Category: Journal

June 1st uncovers the mystery of the Weinstein biz affairs offer. It’s interesting to say the least. It’s a one step deal. Not for a screenplay but for an outline. Over the previous months we came up with four takes which we pitched. This was one of them and the company was offering to buy it. Not exactly thrilling to us for numerous reasons. Our guess, the previous writers still owed a draft and would likely be handed our outline.
Look folks, I’m a fan of writers. ALL of my best friends are writers. I correspond with young writers, offer advice, encouragement, whatever I can. Mark Wheaton rewrote me and ended up getting credit and we are good friends. I read scripts for writer friends. I like writers. I respect writers. Writers automatically start out with my loyalty. You don’t gotta earn it…its a freebe. Basically for me to dislike a writer…they gotta eff up. Bad.
These cats effed up. Bad. I won’t get into the details because it doesn’t matter but we couldn’t really stomach handing our idea over so that these two jokers could take credit. I know Hollywood is a town that prides itself on rewarding bad behavior but no. Can’t do it. There aren’t as many jobs out there as there used to be. The idea that some fakers are taking jobs from good writers annoys me. I’m not saying that I should be King and decide who is worthy and who isn’t but I want to be King so I can decide who is worthy and who isn’t.
We passed.
Shame too. Because we wanted to be in bed with the Weinsteins. Patrick’s made 22 films with them. Not even Lucas understands the true symbiotic relationship that’s going on there. And I was more than happy to tag along.
While I didn’t write down passes on Drive Angry…we did have them. But again, they were praise passes. Weird. I’ve gone out with specs before. Most of the time you simply get, “pass”. Not this time. This time it was just weird. We LOVE it. Wish we could buy it but we can’t. For instance, Adam Goodman LOVED the script. Loved us. Kept saying he’s got to get us over to Paramount to write for him. This was before Adam took head office. He said if they were still making 20 pics a year it would be a slam dunk…but with less than ten slots…
June 2nd we finish ISWYD. We’d sent it to friends. Other writers. We had collected the feedback, tweaked, adjusted and were pumped at the outcome. Of course, we had yet to receive our contracts. Sigh. A phone call was made informing the powers that be…that we had a finished draft in hand. Four weeks early. Contracts showed up at the lawyers office an hour later. Imagine that.
It would take a few days to reach an agreement. At which point it was recommended that we hand in the draft. This actually annoyed me a bit.
When did we drop from “a finished script forcing a check to arrive” to “a finish script forcing an agreement to be reached”? You know what they do to you at the drive-thru don’t you?
But…we did as we were told. We handed in the script.
June 4th. Lesher/Weston out. Adam Goodman takes over as Grand Poohbah at Paramount. Interesting.

On June 8th we learn that Dreamworks passed on Fright Night. We were told that Spielberg had decided to go in a different direction.
We also learn that Relativity is doing a budget for Drive Angry before they’ll make an offer.
June 9th: We get paid for Commencement on ISWYD…even though we delivered four days ago. And only Commencement. NOT delivery. Even though we delivered four days ago. Even though it was a one-step deal which we delivered four days ago.
We also begin the heavy lifting that comes with creating a pitch. The Eyes of Laura Mars. It amazes me the amount of energy and brain power required to create a pitch. It is a massive undertaking.
That evening…around six or so…we learn that Relativity wants to meet at 10am the following morning. Only time they have. Quick shower/shave and I’m in the car. Pacific Grove to Agoura Hills. I’ll crash with Patrick. Two hours later I see an email about the meeting being postponed. I call Patrick. He’s on the phone with Zach. There’s much debate…will it or will it not happen? Finally I turn around and go home.
June 10th the Relativity meeting takes place at 11am. I miss it. But Patrick meets on our behalf and they love our little screenplay. Wheels are in motion.
June 11th. Rona responds to ISWYD. “It’s exactly what you guys said you’d deliver, but I’m having buyers remorse.” He tells us he feels the villain should be changed to a masked killer or a ghost because that’s what the kids want to see. But Andrew, we pitched you Three Days of the Condor in High School. Collateral meets Breakfast Club. Rona said he needed to think about it and get back to us.
We knew the romance was over.
Later we have a call with the producers on Eyes of Laura Mars. Turns out Clint owns the rights and hasn’t signed off. Sigh. Without Clint’s consent it’s all a waste of time. We try to explain this to the producer. Deer in the headlights.
June 15th: We meet DeLuca, Zach, Avi, Ari and Rachel at Sony and pitch Ghost Rider 2. We LOVED this pitch. We gave Ghost Rider a kryptonite. We created a smart villain who could go toe to toe. It was full of action. It had a smart, empowered female lead. It was scary. We pitched what we were asked to pitch, the horror version of a superhero story.

