Jim Conover and Ben Johnson -

Wild West Film Festival -1993

I got a decent break back in 1990 when I was contacted by an agency in Chicago about obtaining the use of our detective agency surveillance van in a movie being shot there by the A. Shane Production Company. The movie was Mario and the MOB, staring Robert Conrad. Of course, we jumped at the chance and spent 8 great days on location in downtown Chicago with not only Robert Conrad, but Ann Julian as well.

While there, we met the film's director, Virgil W. Vogel. Vogel is known for his directing of several great television westerns, such as Wagon Train, Big Valley, and more recent, The Young Riders and Centennial. When Virgil heard we were from Pekin, Illinois, he came over to introduce himself. To our surprise, we found he had been born and raised in Pekin. We discussed the Pekin area and the story about the lynching back in 1869. Virgil was very interested in the story and wanted to read the manuscript.

Later he flew to Pekin for a meeting us and suggested I write a screenplay. You can just imagine how that shook me. I had never seen a screenplay let alone tried to write one. But Virgil, having faith, said he would tutor me. Over the period of a year, under his expert guidance and tutorship I wrote a screenplay based on the manuscript LYNCH LAW, which carries the same title. When we were satisfied with the script, we started making arrangements to shoot the film.

With Virgil as producer and director and me as co-producer and writer, we formed a company called Lynch Law Productions, here in Pekin. Securing the commitments of a casting director, a cinematographer, and a supervising producer and unit production manager, things were set in motion. I was on the verge of getting my screenplay make into a movie and I was to be a part of it all as co-producer.

Virgil was called to direct the pilot movie and six episodes of WALKER: TEXAS RANGER, starring Chuck Norris. He invited me down to the Dallas/Fort Worth area where the movie was being shot to check out the making of a movie. I spent a week on the set, watching and trying to absorb everything there was to know about shooting a film. I was with Virgil and the camera crew, yet stayed out of the way and kept my distance when the actors were off to themselves rehearsing their lines. I found Chuck Norris and Clarence Gilyard to be very down to earth people off stage.

It was not only a pleasant week, but a great learning experience for a novice screenwriter.   Virgil allowed me to be an extra in one of the scenes. At the beginning, there is a big bank robbery. I was counting money at a teller's window. Another great experience. (got a copy of the daily rushes on it.) Great part though it didn't land my many acting offers.

While on the set, I met James Drury, the actor who starred in the TV version of The Virginian. In the pilot film for Walker, he played Walker's captain. Having lunch with him one day, he said he had heard about the screenplay I had written and would like to read it. Not knowing the ins and outs of Hollywood and exactly what I should do, I told him I would have to clear it through Virgil. Drury got a copy of the script.

James Drury later called Virgil and told him that if we would re-write the script to make the lead character the co-star, he would get finances for shooting the film. He said he could arrange to get $10,000,000.00. That was a lot of zeros. It took only a few days for me to re-write the script. It was a hit with Drury. The money was committed. A bank account set and plans to go into pre-production were in the works. With that much money, we would be able to shoot the film on location right here in Pekin, Illinois. Contracts were being written, schedules made and a budget for LYNCH LAW was written up. We discussed Chuck Norris playing the lead. We were looking at Tom Selleck for the lead. He was a close friend of Virgil's. We were even considering that great movie icon, Clint Eastwood.

As they talked, I listened. I didn't want to say or do anything to blow this deal. As you might imagine, I was floating on cloud nine. A poor boy from the cotton fields of Missouri making it all the way to Hollywood film making. What else could a man ask for?

I was still counting all that money that would be rolling in and preparing my acceptance speech for the Academy Award for best screenplay, when we hit a snag. The financiers and Virgil were having concerns over who was going to run the show. Who was going to have authority over the bank account. Who would ok all checks written during the production. While I watched in horror, the entire deal fell through. I'm still not over it. So close and yet so far.

It was after the last festival that Virgil asked me to write another screenplay. It was to be about an actress during the civil war who became a spy.
I researched this lady, found a great story and started writing. As I wrote, I would fax Virgil 10 or 15 pages at a time to get approval or disapproval. As I neared the end, Virgil was diagnosed with cancer. He was in the hospital  when he read and approved the last 10 pages. We would start shooting as soon as he got back on his feet.
Virgil passed away in January of 1996 without ever getting out of the hospital. He was a great man. I miss him.

As you can see, I came close - very close, but like most things in my life, the bottom fell out just in the nick of time to rob me of the chance to make it.

However, I was never one to let little things stop me so I gathered my absolutely devastated self up, brushed off the dust and set about writing again.  Maybe - just maybe - I'll get another run at selling a script or making a movie.