Video: Patricia Heaton talks about making a movie in OKC while promoting her new book on 'Today' and 'Good Morning America'

Jul. 21--Emmy-winning actor and best-selling author Patricia Heaton is making the television talk-show rounds this week to talk about her new book "Your Second Act: Inspiring Stories of Reinvention," out today.

While chatting up the book Monday on "Good Morning America" and the "Today" show, Heaton also talked about her recent coronavirus pandemic pivot. She was producing an independent movie in Oklahoma City with two of her four sons and her husband, David Hunt, when the spring COVID-19 outbreak meant they had to shut down the project with just five days of filming left.

So, they returned to Los Angeles, where her formerly empty nest suddenly became quarantine central with three of their sons.

According to the Oklahoma Film + Music Office, Heaton, Hunt and Oklahoma native Brent Ryan Green are producing in Oklahoma a movie adaptation of Bob Tarte's 2003 book "Enslaved by Ducks: How One Man Went From Head of the Household to the Bottom of the Pecking Order."

Described as a quirky, life-affirming comedy, the story centers on a music critic named Bob, who is out of a job, addicted to Zoloft and trying to wrangle the menagerie of animals his wife Linda has accumulated. Will adopting a baby cure their existential angst? Or should they just rescue another duck?

The film is written by Rodney Vaccaro and directed by Hunt. It is still listed on the Oklahoma Film + Music Office's roster of projects that have been conditionally pre-qualified to utilize the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program, although under the title "Bob and Linda." The dates when it will resume filming are to be announced.

In 2001, Heaton co-founded FourBoys Films, a production company which she runs with her husband. The company produced the Sony feature comedy "Moms' Night Out," TNT's production of "The Engagement Ring" and Walden Media's "Amazing Grace."

Heaton also is an Emmy-winning actor who has played multiple beloved TV moms. She most recently played in the title role in the lauded but short-lived CBS comedy "Carol's Second Act." But she is probably best known for her role as Debra Barone on the classic series "Everybody Loves Raymond," on which won two Emmy Awards for the role and was nominated seven times.

She starred in ABC's critically acclaimed comedy "The Middle," as Frankie Heck, a mom trying to find balance between her family and career in the Midwest. The show aired from 2009 to 2018.

In addition, Heaton is author of New York Times best-selling autobiography "Motherhood and Hollywood -- How to Get a Job Like Mine." In it, she recounts her childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, her struggles to start a career in New York City, and her eventual success in Los Angeles, where she is now based.

When Heaton's children left the nest, she discovered she had the time to pursue passions that were previously placed on hold, both personally and professionally. In her new book, "Your Second Act," she shares wisdom from her own personal journey as well as insight from stories of numerous people across the country.

She will talk about the new book again today when she appears on "The View," which airs at 10 a.m. weekdays on ABC.

-BAM

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