Looking back at all the things that have happened since I decided to take a leap of faith in my writing ability way back in 2010 after I had seen Rob Zombie's Halloween II . I immediately started hearing rumors of Halloween 3(D) and it stalled many times before being shelved for good, I started thinking about writing a script for Halloween 3.
I had never written so much as a short story (outside of school work) let alone a script but I knew that I knew the Halloween Franchise inside and out and if anyone could write a script that life long Halloween fans could get into and get behind it was me. So I did alittle research about script writing and like I do with everything else I jumped in head first (a mistake that I will touch on later) I started coming up with characters and of course the main man Michael Myers I had Laurie Strode / Angel Myers in there as well as some fresh blood for Michael, my story also had Tommy Doyle and Lindsay Wallace in it because I always thought Michael logically would have come back for them at some point in the original Halloween 4 (which should have been Halloween 3)
I worked on the hand written draft for 3 months and when I was done I had 400+ handwritten pages that I then turned into a 289 page script which as it turns out is enough to make TWO Halloween films so I had actually written scripts for Halloween 3 and 4 .
The mistake I made was not researching the length of a script I just kept writing and writing until I came to the end of my story. I didn't know anything about structure of a script again this was something I didn't think about before I started writing. So after I wrote this long ass script which I thought was very good I started looking for more information about sending it to Dimension Films / The Weinstein Company (who owned the rights to Halloween Franchise) I came in contact with Todd Farmer who was supposed to be the writer for Halloween 3D after he left the project was when I started working on my script. I asked him via Twitter where I should send my script many people would think that I want to SELL my script to tthe Weinstein Compnay and become an instant celebrity but in all honesty because I'm a fan of Halloween I simply wanted the series to continue I was and am willing to GIVE my script to the Weinstein Company for no money and all I want it writer credit on the project.
Todd tweeted me back and said "Don't Send it anywhere, write your own story, your own script and make it yours" so I started immediately on a script that would be called Wicked Carnival and when ever I had a question about how to write something or how much detail to put in a scene or whatever I could tweet Todd and he would help me the best he could, I am forever greatful to him for helping me find my voice in my writing so much so that I thanked him in the credits of Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis .
Now you might be wondering how I went from writing Wicked Carnival to writing the Sins of Man trilogy, I have talked about this before but a brief overview I wrote Wicked Carnival and after sending it to people to read and getting all positive feedback I realized that the movie the way it was written would cost $100,000 dollars to make it and I knew I couldn't get that kind of money for my first project and I also knew that at that point n my career I was unwilling to work with others as far as cutting things from the script, I wanted to make the movie the way I wrote it without compromise, yet another mistake I would have to correct if I wanted to actually make movies.
After coming to terms with not being able to make Wicked Carnival which by alll accounts was my best script to date I was feeling down I knew I needed an idea that I could work with and make a movie with a low budget but be effective in the execution of the story. I started watching Halloween one night in January 2014 after watching that movie I watched Scream and started to think about the stories of these films and what I would do if I were going to write a "slasher" movie .
I had never written so much as a short story (outside of school work) let alone a script but I knew that I knew the Halloween Franchise inside and out and if anyone could write a script that life long Halloween fans could get into and get behind it was me. So I did alittle research about script writing and like I do with everything else I jumped in head first (a mistake that I will touch on later) I started coming up with characters and of course the main man Michael Myers I had Laurie Strode / Angel Myers in there as well as some fresh blood for Michael, my story also had Tommy Doyle and Lindsay Wallace in it because I always thought Michael logically would have come back for them at some point in the original Halloween 4 (which should have been Halloween 3)
I worked on the hand written draft for 3 months and when I was done I had 400+ handwritten pages that I then turned into a 289 page script which as it turns out is enough to make TWO Halloween films so I had actually written scripts for Halloween 3 and 4 .
