Hello everyone,
I am pleased to let you know that ShadowHawk has made a deal for a number of upcoming projects that will require our production involvement and at the same time we will be commissioned to do a number of our own projects. This is indeed an outstanding break for us and is one we are very pleased to have. The first of many I hope. We hope to be very busy within the next few months with this as I had a meeting this morning and they seemed very pleased with our presentation. Keep you updated.
Sincerely, Anthony
In the next UFPI newsletter for May Anthony reported that the productions discussions were continuing for River Street, but he appeared to have completely abandoned any efforts on our scripts. His report as follows:
River Street creator Tom Deedy has begun working with the UFPI international team of writers (that would be Sandra and myself) on the 14 episode synopsis for the series. UFPI (Lost Myths Ink) writers Debora Hill and Sandra Brandenburg who are heading up the story and script department for the project said, “We were so amazingly surprised when we first read River Street to discover there is someone else out there on our wavelength. We view the project as a combination of Twin Peaks and the Twilight Zone, with some unique characteristics thrown in. This particular series is very hardcore; it is violent and sleazy in parts, but it has an important message and a lot to say...we are enjoying working with Tom Deedy tremendously; he’s so easy to work with, it’s clear he hasn’t been in this business long! As the season outline progresses and takes shape, we can see it becoming an important television event. Due to the nature of the story and the content, we htink it would be ideal for HBO, Showtime, or one of those – even the Sci-Fi channel, since they do a lot of supernatural story lines. We are looking forward tremendously to actually working on an episode!”
Martin White the General Manager of the ShadowHawk Management Development Group, who are overseeing the development of the scripts for the series said, “Tom is hoping along with the girls from Lost Myths Ink to have the synopsis ready by early next week at which point we will continue talks with Pyramid Entertainment regarding its’ production.
The next letter came from Cathal, on the 9th.
Hello, Debora
As you know, Anthony has recently created Whelan Enterprises and has incorporated all his businesses under it. He has done this in order to create a more stronger (and this man supposedly had a Master’s Degree?) Network. As I am now the main director of ShadowHawk, I am planning a number of changes which I wish to develop over the next couple of weeks.
Anthony is still the managing director of ShadowHawk, but we are looking at the possibility of hiring Paul Nolan. I haven’t gotten around to speaking with him as we were busy landing the production contract we got yesterday (no word ever on what THAT was, if anything) and working with Pyramid. We meed a managing director as Anthony as CEO of Whelan Enterprises wants to concentrate on producing, and there will be a lot of that with the new contract plus, hopefully, River Street, Go West, Devil’s Bayne, Shadow Warriors and Boyz.
ShadowHawk is always pushing for success and in pushing we have landed this production contract, and I must say it could not have come at a better time, and it proves we have what it takes to get more. We have also just begun taking membership applications for the UFPI-A Thousand Faces training course.
Working with Alan and yourselves I now want to look at possibilities for Lost Myths Ink. Here Anthony is dealing with Eason’s and we are hopefully (hopeful?) In them picking up one or all of your novels. Anthony is also dealing with play.com about picking up your novels. They are bigger than Amazon and offer a lot more promotion (I investigated play.com and discovered that our novels were already being carried on the site).
We are also looking into other possibilities in relation to development, and I now want to begin working on U.S. development. For this I will need the help of Lost Myths Ink in gaining information, also in relation to UFPI director titles we should establish some sort of development program which we will look at later in the month. I will discuss this with Alan and Anthony and will be in touch on Thursday to begin a development system. Thank you.
Kind Regards,
Cathal Byrne, Chief Executive
The difficulty was that almost no time passed between these extensive, confusing communications. The next one came from Alan McNamara on the 11th. We still hadn’t quite figured out what they were doing over there in Dublin, or even what they were trying to do. But what was obvious was that Anthony Whelan’s megalomaniac complex was progressing nicely.
Debora,
I talked with Cathal and I am adding information below. Cathal is going to talk to Anthony and let him know the overall plan. What I am adding is just an example and not to be taken as actual shares at this time. While Cathal and myself will issue a complete list to you, Anthony must first approve.
The current directors of UFPI are:
Alan McNamara, Chairman and Chief Operations Officer
Debora Hill, Vice Chairman and Director of International Development
Saidbh Byrne, Director of Legal and Business Affairs
Anthony Whelan, Director of Operations
Sandra Brandenburg, Director of Acquisition (For Home Entertainment and Publishing: DVD/video, novels, soundtracks, albums, singles)
Thomas Brandenburg, Director of Distribution (Theatrical and Television)
United Film Productions International is our distribution and management front and is made up of:
Motion Picture Distribution
Television Distribution
Home Entertainment Distribution
Publishing Distribution
Talent Management Agency
Crew Management Agency
I will be using Publishing Distribution as an example. Thomas Brandenburg has no power in this area just as Sandra has no power in Motion Picture and Television.
