David Kirkpatrick, who once partnered with George Barna to form a fledgling film studio called Good News Holdings, had announced to the world in 2006 that his company was going to turn Anne Rice’s first Christian book, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, into a major motion picture.
Turns out he was wrong. GNH never really got off the ground, and then Kirkpatrick–who had been an exec at Disney, Touchstone, and Paramount–announced he was taking the company to Massachusetts and changing the name to Plymouth Rock Studios. Turns out he was wrong again.
In a recent in-depth story, The Boston Globe reports that Kirkpatrick and the venture never had any legitimate financial backing.
Rice, the former vampire novel writer who became a Christian some time ago, had agreed to let GNH turn Out of Egypt into a film, but withdrew that offer when she never got paid. The Globe obtained a stinging e-mail that Rice sent to Kirkpatrick, voicing her concerns and her disgust with the way he had handled things.
In the 4-page document, Rice tells Kirkpatrick, “You were not paying me as you had agreed to do, and you did not have the funds to make good on your promises, and you did not have the funds to make a film. . . . At no time did you reveal to me that you were having financial problems.” Late, after noting her disappointment that Kirkpatrick had threatened legal action to get Rice to cooperate, she writes, “David, you broke my heart” and “Your lies and tactics are odious to me.” She notes that she will never relinquish the book’s rights to Kirkpatrick.
The Globe story is fascinating, essentially exposing a man for grand promises that he had no means to fulfill, regardless of his optimism, passion, and ambition. But the bottom line is that he had no bottom line, and that is the main reason the studio still essentially is only a thought.
Check out the newspaper’s 7-minute video on the situation:
