Synopsis

On a cold October night in 1914, a scared and hungry pup was found aboard the number 12 train in Willits, California. They called him Boomer Jack. The engineers and station masters of the Northwest Pacific Railroad looked after Boomer as he rode the rails with them all over this great land. Until the day Mrs. Palmer, the wife of the owner of the railroad company, decided she wanted to keep Boomer as a house pet. And whatever Mrs. Palmer wants, Mrs. Palmer gets.

Now it's up to ten-year-old Sara Parsons, one of the many school children Boomer loves to play with when he's not chasing trains, to liberate Boomer from the clutches of the evil Mrs. Palmer. While Sara helps Boomer to evade capture by the town dog catcher, Boomer helps Sara overcome the fears and loneliness that have inhibited her since her father died in a tragic accident. Their adventures culminate in a harrowing chase atop the lumber cars of a speeding locomotive, during which Sara finally learns the value of letting go of what you love.

Project History

Historian Lincoln Killian began researching the true life story of early 20th century railroad dog Boomer Jack in 1977, publishing his findings in the pamphlet A DOG'S LIFE: BOOMER JACK OF THE NORTHWESTERN PACIFIC in 1998 for the Mendocino County Museum.

Timothy Martin, an acquaintance of Killian's, wrote a fictionalized children's story, THE LEGEND OF BOOMER JACK, as both a novel (PublishAmerica, 2007) and a screenplay.

In late 2006, screenwriter Dan Margules did a rewrite of the Tim's script for Twinstar Entertainment.

The Rewrite

My primary task was to "flesh out" some of the characters, especially the villain. Among the changes I contributed to the screenplay are:

• New opening sequence showing the origin of Boomer and why he likes to ride on trains
• Transformed the villainous dog catcher into a love interest for Sara's mother, thus creating a more complex dynamic between the lead characters
• Moved the villain duties to Mrs. Palmer and added conflict between the Palmers and Sara's mother
• Added conflict between Sara and her mother
• Created Tommy as a friend and love interest for Sara and an ally in her attempts to rescue Boomer
• Redistributed the revelations of Sara's emotional backstory regarding her father, strengthening the dramatic impact and forcing her, visually, to come face to face with her unresolved feelings about his death
• Patched up holes in subplots inolving a lookalike dog that inadvertently gets Boomer into trouble and a female dog love interest for Boomer
• Rearranged Boomer's trips so that every scene with the train engineers advances the main story
• New major action set piece involving Sara and Tommy trying to liberate Boomer from the dog catcher's runaway wagon
• Intensified the action in the climactic lumber car chase

Excerpt

Read the thrilling new action set piece invented for my draft.

Status

This project is not currently in active development due to a dispute regarding its chain of title.

Read an in-depth article regarding the dispute.

Contact

The complete screenplay is available upon request as a writing sample.

send email to: danmargules (at) yahoo (dot) com