Author: Todd

Happy Birthday wendago.com. I have kept an online journal for 10 years. I say “journal” cuz when I got started “blog” and “blogger” were relatively unknown. But I gotta think ten years puts me in a small group. I’ve never made a dime off my goofy site. Started it for me. Not you. I started this site so that I, when old and bald or dead but in ghostly haunty form, could look back and revel in my unawesomeness. So to show respect to meself I am going to play catch up. I got behind after the My Bloody Valentine 3D release and now seems like a fine time to play catch up. So let’s get this underway and bring us to September of 2010.

But first… Trailers. (Special thanks to Edgar @edgarwright Wright for tweeting a couple of these last week.)

If you work in Marketing for the Hollywood machine… please watch this.

So how did we go from the above to the current standard which is defined as “reveal everything”? What is going on? Do we really need to show MOST of the movie before the release? Doesn’t that sort of take the fun out of it?

And even when a nice twist escapes the trailer you nearly always end up with it leaked online. Like in the case of Roger Ebert dropping a GIANT spoiler to the movie SUPER in the front of his review, there’s simply no excuse. Man. I just don’t get it.

So, moving on to SEPTEMBER 2010:

Patrick was fighting to finish the movie. This consisted of editing as well as post music, sound and visual effects. It was also the month to prep screenings because the powers that be naturally wanted to see what they’d paid for. Sadly, the time and energy it takes to stop the train in order to screen a movie can impact the finished product. Perhaps not on a Cameron or Bay movie but when you have a tight budget it can sting a little. This isn’t a jab, it’s a statement of fact and common sense.

As for Hellraiser, we had pitched, Bob said yes. So while Patrick and his team were fighting the good fight on Drive Angry, we were also in the heart of negotiations to write Hellraiser.

And due to the fact that we never went over our Drive Angry budget, we were awarded Skywalker Sound. This was wonderful. I mean no disrespect to other sound shacks but if you aren’t Skywalker Sound you’re sort of meh.

So, we went up North for the temp mix. A temporary version of the movie allows you to get a quick idea how she’s coming together so that adjustments can be made. It’s a temp edit, with temp music and temp sounds. But as far as the suits are concerned the temp mix is for them. They want to see how it’s going.

I GET their logic. If I invested money, you bet I’d want to see the progress. And it certainly protects the investor from a rogue filmmaker. At the same time, I see the drawback, especially if your filmaker isn’t a rogue. And Patrick isn’t rogue. In fact, what he managed to accomplish on the shoestring given is rather impressive. And he did this without ever yelling at the crew. So while I understand the process of the temp mix, I wish we could take the money and time spent in the temp world and feed it into the finished product. Or I wish we’d had access to it back during production. BUT this is simply a part of it.

All that aside, any excuse to go to Skywalker should be taken VERY seriously.

Skywalker Ranch is Disney for workaholic geeks. And Skywalker Sound is simply the best in the biz. Even those who hated My Bloody Valentine would often comment on how great the sound was. I can nearly always hear the difference. First of all, the Skywalker humans are good. These guys and gals aren’t phoning it in. They aren’t punching a time card while thinking about quitting time. There’s real talent at work. I’ve seen it. They can hear things I can’t. I don’t have the ear. I watch them and am fascinated. Second, their droids are the best. The equipment is remarkable. Even the coffee machine in the lobby is fifth rendition R2 unit.

Third, there’s setting. This one Hollywood accountants will likely never understand because a the benefit cannot be measured on a spreadsheet. But when you take a creative out of LA and drop he or she in paradise, watch out. The air is clean. There’s grass and trees and hills. There’s livestock. There’s Jedi. The security team happens to be the fire department. So not only can they pummel you, but they look good with their shirts off. All of this translates to better creativity. LA is stifling. Don’t take my word for it. Ask around.

In the end, all you really need to do is walk down the hall of posters and be blown away. ALL of your favorite movies were mixed there.

There is a strict rule not to take pictures inside the buildings. Oops.

On the way back I stopped and had dinner with Blake and Brenna.

Blake and Brenna started Fridaythe13thfilms.com way back when. I started hanging out at the site while we were working on Jason X. They are no longer involved with the site but we have been friends ever since.

