Gen LaGreca is an award-winning executive producer, film writer, and novelist. Her writings offer innovative plots and themes that inspire freedom and personal achievement. Her recent movie Noble Vision has won over two dozen film festival awards. Gen’s four novels have won thirteen literary awards, garnered praise from magazine magnate Steve Forbes, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, Past President of the American Medical Association Edward Annis, and others.
Gen LaGreca, Jim Kreuger, Dan T. Hall, Michael Rubenstone at West Coast Premiere of Noble Vision at TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood, CA | Photo: Tshombe Sampson
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZH6FeUo29E
Gen has written the stage play adaptations of two of her novels, Just the Truth and Noble Vision. Her commentaries have appeared in Forbes, The Orange County Register, Real Clear Markets, and other publications.
Gen serves as president of the Winged Victory Foundation, whose mission is to advance liberty through storytelling and the arts.
Prior to fiction writing, Gen worked as a pharmaceutical chemist, business consultant, and corporate writer.
What was the inspiration for you to create/found the Winged Victory Foundation?
I have two passions in my life: ideas and art. I have a degree in philosophy and love discussing ideas, especially the social and political ideas that form a free society. What does it mean to have personal autonomy, liberty, individual rights? What’s the role of the state when people are free to choose and strive for fulfillment, achievement, and happiness?
I also love art, especially novels, plays, and movies. What better way to combine both loves than to write and produce liberty-themed art that examines the culture and expresses the great questions and ideas of our time? I wrote four liberty-themed novels and dreamed of forming a foundation that would support films and plays that have a depth and viewpoint not ordinarily found in mainstream outlets.
I created the Winged Victory Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity that celebrates and champions freedom through storytelling and the arts. The foundation was started with a legacy gift from an admirer of my work who wanted it to gain wider exposure. We’re starting our filmmaking with adaptations of these stories, and we hope to expand from there.
You wrote Noble Vision, a Kindle best-selling novel. How and why did you decide to adapt the work to a film?
Noble Vision is the love story of Nicole Hudson, a beautiful dancer whose life is shattered by a tragic accident that leaves her blind, and Dr. David Lang, a young neurosurgeon determined to save her. Nicole’s only hope is Dr. Lang’s breakthrough new treatment to repair damaged nerves. But the treatment lacks the required approval of CareFree, the state health system that’s wracked with cost overruns and the governor’s politically motivated priorities. If Dr. Lang defies the law and treats Nicole, he’s ruined. If he doesn’t, she is. He has to take on the system to fight for his work and the woman who’s capturing more than just his medical attention.
The story is so cinematic and romantic that it begged me to put it on the screen. The vivid contrast between David’s life-or-death, sober world of brain surgery and Nicole’s idyllic, fairy tale world of the ballet made great scenic contrasts. The story of how they came from two different worlds to find their own harmony really has to be shown. And the setting is New York and the Broadway stage, so the dance scenes also begged to be shown and not just read about in the novel. It really is a story made for film.
How was the experience as a first-time filmmaker?
Amazing! I had no idea what was involved. Even with having a seasoned producer, Dan Hall, and co-directors Philip Paluso and Dan, along with a talented cast and crew, there was so much I had to learn and do! Does an executive producer merely write one check to a filmmaker then sit back and watch the process? Not in my case!
I participated in everything—auditioning and cast selection; making script edits; crafting contracts and mining legal issues with cast, crew, and location partners; making payment; defining our dance needs to Rob Moore, our talented choreographer from En Pointe Indiana Ballet; being on set for every scene; participating in the editing; contracting with Syndicado, our distributor; and now heading up marketing and advertising. It’s been an incredible learning experience and beyond exciting to see my dream come true of Noble Vision on the screen.
I was also introduced to the wild world of indie filmmakers! Everyone who participated gave their heart and soul to our project!
What was most surprising to you about the film industry?
That I could make what I think is a compelling, high-quality film on a low budget. I discovered that high-quality, supremely talented people are out there, and they will do an independent film, especially if they like the material. Also, I learned that the story really is the heart and soul of a good film, like the foundation is the bedrock of a building. You could have a $50 million film budget, but if the script isn’t good, all you have is breathtaking special effects and a beautiful cast but there’s nothing there to inspire, cherish, and remember.
What is your vision of the film Noble Vision? (What do you hope to achieve?)
