Local Voices
Community Update
Greenlighting "Greenhorn"
By Leonard Gill
The title's a given: It's Greenhorn, a tale about a boy — a Holocaust survivor — and the friend he makes in postwar New York City. The director's been named: He's award-winning filmmaker Tom Whitus, whose work has been shown on the Lifetime Network and Showtime. The screenwriter's at work: She's Ree Howell, an award-winning playwright and film producer, who's finishing the script this fall. And the author of Greenhorn (the book published this past December) is on board as co-producer: She's Fair Lawn resident and New York literary agent Anna Olswanger, who based the novel for middle-school-aged children on a real-life story she heard from her rabbi.
Find out what's happening in Fair Lawn-Saddle Brookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Filming of Greenhorn (exteriors in New York; interiors perhaps elsewhere) is slated to begin in March 2014, with preproduction scheduled for January and February. The ultimate goal: an Academy Award nomination in the short-films category. But there's a fund-raising effort taking place now until December 31, 2013, and that's where readers come in.
Fund-raising goal for filming, "deliverables," and screenings of Greenhorn in Los Angeles and at film festivals: in the $15,000 range. And so, for a top, $5,000 contribution, you too could be credited on screen as an executive producer. All levels of giving, however, are more than welcome.
Find out what's happening in Fair Lawn-Saddle Brookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Go to Tom Whitus' letter to potential backers on Anna Olswanger's website (http://www.olswanger.com/greenhorn/filmproject.shtml) for added and updated information.