Draft 10

After quite a bit of discussion, draft 10 of Detox is finally done. It is not yet the final final final draft, however it is the draft going to the first contest. There are few minor points to noodle. This is the draft we are going to let people read and get feedback on. This is the draft that will be copyrighted. This is the draft that will be going out to contests and festivals.

There will definitely be a draft 11, but it won't happen without some outside feedback.

So far it has gone to two people, Kurt Rauf and Dan Kauppi - I respect both of their opinions. There are already little bits I could put in, but I don't want to do anything until I have some sort of "this needs this" or "that needs that" - otherwise it's just clogging the script.

I think it's pretty damn tight. And I would be 100% confident taking it into production. I know that, once cast, the actors wil have some input - and I am 100% ready to listen and put that input into the final film. Watching Zak Forsman's "I Fucking Hate You" and listening to how the scripts he "writes" are very much just stories that the actors improvise the dialogue and some of the action, I am very much intrigued and interested in attempting something similar - though on a slightly more controlled level. I think I could handle directed an improvised short, but a feature... I might go insane. I'm not a control freak, but... well, okay, I'm not kidding anyone. I am a control. Hello, My name is Michael Dunn and I am a control freak. I don't have an issue with it. Do you?

Anyway. Now that we have a "final" draft, we are going to submit to a couple of contests and see how that goes. Get some feedback from friends in the industry and see where we can improve it. This is PHASE ONE.

In a few months, if nothing has come of PHASE ONE, we will enter PHASE TWO. That's where we try to get a name actor attached to the script and take it from being a script and making it a PACKAGE.

If we still can't get financing (which, really, is $1 million THAT much to ask?!?) we'll enter PHASE THREE. That's where we sell internal organs and fluids to raise the cash to fund it ourselves.

Stay tuned.

Bummed

I think about how it could be, sitting around and thinking up shit to film, experiments and such. Brainstorming. And doing. I don't have those kind of friends. My friends get annoyed when I drone on about film stuff. Well, at least the local ones. Even if they don't say anything, I can feel it. The faraway ones probably would too. Not the really, really faraway one, though, the one I miss the most. He probably would have indulged me (he did before) and probably would be here right now egging me on to do something cool. Challenging me. Daring me. Triple dog double daring me.

But he's not here.

I'm trying to do something good. Something unique. Something me. Something that other people might appreciate - if only after they've publicly ignored it. But it stayed with them. And they recognise what that means.

I'm trying to something that's me. I don't know what it is, but it seems whenever I actually do it, it IS me, like it or not. Win or fail.

I'm tryin', Ringo, I really am.

Why are the ones who support me the most dead?

Get "The Bet" for $5.95

The Standard Edition DVD of "The Bet" (sans bonus features) is available for $5.95 from indieflix. Buy it (or better yet, get the fully-loaded (like me) DVD with over 4 hours of bonus features from filmbaby.

Either way, you're helping me get a Canon 5D Mark II and helping me make more films. With the liberty the Canon 5DM2 affords, I can shoot whatever I want. Maybe good? Possibly bad. But it'll be "A Michael Dunn Film" nonetheless.

The Canon 5D Mark II

Pretty much decided. Well, I am decided. I just need the cash (hopefully that will come when the camera does in late November).

Can't tell you how awesome it is. 1080p. 30fps (which I've test converting to 24fps and it looks fine; plus a firmware upgrade may allow 24fps filming). And it's a Canon. My two favorite photographers shoot (or shot) with Canon.

I have many, many, many plans for this fucker. First and foremost is shooting the video for "Virgins" for Rachel Bellinsky. Then, I am gonna experiment the shit of of what can be done and actually be a filmmaker for once.

Two things

I need to find a decent camera. For the past week I've been drooling over the Nikon D90 because it records HD video at 24p and (since it's a DSLR) has interchangeable lenses. And for $1299 (with the stock zoom lens) it's pretty damn affordable. BUT I am not liking the rolling shutter. I could get a decent camcorder for around $2-3K, but no interchangeable lenses, and I don't want to deal with a 35mm adapter. So, not really sure what to do. Part of me really wants the D90, despite its issues, just to have a good still camera. Ugh.

