I read the manuscript, which was laden with details.  Ricardo (“Lalo” as he is affectionately known and as he will be referred to in our blogs from here on out) has an encyclopedic mind, recalling details about dates and events in an uncanny fashion.

When next we met, we discussed tackling the development of a screenplay in a way that would tell a very honest and human story.  We knew that we couldn’t tell a story that robbed Lalo’s character of all humanity, making him so noble and kind so as to not have any frailties.  When I asked Lalo what his defects were, he raised his eyes toward Heaven, lost in thought…. Until, that is, Nidia piped up with a witty retort, “Oh no, Diana, Lalo is perfect!”

A few moments later, Lalo, who had managed to come up with a modest list of personal defects, inquired whether I was a writer and stated that he wanted me to tackle writing the screenplay.  I gladly accepted the offer, we quickly struck a deal, and then we scheduled a number of meetings in order for me to interview him at length.  In fact, for the next few weeks, we spent close to 25 hours discussing his life, his family, his dreams, and his life-long journey to becoming a doctor.

I spent an additional 25 hours or so transcribing the tapes and then a couple of weeks organizing all of the information, including annotations from the manuscript of Lalo’s memoirs.   Eight weeks later, I submitted a 70+-page step outline for the script, which broke down the plot scene-by-scene, and then I spent another 4 weeks writing the first draft after that.

After Lalo read the first draft, he called and asked for a meeting to discuss the project.  He sounded so serious that I was instantly concerned that somehow I had completely missed the mark in relating his life story.  As our camaraderie had grown, I had forgotten how intense Lalo can be when he is concerned or deep in thought.  With trepidation, I drove out to his home for our next meeting.

Lalo sat in front of me with what appeared to be a scowl on his face.  And when he finally spoke, he said he had some comments about the screenplay, which were these: I had used a couple of medical terms incorrectly, and I had reversed the order of a couple of incidents in his life.  That was it!  That was the extent of his feedback.  Otherwise, he was very happy with the script and felt that it not only captured his life but also conveyed his essence.  I told him and his wife, Nidia, that I would continue rewriting the script, as the best kind of storytelling, in my opinion, is found in the rewriting process.

For the next few months, I rewrote and polished the script several times, streamlining the storyline and delving deeper and deeper into the psychology of Lalo’s character.  I also focused on the emotional resonance of every moment in every scene, always asking myself how it all related back to the theme of the script and challenging myself to be more visual.

Gradually, I also began shifting my focus on producing the film.  In August of 2006, we traveled to El Salvador for a 5-day trip that ended up being a whirlwind of business meetings.  The press and most of the entrepreneurs with whom we met to discuss our production needs and the possibility of filming part of the movie in El Salvador, greeted us very warmly.

We also had a chance to visit Usulután, the small tropical city that is the birthplace of Lalo and his brothers, including Salvadoran President Tony Saca.  Their childhood home is now a shoe store located on a busy commercial street.  We were allowed to explore the premises and had to climb over a number of boxes to get to the steps that led to the rooftop, where Lalo and his brothers spent many hours playing.  Lalo was surprised and touched when he discovered that the tile floor in what was once his childhood bedroom remained intact 40+ years later.

For the rest of our time in El Salvador, we met with a number of the most successful businessmen, most of who offered to help us make the film.  Many of them, in fact, later provided us with seed money that allowed us to hire our casting director and our co-producer/Unit Production Manager.  We will always be grateful to them for their generosity.

It quickly became apparent to us that for the Salvadoran community, FLIGHTS OF FANCY is a project dear to its heart.  Our film is an opportunity to show another side of this beautiful and lush country and its hardworking, warm, and friendly people.

Toward the end of the trip, we spent an evening with President Saca and First Lady Ligia Saca, at their family home, meeting and greeting extended family members.  To our delight, we were served “pupusas,” one of my favorite delectables from El Salvador.  The night was capped off with a conversation with President Saca over the storyline of the script and our production plans.  President Saca was concerned about how we intended to depict El Salvador and asked whether or not we were going to address the civil war that ravaged the Central American country during the 80s—the period that is covered in the screenplay.  We assuaged his concerns by explaining that by the time of the civil unrest, Lalo was already living in the U.S.  Besides, it is not our intention to make this a political film but rather to relate a universal theme in the story of one man’s journey to fulfill his dreams.

It has been two years since we visited El Salvador, and in that time, the project has progressed by leaps and bounds.  I have continued rewriting and polishing the script (we are currently on draft 10, while working on the final polish with the director’s input), completed the casting process, locked in the director and the cinematographer, and are now completely focused on the raising of financing….

Next: The casting process and finding the right director.

Born and raised in Usulután, El Salvador, Lalo dreamt of becoming a doctor ever since he was a young boy. And his parents, who were not highly educated themselves, eventually embraced this ambition nonetheless. Tragically, when the family was wiped out financially, Lalo’s hopes of achieving his dreams were dashed in the process.

By the time he was 19, Lalo set off to create his own destiny, sneaking across the U.S./Mexico border illegally and unable to speak a word of English. For the next 11 years, Lalo toiled at various jobs, many of which he held down simultaneously. He sent “remesas” home every month (about $200), to help keep his family solvent and his younger brother, Tony, in school. While he worked, he also studied feverishly, first learning ESL (English as a Second Language), then attending community college, transferring to a 4-year university, and then medical school.

It’s particularly inspiring that he achieved this kind of academic success in such a brief period of time because in the U.S., in order to attend medical school, one must first earn a college degree in a related field (and that entails 4 years of study). Then come another 4 years of medical school. That’s 8 years of study, not including additional specialization and training. Thus, the fact that Lalo was able to graduate from medical school only 11 years after arriving in the U.S., means that he was just 3 years behind those who were born and raised in the U.S.

All those years of working several jobs at time also paid off for his brother, Tony, who went onto have a stellar career in sports broadcasting, eventually launching a successful media company that started with the purchase of one small radio station. Today, that brother is President Tony Saca, the head of state of his beloved El Salvador.

When President Tony was running for office, he spoke often about his debt of gratitude toward his older brother, Lalo, for having sacrificed himself so much to help support the family. The press both in El Salvador and in the U.S. picked up the lead on this human-interest story and the rest is history….

Next up, how the first meeting went and how the actual film project was born….