Catharine Riggs's "What She Gave Away"

Catharine Riggs is a former banker, educator and nonprofit executive. What She Gave Away, her first work of psychological suspense, features an outsider with a dark past and a bitter grudge who moves to a wealthy beachside community only to find herself enmeshed in the secrets of her boss and his hapless wife.

Here Riggs dreamcasts an adaptation of What She Gave Away:

The movie question is fun…film rights anyone? I am a seat-of-the-pants writer so the characters morph as I go along. I create a storyboard once I commence the second draft and the characters are fixed in my head. Picturing an actress to play Kathi, the weight-obsessed, middle-aged, inebriated housewife with a penchant for denial was not difficult. Early on I settled on Nicole Kidman, a talented actress who has the ability to morph into a variety of roles.

Casting Crystal was not so easy. She’s a plus-size millennial who owns her looks and takes no prisoners in life. I finally settled on Christina Schmidt who is not model thin and seems to have the right ‘in your face’ attitude.

As for the leading men, I envision Brad Pitt playing the part of suave conman Arthur Van Meter and Robert Downey Jr. as Kathi’s cheating husband, Richard Wright.

Visit Catharine Riggs's website.

--Marshal Zeringue