By Elia Esparza
Stone Village Productions has acquired Luis Alberto Urrea’s “The House of Broken Angels” book, and the company is not saying how much they paid for the film and TV rights to the Mexican-American family saga. The deal was negotiated between”Hollywood’s book man” film and TV producer, Scott Steindorff and Michael Cendejas from the Lynn Pleshette Literary Agency on behalf of Urrea, a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
I am very thrilled to be working with Scott. He shares my interest in working with kids. We’re both on a mission!” — Luis Alberto Urrea
From the moment the book was released, “The House of Broken Angels,” has resonated with readers nationwide. From every corner of our nation, west to east, south to north, and everything in-between, Urrea’s book has captivated the hearts of everyone who understand what it means to come from a complicated family of any nationality or ethnicity.
Powerful and unforgettable portrait of one Mexican American family and the American Dream” — The Low Down, St. Croix Valley Area, Minnesota
Scott Steindorff is well-known in the industry for acquiring and adapting literary properties, and delivering commercially successful and award-winning television series and films. Steindorff chooses extremely high profile literary bestsellers to adapt from authors that include: Philip Roth, Richard Russo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, T.C. Boyle, Nicholas Sparks, Michael Connelly’s “The Lincoln Lawyer,” and Mikhail Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita.” Now, he adds Urrea to his list of must-have! The Hollywood producer spoke with us and shared some insights on his latest acquisition.
Latin Heat: What was it about Urrea’s book that caught your attention to want to buy it?
Scott Steindorff: I had read his book, “The Hummingbird’s Daughter,” and was impressed so I kept on reading his books. I’ve read a lot of books and very few people have a voice and the voice of Luis in telling the story about a Mexican American family is unique and original. I love the characters, the voice of the characters and the tone of the characters, which lends itself to becoming a very popular limited series story, told in six to eight episodes.
LH: Of all the authors you have read, whose voice does Urrea’s remind you most of?
SS: He writes like Gabriel Garcia Marquez — there’s a sense of humor in characters even in its tragic situations, and his characterizations of characters is really compelling. I think it’s going to resonate with all audiences. I don’t think we’ve ever seen something quite like this because it is authentic… Urrea doesn’t hold back on what’s really happening.
Hollywood Producer Scott Steindorff & Author Luis Alberto Urrea
LH: Why a limited TV series and not a movie?
SS: Because in a film we’d have to condense so much of the story to fit into two-hours. In a limited series, we can tell Luis’s story almost exactly like he tells it in the book. The series will be six to eight episodes, and isn’t that the number of hours spent on reading the entire book?
LH: You went from being a successful real estate professional to leaping into the role of Hollywood producer adapting books. What’s the difference between both professions?
SS: It’s the same business because when you’re building a shopping center, you want to buy the best property. Being in the movies and television industry, it is about getting the best books, which means best writers, actors — [all if these ‘bests’] gravitate to the best stories. So, people like me are drawn to the ‘best’ properties.
LH: Tell us about growing up in Minnesota.
SS: I grew up a reader! Minnesota is rated first and second place in the nation of readers, so I grew up immersed in books. I read one to two books a week consistently. It’s my love because in the written word, there’s so much emotion… so much character background… so much you can tell and that’s why I love what I’m doing in film and television. We’re able to take a book and put it in a two-hour movie or in a limited TV series, we’re able to capture more of the story.
We did it with Empire Falls and Station 11. TheMexican-American story has never been told quite this way about a family and I really related to the way Luis constructed this family story. And, if it’s relatable to a story in Minnesota, it’s relatable to every nationality. It just happens to be Mexican. My background is German and it’s relatable. We’re all human beings… where we’re from doesn’t really matter. Borders don’t matter. We have a class difference and that’s what this book deals with. I like that it’s not that much different than Empire Falls, which takes place in Maine.
LH: The book is a celebration of the Mexican-American family, but it also includes moments of frustration with this country’s treatment of immigrants. Will the current immigration crisis be expanded?
SS: Everything we’re doing is close to the book. It’s pretty authentic to the way Luis tells it. I don’t want to mess with anything that’s honest and truthful. The very first thing I told Luis during our first conversation is that I wanted to tell his book the way he wrote it.
LH: Does Stone Village only take queries from agents or can any author submit to you?
SS: We normally work through agency’s but if a book has a really special and extraordinary story, I will listen and read.
LH: Thank you, Scott. We can’t wait for “The House of Broken Angels” to premiere, which we understand will be in 2019.
“The House of Broken Angels,” continues to receive stellar book reviews. Urrea has written a fiction but those who know him personally, can’t help but see the similarities to when his older half brother died of cancer within two weeks after losing his own mother. Urrea shared many of the poignant moments that haunted him. He considered writing a short memoir about it, ‘I was thinking about Truman Capote, when he did those tiny books about Christmas and Thanksgiving.’ But his wife encourage him to aim bigger. When he found himself seated next to the writer Jim Harrison at a dinner event, he shared the story, and Harrison said, “Sometimes God hands you a novel. You have to write it.” Urrea thought to himself, ‘Marching orders from Jim Harrison–this is good stuff. A kid from Tijuana doesn’t get that very often.’
I really wanted to write a tribute to my brother, to my family and to us, but it’s also a love song to the country. I think people have this weird, horrible view that immigrants are evil snakes. People don’t understand that [immigration is] truly a statement of love for this country… what the country represents. People want to be here and work. And with persistence, become el jefe. — Luis Alberto Urrea
We can’t wait to see The House of Broken Angels on our TV screens. A lot of the series will be filmed in San Diego and Tijuana where the story takes place.
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