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Bestselling Author Lorenzo Carcaterra

KATE: Welcome to Readers Room, Mr. Carcaterra. I'm thrilled for this opportunity to chat with you.

LORENZO: Thanks, Kate.

KATE: Your credentials as a writer are very impressive. Journalist, novelist, screenplay writer. Did your writing career begin as a journalist?

LORENZO: I started writing at 17, Kate. I always wanted to work on a tabloid--specifically The New York Daily News. I was lucky enough to land there as a copy boy and then hustle my way up. We never called ourselves journalists. I was trained under [Pete] Hamill and [Jimmy] Breslin--we were newspaper writers. Journalists came in when the guys from the Ivy Leagues made it a career.

KATE: How long did you write for The New York Daily News?

LORENZO: I worked there just short of six years. I was a reporter for three of those years--and I wrote a lot of articles while a copy boy, movie time table clerk and other work I had to do. In all, I probably logged over 750 bylines.

KATE: At what point did you decide to give novel writing a shot?

LORENZO: It was a long process and I knew it would be--I'm self-taught so I knew if it happened it would be in baby steps--first newspapers, then magazines which I did for many years, then TV and then books and movies and with luck, all of them.

KATE: Did you face a few rejections, or were you one of the blessed ones who sold your first book quickly?

LORENZO: The first one, the idea anyway, sold in under two weeks--to the editor I wanted and for the price I was looking for. So, it was a combination of luck and having the right kind of story.

KATE: That's incredible. Congratulations! Who is your publisher?

LORENZO: I'm with Ballantine Books, a division of Random House--though now since my publisher runs both places, the Ballantine writers like to think Random House is a division of Ballantine. I also have had the same editor for every book--Peter Gethers.

KATE: Your stories are wonderfully diversified, from World War II to the Mafia, to your childhood in Hell's Kitchen. I'm most fascinated by A Safe Place, a masterful work that must have been a very emotional journey for you. Was writing this book a sort of catharsis for you?

LORENZO: That was the first one--it was difficult in ways all first books are--since you really have no idea what you're doing. It was a very emotional ride--and by the end of it I realized how much I missed my dad and how important he was to my life-despite all the destruction he caused.

KATE: Are you at peace now with your father?

LORENZO: Yes--have been for many years.

KATE: Good for you. Street Boys is an incredible novel as well. I understand this World War II story is based on a seed of truth? And did this book present any special challenges?

LORENZO: It's based on an actual World War II battle called The Four Days of Naples-where street kids beat back the Nazis and drove them out of Naples. I had a lot of choices--three different groups--Italians, Germans and Americans--all having to speak English was the most difficult hurdle. Also, there was pressure--I sold the book to the movies before I had written a word--and had to write the screenplay while I was writing the novel--which, looking back--was a little crazy.

KATE: Wow! I'll bet. Warner Bros optioned the movie, right?

LORENZO: They bought it outright for a record amount--which they have not been shy about publicizing--WWII was a hot subject for the studios back in 2001 (before 9/11) and they heard about the book and went a little wild trying to get it.

KATE: That must have been very exciting for you. And the subject is fascinating--a little known story in the USA.

LORENZO: It was a great few days out in Los Angeles. I told my agents, manager and lawyer to close a deal if they thought it a good one between either of the two competing studios. I got on a plane and came back to New York--landed late at night--had 8 calls on my cell phone voice mail--heard about the deal on the ride home, talked to the head of Warner Brothers and signed off as we pulled into the driveway. Those days happen once in a while if you're lucky.

KATE: When you were writing the story, did you dream that it would skyrocket in Hollywood like this?

LORENZO: I hadn't written it before I sold it. I just tell my editor what the next book will be and we talk it out and then I do the same with my publisher and they both say go--the same happened with Hollywood--there was never anything on paper. But, I never thought it would have sold as quickly and for that kind of money.

KATE: Sleepers was made into a move with Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt, correct? Directed by Barry Levinson?

LORENZO: That's right.

KATE: Did you write the screenplay for that as well?

LORENZO: I worked with Levinson on the scenes in the movie that were not in the book. We spent lots of time working on that script as the film was going. I've since worked with Levinson on two other screenplays--Dreamer about Bobby Darin and the Street Boys script which he is slated to direct.

KATE: Bobby Darin. Interesting. What made you decide to do that project?

LORENZO: I love Darin and Levinson approached me while they were filming Sleepers and asked if I was interested--it was a page one re-write and I wrote him a note telling him how I would do it--next thing I knew Warner Brothers was negotiating with my agent. So, again, a nice accident. Someone on the production told him I was a big Darin fan.

KATE: I understand your first Law & Order script is in the works. My son was thrilled when I told him I would be chatting with you. Law and Order is his favorite TV show! When will your story be aired?

LORENZO: It is filming now and will air May 21.

KATE: Would you like to develop your own series?

LORENZO: I've done three pilots and filmed two of them--neither one got picked up. I stayed away for a year or so and focused on the last two novels-now I'm close to getting back in--or I may work on Law & Order next season in some capacity--it will sort itself out in June when the TV season starts to take shape.

KATE: Having written for daytime television for two years, I understand the incredible draw on one's energy.

LORENZO: And the books are my day job--so they need to be kept in the lead.

KATE: You've worked in journalism, fiction, film, TV: do your writing disciplines change for each project?

LORENZO: Not really--TV is faster, which appeals to me--the Law & Order script took two days to write and 20 million people will see it. I don't do many magazine pieces-other than for the National Geographic Traveler. Film scripts are harder--more hands are involved and that always slows the writing.

KATE: Any advice on the best way to break into screenwriting?

LORENZO: Write a spec--a really good one--and shop that until you get an agent--a really good one--and take it from there.

KATE: I understand your next book is to be Paradise City. When can we expect to see that? And would you mind to telling us a bit about it?

LORENZO: It's scheduled for a spring 2004 publication. It's the first of a projected three books with the same character--three out of the next six-but that decision will be made if the first book does well. He's a cop from Naples (but born and raised until he was 15 in NYC) who comes back to New York for reasons I cannot yet say. It's been a lot of fun to work on so far, and very different than any of my other books--which I like.

KATE: Different in what way?

LORENZO: I guess if I answer that my publisher may have to pistol whip me.

KATE: I understand that. Would you mind answering a couple of reader questions for us?

LORENZO: Not at all.

KATE: Dave L. from Kansas City asks: "Hi Lorenzo. Apaches was a great cop book -- you really got your characters down. What kind of research did you do on it, and did you interview a lot of police personnel for it?"

LORENZO: Thank you, Dave. I worked on a TV series for 4 years called Top Cops--on CBS.

It was a reality cop show and we had to find all the stories--so I got to meet and know lots of terrific cops, many of them wounded. It was out of those meetings and the many dinners I've had with them over the years that the idea for the novel came.

KATE: Sheryl O. from Carson City asks: Most of your books are set in NYC? Was it hard for you to get the locations and feel of Naples for Street Boys?"

LORENZO: No--luckily I spend a lot of time in Italy--my family lives there and my mom lives on an island off the coast of Naples--so I know the city well. I speak the dialect well-my mother never learned English while she was here--so Neapolitan was my first language. Naples is like New York only with better food.

KATE: Carl in Ontario asks: I read in another interview you said that TV is better than movies from a writer's point of view. Can you tell me why you think this?

LORENZO: In TV the writer is in charge--it's his ball game. In features, it's the director's game--the writer is merely telling the story the director wants told. In TV (as with stage plays and books) you get to tell your own story in your own way.

KATE: Janet from CA asks: Of all your books, which is your favorite, and why?

LORENZO: Gangster, Janet. Only because it's the only one where I think I achieved exactly what I set out to do.

KATE: Okay, Mr. Carcaterra, this was great. We really thank you for spending some time with us. It was a great honor. Continued success!

LORENZO: Thank you, Kate. And to Natalie and Rob--the invisible duo-I appreciate you taking the time. Good luck to all.

KATE: Thanks!

LORENZO: Stay well.

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