The mistake I made was not researching the length of a script I just kept writing and writing until I came to the end of my story. I didn't know anything about structure of a script again this was something I didn't think about before I started writing. So after I wrote this long ass script which I thought was very good I started looking for more information about sending it to Dimension Films / The Weinstein Company (who owned the rights to Halloween Franchise) I came in contact with Todd Farmer who was supposed to be the writer for Halloween 3D after he left the project was when I started working on my script. I asked him via Twitter where I should send my script many people would think that I want to SELL my script to tthe Weinstein Compnay and become an instant celebrity but in all honesty because I'm a fan of Halloween I simply wanted the series to continue I was and am willing to GIVE my script to the Weinstein Company for no money and all I want it writer credit on the project.
Todd tweeted me back and said "Don't Send it anywhere, write your own story, your own script and make it yours" so I started immediately on a script that would be called Wicked Carnival and when ever I had a question about how to write something or how much detail to put in a scene or whatever I could tweet Todd and he would help me the best he could, I am forever greatful to him for helping me find my voice in my writing so much so that I thanked him in the credits of Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis .
Now you might be wondering how I went from writing Wicked Carnival to writing the Sins of Man trilogy, I have talked about this before but a brief overview I wrote Wicked Carnival and after sending it to people to read and getting all positive feedback I realized that the movie the way it was written would cost $100,000 dollars to make it and I knew I couldn't get that kind of money for my first project and I also knew that at that point n my career I was unwilling to work with others as far as cutting things from the script, I wanted to make the movie the way I wrote it without compromise, yet another mistake I would have to correct if I wanted to actually make movies.
After coming to terms with not being able to make Wicked Carnival which by alll accounts was my best script to date I was feeling down I knew I needed an idea that I could work with and make a movie with a low budget but be effective in the execution of the story. I started watching Halloween one night in January 2014 after watching that movie I watched Scream and started to think about the stories of these films and what I would do if I were going to write a "slasher" movie .
I started working on characters and like most people I started thinking about the killer first and his main target aka the final girl. this is the main plot point of every slasher to movie, right ?
Then I started working on the stereotypical characters that are in every slasher movie because they work,The Jock, The Nerd, the slutty girl, the best friend, the annoying friend (who we all want to get killed quickly) and I had the killer all figured out. I then started working out the kills and once that was done I started writing notes how the story would work and the back story that may or may not be revealed in the movie that set up the chain of events of the movie.
I wrote what seemed like 5 notes books of notes for the script and started writing the script in May 2014 and it seemed very easy for me to write the script once I did the leg work of the notes and ideas half way through writing Sins of Man I started thinking about what a sequel might look like and I started writing notes for a sequel as I was finishing Sins of Man I started to write Sins of Man II and about a quarter of the way through that script I started thinking about Sins of Man III but didn't want to make a series of films where each film would be just a little weaker then the previous film so I decided that I would write Sins of Man as a trilogy, while a rarity in the horror genre it does exist . In less then 30 days I had written the Sins of Man Trilogy and I knew this was going to be my first movie.
After I sent the script out to a few people to read they encouraged me to make this movie so I started looking into what it would take to make Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis a reality and I had NO CLUE what was getting in to be completely honest with you. I knew I had the talent to write a script but did I have the talent to direct a movie ?
Then I started working on the stereotypical characters that are in every slasher movie because they work,The Jock, The Nerd, the slutty girl, the best friend, the annoying friend (who we all want to get killed quickly) and I had the killer all figured out. I then started working out the kills and once that was done I started writing notes how the story would work and the back story that may or may not be revealed in the movie that set up the chain of events of the movie.
I wrote what seemed like 5 notes books of notes for the script and started writing the script in May 2014 and it seemed very easy for me to write the script once I did the leg work of the notes and ideas half way through writing Sins of Man I started thinking about what a sequel might look like and I started writing notes for a sequel as I was finishing Sins of Man I started to write Sins of Man II and about a quarter of the way through that script I started thinking about Sins of Man III but didn't want to make a series of films where each film would be just a little weaker then the previous film so I decided that I would write Sins of Man as a trilogy, while a rarity in the horror genre it does exist . In less then 30 days I had written the Sins of Man Trilogy and I knew this was going to be my first movie.
