Forums of the Megaverse®

Rifts® Movie Letter Writing Campaign

I had mentioned in a recent Gateway to the Megaverse® Pod Cast that Palladium fans should stop asking me about the Rifts® movie and all write a letter to Jerry Bruckheimer at JB Films telling him how much they want to see the Rifts® Movie and that they hope he makes it soon. That has generated excitement among a lot of people talking about doing just that. However, while they want to send a letter, they don’t know how.

Then I got this email:



Let's do it! A Rifts® Movie
letter writing campaign

This fan is absolutely right.

Do NOT doubt the weight and power YOUR opinions and desires carry in Hollywood. Look at how important “fan power” has become at the San Diego Comic Con. Use your power and influence to help show Jerry Bruckheimer just how excited and interested you really are about seeing a Rifts® movie.

If you want a Rifts® movie, the time to express that opinion is NOW. Below is a template for letters to send to Jerry Bruckheimer. I was going to suggest email or a letter, but the JB Films website is being rebuilt. We looked into it and were told you can not send an email until the site is back up and running sometime late this Summer. That means we have to go with good ol’ “snail mail.” That’s okay, seeing a pile of mail is more impressive anyway!

Do it this month, January 2009 (and into February). The timing is perfect for a number of reasons. If JB Films gets a few hundred – or maybe thousands – of letters in a short time span, it will tell him we want a Rifts® movie! And if anyone can make a great Rifts® movie, it is Jerry Bruckheimer! Let’s give him a nudge.

This can work! Let’s do it!! Have everyone in your gaming group do likewise, and tell your friends.

Here’s a template of what to say:




Fans want a RIFTS® Movie

---- Your return address ----

January, 2009

Jerry Bruckheimer
c/o JB Films
1631 Tenth Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404


Dear Mr. Bruckheimer,

You have expressed an interest in doing a Rifts® Movie for a long time now.

I’m writing to tell you that Rifts fans around the world would LOVE TO SEE a Rifts movie. We have enjoyed playing Rifts for years and can think of nothing better than seeing it brought to life by a producer of your caliber. You understand the sweeping magnitude and power a Rifts® movie should have, and the excitement it can generate among fans and ordinary moviegoers alike.

I just want you to know that I think people would flock to a film like Rifts. And if done well, it could be the epic science fiction/fantasy film that captures the imagination of a new generation the way Star Wars did in the past.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

– your name -

It is as easy as that.

A few more details for the letter to JB Films. Start your letter with the Rifts® headline in bold (or a Rifts® logo) followed by a short letter like the one above. (You can use the one above as it is, if that is easy for you, add to it or write your own.) We encourage you to use your own words or add your own additional thoughts. You can be even more energetic (“Rifts rocks. Please make the movie!”), but make your correspondences polite, positive, encouraging and hopeful, not grumpy, snide or negative.

In letters that you mail, please include your real name and street address so they know you are a REAL PERSON.

Consider this . . .

You have power. A few years ago, thousands of you united to help save Palladium Books from the Crisis of Treachery. That was a Herculean task and you did it! Letting Mr. Bruckheimer know YOU want a Rifts® movie is super-easy by comparison. All you have to do is send a letter to him saying as much. Your cost: A little time and a 42 cent stamp. Let’s make it happen.

I’m sending my letter tomorrow. Seriously. Please don’t let me (and the crew at Palladium) look like goofs because we are the only six people to mail letters.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Fan Boy & I want to see a Rifts® movie made


© Copyright 2009 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, Dead Reign, Warpath, Shemarrian Nation, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

As a professional writer, I suggest the following modification to the letter. It's not a big deal but if JB actually reads one closely, this will sound nicer and have more impact.

You have expressed an interest in doing a Rifts Movie for a long time now.

I’m writing to tell you that Rifts fans around the world would LOVE TO SEE a Rifts movie. I have been a fan of the RPG for XX years. I and many others can think of nothing better than seeing it brought to life by a producer of your caliber. You understand the sweeping magnitude and power a Rifts movie should have, and the excitement it can generate among fans and ordinary moviegoers alike.

People would flock to a film like Rifts. And if done well, it could be the epic science fiction/fantasy film that captures the imagination of a new generation the way Star Wars did in the past.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

If only I thought of that

Seriously, it's good to have the templet.

