Novel Scheme

'Good writing has to hit you on a gut level," says producer Paige Simpson. "It's rare to pull that off in an original screenplay, but a good novel will always do it." So the thirtyfour-year-old first-time independent producer (and former development person for Malcolm McLaren) set out to woo the Hollywoodwary Richard Ford to adapt two of his Rock Springs stories for the screen. The resulting Bright Angel, produced with Rob Maclean and starring Sam Shepard, opens this fall. Four more films are lined up: Sarah Payne Stuart's Men in Trouble, another Ford collaboration on Rock Springs, Marian Thurm's Henry in Love, and Thomas Sanchez's Mile Zero.

KATHY BISHOP