Purple PenWorks is the banner under which Cheryl McKay works on creative projects, penning film and television projects. She also now works as a producer on scripts she writes.
Cheryl became known as the "purple pen writer" during the release of Never the Bride, where the purple pen became a character in the story. Now, she always brainstorms her stories using a variety of purple pens.
The Vision Statement for Purple PenWorks is to create stories that touch hearts, have redeeming value, cause
people to think about what they believe and how they live their lives,
bring about change for the good, stories that make a person ask
questions, stories that bring hope to those who've lost sight of it, or stories that remind us that beauty and good can come from difficult and painful situations.
Cheryl McKay has been
professionally writing since 1997. Cheryl wrote the screenplay for The Ultimate Gift, based on Jim Stovall’s novel. The award-winning
film stars James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail
Breslin and was released in theaters by Fox in 2007. The Ultimate
Gift won a Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival, received three Movieguide
Nominations, winning one of the Ten Best Family Films
of 2007, and won a CAMIE Award, for one of the Top Ten Films of the year.
Cheryl also wrote the DVD for Gigi: God’s Little
Princess, another book adaptation based on the book by Sheila Walsh, as well as the Wild and Wacky, Totally
True Bible Stories audio series and books with Frank Peretti. She wrote a half-hour drama for
teenagers about high school violence, called Taylor’s Wall. It was
produced in Los Angeles by Family Theater Productions. She wrote a script called Killing Hope, commissioned by Art Within,
after winning a year-long fellowship. Her screenplay, Never the Bride, has been adapted into a novel for Random House
Publishers and was released in June 2009.
Whether you are a friend, a family member, a fellow alumni from Act One or Regent, or just someone who wants to follow my writing career, thank you so much for your interest. This will be a good place to be kept up to date on what I'm up to, what films are going into production or what projects will be releasing either as a book or film. I'll be sharing photos and stories from the film production process.
And for those of you who are aspiring writers out there: welcome to the team. It's a crazy profession, but a lot of fun. I encourage you to write only what you are passionate about, find a way to put yourself somewhere in your writing, never stop learning, and get your work critiqued by those who know you or through professional critique services. (Due to time constraints, I no longer critique scripts.) You may only get one chance to submit a project and you want to make sure it's your best. Oh, and write every day! Seriously. Even if it's just for twenty minutes.
I have been writing since I was five years old. That year I wrote my first play. I wrote my first novel at age seven. (Well, I called it a novel. Really, it was a collection of silly short stories with kooky illustrations.) I haven't stopped writing since. I absolutely love it; it's practically my favorite thing to do.
I get a lot of requests from people with story ideas they need written into scripts or from book authors who want me to consider adapting their books into screenplays. Time permitting, I would be honored to consider your project if it's been picked up and funded by a production entity and you are ready to hire a writer. Please use the contact tab to supply a short synopsis (2-3 sentences max), the name of the production company and/or producer you are working with on the project, and your contact information. Make sure you supply an email address.
For any one who works for a production company looking for material to produce, please use the contact form to send your name, company, and email address where loglines of my screenplays can be sent. If you have a preferred genre, specify that as well.
http://cherylmckay.blogspot.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0570941/
Special Thanks to Heather Gebbia for designing the Purple PenWorks artwork.
(Headshot photos by: David Edmonson. http://www.davidedmonson.com )