“You mean the one about the fat boy?” Writer Michael Buchanan candidly reflects on the origin of title to the book THE FAT BOY CHRONICLES that he co-wrote with Diane Lang. That’s how the book was referred to by Buchanan’s writing friends when it was in progress.
The creative journey for novelist Buchanan began in 2006 when he was approached by a teen at a book signing.
“A young man approached us with his story of how he had been constantly bullied in middle school–simply because he was overweight.” Buchanan says of the watershed moment. “And, he spoke of how, with the support of his family and church, he changed his life for the better. As the sixteen-year-old’s revelations unfolded, we began to reflect on our years as teachers and soon realized his issue was but one of many young people face today.”
During that time, filmmaker Jason Winn, who would later go on to direct the film version of THE FAT BOY CHRONICLES, was working as a commercial filmmaker.
“I had just directed several commercials for the NBA starring Steve Nash, Melo, Bobby Knight.” Winn told me about where his career was in 2007, when the FAT BOY novel was being written. “It was right after I directed a marketing video with Vince Young that I decided to not pursue high-end videos anymore because it was taking up a ton of time looking for money and clients.”
One night Winn had an epiphany.
“I realized that I was doing the commercials for the wrong reasons and really wanted to get back into making films–my first love.” Winn says of that night when he was reflecting on his future. “SO I quit! I decided that I was going to edit wedding videos and work on raising money for my feature.”
That was when Winn traveled to Sundance and shot and directed a movie news related television show for an NBC affiliate. The Sundance environment further fed Winn’s desire to give up commercial work and focus on making movies.
“Sundance was awesome! What I realized at Sundance was that I had to make something. Upon returning from Sundance I was hell-bent on making a short.” Winn began to make plans to shoot a short tentatively called DON’T TELL that he was writing with his friend Michael Buchanan. But that short film ran production issues.
“No one wanted to let us use a dirty hotel room.” Winn says playfully about the issues with DON’T TELL. “We could not secure a location, so, we stalled out.”
Winn and Buchanan then started looking around their communities in Georgia and thinking about what stories they could tell.
“I called my friend Scott Tigchelaar at Riverwood, and he said we could use the back lot to build a set and blow stuff up and shoot guns etc,” Winn says with a wide smile.
Riverwood Studios located in Senoia, Georgia, has been the staging ground for many Hollywood productions. The upcoming Ashton Kutcher/ Katherine Heigl film KILLERS was shot there. The location couldn’t be better for Winn. The studio was literally right down the street from his home.
The project that Buchanan and Winn came up with was the short film LAST BULLET. It is a lean narrative that Winn describes as “just ripping the blind fold off the audience and thrusting them into this perilous situation.”
LAST BULLET was an ambitious WWII short that thrusts the viewer right into the action. A fine film, BULLET saw several festivals and won some awards. But the most important thing was that it showed what Winn and Buchanan could do, and what they did on a limited budget was remarkable.
“I wanted to show potential investors I could handle something big. A Big crew, Big ideas, and SFX and pyro.” Winn admits. “We shot last bullet on the HVX200 and we did it in 2 very long nights. ECG agreed to produce with me and we had Bob Shelley do the SFX.”
Veteran special effects expert Bob Shelley has been working in the industry dating back to the 1970s. He also worked in Winn’s home town recently on last year’s popular ZOMBIELAND. Working with Shelley was a real bounce for Winn, especially on LAST BULLET, a film that involves a fair amount of pyrotechnics.
ECG is a production and post-production house in Atlanta—less than an hour’s drive from Winn’s home. He was fortunate that all the necessary pieces were close at hand.
“I knew making a feature was going to be like Last Bullet on Steroids. But I felt I was ready to take it on.” Winn says confidently. The grand adventure of bringing Lang and Buchanan’s popular novel to the big screen as a feature lay ahead.
In tomorrow’s second and final part of my interview with writer Michael Buchanan and filmmaker Jason Winn, we learn about the process of making a modestly budgeted production so far from Hollywood. Check back tomorrow for Fat Boy Part 2.
For more about THE FAT BOY CHRONICLES and to watch the film’s trailer visit: http://thefatboychronicles.com/
