About Project GrandSlam & The Zhongguo Orchestra
Times’ Photojournalist York Ryder arrives in the Philippines to cover US State Secretary John Berzowski’s diplomatic visit—until a devastating bombing at the Manila Hotel kills Berzowski and his delegation and shatters the mission.
Pulled into the aftermath, Ryder is tasked with assisting the CIA’s Manila Station in hunting the killers—but the operation begins with almost no intelligence, no chatter, and no clear path to the people behind the attack.
With no actionable leads and little support from foreign partners, such as the British MI-6 and the Israeli Mossad, the hunt quickly becomes a race against time in a region where alliances are fragile, and every delay widens the threat.
Forced to look closer to home, the CIA turns to its Philippine counterpart, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, whose operational lead delivers the breakthrough that sets a joint operation against a Hong Kong–based transnational syndicate in motion.
Now Ryder and COBRA, NICA’s top-secret unit, have four days to stop the Kowloon Dragon before it strikes its next target: the President of the United States.
The stakes are global, the margin for error is gone, and headquarters’ directive is brutally simple: terminate with extreme prejudice.
What follows is four days of covert pursuit, fractured loyalties, and escalating violence as Ryder moves ever closer to the center of the conspiracy.
In the next four days of covert operations, all hell will break loose, and wherever Ryder goes, blood trails will follow him.
Project GrandSlam & The Zhongguo Orchestra blends geopolitical suspense with a faith-centered emotional core, pairing a high-velocity counterterrorism plot with one man’s search for peace, meaning, and personal redemption.
In the Philippines, Ryder’s final discovery is not only the truth behind the plot, but also the redeeming grace of salvation itself.
About the Author
Jos Ilagan spent eight years as a case officer in Southeast Asia and writes fiction grounded in geopolitics, terrorism, and international security. He is at work on the next York Ryder novel, Project Firefly & The Assyrian Conspiracy. Off the page, he is an avid follower of the world’s greatest game, soccer. Website – www.josilagan.com.
About the Project
Jos Ilagan met with two Hollywood independent producers from VOYAGE MEDIA who are willing to work with him to adapt Project GrandSlam & The Zhongguo Orchestra into a feature film, but there is an initial cost to start the project.
THE ROADMAP AS EXPLAINED BY THE PRODUCERS
Step 1
Read the full manuscript to identify the unique elements that differentiate Ryder from existing action heroes in the action/thriller/spy space. This analysis will focus on mining Ryder's personal baggage, spiritual journey, and distinctive operational approach to create his "special sauce.” A proper book analysis will determine whether to develop the project as a feature film or TV series. Initial instinct leans toward a feature film given the contained four-day timeframe and the overall TV contraction + competitive TV landscape in this genre. If pursuing a feature, identify the core 2-hour narrative arc focusing on the strongest action sequences and character moments. If TV series, develop an episodic structure that expands Ryder's character development and creates drop-in/drop-out opportunities across 8-10 episodes.
Step 2
Commission a screenplay from a professional screenwriter (or pilot script if series) that distills the book into industry-standard format. The script should emphasize Ryder's unique character elements discovered in Step 1, incorporate the action set pieces that translate best to screen (rooftop confrontation, Air Force One attack, underwater operations), streamline supporting characters and subplots, and ensure Ryder feels dynamic and layered. The focus should be on a highly tailored professional script to compete with established IP. The approach will need to maintain the geopolitical thriller elements while making the project commercially viable in global markets, as Top Gun: Maverick did with its unnamed adversary.
Step 3
Once the script is developed to a professional standard, create comprehensive pitch materials, including a pitch deck if a series, or a visual lookbook for tone if a feature - matching the Philippine locations and action aesthetic, comparable titles positioning (e.g., Terminal List meets Extraction with Jack Ryan geopolitical complexity), and potential director/actor targets.
Step
Begin outreach to target buyers (Sony, Lionsgate, Amazon, MGM Studios, Paramount, Skydance, Netflix) and explore attachment possibilities for a male action lead in the 30s-40s range who can anchor a potential franchise.
Getting the Christian-spy novel ready for feature-film adaptation would require hiring a producer ($5,000.00) to write the treatment and guide story development, and a screenwriter ($15,000.00) to write the screenplay over the next 6-8 months. The treatment is the document that structures the whole project and serves as the blueprint the screenwriter uses to develop the screenplay. An additional $5,000.00 is needed for miscellaneous expenses during the project timeline, which spans for about a year.
