To achieve a goal you must first have one. Jack Carr at the age of seven decided he wanted to become a Seal. So, he would go to the library where his mother worked and learn all he could about Seals. He became a veracious reader on military strategy and consumer of all the information he could get on special forces world wide. When he was old enough, he was able to successfully reach his goal of being a Seal. Goal one achieved.
Another goal of Jack’s was to be a writer. His Mother instilled in him the love of Books, so he knew when he was done with his Seal career he wanted to become an author. That is exactly what he did. He wrote his first book The Terminal List. While he was writing the book, he envisioned the success of the book and who would play the main character in the movie. He also picked out who he would have direct the movie.
“Before I had a book deal or anything, I thought, ‘who would be the perfect person to bring James Reese to life?’ Chris Pratt. Then I thought, ‘who would be the perfect person to direct it?’ Antoine Fuqua. I picked them before they even knew who I was,” Carr told The Hollywood Reporter recently at the L.A. premiere. “They were my dream. I’ve always been such a fan of Antoine’s work and with Chris, I saw him in Parks and Recreation and then watched his transformation into playing a SEAL operator in Zero Darky Thirty. As I was typing away, he made this rise to A-list prominence.”1
All the connections happened because Jack was provided helpful information to Jared Shaw when Jared was finishing his career as a Seal. Jack brought Jared into his office, and they talked about Jared’s plans and Jack provided some connections and names that could potentially be beneficial to Jared. Because Jack and Jared’s friendship The Terminal List went from book to TV series in record time. Jared provided the background to Military.com:
“”In the position I’m in, I get stuff thrown at me quite a bit. Jack is always very kind when he tells the story, but I always say we’ve got to reverse a little bit more and go back to where it began. When I was transitioning out of the military, I was back and forth on what to do. I had just screened positive for the selection course for SEAL Team Six. But this industry is something I always wanted to be a part of. I had never really talked to people about it, but I played the safe route and said to myself, ‘I’m going to get out and go back to Texas, jump into the gun industry, teach people to shoot self-defense,’ that type of thing.
“As I’m getting out, Jack was the only person in a leadership position who came up to me and said, ‘Jared, I hear you’re getting out; what are your plans?’ We didn’t really know each other. We’ve worked together just a little bit. I said, ‘I’m kind of back and forth on a few things.’ He said, ‘Come into my office,’ and we sat down. He devoted his time and went over different options with me and then connected me with people that he knew and worked with in the outside world. He didn’t have to do that, and it always, always stuck with me.
“Fast forward five years or so. I get a call from a mutual buddy who said, ‘Hey, man, I got a book I think you should read.’ And then he said Jack’s name. I said, ‘I remember him. He did something for me that he had no reason to do. He owed me nothing, but he invested some time in me.
“Right away, that opened the door. I said, ‘Absolutely. Let me look at that book.’ I thought that here’s a military guy getting out with no writing experience. I’m gonna read the book, but we’ll see. When I read the book, I was blown away, absolutely blown away, because Jack’s able to speak the language. He comes from that world.
“He tied the military world into a story that knocked me off my feet. So I got hold of him. I said, ‘Jack, I got a buddy I gotta give this to. Do you mind if I give it to Chris Pratt?’ And he’s like, ‘Absolutely!’ And he tells me that’s how he’s envisioned it.
“So I gave it to Chris and he loved it. Then Mr. Antoine Fuqua here had been pitched it at the same time, so our worlds connected with him and [producer] Kat Samick. We had dinner and it was an honor for me to be able to meet him, just knowing his background and what he had done. When we met him, that was the beginning of it. Once we kicked off, I got to meet Dave DiGilio.
“Loyalty in our community is a big deal. From the beginning of working with him, he’s displayed that loyalty, and I’ll forever have a friend in him from this point on. So this is just the A team to work with, just a bunch of solid, solid people and I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Summary:
Because Jack set clear goals and worked towards them, he achieved the goal of becoming a Seal and an author. Because Jack was willing and able to be a resource to others his book went from being a book to a TV series in an amazing short amount of time.