About Davis
Bunn
Davis Bunn is a
four-time Christy Award-winning, best-selling author now serving as
writer-in-residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University in the United
Kingdom. Defined by readers and reviewers as a “wise teacher,” “gentleman
adventurer,” “consummate writer,” and “Renaissance man,” his work in business
took him to over 40 countries around the world, and his books have sold more
than seven million copies in sixteen languages.
Unlimited is Davis’s
first screenplay to be released as a major motion picture. The book, Unlimited, is a novelization of the
screenplay.
The inspiration behind the Unlimited film and novel is Harold
Finch's book, Success: Four Keys to
Unlock Your Unlimited Potential. Download a free copy of Success here: http://unlimitedthemovie.com/4-keys-book/.
Q & A
with Davis Bunn
The storyline in Unlimited
is inspired by true events. What actual events inspired the story?
Harold Finch was formerly the
founder and CEO of the first management-leadership consulting groups in the US.
In the mid-seventies he sold the company to H&R Block for over a hundred
million dollars—back when a hundred million actually meant something. Answering
God’s call, he has spent the past three decades traveling the world, teaching
his concepts for free and helping underprivileged children learn that they do
indeed have both a purpose in God’s eyes, and the potential to succeed. His
experiences form the basis for this story.
What ignited your idea for the
characters to create a device that would convert raw wasted energy into useable
power?
I actually wrote the screenplay
for the film before writing the novel. This happens occasionally—Godfather and Love Story were both conceived in this order. While working on the
film script, the producer and Harold and I were discussing what might work as a
basis for the story’s suspense element. We were looking for something that had
the means of revealing this ‘unlimited’ potential in people. I don’t actually
remember who first came up with the idea of wasted energy, but soon as it was
said, we all jumped on it.
Simon Orwell, the protagonist in
Unlimited, is a brilliant, cynical electrical engineering student who
finds danger irresistible. Did you model his character traits after yourself or
anyone you know?
Alas, we all know a Simon. These days, this type of person
is all too common. An individual with huge potential, who allows himself or
herself to become distracted by the multitude of temptations that basically
define modern life. And yes, I do know several such people. Some turn this into
hugely productive directions, thank goodness. Usually to do so requires divine
help, a clarification of focus, and strength they must reach out and ask to
receive.
Armando Vasquez and Harold Finch
are important mentors in Simon’s life. Who has been a critical mentor in your
life, Davis? How has that person encouraged you to push beyond the boundaries
of what you thought possible?
There have been several such
mentors, for which I remain extremely grateful. One such person is Carol
Johnson, who recently retired as editor-in-chief at Bethany House Publishers. Carol
has been instrumental in my becoming the best writer I could be, and continues
to act as a sounding board for new ideas and characters. Another, I am happy to
say, is Harold Finch. His lessons on combining God’s teachings with lifelong
aims have been a genuinely rewarding experience with far-reaching results.
Many of the characters in the
story are orphans. What parallels do you see between the orphans in the story
and real-life spiritual orphans?
A beautiful question. While
researching the core components of this story, orphanage leaders repeatedly
stressed the need to teach orphans to believe in themselves and their natural
abilities. Too often they see themselves as lost, without purpose, without a
role to play, without chances, without love. What made this story work, I
think, is how Simon Orwell shares these same feelings about himself. And how he
comes to realize God is the only one to fill this need.
Many people believe they must
wear a mask to hide the parts of themselves they are ashamed of. How is this
story about removing that mask?
So much of life remains hidden
away. The darker elements of a life without God only amplify this falseness. Simon
has spent so much of his life, so much of his energy and time, in hiding. As
the story unfolds, he discovers that an essential element of arriving at his
full potential is being honest with himself. This is where the
mask is most damaging, and also where it is often hardest to release. We seek
to hide the truth, even when we know the act is a lie in itself. And the mirror
we require to see the truth about ourselves is the one that God offers, in
infinite patience, in gentle love.
The title, Unlimited, has
multiple layers of meaning. What does that title mean to you?
Unlimited was the
title brought to me by the film’s producers. When I first began working on this
story, it was just that, a title. But as I grew to know Harold, and heard him
teach, and read his lesson plan, and then actually applied what he has come to
call his ‘Dynamic Life Retreat’ (see Harold full teachings on his website,
HaroldFinch.com) I have come to agree with them in their choice. Bringing God
into the equation of life’s direction, success, and reaching full potential
does reveal the true meaning of Unlimited.
How can readers find you on the Internet?
Trailer for Unlimited: The Movie
Amanda Flower started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Her debut mystery, Maid of Murder, was an Agatha Award Nominee for Best First Novel and the first in a series featuring amateur sleuth India Hayes. Like her main character, Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. Her next mystery, Murder in a Basket, was released in January 2012 from Five Star. In July 2012, her first Amish mystery, A Plain Death, was released from B&H. For Penguin/NAL she writes under the pen name Isabella Alan. Visit her online at www.amandaflower.com. 