Let’s say UFPI were to sell 5000 copies of The Land of the Wand this year at 11 lbs per copy which adds up to 55,000 lbs. Lost Myths Ink owns under the licensing agreement $11 for each copy which runs in at 9 lbs with the current exchange rate. That means you guys will get 45,000 lbs and the remaining 10,000 lbs will belong to UFPI. Now as directors this 11,000 lbs is broken down into shares.
Example of breakdown:
Administration: 20% = 2,000 lbs
Management: 15% = 1,500 lbs
COO: 15% = 1,500 lbs
Director ID 15% = 1,500 lbs
Director LBA 10% = 1,000 lbs
Director OPS 10% = 1,000 lbs
Director AQ 15% = 1,500 lbs
Administration amount is for Whelan Enterprises and Management amount is UFPI for taxes and maintaining the website. The catch is that if a director is not authorized or given an authorization number by me the chairman then that person is not entitled to their shares for the division.
You are only entitled to your shares if you actually do your job title within the operations of the division and its projects. An example would be: Sandra as the director of acquisition would be responsible for coordinating the sale of the novels and if she failed to do that then her shares would be retained.
As directors of UFPI we, including myself, are being offered the opportunity to help and develop the network so that everyone can gain and should someone fail to do that, then they should not be entitled to earn, while others are working hard. Also should a director continuously fail to do their job, again including myself then it should be recommended that they are removed from their position.
UFPI is a joint operation and now that I have been given the options to run it and have had the training for it, I want to do my very best for everyone involved. If you agree to the above layout please let me know and I will begin your proceedings; however, if you decline and wish to argue the point, please let me know and I will inform Geraldine. Thank you for your time.
Alan
The same day there was a letter from Cathal. They were beginning to all sound the same.
Dear Debora,
I am now ready to start looking at the development of Lost Myths Ink product and involvement. At the moment your gang (?) Is involved as:
(let’s leave out yet another list of what we were supposed to do in the ‘New Republic’)
I know all the above titles work and what I need now is a breakdown of Lost Myths Ink operations. What are your roles as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operations Officer and General Manager? We are going to be looking at outlining the production of scripts and publishing of novels, and who will be working with James and me in gaining submission rights to production companies and studios. Please let me know. Thank you.
Kind regards, Cathal
This was pretty foreign to two writers and one writer’s husband who happened to help us out. We discussed it, and this is what we came up with, since we simply didn’t think on the same ‘conquer the world’ terms as Anthony.
Dear Cathal and Alan;
We do not think in the same terms. The way we run our work at this point is that we take a look at what needs to be done at any given point. Then one of us with time that day, does it. Debora and Tom have been the ones doing much of the work of promotion, but I have also been chipping in where necessary, acquiring an artist for posters and acting the role of ‘new author’ for people who want that. Except for actual writing, all our jobs are interchangeable.
However, we can do it your way, too. In term of editing, I need something to edit. Therefore, the boys need to send me their work. I like you all, and respect you, too. However, none of are editors or proofreaders. Most things you send me could do with a bit of a rewrite. I am always here, if given the chance. Spell Check is not sufficient to the job. Cathal has clearly had training in writing business letters. I have had training in vocabulary and punctuation. Technical writing will do that for you.
Director of Acquisitions, oh dear. My immediate thought was that it meant I was to try to acquire new production material. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered you meant I was to coordinate sales of the novels. No problem, of course. Once there are sales, I can do that. So, we are more than willing to accept the titles you give us and to see that the work gets done. But you will have to explain what the jobs will entail so that we know our roles.
As for shares in the company, that is a bit confusing to us. We really aren’t clear on the percentages and such. More clarification would be helpful. Other than that, everything looks promising. Debora says if you make her head explode, she will have to kill somebody and I am altogether too close. Trust that even with a particulated head, Debora would up to the job of murder.
We have traditionally operated as any small organization does. There are only three of us. Becoming part of a larger group requires more organization. We are more than glad to cooperate. But send us those definitions now, please. We need to understand what we’re signing up for.
Sincerely, Sandra
It was never really explained well, but we agreed to the program. On the 15th we received a letter from Cathal that actually addressed some of what had been discussed – joint work projects.
