Best Seller

Description

The film begins with scenes that re-create extracts from the new novel by the Lichfield author Craig Thomas. It is a thriller set in Prague called The Bear’s Tears and involves a break-in by an agent to a Soviet computer installation. We then meet Thomas who is driving his car (a Porsche) through the countryside. He passes King Edward VI School in Lichfield where he used to teach and through voice over and interview he explains how a rejection by the BBC radio script department led to him writing his first novel (he continues to live near Lichfield). Interview with Jenny Dereham of Michael Joseph publishers about his hugely successful second novel Firefox. Interview with friend Terry Jones who is a former RAF pilot who provided background information to enable Thomas to write Firefox about a Russian plane that is invisible to radar. Extract from the feature film adaptation of Firefox which starred Clint Eastwood (Warner Brothers).

Interview with Thomas’s wife, Jill who helps him with the editing process. Interview with Colin Murray of Sphere Books about the editing process and the editorial meetings. We then see Craig Thomas chatting to computer expert Peter Matthews about his new novel The Bear’s Tears. This is followed by shots of the publishers creating the artwork and a promotional video clip for the book’s launch. The film ends with a further sequence that dramatizes the climax to the book with the break in of the computer facility (these re-creations are shot b/w with a voice over).

Credits

Hyde: David Pullan
Stepanov: Kai Dominic
Georgi: Warren Armstrong
Cameraman: John Varnish
Sound Recordist: Frank Minton
Dubbing Mixer: Richard King
Make-up: Leslie Stanier
Wardrobe: Gwen Hartley
Production Assistant: Tina Murray
Researcher: Sheila Ford
Designer: Gerry Roberts
Film Editor: John McCarthy
Executive Producer: Brian Lewis
Director: Nigel Warrack

Notes

Production number 6591/85.