2014 should be a glorious year!

I haven't posted here in awhile, but I thought I should to start the year. Lot's of fantastic opportunities have opened up for Cris De Niro and me.
Here's what's coming up in 2014:

• Hollywood has come calling!

Back in August, I received an early-morning phone call from an old friend, famed rock producer Jeff Glixman. Jeff asked me if I had a minute and said, "Oh, by the way, Phil is on this call with me." The next voice I heard was the voice of one of my rock heroes, drummer and now also manager of the legendary band KANSAS, Phil Ehart! To say I was dumbstruck ... "dumb" being the key word. After my telling Phil that I've been a lifelong fan of KANSAS, he said, "Well, I appreciate that g and I want you to know I'm a huge fan of Cris De Niro."


Well, just shoot me ... ha! Phil Ehart is a fan of Cris, and so is Jeff! I'm humbled beyond words.


Anyway, Jeff and Phil called to tell me that they turned a friend of Phil's onto THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM (Cris De Niro, Book 1) and that his friend loved it! Phil's friend happened to be Hollywood Executive Producer Tom "Swanie" Swanson! Tom has produced some quality family-friendly and uplifting movies like COME AWAY HOME, and LETTERS TO GOD. Tom wanted to speak with me, and I was honored to allow Jeff Glixman and Phil Ehart to introduce me to him on a conference call. That call has to be one of the BEST conversations I ever had!


Tom told me that he had just joined two other amazing executive producers, Michael and Ross Greenburg, and that the three have decided to make feature films that are both exciting and appropriate for the whole family. I should explain that both "GreenBros" have a list of accomplishments longer than my arm, some of the more notable are - Michael Greenburg turned the MacGyver TV series into a huge success and then helped create the STARGATE:SG series with Richard Dean Anderson. Ross Greenburg was formerly the President of HBO Sports and responsible for creating such hit shows as REAL SPORTS with Bryant Gumbel. Between them, they have been awarded 57 Emmy Awards! Tom said that he not only read TWoE but that he subsequently read every word I ever published - and - that he asked Michael to read TWoE. Tom told me he waited to reach out to me until Michael read it ... and loved it! The rest of the conversation was Tom telling me that they want to make Cris De Niro into a film franchise -  A-budget (read: multi-million dollar) films with Oscar-winning scriptwriters and top box-office director and actors.


I was speechless and anyone that knows me, knows ... that doesn't happen often.


Tom ended the call by telling me that Michael and Ross are two of the busiest filmmakers in Hollywood, so they are virtually always on a set. So, Cris and I would have to wait for the GreenBros to finish the projects that were already in motion. The last of those projects are shooting all of the mini-documentaries and vignettes for the Olympics, so right now they are in Sochi, Russia.


Tom gave me an update this past week. Michael told him that he promises to "focus on Cris" when the Olympic games end! So that's where we are. I'm really looking forward to speaking with Michael and perhaps Ross too (both are rock stars to me). I'm also really looking forward to getting together this year with Jeff again (he's coming to town in April) and finally meeting Swanie and his lovely wife Lynn.


As progress is made, I'll post more here ... so stay tuned!

• Local Author Panel - Saturday, March 08, 12:30 PM

I was invited to speak on a panel moderated by friend/author Brian Rouff with fellow authors David Schwartz, Deborah Coonts, and Matthew O'Brien. We'll be appearing at a book donation at our local library - Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Pkwy, Henderson, NV, US.

• Current Writing Projects

I'm currently working on the next Cris De Niro novel, NEW DETROIT (Cris De Niro, Book 6), the next ARCHANGEL novella, WHITE WIDOW (ARCHANGEL, Mission Log #3) and a new rock memoir titled, THUNDER of another one of my dear friends from rock music, Greg Smith. The memoir TIME that I'm penning for dear friend and one of the founding members of ANTHRAX, Dan Spitz is on hold because Dan has some amazing stuff that could take place very soon and he wants to be able to tell about it in the book. Can't wait to finish and release that one too. Both Dan's and Greg's life stories are extraordinary.


Well, there it is for now ...


Blessings & peace,
g

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