Meet Detective Jake Swanson

The Birth of Jake Sawnson's T.V. Series

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JAKE GETS ANOTHER CHANCE AT LIFE

Chapter 16

JAKE GETS ANOTHER CHANCE AT LIFE

  My father was someone who always said that you must always be kind to people. While you may think you are stepping on them on the way up, they may be the same ones who keep you from falling on the way down. In other words, be kind! Also, Prince Charming has always been kind to everyone he meets, teaching  me to try always to treat people with respect.

This relates to this story because there have been so many people who have helped me in my quest to see Detective Jake Swanson live and breathe. One of these people is a man the prince and I know from down in Sunset Beach, California.

We met when we had our boat docked at Peter’s Landing, and met Bill when we all hung out at a place called the Pelican Isle (we’ve since changed allegiance to Don the Beachcomber’s). Bill also was instrumental in saving my husband’s life the night he fell into the bay and almost drowned. Had it not been for Bill, my dear prince may have died of hypothermia, but Bill saw his distress and called the paramedics.

After telling RJ that my investor was out of the picture, I was drinking at Don’s and very unhappily, telling Bill and the bartender, Vinnie, what happened. Bill ducked out of the bar, returning shortly with a smile on his face.

“Hey, M.J.,” he said, “I know a guy who puts ‘deals’ together, and he may be interested in your project. I’ll let you know for sure. He’s done deals for me, and he’s a great guy.”

“He facing any felonies?” I asked, not sure I wanted another ‘deal’ guy.

After Bill stopped laughing he told me the guy put together construction money for projects and knew lots of people who may want to get in on a deal with Robert Wagner.

I thanked Bill with as much heart as I had left, there not being much after having to tell RJ the deal was dead. Prince Charming, though, rose to the occasion and bought Bill several rounds of drinks.

Did I mention that the prince and Bill were friends? Something about saving his life made my husband like the guy a lot.

After an afternoon of drinking, I put the offer out of my mind—not hard to do after several of Vinnie’s killer margaritas. It was not something I would think about until a week or so later.

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TELLING ROBERT WAGNER JAKE WAS DOA

Chapter 15 

TELLING ROBERT WAGNER JAKE WAS DOA

  A week later my gambler/billionaire was out on bail, and scrambling to get the money from overseas to a trust account in the United States. His freedom, our retainer fee, and definitely Jake Swanson depended on that money making it to a bank Stateside.

But, the worst kept happening. It appeared our gambler also gambled at other things and with other people’s money.  Too many people wanted a piece of his pie, and/or a piece of his hide.  There was no money coming, not from London, not from Switzerland, and definitely not from Malaysia. My gambler had no money to show me.

After two more months of no money, it became clear that I had to speak with Mr. Wagner and his crew to tell them that it looked like Jake was, for all intent and purposes, DOA (dead on arrival). 

The time came for the conversation during Mr. Wagner’s book tour in March. He was signing books at the Vroman’s Book Store in Pasadena, and I promised his sister I would take her to see him.

Prince Charming and I waited and reveled at the huge number of his fans that came out to greet him. It is undeniable that he still has fans who love him. They waited in line for hours to have a few seconds to chat with him and have him sign their books. Throughout it all he was gracious and charming. It left me with an incredible sense of joy to see that he made these people so happy and that he was so very thoughtful with his time.

Unfortunately, no matter how many hours passed, I still had to wait to pass him the news that our gambler/billionaire would not be around to see Detective Jake Swanson live.

The opportunity came later while we all sitting around a table at one of Pasadena’s great restaurants. He and the prince were laughing it up, and celebrating Wagner’s successful book tour. He was on the New York Times Best Seller list with two books!  His recent book, You Must Remember This was shooting up the charts, and his first book, Pieces of My Heart was fast on its heels. While the mood was light and cheery, mine was dark and foreboding.  I had to tell him, and longer I waited, the harder it became.

Finally, I took a deep breath, and spilled the beans. I just blurted it out, trying not to cry.

