Gauley pens book with movie planned

FORT MADISON – When it’s helping on movie sets, styling hair, or even pruning plants, Fort Madison’s Aimee Gauley is going to find an outlet for her creative energy.
The owner of Aimee’s Salon on 9^th Street in downtown Fort Madison has just self-published a book based in Fort Madison, but fictional in nature. And not only has she published the book, but said there is also a movie deal in the works.
Gauley, who’s served as an associate producer on several movie sets and has also been employed as a make-up and hair and special effects artist on sets said there are plans to shoot her murder mystery novel Hunter and Prey.
Gauley self-published the book at her own cost, but then has been marketing it regionally and grabbed the attention of festival producers who have shown interest in filming the book, which has prompted Gauley to develop a screenplay before actually finishing the thriller.
She had sent a portion of the novel to a production company who jumped at the chance to produce a full length film based on the novel.
Gauley is working with Barnes and Noble in Iowa City who she said at first wasn’t interested in self-published works.
“Until they were like 'Oh, its already been optioned for a movie' and I told them I stopped writing the book to finish the screenplay after the production company read the first part of the book and wanted to put it on their slate of projects,” she said.
Having never written a screenplay before, Gauley didn’t hesitate.
“I never say I can’t do anything and I was like ‘Yeah, I can do that'. But I had no idea how to do that so I had to learn.”
She’s worked with different production companies, including the company that produced “Intent Unknown” that was partially filmed in Fort Madison by TNG Films and premiered in March. Another project she worked on was a movie shot in the Quad Cities called Paper Plates, a feature-length comedy released in February. That movie won best comedy at one festival and was honorable mention in other festivals.
The experience in working on those sets positioned her well to develop the screenplay for her own book, and the networking helped set the stage for the future production of “Hunter and Prey.” Production was supposed to have started this year, but the company’s schedule has been pushed back.
“Hunter and Prey” was her first book and she’s not starting on a second novel. She said most people are getting through the novel in two to three days.
“It’s set in Fort Madison about a woman who owns a flower shop and she’s going through a nasty divorce and her estranged husband has ties to law enforcement and he’s stalking her,” Gauley said.
“The twist on this is there is a mentally unstable person who enters into the mix. The estranged husband is so focused on terrorizing and tormenting her that he doesn’t recognize that someone is targeting him.”
She said she references the Old Fort, Parthenon Pizza, Chuong Garden, the Sheaffer Pen building, and Simple Table.
“The main character grew up on a farm outside of Keosauqua,” she said. “It’s something that I’m hoping goes on and does really great things. And I love Fort Madison.”
Those interested in purchasing the novel can do so starting at midnight May 8^th on Amazon. There is a hardback and a paperback and other bookstores will be allowed to order the book through Amazon partners through expanded distribution.
“When most people self-publish it can be crap, but I guarantee you this isn’t crap,” Gauley said.