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`Ruby Red Princess' makes it to video Filmmakers got no help in Hollywood To the exploding list of stuff you can buy on the Internet, add "The Ruby Princess Runs Away" in home-video release. The children's movie was shot in Southern Oregon last year with more than 100 Rogue Valley residents in the cast and crew. "We're taking a great leap into the Internet void," says Malcolm Hillgartner, of Where We Live Productions, the filmmakers. Hillgartner is half of the writing team of Jahnna Malcolm (the other half is Hillgartner's wife, Jahnna Beecham). Aimed at children ages 4 to 10, the picture was shot in September and October of 1998 in Ashland and Medford. It's the story of a princess who runs off because she isn't ready to be crowned. Her place is taken by a fake, leaving it up to Princess Roxanne to oust the imposter and save the day. Hillgartner and Beecham didn't set out to distribute the video themselves, but months of Hollywood turndowns and near-misses prompted the leap. "The conventional things were taking too long," Hillgartner says. Hillgartner and Beecham and their partners, Jack Musgrove, Susan Freniere and Lynn Reynolds, shopped "The Ruby Princess" around to some 70 companies. Beecham, 46, and Hillgartner, 47, were once actors at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Jahnna Malcolm books, including the thrillers "Scared Stiff" and "Scared to Death," have sold more than 7 million copies around the world. Musgrove and Freniere brought business backgrounds ("We're definitely business-challenged," Beecham says) and raised the money for the project. Producer Reynolds worked in the film industry in Los Angeles. "We love it, but we can't buy it," was a typical response from distributors from Paramount and MGM right down to minor firms. The last straw was a company that tied up the project from July to October and didn't cut a deal. Finally, Where We Live decided to distribute the film in time for Christmas. Musgrove's son, John, did the Web site design. John Gaffey, of Ashland, did the art. Musicians Friend, the Medford-based mail-order company, will fill orders. The Web site ( www.jewelkingdom.com ) should be up by Wednesday, offering the picture in VHS for $14.95 and as a video/book combination with the first four "Ruby Princess" books for $28.95. (It's also available at Amazon.com and through a toll-free number, 877-901-2422.) A "Ruby Princess" booth is planned for Dec. 17-19 near Santa's Village at the Rogue Valley Mall, featuring the writers and characters from the movie. The picture stars Michelle Horn ("Lion King 2"), a Los Angeles child actress, and features the voice of Harvey Korman as Hapgood the Dragon. It also features Anthony Heald, Derrick Lee Weeden and Michael Hume of the OSF. Sean McCoy of Oregon Sound did the sound, OSF's Deb Trout designed costumes, and Los Angeles-based Creature Effects designed and built the dragon. Hillgartner says in buying videos from independent producers, most distributors these days want to talk in terms of a series, not individual movies, and look for toy tie-ins, male themes and action sequences. "I'd call to an acquisition person," Musgrove says. "They'd say they couldn't buy it because it's a girl-oriented plot. And 90 percent of them were women! "The whole television children's business has switched to promotion of the product. It's about selling plastic action toys at fast-food restaurants." To break even, Where We Live must sell 60,000 videos. "We know the market is there," Beecham says. "We sold 1.7 million copies of the books." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA