Co-author Ramona Hammel Pitches Rate to Screenwriter, Director, and Producer Deborah Pearl

Co-author Ramona Hammel recently completed a pitch meeting with screenwriter, director, and producer Deborah Pearl to explore ‘Rate,’ the first installment of the Setterington family saga, as a potential film or television series.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 10th Sep 2026 - Pearl’s career began on the acclaimed TV comedy Designing Women before she moved into screenwriting, playwriting, and directing. Her short film Getting Ed Laid, starring Ed Asner and Jean Smart, won the Lou Costello Award for Comedy Short at the 2016 Garden State Film Festival, while her earlier short Waiting for Yvette, starring Wendie Malick, won an audience award at the 2007 Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films. She is also the author of the forthcoming Finding Your Creative Voice - A Guide to Authenticity and The Art of Self Expression.

Rate opens on a December night in 1893 at the Setterington homestead near Elsie, Michigan, as farmer Milford “Millie” Setterington waits through his wife Almina’s difficult labor, hoping for a son. When the boy arrives, Milford names him Ralph Horatio and calls him “Rate,” the same nickname his own demanding father used. The inherited name reflects a larger pattern: Milford raises Ralph according to the same harsh methods that shaped his own childhood. The family’s move from England to Canada and eventually to Michigan, along with its transition from farm to town life, unfolds alongside this generational story.

Pearl praised the strength of the family material and the opening birth scene, while encouraging Hammel to develop specific scenes showing the relationship between Milford and his father and, in turn, Milford and Ralph. She recommended connecting these moments through a stronger dramatic progression, with Rate reaching a clear emotional resolution rather than relying on future installments to complete the story.

Following the pitch, Rate remains under consideration as a potential screen adaptation, with Pearl’s feedback offering direction for further development of the material.

Donna Gene Stankey, who grew up on a farm outside Elsie, Michigan, and later earned a degree from Western Michigan University, spent decades collecting the family stories that became the foundation of the Setterington saga. Hammel, her daughter and co-author, helped bring those stories to publication and continues to represent the series.

The four-book Setterington series—Rate, The Lad Called Rate, The Mischief Maker, and Forever a Farmer—will be featured at the 2026 Manila International Book Fair following an earlier appearance in Beijing. 

Rate and the complete Setterington family saga are available through Amazon and other major online bookstores.

About Explora Books 

Explora Books is a book marketing firm located in the heart of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company specializes in self-publishing and marketing, taking pride in its exhaustive research and creative strategies that provide wider avenues for aspiring authors to gain recognition for their works. Explora Books aims to guide authors through the complexities of self-publishing, offering convenient solutions to navigate this process. The firm fosters and redefines creativity and innovation, setting new industry standards. Explora Books is dedicated to empowering authors globally.

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