 “RJ, our investor is looking at numerous felonies, and we can’t get the money to land here in the United States,” I said, afraid to look at him.

Did I ever say that Robert Wagner is a true gentleman? Well, let me tell you he is, beyond any doubt this man right up there with my own prince—a true prince of a man!

He just looked at me, patted my hand, and said, “Well, then, he’ll never get the money here—the Feds will see to that. Don’t worry, we’ll find another way. Jake will live.”

I was grateful for his understanding, but could only hope he was right.

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THOUGHTS OF MURDER AND THE BILLIONAIRE

Chapter 14

THOUGHTS OF MURDER AND THE BILLIONAIRE

In any person’s life there has to have been at least an occasional thought of murder. Those thoughts come unbidden when thinking about a divorce, or a cheating significant other, or an embezzling business partner, or even when spurned by a would-be lover. But, I can tell you, none of those murderous thoughts would be able to match the ones I had the day as my law partner and I raced to the lock-up where the gambler/billionaire was housed.

As we waited in the county jail, my thoughts ranged from having one of my former clients do a shower scene with the gambler/billionaire á la Hitchcock; to just a plain old shanking; to me strangling him with my own bare hands. Fortunately for me, and I suppose fortunately for the billionaire, there was no way I could make good on my thoughts.

First, he was being housed in a facility in which I had no former or current clients. The facility housed mostly white collar type inmates, and non-violent detainees. My clients tend to be the kind that leave dead bodies in their wake. Therefore, it wasn’t likely I’d be able to get to him through one of them.

Then, secondly, when my partner and I finally were allowed into the attorney room to see him, it was a fully enclosed space without contact with the inmate. There was no mesh screen or bars separating him from us. Nooo, there was glass! We had to speak to him by phone, even though we were attorneys speaking with a client. There was no way I could get my fingers or hands around his neck to strangle him, or bash his head against the bars until his eyes bled.

It was obvious that immediate murder was out of the question. Worse yet, after speaking with him I realized I actually felt sorry for him, even though my dreams were rapidly flying out the window, or should I say, making their escape.

I was crushed. Words cannot even begin to describe my feelings of loss and disappointment. Worse yet, the client was looking at numerous felonies, all of which could lead him to spend numerous years in prison.

All was lost.

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SHOW ME THE MONEY!

BIRTH OF THE MURDER MOST TV SERIES

By

M. J. HATCH

AUTHOR OF MURDER MOST BLONDE, MURDER MOST JUDGMENTAL, and coming soon, MURDER MOST MERRY

(VISIT HER WEBSITE at www.MJHATCH.COM)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

In the last episode the private banker and I were still waiting for the money to land in the United States from Switzerland or London or Malaysia. But, after six weeks it still had not arrived.

Now, let me tell you, I am the daughter of a banker, and though I tried not to listen to him too much, as most daughters are prone to do, I did learn a few things. One of the things I did learn was yes, banks have a proclivity of holding large sums of money to earn interest, but still, wire transfers do not take six weeks, nor do they take three days once the money is released. Someone was holding the money, and I was getting worried.

My worries, it turns out, were well founded. Prince Charming got the call, but it wasn’t the call I expected. In fact, it was the worst possible call to receive. It was the private banker, and he wanted to hire our law firm!

Remember, Prince Charming and I are criminal defense lawyers. Whenever someone wants, or needs to hire us, it never is a good thing. This was especially not a good thing for Detective Jake Swanson’s TV series—the money man was in jail!

Because I have client confidentiality, I cannot tell you why the gambler/billionaire was in custody, or what the charges were. Let’s just say that he was very relieved when Prince Charming and I showed up at the county lock-up where he was housed.

I, on the other hand, was seeing red, and murder seemed the appropriate solution.

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RJ MEETS THE BANKER

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

RJ MEETS THE BANKER

  By the time I had the meeting with RJ, and his friends at the Bel-Aire Country Club the private banker was on board with one of his clients to provide the funding for the project. Because of that, I requested he join us for lunch so that Mr. Wagner and his associates, Robert Papazian and James Hirsch could explain to him the costs and liabilities of producing a project.

