Baldacci, Timmins To Team Up for New Movie

Sara Elizabeth Timmins

David Baldacci, a best-selling author who lives part-time at Smith Mountain Lake, will team up with filmmaker Sara Elizabeth Timmins to translate his new novel, Wish You Well, into a movie. Sara Elizabeth's Life Out Loud production "Lake Effects" will be released next month and she and Baldacci, who was a backer on her movie, will begin work shortly thereafter.

According to a release from Sara's company, Baldacci "saw the potential to take the model she used to make Lake Effects and expand it to impact the entire Commonwealth [of Virginia].  The Life Out Loud Films' model is based on collaboration and creating win-win opportunities through partnerships. It is a unique approach that enrolls the community, promotes economic development and tourism, and enables the company to keep costs lower than typical while maintaining the same high quality."

 

David Baldacci

Absolute Power, was made into a movie starring Academy Award winners Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman. Wish You Well was published in 2000 to wide critical acclaim and worldwide sales in the millions. The story is partly based on Baldacci's maternal ancestors in Virginia. The novel is taught in schools across the country, and has been adopted by states and communities across America in their reading programs.

 

Wish You Well is a coming-of-age story set in the 1940s about a teenage girl and her younger brother who move from New York City to southwest Virginia after a family tragedy. 

 

Timmins and Baldacci have been working in development on the project for months. They aim to complete the funding stage in the next several months as well as begin to pursue name talent.  The film is scheduled to shoot in the fall of 2012 in Virginia but the exact location has not yet been determined.