Stagecoach Valley nurse turns to acting

VIRGINIA CITY - Robin Adair Sparks has a Latin pop single listed No. 271 on the charts and two film scripts that could be picked up later this month at the Independent Producers Conference in Sundance, Utah.

Then there was the moment she played a cocktail waitress opposite Billy Bob Thornton in "Wakin' Up in Reno," a movie shot in Reno and Washoe Valley in January but not yet released. Sparks is a featured extra in "The Last Don," which airs Sunday on CBS.

On the flip side, Sparks is a divorced mom of two (Shane, 7, and Emily, 4) who lives at Iron Mountain Ranch in Stagecoach Valley and makes her living as an emergency room nurse and a flight nurse.

This is the same Robin Sparks who started the sexual assault response program at Carson-Tahoe Hospital in the six years she worked there before moving on to the Northern Nevada Medical Center in Sparks a year ago.

She works two 12-hour shifts a week in the emergency room at NNMC and Tuesdays she usually does a 24-hour shift aboard a twin-engine plane for American Medflight in Reno. She has accompanied critical care patients as far as Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.

But she wants to give up the stable salary and stressful lifestyle in the medical field to make a career out of acting, writing, producing and directing movies.

"I've always loved film and entertainment," said Sparks, who goes by Robin Adair in the entertainment industry. "That's my forte. It just calls me. I'm definitely adventure driven, more so than money driven. I hope to address full time to the film industry in the next couple years."

A landmark moment in her entertainment career could be only a couple weeks away.

Sparks was invited to take part in the Sundance Institute's 15th annual Independent Producers Conference July 27 to 30. Sparks has submitted two screenplays and plans to take along a third screenplay she wrote in a seven-hour spurt on the Fourth of July.

Sparks will have a chance to talk with people from the William Morris Agency, the Screen Actors Guild and dozens of production companies, including Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope, Miramax and Buena Vista International.

She's looking for hints on how to develop her scripts - where to sell them and how to finance their production. If she's lucky, a producer will buy a script from her at Sundance.

"I hope to have learned how to pitch a script so it will be hard to turn down," Sparks said. "This could be a life-changing experience."

Sparks has written six movie scripts in the past five years. The two accepted at Sundance are "Sting of Salt," a post-Y2K science fiction story involving the dwindling of the wild mustangs in Nevada; and "Stone Lake," about a band of Cherokee (Sparks is part Cherokee) isolated for many years in Yosemite until discovered by surveyors early in the 20th century.

The third screenplay that she will take along is called "String of Pearls" and is set in Virginia City. A U.S. marshal from Denver comes to Virginia City and discovers the woman he's chasing in a serial murder case is his childhood sweetheart.

"To be honest, I have written leading roles for myself in all my scripts," said Sparks, who grew up on a cattle ranch in Groveland, Calif., just north of Yosemite. "I've written my whole life, mostly poetry, prose and lyrics. What prompted me to write scripts is I'm restless and have the stress of working three jobs and raising two kids. I needed a creative outlet and something to fuel my soul."

Her first goal is to become a successful film actress - "while age is still on my side" - and then evolve as a producer and director.

"I'm thinking positively here," Sparks said. "My grandparents raised me. They always encouraged me to shoot for the stars. I don't have those insecurity boundaries to keep me from reaching to the stars. What's the worst that can happen?"

Even living in rural isolation in Lyon County - "I network really well" - Sparks has at least a foot in the door in a variety of entertainment arenas. Right now, she has a song called "It's Time We Started Falling" ranked No. 271 on the Atlantic Satellite Record Buyers Guide. It was as high as No. 253, about 30 notches away from where a song needs to be to make money, she said.

She has had six Latin pop singles on the charts and she has appeared in 12 films, including "Harvesters," and "Body and Soul." She sang backup on "Wild Horse Crossing," Virginia City resident Lacy J. Dalton's recent recording.

Sparks is gaining film production experience at the Black Forest Co., a Carson City based video production firm owned by Carson City Sheriff's Deputy Virgil E. Hammond III. She serves as a producer for infomercials, public service announcements and music videos.

"We want to move up into feature films," said Sparks, adding that maybe one of her own scripts could be produced by Black Forest and directed by her. "I've been doing (emergency medical system) work so long I'm ready to digress to film. I'm to the point now I want to slow down a bit with EMS and pursue my love."