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GENERAL GRANT IS DOOMED!
“NEVER RETREAT, NEVER SURRENDER!” Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant struggles to complete his “Personal Memoirs” while combatting terminal cancer. He produces a masterpiece. The true story. Can be expanded to TV miniseries. Professional Coverage: “Recommend” - Dave Trottier (Author, The Screenwriter’s Bible) Multiple contest wins and placements
Undaunted, Grant proceeds with the formidable writing project in spite of violent coughing fits and a deteriorating physical condition.
Grant’s memories are depicted in the film as he writes the “Memoirs”. He recounts…
• The early days at West Point, his outstanding horsemanship, mathematical ability, and artistic talents, • His physical strength and heroic performance in the Mexican War, including encounters with Robert E. Lee, • His determination in leading his regiment to a California outpost via Isthmus of Panama during a cholera epidemic, • His resignation from the Army, drinking accusations, and subsequent failure in business, • His recall to active duty in the Civil War, and meteoric rise to Brigadier General, • His unique ability to concentrate and evaluate a situation – military or otherwise – and develop a clear, practical solution that works, • The Battle of Fort Donelson -- where he becomes “Unconditional Surrender” Grant, • His inner turmoil over Civil War casualties, • The surrender of General Lee at Appomattox.
Grant suffers greatly during this writing ordeal. He is unable to swallow without intense pain, and eventually loses his ability to speak.
His wife Julia, and children Nellie and Fred Grant stand by him – and also suffer -- throughout this ordeal.
Grant’s illness sparks a nation-wide death watch. Reporters camp out by his home and even try to dupe his doctors and the housemaid to get further information.
Then Grant has a severe choking experience which nearly kills him. Saved by his doctors – who use a unique medical procedure -- the Ol’ Warrior rallies and vows to finish his manuscript.
In June, 1885 Grant is moved to the Mt. McGregor Cottage in upstate New York to avoid the blistering heat of New York City.
There he complete his manuscript and dies on July 23, 1885.
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant were published shortly after his death. Mark Twain's company printed 350,000 sets -- 700,000 volumes -- a record number of books for that time.
Grant’s “Personal Memoirs” were a great success -- praised by the public, historians and literary critics. They have been acclaimed as the foremost military memoir in the English Language.
They have never gone out of print.
Screenplays
Jim specializes in screenplays based on historical true events (including musicals), bio/pics and/or disasters. In alphabetical order:
“BOJANGLES, EUBIE AND BERT!” Three Black musical legends of the past – Bert Williams, Eubie Blake and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson – relive their show business success in spite of racism and theatrical bigotry.
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!HARBINGER
As seniors vanish and messages appear in mirrors, a skeptical detective is drawn into a parallel world where the forgotten are reborn—and learns she might just be the last warning before humanity is rewritten.
Whirlabout
A New York actor returns to his decaying hometown to care for his father, only to uncover dark family secrets, confront a lifetime of abuse, and face a harrowing moral reckoning that could either destroy—or finally heal—his fractured family.
Psychotic USA
A dramedy. A razor-sharp satiric view of the laughable state of modern psychiatric treatment as seen through the lens of four patients in an asylum.
Virgin, Warrior, Priest, Hero
Over three decades, Lucy passes through innocence, violent delusion, and ultimately grace - fractured versions of a soul struggling to survive in a world that continually misreads her.
Wounds of Love and Conspiracy
After an accident cripples the woman he loves, a guilt-ridden man takes on America's scars as his own, risking everything to prevent the Kennedy assassination and earn the love she freely gives.
Rebecca Saves the Human Web
Afraid of her anger, a teenage girl in a violent future connects with the spirit of her murdered grandmother; together, they fight to keep a vast web of hate and violence from collapsing civilization.
Henry, Henry
After murdering a charismatic priest he caught abusing a child, Henry fractured into two warring personalities; they only unite to use insights of their illness to infiltrate and bring down a dangerous child-trafficking network.
The Ephod
Based on a true story, after a disturbing Bible study shatters her lifelong Catholic beliefs, Faith Alvarez is driven by a supernatural encounter to uncover the mystery of the ancient Ephod.
FULL CONTACT
Under wraps
PAPER TRAIL
A young ex-Army MP returns to a small town in the mountains of Colorado to become a private investigator only to have his first case reveal a secret that destroyed his family years before.
