Joshua
07-14-2007, 07:31 PM
With Hour of Darkness (H.O.D.) behind me now, at least as far as the script is concerned, I started focusing on a much smaller budgeted project, Ghosts in the Woods. H.O.D. had proved to be a huge undertaking, as it was my first real marketable script, and I am sure it will have its challenges once we actually start filming it.
Last year proved to have its highs and lows, as I began the year with a nice agent, and a possible sale of the original script, only to have things sort of come to a grinding hault. As any writer knows, these sort of things happen all the time. In short the production company interested in producing H.O.D. wanted the script, but without an option. Mike, nor myself, liked the idea of letting some production company hold the script indefinitly without putting any money on the table. So we calmly stated no, and took the project elsewhere... Mike's organization the WSAI continues to grow, and I'm sure he has more details than me, but hopefully within the next few years, we will be able to produce H.O.D. ourselves, of which would be awesome, as well as yet another learning experience for me.
In the mean time I switched gears to a much smaller project, namely Ghosts in the Woods. With all the fus and hooplah of H.O.D. I at first was very burnt out. It was a hard lesson learned, and a valuable one, as everything else. During the H.O.D. writing process and afterward, I had felt H.O.D. was the greatest thing ever and it was going to be my number one ticket to the industry, and of course, that was merely an illusion for myself. Since the last year or so, I've learned that every story you write is or can be, equally appealing for different reasons. The more stories I begin to write, the more I see that you can't place all of your dreams on one of them, because you, in short, don't want to be a one hit wonder, but a steady writer with steady sales.
So here I am with Ghosts in the Woods.
A few weeks ago I finished the treatment for Ghosts and now I am nearly finished with the rough draft. The first run through actually came up rather short on length, being about 75 pages (had I fully finished the last few scenes) but now I am working on going back and editing as well as tweaking a few story points, character interactions, as well as whatever needs to be done to make the script polished and ready for an eventual sale.
Even in its rough-edged form, Ghosts is proving to be a wonderful write. It isn't easy, at all, but fun none the less.
In case anyone has forgotten, Ghosts in the Woods can be summed up as, "What would happen if man-eating lions were released in a small Oklahoman town..." While the original concept, sort of hit a bit too close for films like Ghost and the Darkness, however, as my story, and its characters evolved, I find myself moving the story into something more grander. Ghosts seems to hit a few important factors as well, as it deals with the horrors of black marketing exotic animals, as well as the mistreatment of illegal immigrants. I'm sure once finished it will turn a few heads, but I really like the story itself.
I'm not much of a horror movie fan, as most films that have come out in the last few years, spend more time trying to scar you with scary CGI monsters rather very real circumstances. In that respect, I am trying to write it as real as possible, with minimal moments where CGI or puppettering would be needed.
I will keep every posted as the project moves along.
Last year proved to have its highs and lows, as I began the year with a nice agent, and a possible sale of the original script, only to have things sort of come to a grinding hault. As any writer knows, these sort of things happen all the time. In short the production company interested in producing H.O.D. wanted the script, but without an option. Mike, nor myself, liked the idea of letting some production company hold the script indefinitly without putting any money on the table. So we calmly stated no, and took the project elsewhere... Mike's organization the WSAI continues to grow, and I'm sure he has more details than me, but hopefully within the next few years, we will be able to produce H.O.D. ourselves, of which would be awesome, as well as yet another learning experience for me.
In the mean time I switched gears to a much smaller project, namely Ghosts in the Woods. With all the fus and hooplah of H.O.D. I at first was very burnt out. It was a hard lesson learned, and a valuable one, as everything else. During the H.O.D. writing process and afterward, I had felt H.O.D. was the greatest thing ever and it was going to be my number one ticket to the industry, and of course, that was merely an illusion for myself. Since the last year or so, I've learned that every story you write is or can be, equally appealing for different reasons. The more stories I begin to write, the more I see that you can't place all of your dreams on one of them, because you, in short, don't want to be a one hit wonder, but a steady writer with steady sales.
So here I am with Ghosts in the Woods.
A few weeks ago I finished the treatment for Ghosts and now I am nearly finished with the rough draft. The first run through actually came up rather short on length, being about 75 pages (had I fully finished the last few scenes) but now I am working on going back and editing as well as tweaking a few story points, character interactions, as well as whatever needs to be done to make the script polished and ready for an eventual sale.
Even in its rough-edged form, Ghosts is proving to be a wonderful write. It isn't easy, at all, but fun none the less.
In case anyone has forgotten, Ghosts in the Woods can be summed up as, "What would happen if man-eating lions were released in a small Oklahoman town..." While the original concept, sort of hit a bit too close for films like Ghost and the Darkness, however, as my story, and its characters evolved, I find myself moving the story into something more grander. Ghosts seems to hit a few important factors as well, as it deals with the horrors of black marketing exotic animals, as well as the mistreatment of illegal immigrants. I'm sure once finished it will turn a few heads, but I really like the story itself.
I'm not much of a horror movie fan, as most films that have come out in the last few years, spend more time trying to scar you with scary CGI monsters rather very real circumstances. In that respect, I am trying to write it as real as possible, with minimal moments where CGI or puppettering would be needed.
I will keep every posted as the project moves along.