Hi Debora,
Anthony’s new feature script THE FORCE (working title) will be finished this week. The script is about two Garda Detectives from the Irish Garda National Drugs Unit, who are trying to bring down a drug dealer. It is a comedy script. This script will be going to Miriam Kelly shortly to be budgeted and it will then be presented to Alan Maloney producer of “Intermission” for consideration and the Irish Film Board for funding with distribution through Buena (he spelled it Bunea Vista) International. Also Miriam is arranging to have Colm Meaney, Colin Farrell, Brendan O’Caroll and Jonathan Rhys Meyers read the script. If he secures distribution and we should do if we get Alan Maloney and any of the cast onboard, the Irish Film Board will fund the script.
I was wondering if Lost Myths Ink would like to edit the script so that you can become involved in this film? We do not require any sort of a rewrite, just a spelling and grammar check. Please let me know asap. Thank you.
Cathal
We had pretty much decided that we weren’t going to bail out anymore dismal projects for ShadowHawk without being paid upfront. Anthony Whelan was not only a terrible writer, his grammar and spelling were so atrocious it was sometimes difficult to interpret what he meant to say. Two days later we received a letter from Anthony with another wild idea to add to the mix.
Hi Deb,
I hope this morning finds you well? The weather is terrible over here, nothing but rain, rain, rain. Good news, though. I’ve been speaking with Mark (Mark? There’s a Mark?) Regarding developments with him. I have suggested a comedy night or weekend and we have a number of short scripts available here to run a theatre play for about 40 minutes, so we need to look at developing that into about one hour and a half.
Plus, he is looking at an overall event and wants us to consider other ideas. As the director of the story and script department I want you to work with Martin in developing from your end and coordinate your efforts with me. If we put this in place right, it could run in early July and the payment would cover Lost Myths Ink for the month of June, should River Street and Go West run over. Please ring me if you need to discuss further.
Thank you. Anthony
We were quickly reaching the end of any patience we might have had left with Anthony, who appeared to be pulling these ideas out of his...well, you get the idea. Fortunately the marathon telephone calls he indulged in during the middle years of our acquaintance had ended, and our discussions were fairly brief. I wasn’t sure at the time whether this was because he was too busy to ramble on, or could feel that we were pulling away from him. We received more letters from Cathal and Alan and fewer from Anthony. The next was on the 17th, to Tom.
Hi Tom,
As you are now helping with the coordination for Lost Myths Ink Productions, we need to look at securing submissions. I would like you, along with Debora and Sandra, to write up a letter stating that you are seeking submissions, and you have an agent: “Shadowhawk Films International”. I will be sending you a number of major studio addresses on Friday, and I would like emails sent to them. If you begin this continuous attack at gaining submission, I feel we will secure deals which will result in projects being financed. Please let me know your thoughts, and I will contact you Friday with the list.
Thanks, C
So now they had Tom working for them for nothing as well. And even we had enough knowledge about the film industry to realize this was a lame idea. As agents ShadowHawk didn’t even exist in the minds of Hollywood producers, and unless they did better than this, they never would. On our end, we didn’t have the luxury of working for nothing much longer. So on the 17th I sent this letter to Anthony and Cathal.
Gentlemen,
I know a lot is happening right now; positively bewildering in its’ variety and complexity. I know everyone is working as hard as possible and pedaling as fast as we can; everything looks good.
Having said that, I must request an advance of $10,000 by the first of June, if possible. Sandra and Tom will be all right for the present, through most of June, anyway – but I need a minimum of $5,000 for that month and so does the business account – you’re right, it’s expensive to live in California. So, please keep this in mind – you don’t have to respond immediately, but I will need feedback by Monday the 22nd.
Thank you, colleagues. Blessed Be, Debora
We did do some work for Anthony’s comedy show, and for all we know now, he used our ideas at some point. We were, of course, never paid for them or acknowledged.
Ideas for Comedy Show
1. ‘What Not to Wear, Darling’ – a reality show that makes-over drag queens, with two flamboyant hosts – a man who dresses as a woman and a woman who dresses as a man (aka K.D. Lang).
2. ‘Survivor Ireland’ - something similar to this was done in Southern California, where contestants had to communicate in the ‘Valley’ by asking directions from natives, finding affordable clothes on Rodeo Drive, and get into mansions in Beverly Hills. You could do an Ireland version – you know the quirks of your city better than we do, but contestants could have to communicate only with the residents of the most difficult to understand area of the country, find every pub in Dublin and drink their beer, etc.
3. What about a running show where people from Southside are lost in Northside, thrown off the bus, asking for directions, trying to get to a show, mistaken for servants, etc. This could be worked into a very silly opera using rock standards and old songs of every sort, with small changes in lyrics. I have in mind a sort of Rocky Horror Review, ending with the lost young lovers clinging together (and singing) about being lost in the storm with no train to take them home, due to the slowness and expense of setting up the light rail system all Dublin has been waiting for.