The pitch can be a high. You can tell when it’s going right. When it’s simply smoking. You can feel the electricity. You can see the sparkle. The giddy bounce of excitement in the listeners. The smiles, the laughs, the nods of enthusiasm. Now. None of that means anything in terms of getting the job or not. But it does mean the pitch went well.
On June 16, on her own, Jaime King sends a beautiful email to Avi and Ari praising what it was like working with us.
Later that day Jaime tells me she and Kyle are looking for a thriller that can be shot for under 15 million. I send her Riddle Me This. I also mention Monkey’s Paw which I wrote for RKO. She and Kyle are good friends with Kevin, an RKO exec. I tell Jaime that I actually wrote it with she and Tom Jane in mind. She says she’ll call Kevin.
June 19th, I drive into LA to meet with Geoff Steir. Geoff and I met ages ago. We developed a take on Magdelena based on one of David Wohl’s old Top Cow Comics. By the way, hot Catholic girl fighting evil in tight spandex. BIG fan. Now, Steir’s working under Goodman at Paramount. I drove in. We chatted. Was good to catch up. Something had come up so he needed to end a little early. So. I left. Let’s recap. Six hours to LA. 20 minute meeting. Six hours home. Who wants to be me?
June 20 Tom commission John Wrightson to begin work creating a sculpture for Devil’s Commandos. He’d already commissioned several AMAZING drawings from Bernie.

Same day, Bradstreet begins working on a Wolfbane poster for Comicon.
June 23rd. We’d planned on talking to Goodman about Damn Nation. It hit our radar a month or so ago. Dark Horse wanted to go one way. Paramount another. But it turns out Damn Nation was one of Westons. Which means it’s likely on its way into turnaround.
At the end of the day we learn Avi passed on our writing Ghost Rider 2. He said our take was too violent.
June 24th: Fright Night, Ghost Rider…even though we had great feedback and solid movement on Drive Angry…we really thought both of those were slam dunks. Not getting them was tough. It was a couple gut shots in a row. So, we refocused and got back to work.
Back when we were doing Haunting in Tennessee there was talk of a rewrite at Gold Circle. We all decided to wait until after HiT played out. Then we got busy doing other stuff. We asked one of the agents to follow up with Brad. See if it was still available. It was still available. But they wanted to go more four-quadrant and felt we weren’t right for it. Right in the gut.
But since the pass Patrick and I had taken Haunting in Tennessee and renamed it The Wanting. It was ours afterall. Based on my wife’s ghost story. We debated making it our next spec.
On June 26 we’d still heard nothing back from Rona. Due to his statement that kids only want to see masked killers and ghosts…we decided to send our very detailed outline for The Wanting to Dark Castle. Patrick jumps on the phone with Gambino who reiterates how much he loves ISWYD. But obviously it’s out of his hands.
End of the day we learn that Relativity is about to make an offer on Drive Angry.
June 30 we have a production meeting with Relativity. We’re told we’ll have an offer by the end of the day. We meet DeLuca, Zach and Josh then go up to meet with Ken Halsband (head of physical production) and Jason Barhydt (suit). Overall, it’s a good meeting. It’s very clear by the end of it that Patrick Lussier is no fake. He started as an editor. His brain is an encyclopedia of movies. He knows 3D like few others. It was a good meeting.

And thus brings us to the end of June.

25 days later Rona has still not paid us for Delivery of ISWYD.

So…in recap…Patrick and I write a spec called Drive Angry. We send it to a bunch of producers. Some pass. Others want in. We meet with and discuss and DeLuca blows them all out of the water. Tough love folks but that’s how she went down.
It takes a couple of days for DeLuca and our agents to connect. But when that finally happens the trigger is pulled. Mike DeLuca and team will produce Drive Angry. Our agents inform the other producers who had shown interest.
Now…I have been doing this Hollywood thing for a looooooooong time. Here’s how it normally works. There’s a job. I go in and pitch a story. This is not unlike going in, pulling your pants down and allowing everyone to inspect your penis. Sometimes they discuss your penis while you are in the room. Sometimes they tell you to go home so they can discuss your penis behind your back. Sometimes you get a call that says, “We thought your penis had some nice girth, but we’ve decided to go in a different penal direction.” Most of the time you simply hear nothing until you read on Nikki Finke or the Reporter that said producer went with someone else’s penis. And very rarely you’ll get a call informing you that we love your penis and would love to see more of it. Again. Rare.

But this is Hollywood for the writer. It’s what they don’t tell you in the brochure. I’ve said it before. Ain’t nearly as glamorous as you are led to believe. But in the end, it all comes down to the penis.
However, in this situation…Patrick and I wrote a spec. Producers read it and some wanted to be involved. So, we met and tried to determine who we thought would be the best fit. Pun…intended We were polite and respectful and once we made a decision, our agents made calls and we personally sent emails thanking everyone for their time and consideration. WAY MORE than we ever get when we are turned down or simply dismissed without a second glance.
And you know what…everyone was gracious. Everyone understood.
Except Tripp. He was angry. He felt cheated. He said it wasn’t fair. He felt DeLuca had more time to prepare. He felt we should choose him because he met with us so quickly. He announced that if we go with DeLuca then he gets to take the script to Screen Gems. Say what? I wonder how many writers have come back to Tripp angry when they didn’t get the job. Saying they felt cheated or that it wasn’t fair. Or that another writer had more time to prepare.
As a writer I’m not allowed to get upset. To throw a fit. I have to touch my knees and say, “Thank you, sir, may I have another.”
The double standards are exhausting.
Over the years I’ve heard great things about Tripp. This was not his finest hour.
On May 3rd Tom phones. He’s gonna do a graphic novel of Alien Pig Farm for Comicon and wants a preface for the book. I pound one out. Something mostly crude and vulgar in keeping with the tone of the book.
On May 4th after informing Neal and Mike that we went with DeLuca the four of us decide to pursue an old remake together.
On May 5th we send an email to the DeLuca team informing them how thrilled we are to be working with them.
May 8th I do an interview for Written By magazine, the WGA publication. It’s for an article about 3D. Specifically about writing for 3D. As always, I don’t sugar coat it. At least two directors will later be annoyed by what I had to say.
We also send our treatment for “Virgins” to the producers. Have I mentioned this one? Not sure. Patrick and I had started an adaptation of an old Patterson novel. With the Drive Angry hoops and ISWYD and half a dozen other gigs we were chasing, we figured we’d break the rules and just send our treatment to the producers. The heavy lifting was done. Either they’d love it or they wouldn’t.
May 11th ISWYD is announced in the Hollywood Reporter. Patrick and I are co-writing. I’m producing. Patrick’s directing.

On May 13 we sit down with DeLuca, Zach and Josh. The meeting is a blast. We talks strategy. DeLuca will have to go to Sony first. It’s a first look. Sony will likely pass. It’s a violent movie. Not a sequel or remake…not something Big Sony is likely to get. If they do want to pursue then we’ll likely end up going to Clint and Screen Gems (Tripp will be annoyed). During the discussion, I mention our pitching Fright Night to Clint and how he quickly shot us down.
DeLuca grinned.
Turns out…DeLuca recently acquired the rights and cut a deal with Dreamworks. Patrick gave them the quick pitch and Mike said he’d call Dreamworks to set a meeting.
On May 15, Dean and Elizabeth’s dog Lulu passes.
May 18. Melanie and I have been married for one million years. Happy Anniversary.

We expected Sony to pass on Drive Angry. They don’t. Rachel, the exec, wants to screen MBV.
May 19th, Sony is still bullish on Drive Angry. They won’t pull the trigger but they won’t give DeLuca the pass. He doesn’t wait. He sends the script to Fox, Uni, Relativity, New Regency and Adam Goodman at Paramount. He lets everyone know about Sony’s interest.
Meanwhile Patrick and I are pounding out ISWYD. Dark Castle has been politely pressuring us to finish. It is hinted that if we can deliver what we pitched they have the slot and the money to go into production immediately.
On May 27th we meet DeLuca at Dreamworks, and pitch Fright Night to Mark Sourian. Interesting meeting. Mark tells us exactly what he likes and doesn’t like. Not sure that’s good or bad…just commenting that it rarely happens.
On May 28th we finish our first pass on ISWYD. We have yet to be paid for commencement. We send the script to our network of readers. Close. Trusted.
Later that day we hear that Fright Night is between us and Kring from Heroes. Apparently Kring and Spielberg spoke about it. No clue what that means but we are all waiting on Kring to deliver his pitch and then DW will make a decision.
On May 29th Patrick and I have a general meeting with Avi and Ari Arad, DeLuca, Zach and Norm Golightly via conference call to discuss Ghost Rider 2. It’s a great meeting. The gist: Avi wants the horror movie version of a superhero movie. We just happen to know exactly how to do that. We sort of have the pitch in our heads while there, but we will retreat to our bat caves and solidify it.
Later that day we get a call that Weinstein biz affairs has called to make a writer’s deal with us. When we asked, “For which project? (over the past month we’d actually pitched four different stories.) We were told biz affairs wasn’t sure.
And thus brings us to the end of May.

First off…here’s what I forgot from March. As the release of Haunting in Connecticut approached Gold Circle sent the video for Haunting in Georgia. There’s a whole series of Hauntings that run as an hour-long documentary on A&E maybe? I don’t recall. Anyway…we watched Georgia and there wasn’t much there. It wasn’t very scary. There was a strange time jump. And there was zero conclusion. But we started work on a pitch because that’s what you do when you want to feed your family. At nearly the same time we hear of a project called…Slips My Mind…up for rewrite at Gold Circle. Both we and Gold Circle agree to find out where we stand with Haunting first. So, we came up with a pitch and it was good. But it was bothersome that we had essentially done all the heavy lifting for which someone else would take the credit. We took something that wasn’t scary, didn’t make sense and didn’t have a third act and fixed it. Loosely based on true events was never truer. It was like when a kid learns to poke you with his finger. Doesn’t hurt but it’s annoying.

Meanwhile, Mel and I were crashing at Patrick’s…and Mel told her ghost story. Something that happened to she and her family when she was young. I’d heard it before. Patrick had not. I knew it was a terrifying story. Patrick found this out by being unable to sleep. We decided to tell that story and call it A Haunting in Tennessee. First we pitched Brad Kessell. He loved it. Had a couple very smart notes. Then we went back and pitched Paul Brooks. This all took place in January/February.
On March 31st we sent Drive Angry to Andrew Rona. Patrick and Andrew go back. They basically grew up together during the Dimension Films reign. It was the perfect fit. Add in the fact that we had just closed our deal to write ISWYD for Andrew and you understand why we sent him the script a week before anyone else.
On April 1st I attended my first Genre Hacks dinner. I’m sure there’s a story as to how they formed but I don’t recall hearing it. If I had to guess I’d say it was in answer to the huge once a month dinner by the Masters of Horror. Essentially everyone you’ve heard of: Craven, Carpenter, Roth and so forth. Even Patrick is now a member. Genre Hacks is the dinner for all the rest. And I had a wonderful time.

That evening I crashed at Dean’s. He built a fire. We did battle with vodka.

So many meetings. They all blur. This was before a Gold Circle meeting on the 3rd.

Then it was home for July 4th and some lovely bedhead.

And a day or two of chill.
On April 6th, as we prepared to send Drive Angry to our first wave of producers, Andrew Rona passed.
First Wave:
Bob Weinstein
Toby Jaffe (Original Film)
Neal Edelstein/Mike Macari
Mark Vahradian (Di Bonaventura)
Paula Wagner
Gary Lucchesi (Lakeshore)
Derek Douchy (Davis Entertainment)
Richard Suckle (Mosaic)
Jeniffer Nieves (360 Pictures)
Robert Rodriguez

On April 7th we found out that Paul Brooks passed on Haunting in Tennessee. “Not for me, mate.”
That same day, Neal Edelstein and Mike Macari are the first to respond to Drive Angry. And with much enthusiasm.
Later that day we send the Second Wave to producers:
Platinum Dunes
Tripp Vinson and Beau Flynn
Scott Rudin
JJ Abrahams
Kurtzman/Orci
Mike DeLuca
Sam Raimi
On April 8th Brad Kessell sends a very nice email concerning Paul’s passing on Haunting. He’s certain we’ll find something else to work on.

On April 10th…Izzie grows up. Gets a big girl bed and a big girl room.

Only home for a couple of days before it’s back to LA so I devour as much time as I can get with the girls.

On April 13th we meet Toby Jaffe and Neal Moritz at Sony to pitch our rewrite of the remake. We head up to big Sony and sit down with Elizabeth. Like always, we have a very detailed pitch. We have pictures. Gary Tunnicliffe had created some incredible creature designs for us. We tell our story which is very ten little indians. Very Aliens. Moritz spent most of his time texting. Half way thru the pitch Elizabeth stops us and asks, “But what’s the story?” We stare. She goes on to explain that at Big Sony we need more and as she went on I found myself hearing the teacher from Charlie Brown. I caught a few references to Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and some how-to-write-for-Sony advice but while all is polite and cordial…we know it’s over. Walking out the door I notice a big Taking of Pelham poster. That movie would open later and end up making 101 million world wide. MBV only made 93 million world wide. So, Elizabeth was right. Big Sony knows its stuff. Of course Pelham cost 100m and we cost 16m, but that’s how we do things at Big Sony.
On the drive home, Mel sends me the Susan Boyle video. 6’2″, 240, bald. I tear up.

April 14th, with Izzie sitting at her own desk doing some cutting edge work, I get on the phone with Ludon and some executives from Ed Pressman’s company to discuss Wolfbane. Wolfbane is a twisted werewolf story that formed on a walk ages ago with my neighbor Allen Speigel. Pressman’s people ask if it can be shot in 3D. I say yes. They ask if it can be shot in Asia. I say yes. That was easy.
Meanwhile the interest and passes start trickling in. I won’t go through all of them. All of the passes were passes with praise. Bob loved it but was tied up until Basterds and H2. Toby Jaffe loved it but already had their drive fast movie with Fast and Furious… Derek Douchy loved it but said there was no way they could ever do something so violent at their family friendly company. He suggested we change the name. Even though we were getting passes they were passes with regret. We wrote a pretty great spec during a time when everyone was tightening their belts. Studios and production companies were laying off employees. Most had cut the number of movies per year in half…and here we were…trying to sell a spec. The fact that we were getting the responses we were getting during an economic spiral was incredible.

Those interested ranged from the Paula Wagner to Tripp Vinson. Paula, bless her heart, recognized that this script would sell and likely get made but wasn’t quite sure why. She wanted us to do a rewrite then she’d get it to Kurt Russell. We were like, “Why not get it to Kurt Russell and if he likes it then we’ll do a rewrite catering to him.”

Welcome to the Apple Store! How can I help you!
By the 22nd we sit down with Tripp Vinson and Lisa Zambri. Tripp had done Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. That was a plus. He and Lisa had clearly read and loved the script. Tripp was calm but passionate. Very professional. He had notes. They weren’t bad notes. Certainly well thought out. So far…Tripp was the man to beat. Patrick and I told him we had a couple more places to meet with then we’d make a decision.

Outside Tripp’s office is a big TV. Didn’t occur to me to ask why.
As we left the meeting we hear that Josh Bratman at DeLuca’s read the script, loved it and was getting it to DeLuca for the weekend. We didn’t really want to wait another week but I heart DeLuca. He greenlit my first movie. He was always very cool to me even though I was the dork chained down in the maid’s room at Cunningham’s.

In the meantime we’re working on ISWYD, Cradle and All as well as a couple projects for Hammer Films. At the end of each day I walk, ocean or dine with the girls.

It’s not a bad life if you can get it.

April 27th we get word that DeLuca loved Drive Angry. Wants to meet on Friday. We and Paradigm inform all those that are interested that our last meeting is Friday then we’ll make a decision.

I, of course, learn all of this from inside a clubhouse at Costco.
April 30th. We meet with Mike DeLuca, Josh Bratman and Zach Schiff-Abrams. Within 5 minutes Patrick and I both know we’ve found our home. They were quoting dialog to us. The level of excitement was unfreakingbelievable. Patrick and I talk in short had. I’ll meet you at the place near the thing where we went that time. What was crazy was that suddenly the 5 of us had that same shorthand. When asked what DeLuca would do to the script, he said, “I’d shoot it. People will either get it or not. This is the movie.” Amen, brother.
As we walked down the stairs from their Sony office I could feel Patrick’s excitement. The moment we turned the corner we were machine gunning our words. We’d found a home. We both wanted to pull the trigger in the meeting but thought it polite to tell the agents first.
We told Valarie we wanted to go with DeLuca. She wanted us to wait a day. Let the euphoria wear off. We said fine but knew it wouldn’t make a difference.
And as the sun dipped into the ocean it dragged the remains of April 09 to a watery grave.

I know. Forgive me for the absence. As you’ll see…very soon we’ll pretend that I’ve been here all along.
So continues the story of March.

And we continue to write.

On March 11th Jake, my manger, sends over the graphic novel, Damn Nation. Vampire outbreak in America, survivors move to Canada and the UK. Interesting read.
On March 13th Patrick and I have a call with Toby at Original films to discuss rewriting the script for a remake. We tried to read the script they sent us. The two chuckleheads who wrote it are likely the worst successful writers in town. Welcome to Hollywood my friends. Where even the talentless can see their dreams come true. We pitch a page one rewrite and we blow Toby away if I’m allowed to toot my own horn. He got it. They don’t always get it. Especially genre. He did. Next step…set a time to pitch Moritz.
Then I leap in the car and make a mad six hour dash to LA to celebrate Tom’s birthday. I forget where it was. Some outside bar in Hollywood. It was the usual crowd. Bernie and Liz, Daly, Patricia, Cortney and David. Harben and Walters were in from Texas. Bob and Robert were there from Paradise. Hensleigh was there and had some wonderfully nice things to say about Valentine. I drank too much and smoked a smooth Cuban provided by Dr. Harben.

Later I lost my wallet outside a Denny’s. This very likely ruined the evening…or morning as it was.

On March 16, Patrick and I finish our rough draft of DRIVE ANGRY. Have I mentioned DA? Maybe that we’d started a spec. Here’s the quick story. Back when we assumed we would sort of automatically do a MBV sequel, we’d discussed writing a road movie that we could shoot fast and cheap. Old Man and Hot Blond on the run 70s movie. We’d shoot it while in post on MBV 2. Then LGF shattered our dreams. So, we decided to write it anyway. We had a blast writing it. We had a first act in our heads and just never stopped. We let the characters steer the ship. It was amazingly fun. We shoot it to close friends and agents to read.

Then me and Izzie go on a walk which starts in the woods…

…and ends at the ocean.

Between slamming out assorted pitches and outlines…the ocean keeps me sane.
On March 26 I SAW WHAT YOU DID closes. Did I mention that in the previous post? Can’t recall. It was Patrick’s gig. It was his take. He brought me in. ISWYD is an old William Castle movie. Two girls make crank calls saying, “I saw what you did!” It’s all fun and games until they cal a guy who just killed his wife. Hilarity ensues. The original which is nearly impossible to find, isn’t very good. And due to modern technology, doesn’t hold up. The project has been in development at Dark Castle since 2001 if I heard correctly. Several drafts had a couple girls calling a serial killer…hilarity ensues. Patrick’s take was brilliant. THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR in high school. The girls call Max von Sydow, a professional killer. We developed a take and pitched it twice. COLLATERAL meets BREAKFAST CLUB. Andrew Rona said, go write it! We cut our deals and got to work.
On March 29th We finished our distribution draft of DRIVE ANGRY. Friends and agents previously read it and loved it. The notes were minimal. We basically did a pass for type os. So we shoot it the agents and they begin prepping a list of producers.
Why producers? Why not just blitz the town? Good question but I have a good answer. A good producer can actually go a long way. A working producer. Not just a name that builds confidence and helps make the sell. But someone who can get the job done. Someone who can protect the director. We wanted…nay…needed Patrick to direct. DRIVE ANGRY in the wrong hands quickly becomes a disaster. I watched Patrick on MBV. I know where it started. Where we took it. And I know where it started to go, how dismal, how substandard. And I watched Patrick stop this from happening. I watched him bring it back to life, back to where it was before. Therefore, I trust him without question. We needed a producer who would protect Patrick. Fight his battles. And that would be the deal. We attach you, and you protect us. Seems an arrogant statement but we could afford some arrogance because the script is pretty good.

So, the girls and I went to the Ocean.

On March 30 Tom asks if he can give myself and Steve Niles a Special Thanks on Dark Country. We both say yes, thank you.
Over the course of the month I had a couple calls with Dark Horse to discuss Damn Nation. My take was Black Hawk Down with Vampires. They wanted something different and I’m still not sure what that was. Patrick had met with a Paramount exec and Damn Nation came up. Paramount was intrigued by the Black Hawk Down take. So it was a head-scratcher. If those who are making the film aren’t on the same page then best stay out of the way until they are. And that’s what we did.

Proof that Izzie’s smarter than she lets on.

Apparently I’m not going to get any less busy. Last two entries were void of pics because I made them from the road and/or I was sleepy.

Christmas. Good times.
Spent most of that time planning an attack. I was always pretty confident that MBV would perform but that meant I would need to be ready to pounce. Hype, buzz, the stank of wonder, whatever you want to call it, rarely shows itself. It’s where that whole “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” statement comes from. My fifteen minutes was approaching. So how did I prepare?
First off, I wrote Devil’s Commandos with Tim Bradstreet for Thomas Jane to star. It’s pretty wonderful. Second, Patrick and I officially joined forces which included my joining up with Valerie, Trevor and Scott at Paradigm. Patrick and I would henceforth be a team.

Now, here’s a bit of honesty you won’t find often. While Zane started the process wonderfully, in all fairness the script should have read Screenplay by Farmer and Lussier. No disrespect intended but I’m too tired to BS. I’ve never made it a secret that Patrick was the driving force, warrior and protector of MBV. His input in the script was well over 33 percent. But that’s not how the business works. There are rules you see. Rules to protect the writer from a rogue director. And that’s a great thing. But sadly these rules do not protect the director when he actually dives into the trenches to protect the writer and the writer’s story. So, from now on, Lussier and I are a team.

Patrick and I pitched MBV3D part II a couple of weeks before release. It was NOT the same story regurgitated. We evolved it. Took it somewhere new and exciting. The execs responded with shock and awe and grins and visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads. While we and the execs may have had our differences in the past, they knew we’d cracked the sequel. Nobody knew these characters or this world better.
We were told, if MBV does 20 million then we should move forward with the sequel asap.
Patrick and I also toyed with an idea of writing a spec.

By Saturday it was clear we’d done our job. One LGF executive mentioned we’d dropped 3 percent and I made a face. He said, “Noooo! This is great! Most genre films drop double digits!” He was simply glowing. Riding a high. I didn’t get it until he screamed, “We all have jobs on Monday!”
Punisher Warzone, Spirit…there was alot riding on MBV3D and it felt good that we’d done our part. Not only did we open…we were getting unheard of reviews for a genre film. Movie goers were having a blast.

Over the weekend Patrick and I attended a number of screenings. DP Brian and his wife Melanie (pictured above) joined us.
Patrick and Brian were something of a force of nature during production. They had to learn this new 3D technology which was evolving daily. The main camera wasn’t even ready until the day before shooting (if I’ve got the story correct). They had to constantly leap over obstacles. They had to improvise, adapt, overcome. And they did it. Not only did they do it but they did it with the support of the entire crew. They had every stress and complication most directors face…more than most. Yet they never screamed. Never yelled. Never belittled the crew.
So, the plan was to attack MBV3D part II with the same crew. Take what we’d learned and move beyond.

After every Q&A I asked the audience to flip us off. They were always more than happy to oblige.
Thinking back to the industry screening and the press junket…even the surviving cast members were excited about the sequel. Jaime was thrilled. Kerr and Edi were bouncing off the walls. Jensen was cool and confident. Even Atkins was quick to remind everyone that a fella can, in fact, live without his jaw. We were ready to roll.

So, we simply enjoyed the ride that was the next few days.
Above was the actual miner suit. You could tell due to the duct tape on the helmet. While I will probably never be a fan of LGF’s development doofuses, I adore the Marketing Team. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting something with a Miner’s picture on it.
Back during post I was contacted through Myspace by a band member in the band, Soul. They had a song entitled, “My Bloody Valentine” and wondered how long a shot would it be to get Patrick and Wandmacher to listen to it. I explained that the film was already scored and music purchased. He understood and we stayed in touch via brief myspace notes. Later he suggested his band do a concert the night before we opened then take his crowd to the Midnight showing. I told him to contact Jamie at LGF and she’d know where to begin. He got back with me later and was thrilled. Jamie sent him shirts and key chains and posters, even on of the giant standees. A huge crowed showed. They loved the band and went ape over the movie.
LGF marketing. You simply can’t beat them.

Jack Murray our producer was present at every screening. He was Patrick’s Ninja on set. All stealth and protection.
Little tidbit of trivia. In the movie, when Ferris and Atkins search Axel’s house, we hear a cartoon in the background. The name repeated over and over in the cartoon is Mr. Murray…named after Jack.
Originally Patrick went after “A Charlie Brown Valentine” as well as other more notable toons. The owners of all said, “Uh…no way.” So…LGF sent over a bunch of stock footage cartoons. I was visiting Patrick and the sound guys at Skywalker at the time. I’m now wondering If I already told this story in a previous entry…who knows. Too lazy to go back and look.
A few days later…it was late…ten or so at night…Patrick sends me some words and asks, “Does this sound like a cartoon?” I read the pages and groaned. Apparently, LGF had sent over something goofy. I told Patrick as much and asked him to give me an hour or two. He replied sheepishly, “Well, I only had a few minutes to write it.” Then we both laughed.
I wrote out a tiny three part story which would be heard during three different shots. Then I wondered if it would fit. So I popped in the latest cut on DVD. I muted the volume and did the voice while the movie played. Perfect. It fit. I sent Patrick the pages and for a giggle I sent him the mp3.
Next day I drive back up to Skywalker and when we get to that part in the film…I hear my voice…as the cartoon. They’d popped in my MP3, did all their magic and presto. So…when you see that scene again on Bluray…listen for my voice as the cartoon loony and for Jack’s name.