Second: I realised I have work emails saved from back when I started here (early 2001) and was going through them. On January 13, 2003 there was an exchange between Scott Wizell and myself about his new website. Nothing major. But the next saved email I have is from January 28, two weeks later. That's the email that let everyone know Scott had died from a heart attack while skiing. Funny that I discovered this while looking for a camera. Scott was a great photographer and part of the reason I started looking into getting a decent one. I indirectly inspired him to pursue photography, and my constant thoughts of him (and wanting to shoot more film stuff) have led me along the same path.

I name all my gadgets (my computer is Edgar [an Electric Dreams reference], my laptop is Edgar Jr., my phone is Clank [from Ratchet and Clank]) so maybe it's fitting I name the camera I end up getting after Scott. Though that might be weird, ha!

I am trying

I know at least 2 people read my insane ramblings here.
that doesn't bother me.
i have been doing everything i can to learn about filmmaking. reading blogs, watching commentaries, listening to podcasts, reading about the rule of thirds, discussing marketing, about every imaginable way i can even attemt to begin to get a clue about how to make awesome film i have been trying, begging, pleading, learning, researching... i want to know.

and i am getting there.

slowly.
sadly.
earnestly.

but powerfully. i am not an idiot. i am not a fool. i know what i like and i know that if i stick to what i like, even if others hate it, some will love it - i know that what i do will be appreciated by a small subset, and the smaller the subset the more powerful, i just pray the more vocal - i know the films i am making: this bizarre genre-bending world somewhere betweeen horror and thriller and drama that accepts comedy that isn't defensibly dark but would be called such - or relevant my films (though i neve expect to be relevant) - the more popular i will become.

i'd so much rather be the weirdo who steps up while kathy griffin is doing an acadamey awards red carpet arrival breakdown for E! and jumping up and commenting with her on whom people are wearing (which is sick in the fact that they are NOT ACTUALLY WEARING CALVIN KLEIN'S FLESH) and bitch like the fag i'm not, but the artist i am) than i would be the moron who checks the sales of his DVD every morning in hopes he could convince or impress those that went into the venture with him or who are perpetually surprised when they get a royalty check on "The Bet" DVD sales.

meh.

Possibly the most (or 2nd or 3rd) awesome photo ever

TERRIFYING

Not really sure what to do with that.

I rarely covet...

Okay, calling my own bullshit. I covet damn near everything. But this I am just absolutely insane over. Like, I would trade one of my kids (the bad one) for it. Okay, not really. But damn near close. This is like the uber-cute, snuggly version of the one I sold in a garage sale too many years ago. This is, like, unbelievable. As is my need to have it. Yes, it costs about 2 festival submissions. Yes, it costs about 3 DVD's. Yes, I have NO money right now. But fuck, i WAAANNNT this.

And on the subject, I should probably just have a default to buy any and every Kubrick ever released. Like an auto-buy. It's released; I buy. I don't even have to know it exists until it shows up in the mail. damn, i wish i was a gansta. or at least had some disposable income. Hmmm, if I sold about 10 DVD's of "The Bet" I could SO afford it. C'mon people. Buy this for me.

Oh yeah, click for the make big.

James goes to Italy

Below is Walt Turner (in blinding blonde hair) to promote Vegas: Based on a True Story at the Venice Film Festival on September 1st. How exciting! Walt played James in "The Bet." He took copies of the DVD to pass out as his reel - wouldn't hurt if it landed in a VIP's hands, that's for sure.

(L-R) Actor Mark Greenfield, Iranian director Amir Naderi, actors Zack Thomas, Walter Turner and actress Nancy La Scala pose during a red carpet event at Venice Film Festival September 1, 2008. The movie "Vegas: based on a true story" by director Naderi is shown in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

The art of collaboration

When interviewed about "The Bet," I was asked what it was like to write with a partner. I thought I'd take a minute and explain the process Chris Smith and I go through.

It's not the way many people might imagine, where we discuss and ponder and brainstorm in between turns at the keyboard. Actually quite different. And that's not to say our way is the right way, only our way.