The Garda Station bit, the church box bit, the sheep bit, the telephone skit and all could be worked into this one. Of course, you need some terrific singers and dancers to pull it off. Backgrounds can be simple painted flats with Dublin as the subject. Topical jokes about local politicians, the president, mayor or whoever else you want to work in. Here in the states, I would probably put a mock-up of George Bush trying to spend a weekend with his (transvestite) girlfriend and being caught by his minister and his lesbian daughter.
4. What about one of the House-hunting programs, or Trading Spaces or something where horrid backdrops of the changed rooms could be prepared and...oh, well.
The script Anthony prepared for the comedy show was predictably poorly written and juvenile in subject matter. We did our best to improve it, but just as with anything else that spring, it came to nothing. Cathal Byrne was pushing his
‘Submission campaign’ for films, and he came up with this letter, most of which was written by Tom:
Dear Colleagues (Dear Blank, Dear whatever...)
I am just writing to let you know about Lost Myths Ink, an American-based company which provides services such as story and script development, teleplay, screenplay, proofreading and editing.
We are the global business partners of United Film Productions International, other companies involved are ShadowHawk Films International, TV and Film Casting, Brian Tracy Recording sudtio, DSF Design and A Thousand Faces International.
We are currently discussion (discussing?) Co-production arrangements for our projects with a number of production companies and studios. We have recently released our forth (fourth) novel The Land of the Wand and have previously worked on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager”.
At present we have a number of scripts available that we feel would be of great interest to producers and are looking to gain submission agreements with (a) studio. By visiting our website located at www.lostmythsink.com you can access script synopses and information, and reviews about our released and upcoming novels. We have had a wonderful response to the book, and will be attending WorldCon this year, at the Anaheim Convention Center in August.
Should you visit and find that you are interest(ed) in any of our materials and would like to read the complete script, then please contact me.
It would also be very much appreciated if you send me your contact information so that I may keep you informed of developments and co-production agreements and funding processes or simply to tell me what sort of film category you are interested in producing.
I thank you for your time and we are looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely, Thomas Brandenburg, General Manager, LMI
We weren’t particularly savvy about the film industry at that point, but even we knew that was a lame approach. From what we’ve learned since then, that letter was calculated to be ignored.
On May 19th we were forwarded a letter from Tom Deedy. Anthony wrote to ask why we had never received it, and if there was something wrong with our company email account.
Dear Tom (Deedy),
I love the presentation for RIVER STREET. I have added it to a word document and posted it to David; it will be with the Pyramid producers today. Hopefully they will see the great potential it has and return quickly with the contract offer. It could be a great summer for us. David has confirmed that he is defiantly (definitely?) Shooting in Ireland if it is picked up. He has been looking into the Irish production services, facilities and section 418, which has impressed him. Next time I email you I hope it will be to tell you there is a deal in place.
Kind Regards, Cathal Byrne
I could feel the quicksand closing over my head. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and couldn’t breathe because I was sinking into the quicksand and it was closing over my head. We did sign the agreements for UFPI, but we didn’t really believe anything would come of it – it had been too long, and this journey had taken too many permutations. The second ‘newsletter’ from UFPI in May didn’t seem to have any of our reservations, however.
ShadowHawk Films International is now waiting to hear from Pyramid Entertainment about the production of the RIVER STREET series here in Ireland. ShadowHawk Films made their presentation to producers at Pyramid last week, put together by RIVER STREET creator Tom Deedy and ShadowHawk Films partners Lost Myths Ink. ShadowHawk Films Managing Director Anthony Whelan said, “Pyramid are showing a very strong interest in RIVER STREET, and they had told us originally that they wished to be producing in Ireland by August of this year. We are expecting to hear from them by the end of May and hope to have a deal in place by June.”
And a week later, so much more appeared to be happening.
ShadowHawk Films International have announced that they are now discussing three major production deals worth over 20 million Euro to the Irish film industry. All three projects are from outside the country and ShadowHawk Films working on closing the deals which will see all three projects produced here over the next two years. Anthony Whelan, Managin Director of ShadowHawk, said, “We are very excited. ShadowHawk has been ticking over for the past few years, but we believe we have now finally got our feet on the ground in this business. While it is still early days and all three projects could still fold up, I am confident with the efforts we have made, and believe our clients will be very pleased with our performance should the deals be put in place. This would not only be good for ShadowHawk but the entire Irish film and television industry.”
One thing that was obviously apparent from what was happening was that our work had no place in these plans. Somehow Anthony Whelan had managed to absorb us into his plans while leaving ours behind. The only thing that was keeping us tied to him at that point was the RIVER STREET series; we had become desperate for funds, and it was the best bet we had right then. We had pretty much given up on GO WEST.
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