Inspire Me Monday Blog Hop - How Gone With the Wind Inspired Me to Write.

"After all, tomorrow is another day." - Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind

Like a great book, a great movie can move you in ways you never thought possible. The first time I had a movie grip me was the first time I watched Gone with the Wind. I’d grown up watching classic films on KTLA’s Family Film Festival with Tom Hatton (Southern California people should remember him), but I had never seen Gone with the Wind. A friend of mine owned the film on VHS and I borrowed it from her during the summer between my seventh and eighth grade years. The film didn’t just entertain me, it gripped me and wouldn’t let go. There was something about Scarlett’s determination to survive, her belief that tomorrow would bring another chance to change her life or obtain what she wanted that captivated me. To this day, it remains one of my favorite films of all time. I’ve seen it more times than I can list, including twice on the big screen, and I’ve read countless books and articles on the film and its production. I pay homage to the film and the era in which it was made in my latest release, Studio Relations.

In Studio Relations, female director Vivien Howard comes to blows with handsome studio executive Weston Holmes during the making of her dream project, Storm of the South. I have a background in film history, so I knew a great deal about Hollywood in the 1930s. However, while writing Studio Relations, there were many times when I needed specific details, such as how studios handled a sneak preview, and that’s when my knowledge of the making of Gone with the Wind really helped me craft scenes that were authentic to the time period.

Besides drawing on the production history of Gone with the Wind for my inspiration, I also did a great deal of research into 1930’s Hollywood and Los Angeles. I read books about Hollywood history and studied old pictures of such Hollywood iconic sites as the Coconut Grove nightclub and old Beverly Hills. I used to work at the old MGM studio lot in Culver City where many of the original soundstages, including the one where they filmed Gone with the Wind, are still in use today. It was fun incorporating my personal experience working on a classic Hollywood studio lot into the book. I had a blast both researching and writing Studio Relations.

So tell me, what movie gripped you and still hasn’t let go? Has your favorite movie ever inspired you to do something creative?