TV Project Up Next For Fallsburg's Niederman

By Jeanne Sager
PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. — The next chapter in the life of Sullivan’s most prolific writer will play out on TV sets across the country this May.
It’s being promoted as V.C. Andrews’ Rain, but the storyline of the new DVD came from Fallsburg’s own Andrew Neiderman.
Raised in Woodridge, Neiderman taught English at Fallsburg Central School for more than 20 years.
He left town when his writing career took off – he’d been tapped to keep fans of V.C. Andrews’ reading.
Virginia Cleo Andrews’ “Flowers in the Attic” is a cult classic, but the author died in 1986 after a battle with breast cancer.
Her family turned to Neiderman, already a published author with his own following (he’s had almost 90 novels published, 36 in his own name).
In the years since he left Sullivan for California, he’s seen several of his tales become movies, including “The Devil’s Advocate.”
Written under his own name, the book was turned into an Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves hit in the late ’90s.
“Rain,” published in 2000 as the first in Andrews’ Hudson series, was filmed last year with legendary stars Faye Dunaway and Robert Loggia, Donna Summers’ daughter Brooklyn Sudano and “CSI: Miami” star Khandi Alexander in the lead roles.
Neiderman wrote the screenplay, and penned the prequel novella that will be included in the DVD package available in stores this May.
The movie will premiere on April 29 in a special event in Neiderman’s adopted hometown.
The Palm Springs Film Society and ACT for MS will show the film during a $100-a-seat fundraiser for the multiple sclerosis society.
Neiderman’s friend Dr. Stanley Friedman, once a Woodridge physician, struggled with MS for many years before his death.
Their friendship continued when first Friedman and then Neiderman moved to California, and the Neiderman family has become staunch supporters of the fight against MS.
The premiere will bring in thousands for the event, Neiderman said. They’ve already capped attendance for the showing and reception with the stars at 300 because of an overwhelming response.
He expects it may even get a mention on Entertainment Tonight.
Neiderman has a lot on his mind these days.
The premiere is less than a month away, and his phone is ringing off the hook.
This is a guy who writes the average novel in four months.
He’s already completed the Andrews’ titles expected to hit shelves in 2008, and he’s working on the 2009 series about a Mexican girl who comes to America.
“Rain” will be taken to Cannes in May, and Neiderman will be making the rounds in New York for promotions.
Meanwhile, he’s in negotiations with the Lifetime television network to turn V.C. Andrews’ Ruby series into a television mini-series, and he’s writing a screenplay based on a title published with his own moniker, “Finding Satan.”
He’s got just three songs left to write for a musical version of “The Devil’s Advocate,” and there’s a new novel, “Unholy Birth” coming out in July.
“Secrets in the Attic,” a V.C. Andrews novel set in Mountaindale (Neiderman used the town’s original name, Sandburg, in the book) will hit shelves in September.
But first, it must rain.
The DVD and novella will be in stores on May 29 as a rare package deal.
“It’s really a feel-good family movie,” Neiderman said. “It’s not a blockbuster, it’s not got a big studio behind it.”
But already Amazon is pairing the movie in a two-for deal with “The Departed,” and the retail market has been expanded with stores stocking the movie on bookshelves and the book in the film section.
And the next book in the Hudson series is being considered for a movie.
Neiderman’s just waiting to see if “Lightning Strikes” with Hollywood.