
I created this website in 2016 for two reasons:
- I wanted to honor the Eager Beavers by making the real men and their actual history and achievements better known, because all other accounts of them were uniformly wrong and/or insulting to some degree; and
- To hopefully attract the attention of someone in the film or television industry who was interested and in a position to help me adapt their story, as only I knew it, to the big or small screen the way it needed to be done to do the story justice. In other words, a studio-level film or series.
I took an obvious and big risk in putting much of my research and a more accurate version of the story online, since putting that information out there could allow someone else to tell much more of the real story themselves, with or without me. They couldn’t tell the whole story because I never put the whole story on the website; no one could know the crew members the way I did, certainly, without interviewing all the family members I did. But they might not care about that as much as I do, and just run with what they had access to, which was quite a bit.
I was willing to take that risk for the past eight years, but after the events of this past week, not anymore. I’ve taken down the content that gives the most game away in terms of information that would help someone tell the story without me. Ironically, just a couple of weeks ago I got the nicest, most encouraging take I could ask for from a fellow screenwriter in a guestbook entry on the site. This past week was different. I won’t get into details, but it made it clear that with the crew becoming better known, it’s time to protect both my thirty-year emotional and creative investment in this story, as well as, in my opinion, the best opportunity to ensure that their story gets told the way it should. There are never any guarantees on such things, but I have more avenues in front of me now, and irons in the fire, to help me get it in front of the industry champion(s) it needs.
I hate doing this. It’s been a joy and thrill to watch the website get the growing interest that it has over the years, thanks to the content I’ve worked so hard to create for it. That content will be back, but I don’t know when. That said, I’m more excited about some of the content I’m now in the early stages of creating than almost anything I’ve done yet. So stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, everyone can help by visiting the home page and taking the survey. Help let Hollywood know how much this story needs to be the next Hacksaw Ridge or Band of Brothers.
Thanks for all your work on this.
Thanks, Martin. That’s much appreciated. It will be back, but not until I’ve got a solid line on getting them honored with a film or series that does them justice. I can’t have just anybody deciding to help themselves to my content and hoping for the best.
i hadn’t finished reading yet, so sad. But I will be eagerly anticipating a full book or movie from you
Christopher, I’ve been having notification issues with the site that I’m now addressing, and only just now saw your comment. Very sorry taking down the material cut you off in the middle. Good news, though: I’ll be releasing the e-book compilation on Amazon this week, so stay tuned!