How did you get the idea to adapt this story?
It was at the Christmas program at Hillsong Church in DTLA that I heard a Voice.
We were singing Run, Run Rudolph.
In Southern California you sing songs about Reindeer in church at Christmas.
The Voice said “I want you to tell my story.”
I looked around the church at the hundreds of people and replied. “I am pretty sure everyone in here knows your story Lord.”
It continued “I want you to tell the story of my parents.”
“Um, one problem. I don’t know anything about your parents??? I mean,,, I know their names but that’s about it.”
The reply ”Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that.”
Then came the typical human response. “Lord, you do know that I have only written a few screenplays and nothing has been picked up yet. Yes, I have been a songwriter all my life and in the music industry but are you sure you have the right person?”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll be with you." He continued, "I want people to love my parents as much as I do.”
Then the miracles began.
I had been finishing another screenplay in Glendale and the next morning found me having coffee next to the group of gentlemen who gather at McDonald’s every morning to solve the problems of the world.
You've seen them.
“What is your problem” one of them asked?
“I was told yesterday to write the story of Mary and Joseph but I don’t really know anything about them.”
“Well,” they started, “Mary’s father was Joachim and her mother was Anna. He was the cantor of their Synagog. Joseph was originally Yoseph and his father was Jacob. They were from Bethlehem. He changed his name during their wedding to Joseph. There is no record of a mother. People in those days use to have their children in Bethlehem hoping that one of them would be the Messiah. That is why so many people were there during the census”
“Okay hold the boat. How do y’all know this?”
Turns out that one man heard the same voice 3 years earlier and was told to write a lullaby that Mary would have sang to her child.
I guess each mother had a different song for each child back then.
Together they had done the research but he had not written the song yet.
“Okay,” I said “I’ll be back in March to get the song.”
With that I left thinking ‘What did I tell them March for? I am suppose to be in Nashville in March.’
When I got to Brand Library to continue on the screenplay I was working on, I opened my e-mail to find a message from Pilar Alessandra a screen writing coach I had met at the AFM.
“How would you like to write the First Draft of your next screenplay in 6 weeks?”
I slowly typed “Yes Please.” Then I hit send.
Four weeks later I had my first draft of The Birth.
Why does this movie need to be told?
As I was doing the research for this. I noticed a common theme. All the previous versions showed a dark and dismal environment.
Not the Jewish people I know. They are proud of their faith, clean, full of joy.
They are not a bunch of homeless looking zombie street people speaking in old King James English wearing dirty robes.
I walk with the Lord. Yes, bad things happen but there is a kind of comedy that would cause the Kings of Kings to speak to a musical Impresario during a song about fictional reindeer on a celebration of his Birthday telling him to write a story about people he didn’t know.
See. Funny huh?
So what about a teenager being told that she would have a virgin birth?
What mother would then let her teenage daughter walk 80 miles to visit her 60+ cousin to see if she was pregnant because of a dream?
Joseph, his dad, and someday his son would be know as carpenters. Have you ever seen the desert? Have you ever seen a tree in the desert? By the way they had masons. They built Egypt not carpenters, masons. We still have them today. They built it out of stuff they have in the desert.
I also realized that no one had ever told the story from THEIR viewpoint. The more I developed their characters the more it became a romantic comedy.
My research showed so much speculation, why can’t I have my speculation? How do we know that a monk in the 1300’s knew more about the missing parts of the story than a dude in 2018? After all the missing parts of the story make up a really awesome story.
Yes, I do write Rom/Com's. I have a feeling the Voice knew that even if Hollywood hasn't discovered me,,, yet.
I also know that if I was given a big box of gold I would be traveling.
Oh yeah, they did travel for like 13 years before Jesus is mentioned again by Luke. So I am imagining a BIG box of gold.
The biggest comment (note) I have received from my non industry friends is that they opened their Bibles to check facts. That’s a problem I can live with.
Like I said there have been a couple versions of the Nativity story. Told by different perspectives but none I have found have been told by theirs. So what if,,,
PS. I picked up the Lullaby in March.