News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A Tennessee Tech professor honored for turning his book into a screenplay.
Journalism Professor Russ Witcher received Best First-Time Screenwriter awards from the 2024 Los Angeles Film Awards and the Oniros Film Awards for the script version of his book “Going Home to Die No More.” The book tells a true story about two Kentucky men and a Union Army Captain who were hanged in 1867 for a crime they did not commit. Witcher said he turned his book into a screenplay after discovering more information about the story.
“I thought that it would probably be better if I put it in a different format because I had just published the book and that was the year before,” Witcher said. “It would just be an update of that book and so I thought well you know maybe it will actually cause some more notice if I put it into a screenplay format and try to get that produced.”
Witcher said turning the book into a screenplay was very challenging and took about a year to complete the script. Witcher said he is thankful for the awards and believes they reflect his dedication to trying something new.
“It’s real flattering because it validates what I’m doing,” Witcher said. “You are out there alone. Writing is such a solitary process and to get those awards from Los Angeles and New York as a first-time screenwriter really is encouraging me to continue to try and get it produced.”
Witcher said during the process he had to unlearn a lot of rules of writing.
“In writing a lot of times you are just telling a story,” Witcher said. “But in screenwriting you are really showing a story and so that was a different method for me. I mean you want your writing to be visual anyway but it has to be told with very few words if possible.”
Witcher said now that he has one screenplay under his belt, he will take some time before considering doing another one as it is very time-consuming. Witcher said he put the screenplay together during his free time.
Witcher said he has a personal connection to the story as his great grandfather was in the same regiment of the men who were hanged. Witcher said he will continue to take the screenplay to music festivals in hopes of a producer taking the story to the big screen.
