Coming Soon to Your TV

 

Terry here with our weekly question: You’ve done the impossible - sold your book/series for the screen. Who would you choose (living or dead) to play your protagonist? Why? 

 If TV producers only knew how many times people have asked me when my Samuel Craddock was going to be made into a TV series, I’d have had multiple offers by now. Alas, Hollywood (or whoever options TV series) isn’t listening. That isn’t to say I haven’t had interest. I actually had an “almost” offer. When we moved into our place in Marina del Rey, the people next door were producers. As soon as the wife found out I was a writer she said she wanted to read my books. She read the first one, said they were going to option the series, that I should not take any other offers!!! Then they moved. Never heard from them again. Luckily, I’ve heard too many “almost” stories, so I wasn’t holding my breath. 

 So now, when someone asks me “When, oh when?” my reply is, “If you know someone in the TV business who wants to make the series, let me know.” So far, the result has been crickets. Well, not entirely. One person said she knew somebody who knew somebody. I’m still waiting. 

 As for who should play Samuel Craddock, when I first started publishing the series, my first thought for an actor to play him was Sam Elliott. That voice! That laconic smile. That senses you get that Sam Elliott is a good guy with a strong ethical center.

Yeah, he would be the one. Of course, now he might be too old to play Samuel, because although Sam Elliott has aged a few years, Samuel Craddock has not. But then again, the question is “living or dead,” and I presume that means living, dead, or “aged out.” 

In preparation for answers to this question, I went through the photos of 200 other actors that might work. And NONE of them looked like Samuel Craddock. So, since this is fantasy, I’ll stick with Sam Elliott. 

 A couple of years ago I asked on Facebook who people thought should play Craddock. Wow, did I ever get a variety of answers! Which goes to show that people form different ideas about what our characters look like. Who, for example would ever have envisioned Lee Childs’ creation, 6’4” hunk Jack Reacher, as 5’8” Tom Cruise? It sort of worked, but only because Cruise is a really good actor. 

On the other hand, Gary Oldman’s version of Jackson Lamb from the Mick Herron’s Slough series, is absolutely spot on—at least in my opinion. Another example of what seemed like brilliant casting was Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire. Johnson himself said the second he saw Robert Taylor, he knew he was perfect. I’d like whoever did that casting to do the casting for my Samuel Craddock. 

 So…to wrap up, if anyone out there knows someone in what is known in LA as "the business"….I’m open.