A single father of three deals with life, his children, and mounting pressure as he is given three weeks to write a new novel or face losing all of his dreams.
Jack Everyman (2006) Online
This is the story of John "Jack" Elkman, a divorced father of three. Once a bestselling novelist, Jack has found himself in self-imposed exile, with only his children and three best friends as contact with the outside world. For three years, Jack has suffered from writer's block, and his royalties are steadily shrinking. It's hard to write when your youngest child is a toddler, your son's school is calling you in for meetings about certain pictures he's drawing in art class, your teenage daughter is getting ready for prom, and your ex-wife is trying to reintegrate herself into your life. With his head stuck firmly in the sand, Jack would give anything to be able to write again. In the "be careful what you wish for" motif, Jack suddenly finds himself with the best possible news at the worst possible time: a Hollywood studio has offered a deal to film his novel, Calling Gotham, and its sequel. Two slight problems: Jack has never gotten around to writing the sequel, and now he only has ...
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
 | Sean K. Thompson | - | John "Jack" Elkman |
| Samantha Walker | - | Monica Elkman |
| Mark Jessup | - | Scott Elkman |
| Kathryn Worsham | - | Moira Elkman |
| Rick Evans | - | Tom |
 | Joe Grisaffi | - | Larry |
 | Sara Gaston | - | Susan Andrews |
| Kenan Baluken | - | Jed |
| James Ross | - | The Big Guy |
 | Junie Hoang | - | Beth (Jed's Wife) |
| Jana Satterwhite | - | Waitress |
| Derek Lanphier | - | Chad |
 | James E. Oxford | - | Ben |
| Robert Frith | - | Shakespeare's Sphincter Lead Singer |
 | Lance R. Marshall | - | Jamie |
To keep with the "slice-of-life" motif of the movie, several scenes were completely ad-libbed, including the basketball game, Jack's meeting with his son's teacher, and Susan and Jack's first encounter.
The film was completely shot in the Houston area (with the exception of a Hollywood establishing shot that was filmed on a business trip) with all-local cast and crew. All locations were local businesses that donated their places free of charge.
Winner of the Silver Remi Award for Dramatic Feature at the 2005 WorldFest International Film Festival.
Written, filmed, edited, produced, and submitted to WorldFest without a single contract being signed.
Some in-jokes were included in the film. The writer, Sean K. Thompson, frequently includes a fictional rock band named "Shakespeare's Sphincter" in his stories. The band finally comes to life in this film, played by The Robert Frith Band. Also, every time someone is shown reading, the book is Thompson's real-life novel, "Timecross'd: A Love Story Out of Time".
Jack's family name comes from the Dutch word 'elkmans', which means 'everyman'.