By Amber Jurgensen | Staff Writer
Loitering squatters outside a depressed house. Dirty drugs and money exchanged in rough hands. Liquor to lips. Smoky rooms. Cheap women.
All snapshots inside of author Mills Cooper’s head. Scenes from the tough neighborhoods of Plant City. Witnessed pictures from his past.
Cooper sat in his car, depressed. He had just been laid off from his construction job in 2008. His marriage had crumbled into dust. Instead of heading to the safety and security of his parents’ house or to one of his many friends, Cooper isolated himself. He chose to live out of his car.
Shiny guns.
“I wanted to distance myself,” Cooper says.
Crying mothers.
“And get myself together.”
Poker faces.
“I had a lot of time to reflect.”
All of them floated in his imagination.
“So I just picked up the pen and wrote.”
While homeless, Cooper began writing what would become his first novel, “Generation Curse.” The book navigates the depths of gambling, drug addiction, obesity and prostitution — and how they run through family bloodlines.
“I started to think about the community I grew up around and the problems that existed,” Cooper says. “Every kind of family struggles with different things.”
Four years later, Cooper — through his production company, Christian-based Kingdom Films — is making a movie based on “Generation Curse.”
So far, the crew has shot scenes at South Florida Baptist Hospital, Shiloh Baptist Church and various homes. They currently are still scouting a location for an office scene.
THE PROCESS
“Generation Curse” follows a mother who has turned to prostitution after her husband died. She has to learn how to take care of herself and family. Her young daughter watches her mother’s every move. And so the curses of the mother begin trickling down to her daughter.
Cooper based the characters on people he has met in the past.
“I took a little bit from here and there and put it all together,” Cooper says.
While homeless for three months, Cooper was the first and last person at the library, writing his book. On the day Cooper finished, his father came to talk to him and convinced him to move back home. He took a job at First Choice BBQ as a cook and pulled his life back together.
Paycheck by paycheck, Cooper saved up money to hire an editor and get the book published through A & A Publishing, in Tampa. Once the book released, Cooper sold more than 5,000 copies out of the trunk of his former home.
Although “Generation Curse” has dark themes, Cooper uses the tale to share his Christian faith — which he credits for helping him out of homelessness.
“I was struggling trying to do things my ways, so I asked the Lord what he would want me to do,” Cooper says. “Before I started writing, I recommitted my life to God and asked for a pure heart.”
THE FILM ADAPTATION
Cooper scouted for actors by watching other independent films. For the past month, Cooper and his film crew of one have been shooting scenes around Plant City on a Nikon D7300.
“When we’re shooting, it’s kind of awkward,” Cooper says. “We don’t have all the lingo and training as those who went to college for it do. But people believe in us.”
Like all Hollywood movies, things don’t always go as expected. During one scene, several actors were supposed to have dialogue, but only one showed up. Cooper had to rewrite the scene on the spot, and the actor had to improvise. But Cooper, who has wanted to get into filmmaking since he was 9 years old, is looking forward to seeing the final product.
“It’s satisfying, because you knew all the trouble you went through to shoot a scene,” Cooper says.
Shooting is scheduled to be finished in September. He wants to host a premiere at a local church and hopes to sell 100,000 copies by marketing them locally and branching out to Hillsborough County stores such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy. Cooper also wants to put a downloadable version on Amazon.
“I want to be known as a reality type of writer and filmmaker,” Cooper says. “I want people to think of drama and energetic writing when they hear my name.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.