After I sent the script out to a few people to read they encouraged me to make this movie so I started looking into what it would take to make Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis a reality and I had NO CLUE what was getting in to be completely honest with you. I knew I had the talent to write a script but did I have the talent to direct a movie ?
- I went looking for cast and crew on craigslist because I had ZERO ins in the film world I was just starting out and someone said "Who's releasing the movie when it's finished" ? and I looked at them with a dumb look on my face and said "I'm going to release it". They said "No what Production company are you working with"? Once again I was in over my head and said "I guess I don't have a production company attached to the project". This person said "If you're going to write, direct, produce this movie by yourself and this is going to be the start of you film career then you should start your own production company". So I went into my head and started thinking of names BLC Productions (the first initials of my kids) was the first thing that popped into my head but it wasn't write for the horror genre then I came up with Dark Wolf Productions, that was once cool but not exactly what I was looking for and I was sitting in my office, staring at the screen and the script for Wicked Carnival was poking out of it's spot on my shelf and BAM it hit me Wicked Carnival Productions was born.
I assembled my cast and we did two horrible table reads that resulted in two rewrites of the script because we couldn't fill roles in time for the start of shooting . Once we were set to go we got locations for shooting and showed up on the first day of shooting and WOW ! You wanna talk about getting hit in the head with a dose of reality, I had no idea how little I knew about making a movie.
As I have said before I had a VERY basic plan going into shooting set up the camera get sound ready to roll, yell action shoot the scene and move on. Man did I have a lot to learn and I learned it all on set while we were shooting .
We really only had a handful of issues that first weekend, they were worked out and we went on to wrap shooting on the first location in two days (we would later return to do a set of reshoots but we had the first weekend of shooting in the can, a proud moment for sure :)
As I have said before I had a VERY basic plan going into shooting set up the camera get sound ready to roll, yell action shoot the scene and move on. Man did I have a lot to learn and I learned it all on set while we were shooting .
We really only had a handful of issues that first weekend, they were worked out and we went on to wrap shooting on the first location in two days (we would later return to do a set of reshoots but we had the first weekend of shooting in the can, a proud moment for sure :)
Bridgett Keith who plays Jennifer Jaymes aka "JJ" in Rise of Mortis was a brilliant actress who I have many funny stories I could tell about her from set so here is one. After the first day of shooting I was driving with Chris Fyfe who was an actor in the movie he also did the sound design, audio and the editing of the film as well as a million other jobs and he said that I should talk to Bridgett about her mood on set and she was being quiet and reserved and the script had her being bubbly and happy so I said I would talk to her in the morning (2nd day of shooting) .
We arrived on set and I said "Bridgett can I talk to you for a moment" . we went out onto the porch and I said "You need to bring the emotion out of the character you need to be happy and bubbly about the trip you're taking with your friends" . She replied "But the script describes me as quiet and reserved" and she showed me her script I then realized I had told her to bring the wrong version of the script to set, so that was on me. Another cool story about Bridgett, she's a quiet, smart kinda quirky person and we were in the car driving to the middle of no where for the second weekend of shooting and this idiot cut us off and almost side swiped us and she went from quiet Bridgett to Cussing truck driver in 2 seconds, I looked at her like "Who are you and what happened to the nice, quiet girl I got in the car with a few hours ago" ? I learned that Bridgett is actually a wicked coll person once you get to know her .
We arrived on set and I said "Bridgett can I talk to you for a moment" . we went out onto the porch and I said "You need to bring the emotion out of the character you need to be happy and bubbly about the trip you're taking with your friends" . She replied "But the script describes me as quiet and reserved" and she showed me her script I then realized I had told her to bring the wrong version of the script to set, so that was on me. Another cool story about Bridgett, she's a quiet, smart kinda quirky person and we were in the car driving to the middle of no where for the second weekend of shooting and this idiot cut us off and almost side swiped us and she went from quiet Bridgett to Cussing truck driver in 2 seconds, I looked at her like "Who are you and what happened to the nice, quiet girl I got in the car with a few hours ago" ? I learned that Bridgett is actually a wicked coll person once you get to know her .