In fact, one year they somehow convinced Mel and I to fly to… Arkansas or some similar State, journey to a youth camp in the middle of nowhere and camp out with a bunch of machete collecting Friday the 13th fans. If you have never experienced 48 hours of drunk with a bunch of Karaoke singing horror fans then perhaps you win.

Mel and I survived the journey. And I even walked away with my Friday the 13th The Website Camp vs. Camp T-shirt which I still wear as one of my favorite pick-up-chicks-at-bars T-shirts. Okay. Maybe it’s not THAT cool.

Izzie Rain and the year of the four. Time sure does speed up when there’s a kid involved. September was roughly six months since we were told that Izzie was autistic. And in that time our team of Jedi had been nothing short of amazing. We had speech therapists, occupational therapists and counselors. Even the gym where Mel and I work out has daycare attendants trained in autistic needs. Granted the private school may have been the weakest link but I’ll come back to that later. What mattered was that Izzie’s progress resulted in the term “high functioning”. Because the goal for everyone is to simply be able to function in our silly world.

The key to all of this is early diagnosis. Look, we’re all screwed up. I’ve met most of you and you people is crazy. BUT, we have all learned to live with our screwedupedness. And that’s the thing. Autism is no more nutty than my own Attention Deficit Disorder or my moments of OCD or my monthly stuggles with being extremely good-looking. BUT, I have learned to live with it. Izzie Rain is learning to live with it. In fact, she’s learning to excel at it.

But please don’t pull that conspiracy crap with me in which you say, “Oh there’s too many “terms”. They have a “term” for everything. All these “categories” mean nothing.” Because you simply don’t know what you don’t know. I have an autistic child and I’m very proud of her. She is loving and kind and pigheaded. She says please and thank you. But then… there are moments that make her slightly different. Unique if you will. And I and her mother couldn’t love her more for this uniqueness.

After only six months I’m in awe. I can’t imagine where her world will be in a year. I look forward to that journey.

And the other happening of note in September was Melanie’s taking the Fall Festival by storm for the St. Angela’s Private School of We Are Slightly Better Than Everyone Else. Mel was part of the Silent Auction and when you compare what was done last year to what Mel accomplished this year, well, they should let Izzie go there for free.

At the end of the month I drove to San Francisco to support the unrated release of Hatchet II. If you are a horror fan and you didn’t go then shame on you. Buy the Blu-ray. Twice. Adam Green’s Hatchet is the only surviving 1980’s slasher franchise in today’s world. I know this because I’ve written a 1980s slasher. And now that Hatchet 3 has the go-ahead the franchise will continue. Ye who call yourself horror, support it.

And that was September. In a couple of days, I’ll tell you about October because by the end of April “10 years of wendago.com” will be caught up!

Before we dive into August let’s talk now. First, my buddy Matt Thompson recently moved to LA and landed his first GIG. Took me 3 years to land my first gig and that was considered fast when the average falls somewhere between ten years and never. Matt has been a friend a reader to me. One of the select few you go to for thoughts before handing a script in and I could not be more proud.

My favorite movie website is Brian Collins’s HORROR MOVIE A DAY. If you are a horror guy or gal and aren’t following this site then you simply aren’t serious about horror. Brian is that guy who walks point in the war. He’s the guy who watches the movies so we don’t have to. You should all go. And then you should thank him. He provides a service. He saves you time and money and sanity. Bless him.

Okay…now for AUGUST!

But first…at the end of July, Bob called Patrick. They played phone tag. We had neither reached out nor heard from TWC since the whole H3D thing went down at the end of ’09. So we were, to say the least, curious.

The little house was working out smashingly. Right up the hill from Mel. Izzie liked it. Mel liked it. I liked it.

On the 3rd of August, Kerri sent me a list of Australian slang. This was to assist as Dean Lorey and I made our pass to “Australian-ize” THUNDER. Aussie slang’s not unlike American slang. Cept they use “cunt” a whole lot more.

I’ve mentioned that F.J. DeSanto and I are writing a comic book. On the 4th we got page 16’s artwork. I love our little story. F.J. has been knocking it out of the park. Federico Dallocchio has been nailing the artwork. And we ended up with the perfect editor in Ben Abernathy. He got it. And his every question either caught our screw ups or made the script better. Really has been a flawless process so far.

BREAKING: Nic Cage is a badass. That is all.

