FADE IN:
Topic: The Script
Had a brainstorm of how to open our film. Something to make it stand out from other slashers.

So with very little to go on, I started writing the opening scene. Which means that today marks the first day of writing the script.

My basic idea is this: we start the movie as if it's a sequel. Our killer's rampage is already in full swing. So the first thing we see is the last victim of the first group of college kids (who we will never see) get killed, just before we meet our group of college kids, who have broken down on the side of the road.

I hope Rob likes it. This may show whether or not Rob and I are, or ever will be, on the same page with this thing.

The exodus continues...
Various notes about the script today:

Rob wants our characters to stand up to the killer at some point, but just momentarily.

If we could get a known actress, I'd vote for Erica Durance, who plays Lois on Smallville. Not only is she hot, but she's a scream queen waiting to happen (but the tough kind, of course).

We cleared up a misconception. Rob doesn't like knives, so I thought he didn't want the killer to have a knife. But just the opposite ... knives scare Rob, so they're perfect.

Not sure who will get the credits for the film. I will have sole screenwriting credit, but Story By is still up for grabs.

Untitled Slasher Movie
Topic: The Script
Yep, that's what we're doing ... a slasher film. Boy, if there was any genre or sub-genre that I never thought I would write, it's slasher. I really have no interest in writing a slasher film, but that's what we've chosen. And since I'm getting some money upfront for the script (well, once we get financed, i.e. two weeks after the script is done), who am I to argue?

I pitched an idea to Rob called The Portrait, part of which I got from my cousin Stacy's husband Saint, but it wasn't the direction that Rob wanted to take.

Rob gave me some ideas of where he wanted to go, a take on the Halloween movies. Basically, it starts with kids in a car. Going to a Halloween party. One tells a legend about a killer from thirty years ago. Car breaks down. They walk to a motel. Creepy old woman as the manager. They decide to have their own Halloween party. 30th anniversary of the killings. The killer's son continues this father's reign of terror. I noted that there were some cliches there, which are almost impossible to avoid in any horror film, especially a slasher, and he agreed ... but I don't have any better ideas.

Rob had some really good ideas for the killer, the characters, and the film itself.

The killer: No masks. Big knives. Killings will be witnessed by other people. He called this Halloween meets Friday the 13th meets Psycho meets-Identity.

The characters: Not cartoonish. Like characters from a Cameron Crowe film. Regular people trying to survive the most horrific night of their lives.

The film: No movie references. Nothing self-aware. No winks or nods to the audience. Play it straight. The idea of a twist ending was briefly discussed, but Rob nixed his own idea right away.

It's shaping up. I just haven't gotten very excited about it yet. Wonder if that will ever happen. But hey, at least I'm getting paid.

Preliminary dates
Topic: Pre-production
We're hoping to shoot in the Fall. Definitely by the end of the year for tax reasons (a stipulation of getting the money).

I'm writing this entry about a month into the writing of the script. In most of my posts (at least the ones dated until mid-July), I am trying to relay the feelings I had on the entry dates (and doing pretty well, I might add). But I am diverting from this for this one entry, because it will be funny to put some things into prospective in my later entries.

Stay with me and you'll understand soon.

I'm quoting Rob here. This is what he said, verbatim, about the film, before even a page had been written: "We're obviously not hoping to take Sundance by storm with this film. We're not looking to get recognized as the next hot thing either. This is simply to make some money. So, with that said, I think we don't have to fret over everything as closely as we have on 23rd. I guess I consider 23rd a real movie and this horror project porn."

For the most part, anything Rob tells me will be paraphrased. But the above statement had to be quoted exactly as he said it, because as you will see soon, our feelings changed rather quickly. Rob wasn't wrong in what he said ... I saw it the same way. I was a screenwriting whore for a paycheck that I desperately needed, quality be damned.

But, as Rob freely admits now, the change in attitude was due to my strange surge of excitement in this project ... all because of an idea for one scene.

Initial details
Topic: The Script
After a week of nail biting, Rob provided some details of what's going on.

23rd Letter, what was to be our first film together, has been put on hold.

Why? Because Rob has finalized a deal to make a horror film. Budget is $250,000. Money is coming from his brother and a business partner (but not the one involved with 23rd Letter).

This film is to make money. It doesn't have to break any barriers. It just has to be good enough for distribution.

So what's the idea? There is none. But we do have two potential ideas: an idea about a haunted Bed and Breakfast ... or a slasher.

Coincidentally, Rob and I had discussed working on a horror film while we waited for storyboards to be finished for 23rd Letter, but Barb nixed that idea. And now, here we are again.

And yes ... I am the writer.

Dawn of a new project
Topic: The Script
Rob e-mailed me today to let me know that a new project was being discussed. A funded project. Not 23rd Letter. Something else.

My biggest question, even more important than whether or not 23rd Letter will be affected, is ... will I be the writer?

Details to follow.