As easy as RJ is to get to know, his friends, Bob Papazian and Jim Hirsch are just as nice. The men chatted and bonded over money, and I tried to keep the stars out of my eyes. By the end of the lunch they had practically green-lighted the project right out of the box. This of course put everyone in an ebullient mood, especially me.

The men chatted about the military, golf, and things that make men happy. RJ’s delightful assistant Liz and I chatted and bonded over coffee and dessert. Actually I really hate to call Liz “RJ’s assistant” because she is so much more than that to him. As he pointed out, she has been with him for more than 32 years, which in Hollywood speak is more than three lifetimes.

When the lunch was winding down, and we were outside waiting for our cars to be brought around by the valets, the banker told us that he was waiting for the first major amount of money to make its way from South Africa through Switzerland to England and then to banks here in the States. He expected it would take about two weeks, maybe more, maybe less.

By nature I can be an impatient person. And while I understood that the money would take a while for all of the stamps and approvals from the various government agencies to diddle with the money and then for the banks to collect their interest by holding the money over weekends, when by the end of six weeks the money still had not made its way stateside, I knew something was terribly wrong.

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THE BANKER AND THE BILLIONAIRES

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE BANKER AND THE BILLIONAIRES

  In the last episode of Birth of a TV Series we were looking for money to fund the project. As it turns out, there are newly rich billionaires who need some place to stash their money. Some of them even would like to use that money to fund the arts, and some would love to be part of the entertainment industry. In my travels as a defense lawyer, I met a representative of one of the newly minted billionaires. Let’s call him a “private banker”.

I met this private banker at a charity function for a fund raiser for the Soroptimist International club to which I belong. Prince Charming and I were chatting with him and his wife about stuff and things, when he mentioned that he was transitioning into placing private money as venture capital. Immediately my ears pricked up and I became curious.

As it turned out, he represented a consortium of six men who had invested into a mine which was producing gold, diamonds and tanzanite, making all the men very rich. The money was flowing, more than they could spend, and they were looking for ways to invest their money. It turns out that issuing private instruments of credit was an accepted way of making a great return on their money.  The risks were high, but the returns were high enough that the risks seemed appropriate. In other words, these guys were gamblers!

How fortunate for me, and hopefully, how fortunate for my dear Detective Jake Swanson.

My prince and I chatted a little more with the banker, and we made an appointment to talk to him more about the possible television series and whether his clients were gamblers.  He assured me that in the international market of private instruments of credit, only those who could afford to lose money played in that market. In my mind, that made his clients gamblers—my new favorite kind of men.

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DETECTIVE JAKE SWANSON’S

BIRTH OF THE MURDER MOST TV SERIES

By

M. J. HATCH

AUTHOR OF MURDER MOST BLONDE, MURDER MOST JUDGMENTAL, and coming soon, MURDER MOST MERRY

(VISIT HER WEBSITE at www.MJHATCH.COM)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

GAMBLING WITH SOMEONE ELSE’S MONEY

As with any project there must be funding, so it is with the upcoming TV series.  A new series is always a gamble. This is true even now, with audiences changing their viewing habits, methods of obtaining their entertainment, and especially, their desire for how quickly they can get their fix. Because of this, the industry is definitely in flux. This means that any project must find someone willing to gamble, and gamble BIG money.

Let me explain what is going on in the entertainment industry—what used to be a set schedule for a television show to air is now set by the consumer. Just think of how you now watch the shows you enjoy. Do you sit in front of the TV set each week to watch your favorite show, or do you DVR it for your convenience? Better still, do you stream it to your phone or tablet, or even your computer when you are supposed to be doing homework? How about movies? Do you go to the theater, or do you wait until it is available on Netflix Instant Watch a month or two later? Do you purchase the DV D, or use a convenient Red Box outlet? With all this access to entertainment the entire formula is changing.