Actually that is not all. In August Patrick continued to feed me cuts of the film. It should be noted that this ONLY happens when your partner is the director…and likes you. And even though it’s no secret we are an all encompassing creative partnership, the suits tend to forget me. At this point all you can do is laugh it off. Patrick will CC me on everything…yet nearly all replies will mysteriously not include me. It’s not just me by the way. I’m a likable enough guy. It’s the writer’s curse. For whatever reason…the folks steering the ship really don’t want us eating at the adult table. You really should consider this before pursuing the field of screenwriting.

But Patrick still loves me and that’s all that matters. As a result I always had access to the film. And I love the fact that I could go to Starbucks with the latest cut of the film on my iPad (Don’t steal my iPad reason number one: It has a passcode you will find annoying. Don’t steal my iPad reason number two: I recently nuked all versions of the film from the little thing). With each viewing the film looks better and better.

Meanwhile in the continuing story of Australian film: Kerri and I talk with our Australian producer about the sudden surge of 3D films. As of August there were 60 3D films scheduled for release over the next two years. And that number just keeps growing. And while new 3D screens are constantly being added…there’s still only a limited number. So if three studios want to release three big movies…with 2000 to 3000 3D screens…well…someone is going to lose. Because so far, 3D still doesn’t have the numbers. Eventually this issue will go away…but for now it’s a real concern.

THEN there’s the simple fact that audiences aren’t stupid. This is a fact studio heads and execs don’t seem to comprehend. Due to a couple of 3D movies that saw amazing success…well…everyone jumped on the wagon. It’s what Hollywood does. Copycat. Kevin wrote SCREAM. It made 100 million and soon everyone was doing self-aware horror. Problem is…not everyone is Kevin. And the ripoffs tend to suck. Same for 3D. Bunch of crap 3D hit the screens. Sales have declined. Some execs are saying the fad is over. The novelty has passed. Morons. Stop making crap and people will go.

Every day in August is a challenge on Drive Angry. But I can’t tell you about it because it would require me to reveal assorted morons and morons do not like to called morons publicly. Needless to say, Patrick goes without much sleep. Daily. Is constantly bombarded. Is constantly having to think his way around obstacles created by people on our team. It is, in my opinion, the WORST part of the Hollywood process. Any other director and we’d be in trouble. But we’ll survive it because of Patrick. We’ll take a hit or two. But we’ll survive it.

Mel and I get a babysitter. What this translates to is, friends. Being a tiny bit human again. And while Mel and I aren’t together, we’re still best friends and business partners. We still NEED to go out and see movies. And we gotta eat.

After a week of phone tag, we finally learn the reason for Bob’s call: HELLRAISER. Well, this will excite and annoy sections of the horror world. We had actually pitched a take of Hellraiser a year ago. Over a year. In fact, we pitched Bob three movies at the same time. H3D, HELLRAISER and SCANNERS. And throughout the whole HELLRAISER discussion, H3D never came up. We still scratch our heads at this, because the script for H3D is just…well…just sitting there. We’re pretty certain Bob never read it. But perhaps August wasn’t the time to ask. Bob was clearly VERY excited about Hellraiser. Plus, Patrick and I love Clive and love the original. With Bob this excited, someone was gonna make it. May sound arrogant but I trust us.

So Patrick and I started talking about our old pitch…and…it changed. It became…hard to describe. It gained a life of its own. As a writer…when the story…or the characters…or both…break out of your head and start doing stuff YOU didn’t see coming. Stuff you DID NOT plan. Well. That’s when the magic truly happens.

On the 8th I get a proposal from Thomas Jane and his lawyer concerning Devil’s Commandos. Recall, Tom and I, in the last few years have had a stormy relationship. We buried the hatchet at comicon. Decided we’d all move forward as partners. But this proposal didn’t strike me as very partner friendly. It was pretty standard. Writer writes, owns nothing. I chat with lawyers and would end up taking the month (and longer) to “consider”.

On the 13th we get an email from one of our agents concerning HELLRAISER. And it made me laugh. A full, deep throated laugh from the diaphragm.

“We spoke to Matt Signer just now. They will be indeed making an offer for you guys to write and Patrick to direct. I told them to be prepared to back the truck up to our office. Matt laughed nervously.”