I forget how long I was in LA total but I split my time between Patrick, Tom and Dean. I crashed at Tom Jane’s place so that we could talk Devil’s Commandos. The following morning I was gazing out at Silverlake then looked down and saw the above. I leaped about three feet. Later Tom cooked breakfast and we ate with our fingers the way vikings do.

I also spent many a morning breaking breakfast with Dean. After one such outing he asked if I was up for a hike. So we climbed a big hill/mountain in Calabasas and swung on a swing. After which, of course we had man sex on an antique quilt and promised never to tell our wives.
Dean’s about to join a TV show but I guess it’s too early to talk about that.

Now, while I play the part of the mean, grumpy, angry destructer, I’m mostly a big softy. I so horribly missed Melanie and Izzie during my many journeys in LA. So I requested multiple pictures from home.

Patrick and I dropped in on Del and Sue for a signing. It was both great and odd. A camera crew arrived to interview us. They were the most unprofessional crew I’d ever come into contact with. I sort of wish I had not destroyed their business cards so that I could give them the recognition they so deserve. Actually the unprofessional I can live with…we all live, learn and grow. It was the arrogance and rude behavior that made me want to punch a couple of them in the skull.

With each return home, Izzie and I danced to Abba. Okay, perhaps not every time but most of them anyway. Because we had plenty to celebrate. MBV had opened. In fact it was a great weekend for the movie business. Mall Cop was huge. Notorious made money. Eastwood simply proved that none of us are worthy. And our phones started ringing.

The last time my phone rang like this was never. I’m a working writer, people. I write and it pays the bills. Pretty cut and dry. MBV is my first true success. While I got my foot in the door back in ’96, MBV is the one I had been striving for.
So after the weekend of the release the first thing we heard was that there was a rights issue. I have no clue of the actual details but the rumor I heard was that while LGF had the rights to the remake, they perhaps had not solidified the rights to a sequel to said remake. Needless to say, while the phone was ringing quite a bit…the caller ID never said LGF.

Back to LA for a signing and meetings. Pictured are numerous Jason’s past and present…along with Sue.
Ran into Geoff and Melissa from old Cunningham days at the signing. He’s now a producer on Psyche. Was good to catch up.
Chatted briefly with Swift and Shannon. They said wonderfully nice things about MBV and I wished them the best with F13. I’ve always liked Swift and Shannon. Swift emailed ages ago to let me know they were up for a rewrite on Messengers. He didn’t have to. There’s certainly no requirement. Just always very respectful. And, of course, I adore Mark Wheaton. I really wished the best for F13. I’m glad it opened huge. I’m angry it didn’t have legs but I’m pretty sure that had little to do with the writers and more to do with a couple producers. These two jokers can sell you a Coke. Red can, white lettering. It’s an easy sell. But they can only sell you one of them because once you take a drink it tastes like Shasta. With MBV we sold a whole bunch of Shasta that tasted like Coke.

At some point during my assorted journeys I ended up crashed at Tim Bradstreet’s castle San Diego. The goal was to take Tom’s notes and pound out the polish on Devil’s Commandos. We fell short of our goal. Tim had to hit LA for a job and I ended up having to leave early for a meeting. But while Patrick and I have been unnaturally busy I have never lost any enthusiasm toward Devil’s Commandos. I actually plan on diving back into it this week.

A week then two went by and we started to wonder what was going on with the sequel. One of the top execs left, went over to the Weinsteins. Incidentally, he was the exec who had said, if we do 20 then we should got to sequel asap. We put out feelers but heard very little. Then we caught wind that Drake said he had greenlit the sequels to Blair Witch and The Grudge, both of which underperformed, so he was not a believer in theatrical sequels and felt they should be avoided. That was a little disconcerting. First off both of those sequels weren’t very good. Second, Blair Witch never really had a foundation anyway. It was a publicity stunt that made bank. How do you turn that into a sequel? Why would you even try? Oh well. Not official but not what you want to hear from the head of the company. From the company clearly unafraid to send SAW to sequel after sequel with no interest in making a good sequel.

So, Patrick and I continued to take meetings around town. While LGF seemed to have us on ignore, everyone else loved what we’d done. We began meeting on gig after gig after gig. Most were remakes but some originals. All were nothing short of wonderful fun.
And in our downtime, Patrick made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Finally we got what some might call damning with faint praise. We were told that we were uniquely successful in LGF’s eyes, that they were incredibly proud of the film, thrilled by the box office, thrilled by the reviews and that so many people, distributors, peers at other studios etc, told them how good it was…that they felt that ‘magic’ wasn’t going to be possible to replicate.
Wow.
While we fought tooth and nail to make the movie we wanted, while Patrick on several occasions lifted the train back onto the tracks after they (LGF) had derailed it…that we apparently “accidentally” made a good movie. That we couldn’t possibly have known what we were doing.
Wow.

So, will there be a sequel? That there is the picture of a pig with wings that sits near Patrick’s pool.
Hollywood is a strange strange place. Hard to predict what will happen. Thanks to the lovely Nikki Finke we know that Icahn has been taking part in a pleasant takeover of LGF. He has been buying up stock and LGF debt for pennies on the dollar. He has announced that he will be making changes to the board of directors. This will likely result in his making changes to the executives in charge. What does this mean for us? No clue. Perhaps nothing. But I’m interested to see what happens.
This may well be that event that once and for all proves the Karma is real.
Since acknowledging all of this stuff and since I just went up to the office pottie to discover a surprise…I wrote the following note.