This means that advertising execs have a difficult time quantifying whether or not dollars are actually reaching the end user of their products. This leaves the networks somewhat out of the equation unless, of course,  they are willing to gamble their own money. Hmm, how many networks are now part of huge conglomerates? Yeah, most of them. Do they gamble—not really, just think of all the rehashed, redone, and repurposed shows you get, unless you’re watching an independent network.  But, even with this incredible change in how viewers watch their entertainment, this also leaves open new opportunities for shows that otherwise may never get off the ground.

So, back to what this means for Detective Jake Swanson—someone needs to finance him, and finance him through script development, and at least ten episodes. This can mean an initial outlay of about $250,000, then another two million per episode! Evidently, TV ain’t cheap!

So, where do we find this gambler? Hmm… That’s the $21 Million dollar question.

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IT WAS TIME TO MEET THE GANG

CHAPTER TEN

The Bel-Aire Country Club is definitely old school. The upstairs dining room is for the ladies who lunch. It has pink table cloths with linen napkins, and just like I pictured, ladies in silk dresses, tanned bare legs, and flashy peep-toed pumps. Of course they were all beautiful.

And, there I was, trying to be something between a writer and a lawyer, dressed in my navy shirt dress, natural colored stockings, and navy pumps, and my hair down. At least I fit in with the hair issue.

I was shown downstairs to the Grill Room, a man cave if ever there was one. It was carpeted in green plaid carpet, had a long shiny oak bar, and round oak tables with captain chairs. My party was already seated, and I hoped I was not late. I could have sworn Mr. Wagner said “12:30 lunch at the Bel-Aire Country Club”. It was 12:25, but the men were already seated.

Crap, really, was I late?

Seated with the men was a delightful English lady who was/is Robert Wagner’s assistant of more than 32 years, Elizabeth. I was seated next to her, with Mr. Wagner on her right. As I took a seat next to her, she seemed to heave a sigh of relief, then smiled a genuine smile. It immediately put me at ease.

For all the rumors I had heard about Jim Hirsch, he was incredibly nice. I got the impression he may have been a little shy in new company. By the end of the meal he was laughing and chatting like we had known each other forever.

Bob Papazian left me with the impression I knew him from somewhere before that day. I tried to tell myself that it was because he looked like a friend of my husband’s, but it was more than that. Even his voice sounded familiar.

Then, of course there was Robert Wagner, the man himself—what a fantastic person. We had spoken on the phone numerous times before, and always I felt totally comfortable with him, but that day I got to meet his heart.

Robert Wagner’s heart and soul are very much like my father’s and my husband’s. He is truly a good person all the way to the core. I know a lot of crooks and shady people because of the work I do as a criminal defense lawyer, but I saw none of that in him. What a truly nice, nice man.

I guess a sign of a successful meeting is when the restaurant is closing down, and the conversation is still going strong. It was well past three o’clock and we still had more to say. But with the waiters hovering, and the maître ‘d smiling a weird cross between benevolence and malice, we finally pushed back from the table, ready to say our good-byes.

But, no, the party wasn’t over—we stayed in the portico for another half hour talking and joking. When finally all the cars were brought around, and finally all the real good-byes were said, I floated out of Bel-Aire and faced the two hour drive across the Los Angles valley floor to the Inland Empire.  That was when I realized the cavernous distance in time and expectations.

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ARRIVING FOR THE MEETING AT THE BEL-AIRE COUNRY CLUB

CHAPTER NINE

  January 15, 2014. What an interesting day in my life. I have been blessed with many great and wonderful days—the births of my daughters, and then grandchildren, graduating from college, then law school, and seeing my first book in print, but that day was special. I made it through the day without tripping, falling, knocking over a water glass, or making a fool of myself, I think. And, I met three wonderful, funny, bright men, and a wonderful English woman.

But, first, let me set the scene at the Bel-Aire Country Club. It sets above the UCLA campus on a street that looks like it is a private street. There is a huge gate like arch over the entry into Bel-Aire. The narrow street to the club winds up past very private mansions. There are security cameras everywhere, and private guards in uniform patrolling the streets.

