Paul Norman Rich

A native of Los Angeles, Paul Norman Rich grew up in and around the Hollywood dream factory. His father worked with veteran Broadway producer Julian Olney producing and promoting theater on the west coast. Paul’s mother, born on a Midwest dairy farm, rounds out the writer’s “OZ” perspective.

Like the lead Tom Summers, Paul was a film school graduate and originally came upon his premise for Beyond The Rain at MGM, working across the street from the old lot in Culver City where he discovered that a section of the original yellow brick road had remained in tact inside legendary sound stage 27 … before being unceremoniously ripped out when the studio was bought and sold for parts.

“ I was fortunate enough to write the publicity materials for the 50th Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz while working at MGM. I met many of the famous Munchkins in addition to giving tours of the recreated sets and the giant Kansas hot-air balloon.,” informs Paul. “After 9/11 and the increasing world tension that followed, I saw The Wizard of Oz again and felt nostalgic for the innocence of my childhood. Then I remembered that remaining chunk of yellow brick road and I was off to the races, like Jazmine says in Beyond The Rain “guided by some mysterious force.”

Months after completing the script, Paul was pleased to find director Peter Jackson and other Hollywood luminaries extolling the power the film held on them in the documentary section of the newly-released commemorative DVD. Adds Paul, “Although the film is really more of an inspirational metaphor for a love story that views complicated world issues through a positive rainbow prism … for those romantic souls who are still ‘young at heart.’"

© Copyright 2007 Beyond the Rain