Just some suggested talking points:

How long you've played Rifts.
Rough approximation to the books you own (It subtly indicates what you're willing to spend ).
A movie or other project of his that you've enjoyed.
What you like best about Rifts.

This personalizes the letter, and gives them an idea of what to build on.

No worries Kevin, I am writing my impassioned plea right Now!

I am a massive Sci-fi fan, Starwars will always be fondly remembered as my first love, however even long established series like the Star Gate franchise (now being made into a MMORPG) and Star Trek in my opinion can not even compare to Rifts in terms of diverse and rich content. Heck the Tolkeen war, the Coalition and other powers in North America alone in Rifts has a far more developed and complex history then ANY of the major sci-fi movie franchises. When you add in the rest of the Rifts Earth power struggles and richly developed character content plus other dimensional locations such as Wormwood and the 3 galaxies the Starwars saga, the 5 Star trek Tv shows, and the well soon to be 3 Stargate based Tv shows (I do not count that crappy cartoon) combined cannot compare to the diverse complexity of Palladiums Megaverse.

Obviously I intend to express these feelings in my letter.

Count me in Kevin.

Sincerely

Doug Panepinto

{EDIT} Just feel I have to say it, Kevin WE NEED A RIFTS VIDEO GAME, preferably on one of the 3 mainstream consoles or on the PC. (I prefer the PC mind you.) Just as no Sci-fi series can compare to Rifts as I stated above in my argument for a Movie, it goes triple for a VIDEO GAME. Especially as a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing-GAME, for example the continuing and new downloadable content which make or break MMO's is already written for a RIFTS MMO in the form of the world and dimension books... Not sure if you recall Kevin but I even contacted you (through your old AOL e-mail address, well your wifes actually)with a Rifts MMO pitch way back in 1993 (this was even before UO and Everquest were even announced let alone released), you refered me to your licensing company but I got stonewalled there. All that aside a PC game would generate a TON of Buzz for palladium. (unfortunately Promise of power was released on an already dying handheld game platform).

For those on Facebook, I have created a Facebook Group for this effort:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44155817850

How about those Rifts Novels that where written, are not most movies base on books.

Being totally down with this, I wrote a letter to Bruckheimer in support of this a number of months back. ... Recently it was returned to me along with a letter stating that the letter was intentionally unread and treated as though I were pitching a script myself. What the fudge

I'm writing a letter myself.... I wonder what was in yours.. how many pages... it obviously doesn't matter what the content was since they didn't even get that far!, but how did you begin, how long was it?, any ideas on what would have "tipped them off" that it was more then fan mail?

-Rifter6

The Rifts novels, beginning with "Sonic Boom" by Adam Chilson, are excellent. In fact, I think their a perfect outline for "HOW" any script writer, director, ect should develop a first Rifts Film. It's hard to get all or even much of the Rifts content into a single film, particularly a first where you're introducing the whole scene and 'concept' to an unexposed audience.

Adam Chilson pulls it off very well. Start very focused. He chose Chi Town. Get the audience to get the feeling and empathize with a small cast of 'human' characters in a particular environ/culture (like the Coalition military and Chi Town 'life'). Then start to take the story further and further... also taking some time in the later half to actually 'characterize' another set of different people. In this case people on the inside or at least involved in the Federation of Magic. And, yes, there needs to be pleanty of action... cause Rifts is full of incredible Action!

The more I think about how the first Rifts novel was written, the better I like it for adaptation to film... or at least, just HOW it took Rifts and PRESENTED it to a new audience.

-Rifter6

It was a single page, with the suggested header "Fans want a RIFTS movie" in large italics. And then I went into how I had every confidence in Bruckheimer's film-making abilities and so forth. It was basically a kiss-up letter.

How about making a Anime or Computer Animed movie for Rifts it would be a start.

That would scare me to think that it would be less than desirable results. I know that there are many people out there that could do Rifts justice, but there is always the chance that what happened to the Dragonlance animated movie, would happen here.

I would love to see.

Heck I would love take part in making it!

Wont' happen with a big picture producer like JB. Dragonlance was second rate producer ... hell, second rate actors if you ask me.. and low budget. Look at the last eight years of JB films and what he's got in the que right now (check wikipedia on JB) and then tell me you're worried a producer like JB would produce another D & D show.

-Rifter6

Working on the letter right now, will let some friends know as well. So will have at least 4 more coming in.

