Introduce Yourself : The Brick Wall by Michael D. Lancaster

My father was the actor Stuart Lancaster (Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill; Edward Scissorhands). He was also the grandson of Charles Ringling, one of the 5 original Ringling Brothers. In 1981 we set out on a mission to write the Ringling Story as a screenplay. Neither of us knew how to write a script (at that time), but we knew we had to find a conflict. We made John Ringling, the sole surviving brother, the protagonist and studied for years trying to prove a protagonist / antagonist relationship. In the late 90's we had it and I began outlining. In 2000 Stuart died but I continued. I could not grasp screenwriting. In 2011 I just said "the hell with it," and wrote it as a novel. It was published in 2012 and has had moderate success. I spent some time studying treatments and wrote a 30+ page treatment which eventually I cut to about 3+ pages after a good deal of criticism from a well known line producer whose family were all in the film industry.

I was terribly naive and thought if I can just get a query letter in front of a few name people they will see the name Ringling and know it's going to be big. I sent out about 20 query letters including to Spielberg, DiCaprio, Kennedy, Scorsese, and others. Little by little they were returned with the, (now familiar) "We do not accept unsolicited material." There was one that did not come back and I waited fully expecting a no go. Then one day I got a call from Martin Scorsese's assistant. She said "Marty wants you to pitch it to his manager at LBI in L.A. I pitched and sent the treatment. It was the hardest brick wall I ever ran head first into. It hurt. Here was my 30+ years of work and the great moment and BAM -it ended! After sulking for a day I had a thought: Write something in a completely different genre and I can learn about the business and screenwriting, but what to write? The word "Horror" kept whispering in my head. I hated horror (back then). I kept trying to flick that little ember out of my thoughts and find something else.

Soon after we were at our local State Park. After speaking with the park ranger a story struck me head on and a sci-fi horror was born. It has been years of work but we are in late stage development and I am producing it along with my development partners from Santa Monica. Because of where we are in development I can't really say much about it at this time. I have learned to take the lead in order to produce. I have made friends and business inroads in the industry. I know how long it takes to make a feature film, and even though it has been years, I am enjoying the ride. Sometimes running head first into a brick wall is just a way to change directions. One day we will make the Ringling story as well.