Movie Adaptation

	Released:	1999
	Directed By:	Luis Mandoki
	Starring:	Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, and Paul Newman
	Movie Site:	http://www.message-bottle.com
	More Infomation:	Message in a Bottle at IMDb.com

As the first film made from one of my works, Message In A Bottle will always be special to me, and I suppose that I'll always remember all the events associated with the film. Everything about it was new and exciting, from learning to work with the producer, to reading how Gerald DiPego adapted the film into a screenplay, to seeing the process of casting or how a film is made.

Let me start by saying that I was pleased with the film on any number of levels. (For reasons why see Frequently Asked Questions for Message In A Bottle and General Questions where I give those reasons in depth.)

Instead of going through all that again, I'd like to tell you about a couple of the events associated with the project that were most memorable to me. The first was the actual sale of the novel to Warner Brothers. As I mentioned in the notes, the novel was only half completed when the project went to Hollywood. I sent the first 120 pages along with a detailed, chapter by chapter outline for the rest of the novel to my agents and they presented the book that way.

I wasn't prepared for what I'd go through the following day. Sometime around two o'clock in the afternoon, I got a call a call from my agents saying that every studio was "very interested," and that I should hang around the phone. "Okay," I said, plopping myself down in an easy chair, "I'll be right here, waiting." Three o'clock came and went, then four, five, and six without another word from my agents. By then, I was getting nervous, since I had to give a speech for a book club that evening, but luckily, just then, my agents called telling me that a deal was "imminent," and that it would happen "in the next twenty minutes." I breathed a sigh of relief, hung up and waited, but no call came. Seven o'clock came and went, then eight and by then, it was time for me to go to the event. I called my agents and they said, "It should be here in the next few minutes," but I told them they could reach me on my cell phone and headed out the door.

Five minutes later, the front end of my car was smoking and dented, but the tree and myself unharmed, I called my wife to come pick me up and bring me home. I rescheduled my event for the following week.

Let this be the lesson: When selling your project to Hollywood with a deal imminent, don't drive on slick roads. Your mind won't be on the drive.

What else do I remember? It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve and the project was in full swing. The screenplay was done, Warner Brothers was excited about the project and Kevin Costner had signed on, but I wasn't thinking about those things right then. My wife and I were planning to bring the children to a "Children's Mass" for the Christmas celebration, and because it was always crowded, my wife went early to save seats. I was running around, trying to get the kids dresses and ready but running late, and just as I was about to head out the door, the phone rang. On instinct, I picked it up and said hello.

"Nicholas Sparks?" the caller said.

"Yes," I said.

"Hi. This is Kevin Costner."

Let me tell you folks, your mind pretty much goes blank when you hear something like that. Somehow, however, I was able to come up with something.

"Well," I said, "Merry Christmas, Kevin!"