I hope to inspire people with the two lead characters. Nicole Hudson rose from a childhood wracked by poverty and abandonment to become a Broadway dancer. Her great dream moved her forward to pursue her art. Even in blindness, she struggles to dance again and succeed. Dr. David Lang pursues his science with a ground-breaking cure. He’s an innovator, a rebel, and a poet. He fearlessly fights for his work and for Nicole’s life, and he won’t back down.
I also hope to shake people up and get them thinking. The dysfunctional health system and rampant political corruption in Noble Vision have many parallels to today’s actual healthcare muddle.
What is the main “message” of the film?
Beware of the consequences of mixing medicine with political power. When power corrupts those in control, can a doctor still practice his profession by his own judgment and conscience, and can a patient still exercise the freedom to choose her own treatment? Those are the issues raised in Noble Vision.
The personal message from Nicole and David is never to quit. Discover your passion, dream big, and find a way. Pursue your dreams—in art, in science, in new discoveries. Face your adversaries with faith in yourself, truth, and courage.
Do you have any other novels or films in the works (that you can tell us about)?
Yes, we have two projects on the roster based on my award-winning novels!
Slated for completion in early 2025 and now in pre-production is our romantic science-fiction feature film, Fugitive from Asteron. Through a young pilot’s wild adventure spanning two planets, we see the stark contrast between a tyrannical world and a free one, and we learn what makes human existence, fulfillment, and happiness possible. We aim to reach a young audience with vivid ideas of how precious freedom is, portrayed through a high-stakes mystery story unfolding and with all the sci-fi bells and whistles.
In 2025 to early 2026, we plan to produce a full movie version of Just the Truth, our murder mystery about the threats that a powerful state poses to the profession of journalism and the pursuit of truth. Just the Truth is available as a play, and the Winged Victory Foundation offers grants to theatre companies to perform it. We made a film of the stage play for an educational market. Our fully cinematic movie version will be produced for wide, entertainment distribution.
In the past, you worked as a chemist, business consultant, and corporate writer, and you changed your career later in your life to become a fiction novelist and now a filmmaker. What would your advice be to someone looking to make a major career change?
I once worked for someone who ran a company in the dental field. In his sixties, he bought acres of rocky land in California wine country and decided to start a winery. He ended up producing award-winning wines that sold out as soon as they were available. His Merlot was featured in a gala heads-of-state dinner at the White House, which caused my boss to quip, “Now the president of France gets to taste a good red wine.” I was writing my first novel when I worked for him in my day-job. He showed me that it’s never too late in life to start something entirely new. If a new vision sparks for you, follow your star!
Would you say that you are “following your dream”?
Oh my gosh, yes! More than I ever thought I could. The Winged Victory Foundation and my films have made me amazingly proud and happy! I feel as if I’m just starting out.
Who are some of the people in your life (past or present) who have been influential in your life?
In my personal life, I have to thank a guidance counselor in middle school who talked me out of going to a vocational high school and instead strongly encouraged me to apply to a college-preparatory one. This was a major turning point in my life. It showed me that I could dream a lot bigger than I was doing. Whoever helps a young person to dream big—a teacher, a counselor, a friend, or a parent—is a hero of the highest order! This counselor totally changed the course of my life!
In my professional life, there’s Aristotle. In his great work on esthetics, the Poetics, he defines timeless principles of dramatic writing at the dawn of drama. He explains the primary importance of plot and how character development is woven in plot action, which is a Golden Rule for me. Reversals of fortune and sudden revelations that thrill audiences today thrilled Aristotle too. He admired these dramatic techniques in Sophocles’ great play Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus learns in shocking revelations that he married his mother and killed his father. I work at constructing plots with surprises, twists, sudden revelations, and changes of fortune as described by our First Drama Critic.
When I discovered Ayn Rand, I saw you could weave thought-provoking ideas into an entertaining narrative story. Her writings on the glory of the individual, free and unafraid, with a boundless potential for creativity, achievement, and happiness—just sang to me. I strive to create strong-willed characters imbued with their own vision who don’t take orders from any masters. Her novels were great examples of how to express an important theme through riveting plot action.
Other accomplished writers showed me the craft through their novels, plays, and films that inspired me. And my film partners inspire me. I’m now working with incredible people who are as passionate about making movies as I am!
Follow Gen LaGreca on Facebook and the Winged Victory Foundation on Facebook.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wingedvictoryfoundation
Website: https://www.wingedvictoryfoundation.org
Please see our trailer for Noble Vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZH6FeUo29E
About The Author
