So often we, the media/ blogoshpere focus on the negative stories, who got shot spazzed out in the club, got suied, dumbed out and caught a case.  Why because its sexy, its what people are interested.  But every now and then a feel good story hits the scene that warms the heart in quite the same vain.

Michael Martin, A New York City transit clerk recently entered a screenplay contest in hopes of winning some quick cash to cop a new whip to replace his old one he totaled in an accident. What he got was so much more than he expected.

His script, hood crime store entitled “Brooklyn’s Finest,” took home the second place prize in the contest, but eventually would end up on the desk of Mary Viola, a Warner Bros producer.  Fate would have it that Viola was looking for a fresh new writer to write the screenplay for her sequel to the 1991 film “New Jack City.”

In the hands of Viola, Martin’s original script “Brooklyn’s Finest” drew the attention of some Hollywood heavy hitters. Independent production house, Millennium Films picked up the flick and recruited Antoine Fuqua to direct.  Richard Gere and Don Cheadle signed on to star as cops in the Brooklyn police thriller.  The story described as a “Crash” meets “Training Day” will also reunite Fuqua with actor Ethan Hawke.

“I had never written a screenplay before,” Michael Martin told the Hollywood Reporter. “I thought, ‘How hard can it be?’ I was more like, ‘If I win this, I can get a new car…I worked for a bus company that got indicted by the Feds because of Mob connections.  I could not have written ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ without that experience.”

The movie is slated to begin shooting in Brooklyn this May. “Things are moving very fast right now. It’s something I’ve been waiting a long time for,” Martin said.

In the meanwhile, Martin continues to take care of his newborn and reports to his new gig as a construction flagger for NYC Transit.  During his breaks he sneaks some time to write “New Jack City 2.”  Oh yeah and he’s driving his new whip. Great story!  Shout: Reuters