#theonlywayout, #nichollfellowship, #academynichollfellowship, #illegalmarijuanagrows, #stevenspielberg, #giaquintoproductionsllc, #amygiaquinto
Once upon a time, long ago, before recreational or medical marijuana were legalized anywhere in the country, my husband and I were talking to a park ranger in California about a backpacking trip we planned to take. We were chatting casually about the route, the wildlife, opportunities for short side-trips, etc. when the ranger suddenly took on a more serious tone.
He told us to be on the lookout for an unusual amount of trash anywhere on or near the trail, especially tortilla wrappers, empty cans of beans, water bottles, empty propane bottles, pesticide containers, etc. He also warned us about encountering people who didn't look like they belonged in the forest, as in people who clearly weren't there to recreate. He explained that illegal marijuana grows, marked by massive amounts of trash, were becoming an issue throughout the forests in California.
"The illegal growers," he warned, "are extremely dangerous and heavily armed. They don't care who you are and what you're doing. They will defend their grow at any cost. They will shoot you. Human life means nothing to these people, so if you see any signs of an illegal grow, immediately turn around and quickly and very quietly get the hell out of the area. Then, when you're save, call 911."
That certainly added a whole new dynamic to our backpacking trip, and it got me thinking. Fortunately, for us, our backpacking trip went off without a hitch, but it wasn't as relaxing as we'd hoped since we'd spent the trek on high alert for any signs of growers or an illegal grow. But the entire experience planted a seed in my head, a seed I couldn't get rid of. I kept thinking this would be a great story, but in what context? Hum...
At the time, I was working on another script, so I decided to let the idea of an illegal grow in the forest percolate until I had found the best, possible context for a story. That's not to say I didn't think about the idea. In fact, I thought about it, journalled about it, brainstormed about it, but the contexts I was coming up with weren't strong enough, so I decided to let it stew a bit more.
Fast forward about a decade and two kids later... I was finally coming to accept that my award-winning script, IN THE SHADOW OF LONG'S PEAK, wasn't going to get made. For years, my manager worked on trying to find A-list talent or a producer to take on the script, but the budget for the film was exorbitant and the lead role was incredibly challenging and physically demanding that nobody wanted to take it on. Even though the script was very well received and read by several A-lister actresses, we simply couldn't get anyone to bite. It was time to move on.
Meanwhile, during this time, medical and recreational marijuana had been legalized in several states, including Colorado. I began seeing news stories and articles about illegal grows popping up around the state, not just one or two, but several. I remembered my conversation with the ranger years earlier and, as an outdoorsperson who cares deeply about the environment, I became obsessed with illegal grows and why they were suddenly spreading so prolifically after legalization.
Naively, I, like everyone I knew, thought legalization was supposed to cut down on the number of illegal grows. That's what our politicians had told us, but it wasn't true. In fact, legalization had the exact opposite effect. Why?
It's simple. Basic supply and demand economics. Legal marijuana is heavily taxed and business owners have to pay massive fees on top of as part of the regulatory process, fees that are rolled into the price of their products. Taxes and fees drove the price of legal marijuana through the roof. To keep up with the Jonesing..., the cartels and other illegal growers/sellers saw this as an opportunity like no other, and they, too, boosted the price of illegal marijuana to a point at which they were able to make record profits while undercutting the legal market. To this day, I'm not sure how our state legislators didn't see this coming, but that's a story for another day.
Worse, states that had legalized recreational and legal marijuana began wrestling with creating legislation around legal and illegal marijuana. While they were wrestling, the cartels (and others) moved in on public lands in droves. They knew that since the laws hadn't been written around legalization, effective prosecution for illegal grows was going to be difficult, if not impossible. This literally gave illegal growers a free pass.
To make matters worse, during this time (and still to this day) State and Federal governments were making enormous slashes to budgets and reducing staff on state and federal lands, such as in national and state parks and BLM properties.
If you've ever visited a large state or national park or BLM land, it's no secret that these lands are understaffed in a good year. When budgets get slashed, the problem becomes infinitely worse. During COVID, remember the awful images of trashed National Parks, like Joshua Tree National Park, a park that had been seriously understaffed then completely unstaffed and shut down during the pandemic? It's also no secret that it's impossible to patrol every acre that makes up the billions of acres of public land in this country, even when the parks are fully funded.
Legalization had created the perfect trifecta for any opportunistic grower. Marijuana prices had hit record highs, unclear laws made prosecuting illegal growers almost impossible, and due to budget cuts, state, federal, and public lands appeared wide open for undisturbed cultivation.
With an opportunity like this, it only made sense for the cartels to move their operations north of the border. It's far less expensive and less risky to grow marijuana in the States (the largest consumer of illegal drugs on the planet) than to grow it in countries south of the border and shoulder the risks associated with smuggling through one or more countries and then into the U.S.
Not only that, but growing marijuana on public lands, rather than in greenhouses, allowed the cartels to cut costs even more by relying on Mother Nature, sunshine and the diversion of creeks and rivers to cultivate their grows, rather than relying on expensive electricity and public water supplies. This widened the cartel's profit margins. It also significantly reduced the risk of being prosecuted here or in another country south of the border for drug trafficking, and it reduced the time it takes to get their product into the hands of consumers. Time is money.
And so, armed with this knowledge, and after having spoken with several law enforcement personnel, forest rangers, etc. about the various dangers, some of which are hidden, of these grows and their serious environmental impacts that include killing innocent wildlife and poisoning creeks, streams and rivers with toxic chemicals (herbicides and pesticides), I knew I wanted a story with thematic elements that highlighted both the danger and the incredible environmental devastation these grows cause.
As an avid outdoorswoman, Mother Nature is (and always has been) my refuge. It's my family's refuge, our friends' refuge, our community's refuge. The mountains, the deserts, national parks, state forests, and BLM lands are sanctuaries, places to be loved and respected at all times. They should not become places to fear.
For me, seeing illegal grows popping up in my mountains, seeing the utter destruction they cause, destruction that will take decades, if not longer, to heal, both infuriates me and break my heart. As a writer, I wanted to raise awareness of the issue through story in the hopes that education through story will create the changes necessary to eliminate (or at least get control of) the problem.
Once I had tapped into my passion, knew what I wanted to write about, I began working on the story's emotional context.
I knew I wanted an authentic, realistic and believable story, but who and what was it going to be about? As I brainstormed, I kept looking up at the pictures of my kids that I have hanging on my office wall and I often looked at the artwork they had each spontaneously created for me, out of pure love. It made my heart swell. As a mother, I realized that the bond I have with my kids is so strong that I would do anything for them. ANYTHING.
With that, I decided the story would be about a mother and her son. I debated for a long time about whether or not to make it a mother/daughter story, but ultimately chose to do a mother/son story for two reasons. First, my last script was a mother/daughter story, so I wanted to explore a mother/son story.
And second, if I had learned anything from my past experiences with Hollywood, it's that male representation is essential if you want to greenlight a successful big budget film. If you can't interest the 18-24 year-old male target market that Hollywood has predetermined is a goldmine (apparently THE ONLY gold mine in their opinion), then the chances of your big budget film getting made are slim (unless you're Steven Spielberg).
With the two main characters' genders decided, I began to dive deeper into the emotional context of the story. I know in my heart that I'd do anything for my kids, but what does that really mean? It's one thing to say and feel like you could do anything for your kids, but in the heat of the moment, what would it take to follow through if that anything was your worst nightmare? If that anything involved hurting your kid, doing some horrific thing that you knew you had to do, but something that you also knew would forever change, if not ruin, your kid's life. And with that, the premise and story were born.
(I would love to share the premise, but due to actively marketing my script, my producers and I have decided it's best to keep it under wraps.)