayer. The book traces the rise of BPM from an ambitious start-up with a borrowed fax machine to one the nation’s most admired companies.
- Sideshow! A baseball short story collection co-authored with 1989 American League Rookie of the Year and former Oriole All-Star reliever Gregg Olson.
- Tuki Banjo, Superstar, a movie script adaptation of the heartwarming novel by the same name.
Here’s more information on each:
Because People Matter. The test of any writing assignment is how emotionally involved I get during the creation process. The best projects usher me in, urging me to disappear inside the story. This is one of those projects.
During high school, Steve Mayer once waited for his parents to go out for the evening before borrowing his father’s unmarked police car. He rode his San Francisco neighborhood, looking for cars full of kids he suspected were cruising with beer. Flashing lights pulled them over. Using the police car’s loudspeaker, Steve tricked his victims into opening their car doors and placing their beer on the ground. Then, with a stern warning over the P. A., Steve let them drive away. After the scared kids were out of sight, he and his buddies climbed out of the cop car and collected their bounty.
After college Steve got a real job with a great company, Coopers & Lybrand (today known as PricewaterhouseCoopers). For a decade he was an auditor, a tiny cog in a massive machine. He and two friends quit to start their own firm. It took seven months to draw a check.
Today he’s got 400 employees, $70 million or so in annual revenues, and no debt. One of the nation’s largest and most innovative private firms of its type, Burr Pilger Mayer has earned a long, impressive list of distinguished honors, among them being named one of the most admired accounting firms in America.
But it’s not BPM’s statistical success that’s been inspiring to write about. What’s most intriguing is how Steve, Curtis Burr, and Henry Pilger went about doing it. The book is nearing its initial finished draft and we are shooting for a summer release.
Because People Matter is a great story full of timely advice and leadership insight for anyone who aspires to build or grow a great company. Stay tuned for more as the project unfolds.
Sideshow! is a collaborative effort between Gregg Olson and I that features over 120 great baseball stories that Gregg collected (in person) over the past two seasons from a wide variety of baseball personalities. We’ve got contributions from dozens of Hall of Famers and Major League All-Stars. Featured in one is newly-elected Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven, an accomplice in one of the funniest stories of all.
Nearly all of these vignettes are new and have never before appeared in print. In addition to stars and legends of the game, contributions came from managers, coaches, role players, scouts, bullpen catchers, umpires, official scorers, and broadcast personalities. Their perspectives are hilarious.
Some of the stories are so funny I laughed out loud while reading his notes. Others are introspective and poignant. What each baseball personality chose to share was up to him, so the power of the Sideshow! collection is its splendid diversity. The range of what’s shared is fabulously entertaining.
Gregg accumulated these stories while traveling in his current job as an advance scout for the San Diego Padres. My role was to convert and polish his notes into narrative form. To each story I researched background and bio information on the people involved to add color and enjoyment for the reader. After a tremendous amount of collaborative effort, the manuscript is done and is now being shopped. My agent (Whitt Brantley) is closing in on a buy decision from a national publisher Gregg and I will enjoy working with.
We expect this collection to be quite popular. As soon as we iron out the contract agreement, I’ll share more Sideshow! details.
Tuki Banjo, Superstar. I wrote this novel in 2007, back before I started writing screenplays. I re-read it for the first time since publication over the holidays and fell in love with it all over again. I cried twice, once from sadness and once from happiness. The trick now is to capture that emotion for the silver screen.
This is a heartwarming tale, a PG-13 story about the difficult life and determined pursuit of happiness by a young New Zealand girl as her life unfolds between the ages of 16-20. Born into an abandoned childhood, Tuki’s sad isolation will not defeat her. She refuses to give up, even as her teen years force a long, determined push to survive on her own terms. She has a tremendously strong will and it’s that inner strength that refuses to let serial heartbreaks derail her pursuit of happiness.
I wrote Tuki’s role and story specifically for New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, who’s one of the best at conveying emotion without dialogue. Tuki doesn’t say much; her role is very much an actress’s role and Keisha is keen to play her. I am thrilled with the prospect. It was fun for me to meet her in Auckland over breakfast and talk about it.
I’m tremendously proud of this story, its many messages, and embrace the challenge of the adaptation. Hopefully I’ll have it finished, time and life permitting, sometime this summer. After that, it’s up to my agent to try and sell it.
So far, that’s what’s on the keyboard for 2011. Thank you for your continued support. Today and every day, I remain grateful.
Happy New Year to all,
Ted Simendinger
“Ocean Palmer”