The entry to the club is down a slight incline into a gorgeous portico, where the guests are immediately met by a valet. The valet appears to know everyone who enters, as he greeted everyone by name. When I drove up in my husband’s dirty, but new, Buick, the valet was quickly at my door, asking me, “Who are you meeting today, madam?”

I was left with the distinct impression if I didn’t immediately give a name he recognized I would be booted off the property. But, once I gave the name of Robert Wagner, the valet was instantly all smiles and welcomed me to the club. He told me that my party was in the Grill Room downstairs.

There is a large sign that somehow manages to be discrete that informs everyone who enters that “Electronic devices of all types are not allowed inside”. I immediately panicked as I had left my phone in my purse. Did that mean I had to leave it in the car? And, where was my car?

Holy crap, not even two minutes on the property and I’m making my first faux pax of the day. Buy, the valet again came to my rescue, and took my phone from me, putting it safely in the car.

   But, then the next emergency, oh my god, I had driven clear across the Los Angeles Valley floor, about sixty miles, and in traffic, about to go into an important meeting. Of course all of you know what that means, especially you ladies—where was the ladies’ room?

I found a door that said Ladies Dressing Room, and it also had a sign that said for members only. Faced with the issue of whether to make a mess on their beautiful carpet and soil my dress, or break their rules, I opted for the later.

Finally, hair combed, lipstick refreshed, bladder empty, I was ready to meet the gang.

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A BIG Thank You!

A BIG Thank You!

to all those who downloaded 

Murder Most Blonde!

During our promotion of the Murder Most series, I decided to give the book away for Free, and boy was that a surprise! In one day alone we gifted over 1,200 copies of Murder Most Blonde! So I wanted to say Thank You so Very Much for your support of the series, and I hope you continue to enjoy Detective Jake Swanson and other books under my other pen name, Mary de la Pena. 

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WHAT DO YOU WEAR TO A POWER LUNCH?

CHAPTER EIGHT

I have already talked about the necessity of us women making sure we look whatever the part we need to play by wearing the correct clothes. For me the challenge was knowing I was going to the world famous Bel-Aire Country Club for lunch with some of the most powerful independent writer/producers in the country, and of course, my sweet idol, Robert Wagner.

No pressure here, right?

As I said in an earlier post, Southern California was experiencing the warmest January in history. It was summer in January, making my decision of what to wear even more difficult.

Added to that, I was ill during most of the month, and lost a few, never a lot, of pounds. My pants hung wrong, and I hated the idea of wearing a suit since they make me look like a toad. I had no real dresses at the time, and my wardrobe was in desperate need of an update. I had weekend clothes, and courtroom clothes, but nothing in between for a lunch at a country club.

Somehow I envision a lunch at a country club with women dressed in silk dresses, brightly colored pumps, fashionably toned stockings, and long silky hair. I had the long silky hair, but it was also in need of updating. The blonde was starting farther and farther down the strand of hair, and the gray was definitely making a strong showing. That meant I needed a trip to the hair dresser along with a shopping trip.

AAARRRGGG!

The shopping trip was difficult at best. What is it with dress designers? Do they all think we are Michelle Obama with beautifully toned upper arms? What about those of us who could use our arms as wings if we ever fell out of a tree—sort of like Rocky the flying squirrel? Why can’t they design dresses with some sort of attractive sleeve?

I finally ended up with a navy blue silk shirt dress that would have made my mother proud. But the stocking issue remained--natural color or gray? And should I do matchy-matchy navy pumps or red shoes for some sort of independent flair? And, lastly, with a shirt dress, do I wear my hair up or down?

You think these decisions were easy? It was only my future on the line. But, once again my fair Prince Charming came to my emotional rescue. He reminded me that I always pulled things together, no matter what the challenge. And, even if everything went wrong, which he did not see happening, he would still love me tomorrow, and I still would be a lawyer and author. There was not that much on the line, only my false pride.

With things back in perspective, I was finally ready for the meeting for which I had been waiting for since October.  