What would follow was hours of debate between lawyers and agents as well as Patrick and I. Do we trust them? Do we want to follow Drive Angry with Hellraiser? So many questions.

In the end it would come down to Patrick and Bob. They go back. 20 something movies together. They are…family. Always will be. Warts and all. In the end it comes down to the devil you know.

But let me elaborate on that. Because the assumption is that Bob’s the Devil…he ain’t. No more than I am. No more than Patrick is. Because here’s the thing to keep in mind when it comes to Hollywood. We’re all dicks. I’m a dick. Huge dick. We just all have different degrees of dickishness. Millennium is cheap…but they left us alone creatively. It’s the devil we know. We KNOW how to work in their world. And as a result…we’ll do it again. Bob has his own cons. But we KNOW how to work in that world and will continue to work with him. Same goes for Lions Gate. We KNOW how to work in the Lions Gate world and as a result we’ll work there again. But there are some…some we will NEVER work with again. Their dickishness simply doesn’t justify the reward. I’ll likely mention them later. Not now.

Just understand…if you know someone in Hollywood…don’t be fooled by their polite political demeanor. They have either eaten a baby, kicked a puppy, punched an old person or had sex with their best friend’s girl. Twice. It’s the Hollywood way. In Hollywood you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight…you bring a lawyer. And some heroin. Okay, perhaps I under-exaggerate a little. It’s much worse than that.

Nearing the middle of the month, Patrick screens the movie for Dean. I recall it being a crazy night. Dean was on the TV show SOMETHING WILDE which wouldn’t wrap that day until like 9-something. Then he got stuck in traffic due to an animal on the freeway (a duck if memory serves). Seems like it was after 10pm of a VERY long day before we even got started. But Dean loved it. He added a comedic beat which still makes me laugh. And his biggest and pretty much only note was to stay on the FX team.

Started going back and forth with my buddy, Andrew, who has been trying to set up an indy western in New Zealand. He wrote a great western. Although a New Zealander, his dialog is so old west authentic, it’s stunning to read. His producers, of course, didn’t get it. Have been forcing rewrites constantly. Still he outsmarted them and nailed every rewrite. So in reward, they tell him they need a “professional” Hollywood polish. Rrrright. Turns out the producer hires bestest buddy. Not Hollywood but another New Zealander who has zero credits. Does a page one rewrite. When Andrew finds out, accidentally, he says no. I’m out. Producers, who have never paid him a dime, say he can’t pull out. That they can do whatever they want to his script. Sigh. So…he’s fighting. He’ll win but it’ll take time and energy. It don’t matter where you are, writers get the shaft.

Middle of the month I saw Piranha 3D. I just…I just didn’t get it. The 3D was bad. BAD bad. Hurty bad. And while most of my buddies LOVED the ride. Loved the over the top of it…I just…I’m sorry but story and characters first. Either be a spoof or be serous. This kept me in some middle void. Anyway, hate to bag on someone else’s movie, especially when so many of my friends, (BenDavid Grabinski), loved it. But I work in the 3D world. Bad 3D makes my life harder. My annoyance is purely selfish.

Izzie is awesome. She’s not like other kids. We’ve discussed this. In depth. She’s awesomer. I don’t spend enough time with her. I’m out of town ALOT. And when I’m writing…well…writing is a solitary occupation. It’s tough to write when she’s here at the house. Because she wants to play. And as much as I like to write…I like to play more. Hide-n-seek is my favorite. Well, I like to color alot too.

But as I mentioned…back in August and even now…I drive into LA alot. And we have been a one car family since I got rid of the Audi in exchange for the Bugaboo. Mel decided it was time.

So I now have wheels of my own. Now when I head to LA I don’t leave the girls taking the bus (which Izzie loves by the way). It’s not new. It’s an ’07. But here’s the smarty smart part. We’d looked at another Audi and my love for the old gal had not wavered these five years. BUT…by going a little older…and a little cheaper…we could take the money saved and use it to restore Izzie’s car.

First of all, that’s not it. But that’s what it will look like when done. That’s what it looked like when Dean Riesner bought it in ’74. Dean was my mentor when I moved to LA. Dean wrote DIRTY HARRY. Dean wrote PLAY MISTY FOR ME. Dean wrote HIGH PLAINS DRIFT. Dean wrote STARMAN. And Dean gave the old caddy to Noel Cunningham for Noel’s 30th birthday. And I’m getting it from Noel to fix up for Izzie.

