Will Rogers Family Endorses Movie ‘Will To Win’; Details Revealed

EXCLUSIVE: Details have been revealed about a new film project that is the first to receive endorsement from the family of early Hollywood icon Will Rogers.

Kirkpatrick & Kinslow Productions has optioned the rights to Jim Stovall’s novel Will to Win and is adapting it as the first movie ever to be approved by the Will Rogers family, including life rights.

Rogers, the celebrated vaudeville performer of the early 20th century, was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and became known as “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son.” By the mid-1930s he was the highest-paid star in Hollywood, but he died in a plane crash that same decade.

Filming of the Will to Win movie is being lined up for spring 2023. Set in current time, the project is a female-centric family sports drama with a Cherokee storyline, featuring an iconic Will Rogers character. Emmy-winning producers Russ Kirkpatrick and Andy Kinslow (Boomtown: An American Journey) are consulting with the Will Rogers family and Stovall on the project.

The plot involves Sky Forest, who is devastated when softball is cut at Will Rogers High, threatening the promise she made to her Cherokee parents before they died to win a championship and secure a college scholarship. The school board president tries to sabotage her last option – pitching for the boys baseball team. Through her vivid imagination, Sky enlists the help of Will Rogers himself as her spirit guide, and his wisdom and humor help her to discover the will to win.

Kirkpatrick & Kinslow have brought on producer Mark Heidelberger (The Basement) to co-produce the project, and Aaron Fulkerson, a member of the Cherokee Nation, is adapting the screenplay from the book.

The project also has buy-in from the state-owned Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Oklahoma. The pic will be filmed in the Tulsa region, where Rogers was born.

“While we have been approached many times in the past about producing movies, this is the first time the family has endorsed a movie project. We are thrilled to see that audiences in the 21st century will learn about the impact of Will Rogers on the world,” said Will Rogers’ family representative and great-granddaughter Jennifer Rogers Etcheverry.

“Informing the film with specific detail from the family is a critical and necessary step to ensuring authenticity for this story,” said producer Kirkpatrick.

The project is Jim Stovall’s ninth book to have been optioned for a movie, his most popular being The Ultimate Gift, backed by Fox.