The Affair - The First to Know

I start from the beginning. About ten years ago, I put pen to paper and after about a year, a screenplay was born. Not a great one, a mediocre first effort. However, I didn’t know that until much later. While the rejection letters were pouring in, Martin Kelley, Robert Lee and I worked on the second effort: BEHIND THE NINE. We wrote it, produced it and loved it. BEHIND THE NINE made it to Netflix, where it remains available for rental. My efforts continued, writing screenplay after screenplay. Now, eleven scripts live and breathe in my mind, but endure the cold existence of non-production on my laptop.

Along the way, there were other short scripts and partial efforts. One aborted idea, THE AFFAIR, kept resurfacing. I kept thinking it was just too small for the big screen. Then it hit me. Why not write it as a play? THE AFFAIR could be perfect for the stage. So, there it began and after several months, me and my script were at the Atlanta Screenwriter’s Group for a cold read. Disastrous. Quite simply the worst reading I’ve ever attended in my life. I was ready to trash the script, but I regrouped, rewrote and called in the professionals. In January 2008, Rob Pralgo, Stacey Turner, Ted Huckabee, Stephen Caudill, Tiffany Morgan and Jessica Lucas, brought my words to life at a reading for thirty friends. It was exhilarating and I was satisfied – for awhile.

Now and then I would run into a friend who would ask, “what’s up with the play” or Stacey or Tiffany would shoot an email my way. I contemplated and procrastinated, but finally moved. On November 18, 2008, I did it. I booked the newly renovated, to the tune of $4.2 million, Strand Theatre in Marietta for a one night only production of THE AFFAIR. For the next two months, I will chronicle the journey from casting to the February 7, 2009 premier. I’m having the time of my life. Come along for the ride.