Oddly enough, I tend to only use the car for LA trips. I run or walk just about everywhere local.

Last half of the month my writer buddy, Andrew is still fighting his producers. Gets a letter from his agent who can no longer rep him. Agent says she has loyalties to both he and the producer and must therefore stay neutral. Or…in coward-speak, “We don’t wanna piss of the producers so you are on your own.”

By the 30th we’ve received an offer from the Brother’s Weinstein. We countered. Aggressively.

So, August was mostly post on DRIVE ANGRY. The buzz was still going strong. The Trailer was out there on the web and although we were nervous about it, folks seemed to like it. The reason for the nervousness was that the trailer revealed more than we ever intended. We structured the story so that the audience would think, Cage played a character who had escaped from prison. Amber’s characters doesn’t find out the truth until over half way thru the movie. But the trailer stated in big white letters, “He broke out of hell” right off the top. To us that was sort of like watching the trailer for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK to find big white letters proclaiming, “Vader is Luke’s father”. Or “If you build it Kevin Costner’s daddy will play ball with you”. Or “That chick in the CRYING GAME has a penis”. Or “Bruce Willis is dead.” BUT…no one, near as I have seen or heard, has called us out for this. It’s just…we actually take this seriously. Had we intended the audience know that from the start…we would have written it differently. That make sense? Does it work, sure? Is it by design? No. Will that always annoy me. Oh yes, my friend, yes it will. But. It is what it is. Welcome to the life of a hollywood stuntman.

So, while I sit in the safety of Pacific Grove, Patrick fights the daily fight. He’s not like other directors. His crew loves him. He’s nice. Never yells.

And it should be noted that none of this was EVER handed to him. He fought his way to the chair. Edited TV, then for Wes and the Weinsteins. Patrick has been in the trenches. He’s not one of those guys who got some early hype or buzz based on some silly article and suddenly was handed a 200 million dollar movie. Patrick started with whatever he could get. He started with tiny budget and made it look double the value. He has honed his craft. He turned 16 million into 100 million with Valentine. And Drive Angry blows MBV out of the water. He works ALL the time. The story is ALWAYS first. The movie is his MAIN FOCUS. He goes above and beyond because over two-hundred cast and crew put their faith in him. A successful movie means they keep working.

It may sound silly that a guy would actually put his crew’s future needs on his list of motivations. But Patrick does. It’s the reason he doesn’t drink. The reason he wouldn’t drive the Charger for fun. He gets hurt, the production shuts down. The man puts his crew and the movie first. And it shows. Oh we’ve had our challenges. We’ve lost a battle or two. And those losses hurt us. Those in power know it. They know they won…but they also know their win cost the movie. But all movies have their crosses to bear. Regardless, our movie is wonderful. It is a GREAT movie and I’m completely proud of it. All due to a fantastic crew, an amazing cast and a director like no other.

Wow. I am SOOOO behind.

It’s nearly the end of 2010 and I’m still playing catch up. Let’s knock out JULY. As our story left off, I had returned from Australia and was about to move into my little house up the street from Mel.

July 2: Still going back and forth with our Aboriginal Consultant for the Dark Things story. While the content is strong I had some concerns that it will go slower than normal. So Kerri and I discuss taking an existing spec and tweaking it for Australia.

In the meantime, I was packing up my office where I had secretly lived since August of ’09.

July 6: Christa invites Patrick and I to the 2001 Maniacs premiere on the 15th.

I sent Thunder to Kerri and our producer, Mike Lake, as a possible Australian feature.

I started moving into the new place.

July 7: We decided to rewrite Thunder so that it takes place in both Oz and the States. Australian film goes through a government system and in order to take certain bonuses and benefits there are story and location factors to take into consideration. But we can’t to just tell an Aussie story as we’ll need American box office to pay for the production, so we decided to appeal to both. Easier said than done but I is a gooder writer than most. To some degree the model would be Croc Dundee. Aussie story with ‘merican crossover. I talked with Dean about it. He loved the idea.

July 8: Kerri and Mike loved Thunder. I sent WOLFBANE as well.