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PREPAREING FOR THE FIRST MEETING OF THE GANG—WAGNER, PAPAZIAN & HIRSCH, AND ME!

CHAPTER SEVEN

With the upcoming meeting with Papazian and Hirsch, and my first face to face meeting with Robert Wagner, I had some preparation I needed to do.

The first thing on my list was to prepare to present myself as someone at least familiar with the “industry”. This meant I started reading the L.A. Times Calendar section on a daily basis, as well as Vanity Fair magazine, and other trade periodicals. But that felt too much like I was too far behind the curve.

Then, I had lunch with a friend of mine who is a vice president at NBC, and she told me that Papazia” and Hirsch are the best in the industry. She was very emphatic about the fact that I needed to be sure that at least I knew the lingo, telling me while that Bob Papazian was sweet, Jim Hirsch would eat writers alive he if felt they didn’t know what they were doing.

Holy crap! Now what?

Well, I guess, it had to be first things first. So I ran out and bought a book suggested to me by the film school at the Claremont Colleges called Save the Cat. It taught me the first thing I needed to do was log line of a single sentence of the project. It needed to have the essence of the characters, location (which sets the budget for the film) and the story line encapsulated into one sentence.  Something like, “Newport Beach Detective Jake Swanson must solve the murder of two blondes in two days who have nothing in common, one is a returning socialite trailing scandal wherever she goes, the other a teenage party girl just looking for a good time, while dealing with a new partner, Melissa Sanchez, who dislikes him on sight and appears to be more interested in trailing an incoming shipment of drugs than solving a murder”.

I know, I know, for you English majors this run-on sentence is difficult to read, but it is the most important sentence of your life. It is the single sentence that tells an over-busy, and many times over inflated ego you story. This single sentence is what many times gives the green light for a dream. 

That took me a day of playing with the sentence after sentence before coming up with something I likes. The above sentence still is not perfect. Again, for you writers, have you ever tried to distill your book or work into a single sentence. Try it sometime. It really makes you think about what you are writing, and who your intended audience is.

Then, I collected every article I could find about tax incentives for California film industry. I learned about credits for TV series and pilots, as well as made-for-TV movies, as well as the big guns. It was a crash course in everything entertainment.

 I wish I could say it made me feel better, but all it did was make me feel like I was pretending. If it wasn’t for my darling husband, Prince Charming, I would have run screaming naked down Interstate 10 until someone with a net captured me and gave me sweet drugs to dull the pain. He reminded me that with our work as criminal defense lawyers we were constantly expected to become mini-experts in many fields so we could represent our clients. That all I was doing was becoming a mini-expert so as not to embarrass myself at the meeting.

With his encouraging words, I was only left with the critical task of deciding what to wear.

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WICKED CRAZY and CHRISTMAS—IS THIS ANY TIME TO LAUNCH A BOOK?

CHAPTER SIX

December was a crazy month for me. It was decided that because I was launching the second in the Detective Jake Swanson series in January, we would do a special reader’s gift on Amazon where we would offer a free download of the e-book of Murder Most Blonde. It was intended to build anticipation for the upcoming Murder Most Judgmental.

          Remember Christmas—shopping, gift wrapping, cooking, cleaning for guests, decorating, visiting, and a myriad of other things we do to make our lives more complicated? What was I thinking? How could I have agreed to this? Maybe it was because it wasn’t fully explained to me that I needed to do blogging, tweeting, and other promotional things to make sure the launch went as planned. It was enough to turn me into the wicked witch of the west.

With everything I had to do, and a law practice that was always busier during the holidays, the last thing I could think about was whether or not I was ready to step into the new world of television and entertainment. But, then the phone call came, the wonderful, and now dreaded phone call that Mr. Wagner and I would be meeting with the renowned Papazian and Hirsch on January 15th of the coming year. Less than three weeks from then. And me, not prepared.

