I'm Back, Ouch

I hate blogs that don’t update. Thus I hate myself.

I have three great excuses: Flu Back Travel. Yeah, I was sick, then I was sore and then I was away. I’m feeling mostly better, back still sore and phlegm still flowing but good enough to sit at a computer and type.

The truth is that I haven’t been writing in the script either. I’ve been away from it since I last updated. When I opened it today I couldn’t have been less motivated or inspired. I was finally able to decide what I would write next. I have to write a pretty important action scene and I know that if I just sit down and do it, pages will come. The only drawback to that plan is that I am entirely sure that the whole scene will then have to be completely rewritten because I didn’t think about it enough. I am going to marinate for a day or two and then sit back down.

I just got accepted (randomly) to direct a short film in the Boston leg of the 48 Hour Film Project. At first I didn’t make the cut but it appears a team had to withdraw, so there was an opening. I had already committed to shooting someone else’s film in the competition but had to bail on them because what I really want to do is direct. I’m trying to crew up for the weekend of writing, shooting and editing. So far I have a few positive responses and some gear.

I’m also thinking about entering a film into the Salem Amateur Horror Film Festival. At this moment I might enter the first 10 minutes or so of a script I started but stopped because the movie Underworld came out and was so similar to my plot I had to stop. My idea wasn’t about vampires fighting werewolves, but more about the hidden battle between a group of people afflicted with a curse/virus/disease and the people who are hunting them down with hopes to eliminate them. My story was much more personal and much less Matrix meets Interview with a Vampire meets the Matrix meets the Matrix (did I mention meets the Matrix?) I was going for more Running on Empty meets I Was A Teenage Werewolf.

I’ve been thinking about how to rework it and I might just tweak the opening with a bit more story and a dramatic arc of some sort. Maybe this will inspire me enough to reopen the script and try to make it less like the mediocre monster movie that beat me to the big screen.