I am now going to go tape it to the stall door.
I’m back. That was fun.
So Patrick and I have been making the rounds. While I wish I could just tell you what happened with these next two projects, doing so would put unfair pressure and attention on a producer and two executives who did everything in their power to push both of the following projects through. So…that said….Patrick and I got the call about a remake. Ohhhhh my, ladies and gentlemen. This was one of those remakes that when you first hear of it you tinky in your pants a little. Because it’s considered a classic in many circles. The producer who brings it to us is a powerful one. If nothing else, it’s worth going down the road just to see what he’s like in the bed. And isn’t long until we’re both saying, “Oh this could totally benefit from a remake!” So, we did what we do. We removed the cheese. We made the heroes and villians smarter. We paid respect to the original while kicking what the fans loved so much up a couple notches. And finally…we made it scary. Terrifyingly scary. We did what we did with MBV. We paid respect to the original while updating and making it both smart and scary. We pitched the producer. He LOVED it. We returned and pitched the exec. He LOVED it.
Now was time to pitch THE MAN. We knew this part was impossible to predict. The Man had a reputation for lobbing grenades at a pitch. Patrick and I told ourselves we could handle just about any lobbed grenade…except for one. We would not remove the part that made this particular movie a classic. So the pitch began. Five minutes in The Man stopped it. Told us he’d NEVER make this movie. He said he hated the original. Said you couldn’t make that movie today. And then he lobbed at a grendade at the one thing we were prepared to walk away over. And while annoying he did say something interesting. He said, “I know all of you get this. But I don’t. So I’m doing you a favor. Because I’ll just fuck it up. None of us will be happy.” Both producer and executive timidly argued. Well what if we do this…? What about this…? Patrick and I sat there quietly and exchanged a smile. It was time to go.
Now…that was the HUGE remake we were up for. What follows is the HUGER remake. In fact, this next one wasn’t just a remake. It was the remake…of a remake. We were entering holy land as far as some fanboys would be concerned. Us included. Patrick had spoken with the executive and the project was brought up. The executive needed a little time to make sure the rights were where they were supposed to be. In the meantime, Patrick and I sat down together and watched the remake. We looked at each other, “This could totally benefit from a remake.” Again, here’s the thing. They are going to remake it. Most remakes blow. At least we get it. We know how to update while being respectful. And this one was no different. So we went back and watched the original. We watched the sequels to the original. And the story began to present itself. The twists and turns. The story began to update while maintaining respect to the original.
Then Friday was released. It broke records. Monday our executive was attending the studio big dog meeting. The big dogs were scrambling. “What giant franchise do we have that we can reboot?!” A small voice spoke up from the kid’s table. It was our little executive. Our little Arthur long before he pulled the sword. He reminded the big dogs that they had the HUGER remake. He told them that he already had the guys who did MBV in 3D coming up with a take. The big dogs requested a screening. Patrick and I took that time to solidify our pitch. I loved it. It was scary and funny and respectful. The characters were smart. The Villains even smarter.
Then came the day of the big screening. Our exec called. The suits loved it. He should know something the following day. Sigh. The following day the suits praised our little flick. What we had done with non-franchise, obscure movie was amazing. Then they promptly turned and requested Zack Snyder for their remake. When it was pointed out that Snyder had his next ten projects lined up and would be tied up for years…they angrily asked our little executive, then why aren’t you bringing us Chris Nolan?!
Needless to say, we never even had the chance to pitch our take.

So far, those are our only two passes. That’s out of twenty plus projects. We will most likely close our first deal next week. And likely another shortly after. Last week we pitched an incredible remake and it was clear we blew the executives away. This week has us meeting on three more giant remakes. And soon after we meet the studio head to pitch a story Melanie came up with…more on that later because it’s pretty amazing. And then there are a dozen projects we have yet to develop due to time. No worries though. We’ll get to them all.

Now, will we get hired on them all? Of course not. Not even close. But here’s the deal. A smart story. Smart characters. A smart villain. And no compromise. We make the best story we can make and we will fight to the death to protect it from those who can’t help but stumble stupidly in the way.

I don’t know any other way to do it. It seems the general movie goer is sick of remakes yet remakes statistically out perform the originals. Thus if remakes are all we’re being offered then the only way to combat those that are simply cashing in, is to actually respect the material and make good movies.

And while I keep referring to MBV as a good movie, you may have seen it and hated it. Great. But I don’t care. It’s a good movie in my eyes and this is the first time I’ve been able to say that about a movie I’ve been a part of. It’s the first time the end result has so much of me in it. It’s the first time I’ve worked with a fearless director willing to fight for the integrity of the story. I’m not interested in making the movie I THINK you will like because that leads to failure. I can only successfully make the movie that I want to see and HOPE you share my vision. And that’s what Patrick and I are going to do.

No fear.

So, for now…I’m home. I don’t like being away. When I come home Izzie latches on. Won’t let me out of her sight. Scared I’ll leave again. And now she knows how to call me. Or when I call she’ll take the phone away from her mother and go hide with it in her room. It’s actually sort of nice. I’m driving and she’s just jabbering away. But more than that, I miss my wife. I’m not good being away from her. I got pretty lucky in the wife and mother department.
Sleepy now. Dave? Will I dream?