For all you writers out there who have dreamed of selling a script, or becoming a TV writer, you have taken classes, dreamed the dream, done the preparation in hopes of having this kind of wonderful day. But, remember me—the one who dropped out of screenwriting because I was too old and too descriptive—I was the one who was not prepared.

Also, for you ladies, you understand the horrible dilemma of what to wear. In California we were suffering the hottest December and January in history. All the winter clothes I bought were too hot, and I don’t mean as in look at my legs hot, I mean get down and dirty sweating hot. So the next question was “what to wear, what to wear?” I had to go shopping, during after-Christmas sales. Oh what Hell was this?

With everything I needed to prepare to do, Christmas had to wait. I had a future to prepare for.

LOOK FOR MURDER MOST JUDGMENTAL,

 another Detective Jake Swanson Mystery

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DAZED AND AMAZED—WAS THIS REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN?

CHAPTER FIVE

As you have seen from my earlier postings, I am very insecure at times. Actually, I am insecure most of the time unless I am playing the part of confident lawyer. For several hours every week day morning I am in court, pretending to be confident and unafraid. By now, after 25 years of pretending, I am confident, but not too much. I tell you this so you understand how difficult this time has been, waiting for all of this to happen.

In the first few weeks after the phone call, I was in a daze, afraid to say anything much, afraid to even imagine what the future would look like. My life was settled, not always easy, but I knew I was a competent lawyer, had a great husband, and was the author of several books. Was it really that hard to imagine success?

Yes, yes it was. I mean, after all, I wrote books, not screen plays. When I was first transitioning into writing, I took a series of screenwriting classes at Fullerton State College, while also picking up my certificate in creative writing. I never pursued screenwriting because my instructor told me I’d never make the transition because I was too intent on setting stage and writing emotions. Those things were evidently the prerogative of the director and the actors.

I tried not to set the stage, but somehow it kept creeping into my writing, and I kept detailing my characters because I really wanted the actors to know the character so they would get it right. But, in the end I gave up. Besides, he told me that I was too old to be taken seriously in the “industry”, and at that time I was twelve years younger than I am now.

 So, where did that leave me? It left me a quivering mess. I couldn’t believe all this was happening to me, and for me. Who was I that a well-known actor believed in me enough to want my characters—me with no training whatsoever?

The waiting was interminable. But, true to his word, Robert Wagner kept calling, almost every week, just to make sure I was alright and to keep me apprised of the progress of getting together with the ever busy Papazian and Hirsch. From October to December we talked. Finally, in late December he told me we would meet when they came out to California, which would be mid-January.

“Have a merry Christmas, M.J.” he said in our last phone call of the year.

Merry Christmas indeed. 

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MY FEAR OF FLYING TO HIGH WITH SUCCESS AND OTHER BAD OMENS

CHAPTER FOUR

I floated on air for several days, afraid to breathe or tell anyone about what had happened.

No, that’s not quite true, I told Michelle, a wonderful woman who does the house keeping at the Blue Sail Inn in Morro Bay. She’s the kindest, nicest woman I have met in a long time, always remembering what my husband and I need in our room, and making sure we are happy. It is that accessibility and care that has made both Prince Charming and I love her dearly, and maybe I felt safer telling her my secret than anyone else.

Of course, she was also just outside our room when I got done speaking with Mr. Wagner, and she heard the screaming and yelling, so really, an explanation was necessary. After I told her, she too was jumping up and down and screaming. But then, I swore her to secrecy. I was afraid if I told too many people what had happened it might dissipate the energy of success for the Detective Jake Swanson TV series based on the Murder Most books my M.J.Hatch.

You ask, “what is the energy of success, and how can it be dissipated by talking about good things?”

Some of we superstitious types are afraid that until something is in our hand that if we talk about it, it will disappear. My husband, Prince Charming is one of those, as am I. We are both criminal defense lawyers, and believe that if we act to superior, Lady Justice will see it and smite us. After all, we are there to hold the hands of the great losers of our society—felons and other miscreants.

 Instead of talking about the great conversation, I contended myself with walking the Embarcadero and silently praying and thanking God for giving me the gift of Jake, and my talent to write him.