We had alot of issues while filming some that everyone encounters and others that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy but we made it through and finished the movie on time (which I'm told is great in two ways #1 we FINISHED the movie and #2 we did it on time .
One of my friends in the industry said that I have something going for me because i FINISH projects and I guess many indie films that get started never get finished and this is something that I completely don't understand. I knew if I was going to start this crazy, insane and often seemingly impossible job of making Sins of Man I was going to see it through til the end and we did, thankfully we were a group of people who all had the same mindset and we all sacrificed so much because we believed in the project, and in each other that we had to finish the movie and we are all better in our roles because of it.
I went from writing the script for Wicked Carnival which would've cost $100,000 dollars to make to making Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis for less then $1,000 dollars ) after three FAILED crowd funding campaigns and I didnt et anythig stop me from reaching my goal, did I do it on my own ?? HELL NO ! I had the help of my friends and cast membersand when times got tough and most people would have quit we ALL came together and sacrificed so much to make this movie happen . I'm blessed to have found such amazing people to come in and do this project with and these are memories we will carry with us forever .
One of my friends in the industry said that I have something going for me because i FINISH projects and I guess many indie films that get started never get finished and this is something that I completely don't understand. I knew if I was going to start this crazy, insane and often seemingly impossible job of making Sins of Man I was going to see it through til the end and we did, thankfully we were a group of people who all had the same mindset and we all sacrificed so much because we believed in the project, and in each other that we had to finish the movie and we are all better in our roles because of it.
I went from writing the script for Wicked Carnival which would've cost $100,000 dollars to make to making Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis for less then $1,000 dollars ) after three FAILED crowd funding campaigns and I didnt et anythig stop me from reaching my goal, did I do it on my own ?? HELL NO ! I had the help of my friends and cast membersand when times got tough and most people would have quit we ALL came together and sacrificed so much to make this movie happen . I'm blessed to have found such amazing people to come in and do this project with and these are memories we will carry with us forever .
Looking forward ....
As we start casting for Sins of Man II : Vengeance one week for the writing of this blog, I look forward to expanding the Wicked Carnival Productions family as we add people to the cast for the movie and build relationships moving forward .
I know I have this film and a target release date of Halloween 2016 in mind then it comes a question of which movies comes out next from us, I have Wicked Carnival that I still want to release (Changed to fit our budget) and we have the third film in the Sins of Man Trilogy to release.
Of course at some point I would like Wicked Carnival Productions to be working on more then one picture a year but for now my focus is to build the WCP brand, get our movies out there for the worldwide horror audience and maybe some day make a HUGE Blockbuster horror movie but for now I'm happy to make my little indie films that make fans happy, nervous, and maybe even scared to go out at night . ( LOL I can hope)
The future is bright for Wicked Carnival Productions and we can't wait to bring you Sins of Man II : Vengeance in the fall of 2016 along with the other movies we have in the pipeline which at last count there were 10 scripts ready to go :)
Stay Hungry, Stay Humble & As always STAY WICKED :)
I know I have this film and a target release date of Halloween 2016 in mind then it comes a question of which movies comes out next from us, I have Wicked Carnival that I still want to release (Changed to fit our budget) and we have the third film in the Sins of Man Trilogy to release.
Of course at some point I would like Wicked Carnival Productions to be working on more then one picture a year but for now my focus is to build the WCP brand, get our movies out there for the worldwide horror audience and maybe some day make a HUGE Blockbuster horror movie but for now I'm happy to make my little indie films that make fans happy, nervous, and maybe even scared to go out at night . ( LOL I can hope)
The future is bright for Wicked Carnival Productions and we can't wait to bring you Sins of Man II : Vengeance in the fall of 2016 along with the other movies we have in the pipeline which at last count there were 10 scripts ready to go :)
Stay Hungry, Stay Humble & As always STAY WICKED :)