A layoff that proved lucky

By Desiree Marie Belmarez, Special to the Rocky

Published June 5, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.

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Jessica Brody always knew she wanted to be a writer, but the 28-year-old Los Angeles resident who grew up in Colorado opted for a steady paycheck instead, which she found as a manager of acquisitions and business development at MGM.

Then a series of company layoffs left Brody unemployed. She returned to her parents' Franktown home, where she uncovered 10 books she had written when she was 7 and bound with wallpaper and duct tape. It was then that she began re-evaluating her career path.

"How did I miss this? How did I get off course?" Brody recalls thinking.

Inspired, she used part of her severance package to move to Paris and begin writing. The result is The Fidelity Files, out this month from St. Martin's Griffin imprint. A chick-lit story, Files revolves around a woman who becomes a "fidelity inspector," a temptress who tests men's fidelity to their mates for a fee.

It's a people-pleasing story that St. Martin's is banking on: The publisher has already purchased the rights to a sequel.

The author, who spent junior high and high school tossing pizzas at her parents' Denver Tech Center restaurant, the Bourbon Street Pizza Bar and Grill, spoke to the Rocky from her home in advance of her appearance June 18 at the Tattered Cover on East Colfax Avenue.

You went to Smith College and double-majored in economics and French. How did that path lead to a writing career?

Smith is a liberal arts school. In the liberal arts education you learn how to think, instead of what to think. And in economics, you learn about numbers, get into people's heads to figure out why they do things . . . There is something in there (that helps in) writing characters.

Is this your first attempt at a novel?

It technically is. I wrote a novel when I first got out of college - a pseudo novel, a bunch of diary entries about my frustration dating in L.A. The second novel I wrote was The Fidelity Files, and it was the first to get published.

You went to Paris to focus on writing your book. What led to that decision?

I went junior year (of college) to study abroad in Paris. I love Paris and the French language, and after I figured out what I wanted to do, I had the Hemingwayesque idea of writing in Paris.

When I first got laid off from my job, I got a decent severance package and decided I was going to do what I promised myself I would do. I wrote a good portion of The Fidelity Files while I was there. There is a portion of the book that takes place in Paris, and the character has a love of France - that comes from me.

Can you explain your writing routine?

I am very right- and left-brained. I create these very complicated spreadsheets for my book. I do that to give myself a gauge of where things happen in the story. I need that kind of structure to keep me motivated. I use the more strategic side of my brain to figure out how the rest of the story is going to end. I write outlines just so I have something to deviate from.

You also are involved in production work. Can you tell us about that?

In the summer of 2006, I produced my first independent feature film, Orgies and the Meaning of Life. I have a writer/director friend who is very talented, and this is his second film. We are working on getting it into film festivals; it's kind of a sex/comedy/drama. I don't focus as much on production as I (once) did. I sort of had a lot of fishing lines in the water to see what would really catch on.

I'm told you're working on a weekly TV series based on the characters in your book. What actors do you envision playing those roles? And how difficult is it to translate a book idea into a TV series?

That's in various stages. The first production company didn't get very far (with it). The production company I'm working with now asked me that question, and it's hard to think about. When we get someone (to play the roles), I want people to associate their acting name with the character name, just like people associate Eva Longoria with Gabrielle from Desperate Housewives.

You and your father collaborated on a TV movie script. Can you tell us about that?

He is retired and he likes to write. We recently optioned a (romantic comedy) screenplay, Date With Destiny, to Jeff Hayes, who produced The Starter Wife with Debra Messing on USA, and he's trying to get it made. It's a 12-month process. Recently, within the last two days, Smera Productions optioned our feature film Somniphobia (a psychological thriller). My dad and I are working a lot.

So you and your dad are not estranged like the characters in your book?

My dad and I are super close. There were obviously certain moments in (the book) that were a little awkward for him to read, you know, like sex scenes. He has to read sex scenes I write and I have to read sex scenes he writes, which is equally awkward. What I loved about this character was that she was estranged from her dad. I liked being able to explore the other side of it.

Can you tell us anything about the sequel you're working on?

Yes, I can, but not (too much) without giving away the ending. In the sequel, there is an entire agency of fidelity inspectors called the Hawthorne Agency. When you break up relationships by day and try to keep one at night, there is a lot of drama that ensues.

Desiree Marie Belmarez is a freelance writer living in Fort Collins.

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