You see, Jake Swanson was a gift. He was not something that I thought up, but rather he just came to me fully formed, with a voice and attitude for living that I never could have created on my own.

Jake badgers me when I don’t write him, he gives me comfort when I can’t sleep, and he is that alter ego that comes to us writers when we most need a friend. I joke that he comes to me whenever I am off my psychotropic meds, but actually, maybe for the creative types that isn’t too far from the truth. Maybe we are all just a little crazy.

But, now, I am over the fear, and I want to share with you my journey. After all, I have nothing to fear but success itself.

[mjhatch-blog]

WE ARE TAKING A LUNCH MEETING WITH THE PRODCUERS AND WRITING TEAM OF PAPAZIAN AND HIRSCH

CHAPTER THREE        

Somewhere in the first conversation with Mr. Wagner it was agreed that he wanted to set up a meeting with his “dear friends” Bob Papazian and Jim Hirsch, which was fine with me. Of course, I had no idea who these two guys were. But, for those of you who don’t know, they were the writers and producers for Hart to Hart, and Nash Bridges, as well as numerous other TV movies including Rome, and winners of all the awards. (I learned who they were later when one of my friends nearly fainted that I was going to “do a lunch” with them.)

Again, all I said, I think, was “cool”. Then, I gave Robert Wagner my phone numbers and we chatted for a few minutes, with him reciting entire lines from the book.

Now, I ask you writers, is there anything more cool than someone reciting entire passages from your book? It left me delirious.

When he and I signed off, I returned to earth, and realized I was still in my hotel room in my favorite hotel, with my husband/law partner staring hard at me. That’s when I realized I was blushing, and probably out of breath, maybe not such a good thing for a woman to do after speaking to another man when doing so in front of her husband.

“Who was that?” he asked, staring hard at me.

I shrugged and said, “Robert Wagner.”

“The Robert Wagner?” he asked.

“Who else would it be?” I answered still trying to be nonchalant.

“Really?” he said.

“Yep, and he wants to develop Jake into a TV series,” I answered, still affecting the nonchalant attitude.

Then my fake broke when my husband grabbed me and hugged me, saying, “Oh, honey, I knew you’d do it. Oh, my God, tell me everything!”

And that’s when I realized I could remember almost everything he said.

Oh, my God, my character, Detective Jake Swanson is going to be a TV star!

[mjhatch-blog]

WHY ROBERT WAGNER LOVES THE JAKE SWANSON CHARACTER FROM MURDER MOST BLONDE

CHAPTER TWO 

            How do you describe a conversation with a person you think you know from watching them on TV, but have not actually met?  

Let me tell you, some people are easy to know, and Robert Wagner is one of them. From the minute I finally started to breathe again, I felt as if I had known him forever. Our conversation was easy, and light, while setting a course of one of most beloved characters, Detective Jake Swanson.

Let me digress a moment and tell you that Jake, my character from the Murder Most Blonde, and Murder Most Judgmentalbooks is someone with whom I have been living with for more than ten years. Jake grew out of a writing exercise from a creative writing class I was taking at California State University, Fullerton. The students were supposed to write non-stop for five minutes, then share our creation with the class. When reading Jake to them, I suddenly knew he was great. Everyone loved him because I think he was everyone’s fantasy.

For men, he was the carefree, pick-em-up and lay-em-down type man that lived by his own rules. For women he was handsome, and was either their dream bad-boy, or the man they knew they could tame and fix. Everyone either wanted him or wanted to be him.

Yes, even then I knew he was special.

But, special character or not, sometimes creating their life can be hard, and arduous. So it was with Jake Swanson.

Writing on him took me almost ten years of stop and start, working whenever I had the time away from my law practice. In the end, Murder Most Blondewas born. The rest of the series came much quicker and easier. But, of course, by then, Jake was already alive and breathing.

And, so was I. After the first minute on the phone, I, too, was breathing and talking with Robert Wagner, Jake’s new angel—ready to give him life.