Sorry It

Been on vacation for a few weeks, haven't gotten to this blog in awhile. If you read it by any chance, I apologize.

First off, the novel my Dad and I wrote that comes out in October got a nice review from Publisher's Weekly. Here it is:


Midnight Clear
Jerry B. Jenkins and Dallas Jenkins. Tyndale, $9.99 paper (204p) ISBN 978-1-4143-1659-8

Most Christmas novellas are as gentle as snow falling in a well-contained snow globe: everything is muted and soft around the edges. But this story by Jenkins (Left Behind), a novelization of the December DVD release Midnight Clear starring Stephen Baldwin, takes on some darker themes than the usual holiday fare: one character is a realistically portrayed alcoholic, another a young mother whose husband is brain damaged after a devastating car accident, and another an old woman carefully cleaning her house on Christmas Eve to prepare for her planned holiday suicide. The other two characters are a depressed gas station owner and a disillusioned youth pastor, both of whom are wondering why life is so stultifying and hard. Jenkins is not a lyrical writer, and many of the story's transitions are abrupt and more suitable for a screenplay than a novel. But these are surprisingly genuine characters, and the novel doesn't have a contrived ending. Though the characters discover the hope of Christmas in the ordinary kindnesses they render each other, their difficult circumstances don't change overnight. The simple story, refreshingly devoid of treacle, becomes all the more hopeful because of the characters' earlier despair. (Oct.)


We're currently working on getting all our "delivery items" to Lionsgate. Note to filmmakers--make sure you're keeping good track of all your paperwork and contracts, and have in mind ahead of time that if you get a distribution deal, you're going to have to deliver all your key items and contracts to the distributor. The movie is scheduled to release December 4th.

One bummer--I shot the movie with a few "choice" words, a little vulgarity here and there that in my opinion fit the characters in the film and their level of roughness. I think the movie plays better to adults anyway. I was always planning to release two versions of the DVD--one mainstream, and one "clean" version for Christian bookstores. But Lionsgate, in their attempt to appeal to the Christian market overall and deal with two marketing strategies, only wants the clean version. In a way, this is my fault. If the film would have been more successful, I would have been able to dictate this kind of stuff. But because it's not a big-name, high profile film, Lionsgate needs to do everything possible to get an edge in the customer game, so I guess I'm stuck. Oh well, I still think my idea will work for a film eventually.