Currently under motion picture development in London, The Raven is an uplifting story of redemption wrapped inside a romantic comedy.

A social commentary on modern London, this multicultural, multigenerational romantic comedy is a multi-faceted story of inspiring redemption for all four principal characters: a bitter old soldier, a beautiful young immigrant waitress, a buttoned-down fourth generation public servant, and a raven determined to do good deeds.

Having first visited London in 1986 (and again seven years later), I have spent a significant amount of time there throughout the past four years.  London’s transformation has been dramatic; it has reinvented itself into a melting pot of tradition and immigration, finance and fuss, gloomy outlooks and spectacular possibilities, beautiful sights and struggling lives. It is truly one of the world’s greatest cities.

Two summers ago I had a freak surgical demand on each knee five months apart and spent much of my post-surgery recovery time sitting on a bench in St. James’s Park near Trafalgar Square. It was here, watching the sights and sounds of a busy city park, where the story germinated. The Raven is a testament to the times, much like my surf-themed dramatic novella The Rise and Fall of Piggy Church documents the three big emotional conflicts that cause fistfights (and worse) in today’s beach culture.

I knew British director Madeleine Farley from her expressed interest in the Piggy Church project. Over breakfast one morning I told her about this new story, the one I’d thought up while recuperating in the park.

“I love it,” she said. “Write the screenplay.”

“I don’t write screenplays,” I replied. “I write books.”

“You’re writing this one. Don’t take yourself so seriously. It’ll probably be rewritten anyway, once we get the money to make it.”

I laughed. Maddie is nothing if not blunt.

My pal Steve Moore, the famed cartoonist who draws the In the Bleachers sports panel syndicated across the country, wrote a movie story a couple years ago (the animated animal revenge cartoon Open Season). I spoke to Moore about his learning process to script writing.

“Use Final Draft and throw down the bones,” he advised. “You’ll pick it up quickly.”

He was right. Script writing is a lazy man’s way to a story compared to a novel. Within a few months the story was finished. I learned a lot along the way but ended up with precisely the story I envisioned. I was proud but anxious waiting for Maddie to read it after she returned from filming gorillas in Gabon.

She loved it! Now she’s hunting for a British producer to help us find the money to chase a really big star she wants to play the lead so we can make the film she envisions. Happily, my favorite Kiwi actress Keisha Castle-Hughes wants to play Mirela, a Romanian immigrant. Mirela is the female lead, her love interest being Russell Jones, a British coachman who serves the Royal Family. At the heart of the story is George Datchet, an old British soldier angrily living out his final year of life a misunderstood Chelsea Pensioner. Datchet’s best friend is a raven he stole from Tower of London and set free in St. James’s Park.

The story weaves these lives together via a series of very funny events that inexorably cause their paths to cross. The film concludes with a great secret being revealed, which triggers a happy ending for all.

This film project is exactly the type of story I love to write, a multicultural ensemble comedy with a happy ending. It’s a “feel good” film with a great lead character and a marvelous supporting cast of quirky, loveable characters.

While it's ironic that my first screenplay is set in the heart of London, this is a very important story I really wanted to tell and the script turned out exactly the way I wanted.

Hopefully we’ll soon be able to show you why.