Lets get the movie started

thats the ticket forget debate just write a letter i am

This person's advice is more than a few years dated, and I can assure you that fan requests are one of two things - A) Good for a chuckle then tossed aside, or B) Never even read in the first place.

As someone that spent their early days in entertainment reading a variety of Query Letters - I can, with the utmost confidence, say that the only thing a Producer's Assistant (ie; he or she who reads said Query Letters) wants to see with a fan submission nowadays is Private Investor Capital and Networking Options for an International Market.

If one of you wrote to Mr. Bruckheimer and said, along with the typical "This movie would be awesome" yadda yadda yadda - "I'm also willing to bring in private equity and foreign distribution angles", I promise you, any assistant would pass that letter on.

Barring that premise, how then do you strike a chord with the Studio?

Easily.

Find ways to get the Property into the hands of a Director. If you can get a Director to lobby for the project, you very well may have a production.

Sincerely written as a member of the Entertainment Industry and fan of Rifts, Palladium Books, and RPG's in general.

^^^^^^ My advice is heed this man's words.

I have to agree. If KS himself can find a director who would be interested (I suggest GenCon being the place to look up a potential director), there'd be a much better chance of things hitting the fast track.

Think of it like this: we, the fans, are the lowest level of interaction to major motion picture folks. While we might support them, we are not "on their level" socially, or in the industry. A known director would have a whole lot more voice for JB to hear, as well as a lot more pull with actors/actresses and other assorted movie-making companies. It takes someone higher in the industry to catch the attention of these production companies, so this would be our best bet, IMHO.

But what do I know?

Thanks Wayne and Kev,

I definitely will submit a letter again! The movie will be a generator of video games and even toys! YEah!

G

I don't think you understand what they were saying. None of these production companies want to hear advice like "make this movie and you'll make money from merchandising" unless you also say "I have money to help pay for this movie." or "I have direct contact with foreign markets for this film".

We need to reroute this letter writing campaign to target directors instead of JB Films.

i could deal with a cgi movie like the space marine movie.

If you go on you tube and search rifts movie you will find all sorts of cgi's spider walker etc labeled as animation test for the rifts movie. some are pretty good.

A script is the key thing to getting produced. (I asked someone with multiple TIFF pieces and had a lot to do with the show (keys to the vip). a short promo video(doesnt need to be pro but get the point across is good.)

The fact that there was studio interest he said is an awesome foot in the door.

We all want to see the movie right?

What about all getting together and launching a prebuy for the dvd?
If they have a list of all of us willing to pay for the dvd before production begins hell id pay for it then to help with production.

Another thought is get a kick a$$ video game then attack the film with a larger fan base.
The suggestion of having bethesda studios do the game was a good one. And having watched the behind the scenes on the collectors edition the chalenge of rifts as a game would be a challenge they would tackle and want to give a groundbreaking game for.

i really do hope this comes out soon

It's an interesting idea... but why leave it in Jerry's court? It's your Intellectual Property. If he's not moving on it, talk to other studios. Need some names, pick up a few CGW magazines and make some phone calls.

I still think it'd be cool to see both a movie and a video game, mmo. RIFT mmo is already out there though, so that's an issue... I still would like to suggest you talk to the folks behind Entropia Universe. Instead of selling items in game like most of the planets on that thing are doing already, you could sell ebooks and real world books, then focus the planet on free activity to make the best darn mmo out there. the platform they are using is still in the beginning phases. Over the next several years, it's going to grow, especially once the planet Micheal Jackson goes live.

http://www.planetmichael.com/

http://www.mindark.com/

http://www.entropiaplatform.com/

A RIFTS MMO already exists? I sicnerely hope you're not talking about that unholy perversion that came to the N-Gage. That's not an MMO, by a longshot.

The fact remains, JB has picked up the rights for another block of years and nobody outside of his company, or Palladium, has heard squat about anything. The new writer is a dead end, Palladium can't comment, and JB is hiding any potential work (if there has been any) better than Blackbeard's treasure, so it's time we start emailing and writing letters to these directors to get their attention. With a director pushing, JB would probably sit up and pay more attention to the project.

Are we still doing this letter campaign? I want to send one, but the header link is broke, no staff members have updated the area. C'mon palladium, get your excitement back. Give me a link to a sweet header, and you are all a bunch of writers. So update the letter and show some God-damn enthusiasm alright!

alright.