Correction
Topic: Pre-production
Our budget will actually be $325,000.

It's official ... we're filmmakers!!!!!
Topic: Pre-production
Rob's text arrived at 11:30 tonight: "We have a deal. We're making a movie."

No exact details, but it appears that Rob's business meeting went off without a hitch. He was armed with a business plan and a copy of our script ... and got approved for a $300,000 budget.

I could not be more excited.

The verdict is in...
Topic: The Script
After steathily dropping off two scripts where Rob works (he had gone home to feed their dogs), I waited with anxious anticipation all day to find out what everyone thought of the first draft.

Rob had called me last night to let me know that Barb and our DP were in his living room reading the script. As I would find out later, Rob took off work today to read the script and finish the business plan.

After e-mailing our DP a question about a knife he had shown me at his house, which happened to be the exact length of the one described in the script, his response included a "great job on the script" comment. He also said "I think we have something special here."

But it wasn't until hours later that I heard from Rob. All of my fears that they would not like what I had done with the story were put to rest in about ten seconds. He said that they were gushing (his word) about it. I could hear the excitement in his voice ... he was elated to be spearheading this project. He had said to me once that because of the short timeframe that they had to follow, they were counting on me (no pressure) to deliver a solid first draft. I can't explain in words -- and I'm a writer -- how good it felt that I came through for him. And in a big way, apparently.

I expected him to focus on the death scenes or the creepiness or the finale as what they loved most about the script. But Barb, who is not really a slasher fan, said it was the characters that stood out. That I had done a great job creating engaging characters, with dynamic relationships. That the banter between them was great. I was relieved to hear this because I had always been concerned that my characters -- in all of my scripts -- were not three dimensional, that I had no real concept of what that meant. I always figured that my characters would be somewhere between 2D and 3D ... so I would be happy with having characters who were 2.5 dimensional.

So there you have it. Getting the script done early will help them immensely. My next deadline is to finish a second draft -- which may very well be the shooting draft -- by August 15th, which was the original deadline of the first draft. I could do it much quicker, but I'm going to Phoenix next weekend and the following weekend, we will be returning to the location so that I can adapt some of the scenes to where we'll actually be filming, which was my request.

FADE OUT
Topic: The Script
Finished the first draft just before 3am.

Length: 76 pages.

Start to finish: 25 days.

Ahead of schedule by: 25 days.

Wow, it took me exactly half the time that I estimated. Pure coincidence ... and not too shabby. Rob will be pleased.

Location, location, location
Topic: Pre-production
Today was my first ever location scouting. We drove up to a place in Angelus Oaks, California, called Seven Oaks cabins. We had heard that they were rustic and a bit rundown, perfect for our film.

Please know that I have knocked on wood in order to protect myself here, because the place was absolutely perfect. It will change a few things in the script but not too much. The cabins looked great (for what we want), the proximity of each cabin to the next is ideal, and there's even a scenic creek. Six cabins and we wanted all of them. We expected to just look, but they were so perfect for the script that Barb negotiated pricing for four weeks. First, without weekends, but once we found out that we would have to be out on Fridays by 11am, we decided to get them for the weekends, too. Except for one weekend, which was already booked.

A four week shoot, September 26th through October 22nd (the extra day for packing everything up and getting the hell out of Dodge). About an hour and a half's drive from home, which means I can go back home on the weekends and might even have Jasmine and Logan drive up for a weekend. He would love it ... a creek, big bugs, the whole deal. Well, maybe not a whole weekend, because of the sleeping factor (we might have up to four people in one cabin), but possibly a day long trip to watch the film being shot for a few hours.

The place is pretty much a done deal. The guy marked it on the calendar and asked for a small deposit to hold the cabins. Rob's getting that from his brother in the next couple of days. Wow ... it looks like we're actually making a movie here. Knock on more wood.

After looking around the cabins, we stopped by a local restaurant for a bite to eat. The restaurant was perfect as well, so we'll be talking to the owners about renting out the place for a day. But that will come later.

And finally, we stopped by Forest Falls to check out a waterfall, because a waitress at the restaurant had told us about it. Luckily, it was less than perfect which kept our karma in check ... I don't think we could handle another miracle like the waterfall being exactly what we were looking for. It's workable, but the finale would have to change to a certain extent. So we'll hunt around for a better waterfall.

Only one bad thing for the day -- Rob's brother wants to see a one page treatment. Damn ... I hate writing treatments. But I gotta do what I gotta do. For the cause.

Rob still doesn't know that I plan to have the first draft of the script done by July 22nd, about three weeks ahead of schedule. He'd probably shit himself.

Post meeting
Topic: The Script
We did a bunch of brainstorming last night. Not a lot was decided, but we got the overall direction figured out.

Going through every little detail would be pretty boring and possibly spoilerish, but basically, today we discussed possible origins, connections with the manager, where the killer lives, etc.

We also briefly discussed how the killer would be disposed of. I asked Rob if we could drop a tree on him. He didn't know if I was joking or hinting ... and neither did I.

We discussed a handful of smaller elements, but most of those will end up in the script so there's very little reason to discuss them here.

And, yes, we talked about possible nudity. We are making a slasher film, after all.

No fire. Cost prohibitive. There goes how I was going to dispose of the 17-year-old geek.

Our killer's weapon of choice -- the kukri
Topic: The Script
At my wife's suggestion...

Hallow's Eve
A mock-up teaser poster, using our working title.

Pre-meeting jitters
Topic: The Script
Tonight will be our first meeting. As a precursor, I pitched him my idea for the opening sequence.

He said two words: fucking brilliant.

Now I feel much better.

The opening may not be the most original thing ... Halloween 2 continued where Halloween stopped. Friday the 13th, Part 2 recapped the events in the first film. But what makes ours different is the fact that THIS is the first film. No previous movie exists. Hopefully, that will help it stand out a little.

We also discussed how we both want to deviate from what other slashers have done. We're not trying to reinvent the genre or anything, but there are certain areas where we plan to interject our own sense of style. Such as the killer stalking people in daylight and people being killed in front of their friends, instead of dividing up the group and taking them out one by one.

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.