In the two bedroom house, Izzie ended up with the master bath. Mel suggested the master closet for Izzie’s bed. If you are thinking ‘arry Potter then I’m okay with that. The room would have her work desk and computer desk and book shelves while the walk in closet would be her little fortress of sleep.

Later we would put big fantasy stickers all over the walls. But Izzie LOVED it.

At the end of the day on the 8th we were shown the DRIVE ANGRY trailer to be unveiled at comic-con. It is interesting to pour your heart and soul into something then watch as it is handed to others to market. We cross fingers.

July 11: We added RIDDLE ME THIS to the possible Australian package.

July 13: Patrick read the newly tweaked “THE WANTING” based on a real life ghost story that happened to young Melanie when she was a kid. We would include it along with PARASITE in the Australian package.

My father sent me a piece of artwork for the new place. Of course the package was booby trapped.

Behold the prize. It’s velvet. And it’s lights. It’s art that glows. I think it may be older than me.

July 15: 2001 Maniacs. Christa was fun. Saw so many horror nuts there. Kane, Tyler and Renea, Mike Mendez…and later I learned my buddy Matt Thompson was there but never saw him. And while I don’t think Brian Collins was there but his title sequence was amazing.

Speaking of Brian. Let’s take a moment to talk about HORROR MOVIE A DAY. Brian watches a different horror movie every single day, then he writes a review of it. We’re talking everything from the horros that pulled in a 100 million to the horror that that makes you slightly more stupid for watching. Brian doesn’t hold back or pull punches in his reviews. If you know horror, understand the subtleties and magic of horror then don’t be surprised if you are constantly laughing so hard during the reviews that you cry. I do.

July 16: After hosting my website since 01, Gearworx informed me they would be closing their doors.

So the house was coming along nicely. I was still awaiting delivery of all the LA crap that has been in storage for 5 years. Bed, couches…kitchen stuff…all my Stephen King books…beyond that…I can’t recall.

Mel threw her iPhone in the ocean and switched to the Droid. She took much pride in taking cool photos and having incredible non-AT&T reliable service.

July 18: Jace Anderson and Adam Gierasch 1yr.

July 20: I signed four copies of a Certificate of Engament for an adaptation of the video game Heavenly Sword I wrote back in Nov of 09. While I was paid commencement back in 09 and even though I delivered in 09, I was still waiting on delivery payment. (I’m writing this on Dec 8 of 2010…I finally received delivery payment four days ago.)

TWC has been dethroned as the slowest to pay. This is a good thing considering we’re now back in bed with them for the HELLRAISER adventure.

And then all my crap showed up from LA. UGH. Did we really put IKEA furniture in storage for 5 years at 150 bucks a month? Suddenly my particular level of stupid reached an all time high. And I had to leave for Comicon so there would be no time to deal with the mounds and mounds of boxes.

July 21: I cut two full days out of ComicCon. I fly in on Wednesday and fly out Sunday morning and I love it! Next year I might fly in on Thursday and fly out on Saturday.

Comicon highlights. FJ and Irene.

Reactions to Drive Angry are humbling, overwhelming. I meet Bruce Jones. Thomas Jane and I bury the hatchet (of course, it won’t last). Horror writer’s panel. Already covered the con in real time back in July…so will move on.

Back home and off to the movies.

Our Millennium brothers and our old pals and LG planned their box office attack.

The rest of the month was mostly unpacking. Goodwill. Garbage and lots of dusting.

Here we see Dean Lorey in his natural habit. Clear encased Carbonite. We bought this a million years ago during one drunken evening at The Grove. It now sits on my self next to a Skywalker Sound mug, some Play-Doh and a box of condoms.

I found an ancient box stuffed with old D&D books and character sheets. Stacks of campaigns packs. I took a nostalgic moment to mentally hug all the geeks in the world.

The first screenplay I wrote for money.

Finally. I was all moved in. I even had/have a guest iMac for would be visitors with net surfing needs.

I love the new place. Izzie and I can pop out back for evening marshmallows. It’s right up the street from Mel so if either of us have an issue, help is literally a block away.

And that brings July to an end.

It’s December as I write this. The 8th to be exact. Patrick called me at 1:40 Tuesday morning having just locked picture on Drive Angry. It is done. That chapter is complete. At least until press and release. Thanks to all who have hung with us through the ups and the down.

I’ll try to slam thru August, September, October, November and December during the break.