A podcast episode of Million Dollar Mastermind (host Larry Weidell) featuring Michael (Mike) Pyatt discussing helping a man turn his real-life story into a bestselling book and a film adaptation. They cover the origin of their relationship, the long effort (about eight years) to publish and promote the book, media attention and reviews, and the emotional and redemptive power of the story with potential Hollywood interest (Liam Neeson, Mark Williams, Mel Gibson mentioned).
Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weidell, and let's get started. We're here with Michael Pyatt, and I've got a book to read now.
Oh, I tell you, it's in. It is, Larry. It's intense.
And how did you meet this guy?
This guy, this. This. This guy? He has two daughters and one son. And his oldest daughter was really good friends with my number three, excuse me, my number three daughter when they were five and six and seven. And she'd come over and do sleepovers. And I always remember looking at her face. She had the shiniest face, just these bright. Just crystal eyes, you know. And she just. She just. There's something special about her. And years later, I mean, they went to private school together and whatnot. And I would see this guy occasionally, you know, at school functions. I'd say, hi, you know, how are the Dodgers? And, you know, we keep it small. And I stopped by his shop one day. He owns a sign company, and I stopped by his shop one day. I wanted to throw him a little business. So I went in and there's nobody there. We sat down and we did our business for some stuff I wanted done. And I'm getting ready to go. And he said, you know, I need to tell you my story. And I'm thinking, you need to tell me your story. Okay, it's Wednesday. I'm okay on Wednesday. Go ahead. I got a little time. Tell me your story. And he tells me this story. Took an hour. Took a good hour to tell me the story. And I walked out of there shocked. And that's Wednesday. And I thought about it, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And on Monday morning, I came into the office and he's there in his overalls, putting up the signage on the wall that I had ordered. And I had people coming into the office for their Monday morning managers meeting back in the day. And I walked up to him and I said, you know, I'd like you to come in and talk to our managers meeting. And he said, why? I said, because I want you to tell them about how people can change because we're in the people changing business. And he. He says, well, what do you want me to tell him? I said, the story you told me the other day of your life. And he goes, you want me to tell him that story? I said, yes, I do. And he came in there and told, I think, about 25 people. And I sat where I could watch him tell the story and the people respond. And from that day, Forward. I knew I was to get involved with this guy and help him get his story out. That's when it started. That was eight years ago this past August. And I tell you, the second book, like I said, will be 30, I think it's 34 chapters of amazing stuff we went through to get this to production because it was an uphill battle and I'm pretty aggressive, I'm pretty tenacious. I keep with things and I stay after it and I keep pounding it and I stay after it. And this was a rough deal. And once we got that out there, it's interesting because Harper Collins told us when we released the book, they said, now they go, we've been doing this a long time. We know what we're talking about. They said a good author, and he had never authored anything before, but they said a good author will be grateful if they get one or two good interviews. Well, we started off in Washington D.C. and on the second day we ended up on Laura Ingram show live after doing a podcast with her. He's done about 250 interviews now so far. Wow, 250.
250.
We got over 300 reviews on Amazon. Everyone is a five star review. It's just, I mean, it is a solid, solid story and when you read it, you'll know why. Yeah.
Congratulations, Mike. And so the thing is that like if you stay, you keep your mind turned on and you stay flexible, magic can jump out of the bushes and change your life just about anytime, as long as you're alert. I mean, if you, if you had been closed minded, if you, you know, don't have time for this or get back, let's set up a time. Give me a call. I've got to run. But you don't know how, how important I am. Yeah, you know, you don't know. You're just a sign guy and I'm a big, big guy. Financial services. Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and now we'll be on a.
Call to Australia where they're shooting a film right now with Liam Neeson. Matter of fact, the current film that's out by Liam Neeson called the Good Thief. Mark wrote it, produced it and directed it. He really is, he's sharp, man. He really is good.
That's not Mark Burnett, is it?
No, no, no. It's Mark Williams. Look him up. And he got 18 Emmy nominations on their Ozark this year. I mean, it's, it. They, he's, he's one of those real creative guys that we've just, we're on the elevator with him. We're riding up with him. He's one of the hot commodities in Hollywood right now. So this is, it's just, it's so much fun, I gotta tell you. It's so much fun. I would really love to see Mel Gibson direct it. So I was asking her, I said, when this script is done, I'd like to see you send it over to Mel Gibson to get his, you know, to get his take on it. I said, nobody does violence and redemption better than Mel Gibson. And she laughed. She goes, he and Mark are working on a project. He's in our office once a week right now. She goes, he'll get a copy. So who knows? I mean, I don't know. I just know nobody does violence and redemption quite as good as that guy, you know, he's not the only guy. But who knows, you know, you don't know what's around the next corner. It's just, it's life. And isn't it a blessing that we're here?
Absolutely. What, what a life, what a trip. And it shows that, you know, we each have our own different path to go on, but it can be mind blowingly great if we just kind of stay the course, you know, like you.
Like Art said, 98% of winning is working hard and being honest.
Yeah. And you had, you know, you've had to be. To make this film and book project come together, you've had to take that same tenacity and apply that you did with the business, you know, and so these things, I mean, these approaches are the things that separate people from the masses, you know, and.
That'S why it.
Resonates, because it's real and people that are looking for. And that's why I do the podcast is because people who are looking for reality can tell when someone's telling them the real deal, you know, so that's.
That'S why it was so important for us. Because there's a number of instances that happened in this man's life and in his incarceration that had to be exactly. They had to be done in the book exactly the way they happened in real life. And they were. The book came out perfectly. And then we had to get that onto the script because Hollywood wants to dramatize things, you know that. Right. But these particular things that happened in his life had got to be exact in the movie the way they actually happened. Because people do know down in their gut whether it's true or not. We know. I don't even, I don't know how we know. I Just know that we know. And our BS meter goes up if it's not. And our other meter happens if we go, boy, this is a real deal. And I think if we can get this thing done, Larry, I swear, if we can get this thing done. The way I see it, and I really do see it in a particular way, I think people will walk out of the theater and pick up their cell phone and call their friends and say, listen, you need to go see this movie. And they'll go, why? Don't ask me why. Just go and stay for the whole thing. Don't leave till it's all done. Because I think people will be more impacted with this story than they've been impacted by any story in a long, long time. I think it has that kind of potential. The book is already in Spanish. Somebody bought the rights to put it in one of the Eastern bloc. Hungarian, I'm not even sure. But it's a timeless story. It won't be something that's in and out the next few years. It'll be timeless. You'll be impressed.
I already am. And I'm so happy for you to have this new. And it is interesting. It's like where I do my photography, my painting, my other stuff, you know, I've got the best selling book myself. So the thing is these doors you open to get you all fired up again creates energy that you bring back to your main business too. Rather than keep yourself on the grindstone, trying to keep myself excited about doing the same thing. It's like you can go and turn yourself loose to find, you know, pursue other things you're curious about and find yourself a whole new vein untapped. It's kind of like a big reservoir of oil. You discover like there's 800 billion gallons of oil underneath Arkansas or something, you know?
You know, we get so many emails and so many stories from people that have read this that tell us. Let me tell you what happened in my life because this, I mean it's, it's, it's emotional. It is probably the most emotional thing I've ever done other than have my kids. It's really powerful what it's doing.
Unbelievable.
Thanks so much, Mike.
That's great.
Thanks for listening to this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind with me, Larry Wydell. If I've helped you in any way. Leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. For more information like this, listen to our other Million Dollar Mastermind episodes and check out my Widel Academy YouTube channel and visit us on widelonwinning. Com. I'm the million dollar mastermind. And until next time, go.