Before any writing was done, we had lunch to discuss the story, the characters, etc. I had emailed him prior with a very rough idea of the story to see if he was interested in collaborating again. When he agreed to tackle this thing together, we had lunch and discussed the story, the characters, etc. Once we were both pretty much on the same page (as it were) in regards to those elements, I banged out a very rough first draft - actually, the second draft as the first was abandoned a few pages in when the location changed from a cabin in the woods to a suburban home.

I sent that draft to Chris. He read it and we, again over lunch, discussed it. I went back with our notes and made changes. This process continued through the fifth draft. That's when Chris really went through and overhauled huge sections of the script. His sixth draft had dropped a number of scenes between the two main characters which I stripped back in for the seventh draft. From there, only minor changes were made to create the final draft. Anyone who knows about writing spec scripts knows regardless of how many drafts are gone through, the final draft of the script is actually the first. So, now we have a finished first draft. This is what will be going out into the world.

Although the process took 19 months, which may or may not be a long time, it was a necessity. He and I both have real jobs outside of writing scripts, so the majority of our day is spent earning a paycheck. We also both have families, so a lot of our free time is spent there. The good thing that came out of the drawn-out process was that it gave us time to think about the script. Even if we weren't at the keyboard working on the script, our brains were, sorting through things.

I felt the fifth draft was pretty much done. Just some minor tweaks. Then, while it was in Chris' hands for just over two month, I started to see major flaws. I sent my concerns to him via email - sometimes two or three times a day - and he took it all in. This lead to a nearly perfect next draft.

The thing I like about having a collaborator is that all the pressure isn't on me. I don't have to stress that every word is perfect, that every scene flows, that every motivation works, that each arc is being handled. In fact, there are many times I would simply write something like "We need something to go here" and leave it for him to deal with. And I knew that if something I wrote sucked, he'd catch it and call me on it. This sort of check and balance works for us.

The other thing I really like about it is I get the chance to read the script as if it were new to me. When I was reading Chris' sixth draft, there were moments when I was in complete suspense, not knowing how things were going to resolve - even though I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen. Reading it through someone else's words is like rediscovering it, and it helps point out where the script is good and where it's failing.

Chris and I have very different backgrounds, different ideas, different views. When he introduced the newscaster puppets in "The Bet," I didn't like the idea. But I stayed with it, respecting his vision, and it worked. There are some bits like that in Detox, where I'm not completely sold. I'm sure there are for him as well. There's some compromise, some hard decisions, but ultimately we agree that if it works for the story, it stays.

I've tried to write a few scripts myself, but, ultimately, if I decide to pursue them fully, Chris will have a go at them. I don't him to do the same, but I like what he brings to my ideas. This is the kind of collaboration I thrive on. If I was deadset on my way of doing things, I would've never been able to get "The Bet" made - nor would it have turned out half as good as it did. Some might think I'm lazy; some might think my "vision" is being watered down. I don't. I think it works perfectly.

The inspiration

For quite some time, I've believed that everything around is an answer, we just haven't asked the question yet. On February 9, 2007 I was at a photoshoot at Francis George's studio. Between shots, I was looking through some of his props on a shelf and came across a huge horse syringe. Francis said I should write a script that we could use the syringe on the poster.

I had already been toying with ideas that might work as a low-budget thriller. But the syringe added an element I hadn't yet thought of. That night, as sleep invaded, an idea was formulating. I was mixing the syringe with the "cabin in the middle of the woods" idea that worked well for Evil Dead. And so I started asking questions:

• Why is there a syringe? Because of drugs.
• Who is doing drugs? I don't know.
• Is doing drugs interesting? Not as much as withdrawing.
• Aha! So who is withdrawing? A loved one.
• Why are the at the cabin? For privacy.
• Why do they need privacy? Doing something illegal.
• So, what are they doing that's illegal and withdrawal-related?

That's when this little nugget pops up - A guy is detoxing his girlfriend from heroin.

From there, it's just adding spice. What if it's his ex-girlfriend? And he's doing it by force. And he's got someone helping him. And that helper is actually acting against him.

Well, you get the point. It took some time to noodle the major points, but it all came down to finding that syringe on a shelf when I should've been paying attention to a photoshoot.

And yes, that actual syringe is the one in the teaser poster.