Shepherd's Flock

by Robert W. Butler
Reprinted from the Kansas City Star

Kansas City resident John Scott Shepherd now has one of the hottest names in publishing and Hollywood, thanks to the number of stories he has sold in the last three years. Here's a brief rundown of the Shepherd canon so far.

Novels

The publishing rights to Henry's List of Wrongs, about the meanest man on earth who decides to atone for his cruel deeds, was sold in June 1998 after a million-dollar bidding war. It will be in bookstores in early April.

Eulogy for Joseph Way, the second novel in Shepherd's three-book deal with Rugged Land, a subsidiary of St. Martin's Press, already has been completed. Described by Shepherd as a "living room drama" along the lines of Ordinary People, it will be published in the spring of 2003.

Screenplays

"Joe Somebody" is currently showing in theaters throughout the United States.

Filming has been completed on the New Regency/Fox comedy "Life or Something Like It," based on Shepherd's screenplay and scheduled for March release. Angelina Jolie plays a career-driven reporter who is told by a homeless prophet she has only a week to live. Ed Burns co-stars; Stephen Herek ("Mr. Holland's Opus") directs.

"Henry's List of Wrongs," adapted by Shepherd from his novel, was sold to New Line Cinema and goes before the cameras in early summer. Again, Stephen Herek will direct. Currently Jim Carrey is the prime candidate to play the starring role, although Matt Damon and Adam Sandler also have voiced interest.

Shepherd's screenplay "The Kill Martin Club" -- about office workers who jokingly come up with ways to kill their boss only to find he's actually been murdered -- has been sold to Warner Bros. But progress has been slow.

"It's the most stillborn of my projects," Shepherd said. "The studio has brought in a new writer to work on it."

Shepherd has sold his original screenplay "Favorite Son" to Sony.

"It's about a Nebraska kid who realizes the life he's leading is actually a coma dream," the writer says. "He has to find the key to waking himself up. It's got a `Wizard of Oz,' `Field of Dreams' thing going on." It's scheduled to be filmed later this year.

Warners has purchased Shepherd's screenplay adaptation of Eulogy for Joseph Way.

Shepherd also is writing two film scripts on assignment. One is the Julia Roberts/Adam Sandler con-artist comedy "Tonic," about a woman with a love potion. The other is inspired by the 1966 John Frankenheimer-directed thriller "Seconds," about a middle-age man who takes advantage of technology that will turn him back into a 23-year-old. Jonathan Mostow ("Breakdown") is set to direct, with production beginning late this year.

Television

CBS has purchased Shepherd's script for the pilot episode of a show called "The Dime." Though set in the world of prosecutors and public defenders, the writer says: "It's not a courtroom drama at all. It's much more about the people."

Shepherd added that while he enjoyed creating a TV show, he has no interest in writing it on a day-to-day basis.

Directing

Early this summer Shepherd hopes to begin directing a film based on his Eulogy for Joseph Way. The movie, his first as director, probably will be shot in Cleveland. The cast has not yet been selected.