And the humidity is lower too

Ohmigod!! The VAN!!

Thank God for Google Streetview.  I was considering this apartment.

Because a van with no windows doesn't say "serial killer" enough

 

And the interior view:

Some cargo needs to be locked off from the driver.

Lessons Learned

One advantage of writing some of these low-budget films is that you learn your lessons the hard way.

Blockbuster online has some reviews posted, and here's an example:

Awful This movie was stated to be a family kids movie. This had my 6 yr old girl crying all night. Not a movie for kids if they love animals. The quality is horrible.

Who'da thought that killing the dog 20 minutes into the movie might have some undesirable side effects?!

Some reviewers actually do like the emotionality of it -- but clearly several were not expecting the DVD with the cute, happy dog on the cover to turn into a FESTIVAL OF DEATH.

And, it really is something of a festival of death. We start in a cemetery, dog dies around 20 minutes in, then ghost dog and ghost dad *both* leave hero kid at end of movie.

My subsequent kids/family films are a tad less morbid.

Career indecision

While there are many practical disadvantages to starting screenwriting at 38, one advantage is that you feel like you're in your 20s at 45.

For free advertising on the internet, cast stars with a high nerd-Q-factor

My last four movies got almost no press.  But this one isn't even on IMDb yet and we got:

DreadCentral

geektyrant

Horrorbid

HorrorAsylum

BloodyDisgusting

I'll finally get some street cred -

- amongst all my Buffy/Angel fan friends.  Charisma Carpenter is starring in my movie!

Deadly Sibling Rivalry

Somehow the blurb ended up on-line for the next movie going into production:

After a wife and mother falls into a coma following a car accident, her troubled twin sister steals her identity to start over with a new life. Problems arise, however, when the comatose woman's daughter gets suspicious.

Evil twins!  How can that not be awesome?

This will shoot in February, but I couldn't get the timing right so I won't be out there at the beginning. I might be out there again first week of March and catch the tail-end of the shoot, though.

This is one I'm the sole writer on.  However the base concept came out of a kind of machine.  The bosses made up a list of different Lifetime-y concepts (each basically described in about as much depth as the above blurb), then ran them through a sort of internet focus group to see which ones were most appealing to their demographic.  Apparently that makes network executives far more comfortable when they say, "go with that one".

I'll likely be starting in on another one of these Lifetime-style films before too long -- but this time an actual remake of a Lifetime movie from the 90s!  I was a tad surprised too.  TV movies get remade?!

The producers are also trying to get involved with SyFy this year and make a movie for them.  They are desperate to do this because they are all males.

It is hard, however, to get into business with SyFy.  I have a theory that this is because most producers, writers, and directors are male, and if they're going to do a low-budget TV movie, they all want to do something like giant piranha tarantulas.

I know I do.

My home away from home?

Park Motel on Google

Adding the text below if you can't read the picture:

JohnPic ‎ - Sep 23, 2009
Hell hole This place is so bad and over-run by whores/day laborers, it's used in tv/movies as a go-to "Crack hotel" Filthy sheets, owners mill around the parking lot at night/early AM preventing any chance at sleep. Dog-faced lady tends weeds on back wall, and screeches like a banshee the minute it's "Chekooooo" time,. Better off sleeping in your car-safer, less chance of scabies. The proverbial "Turd in the Punchbowl" in an otherwise nice neighborhood. Days Inn 2 doors up is a much safer alternative. You've been warned.

Dmitry ‎ - Mar 18, 2008
The worst motel I've ever been... The worst motel I've ever been... If you like japaneese horror films you might like this place otherwise I would strongly recommend to find other place to stay. =)

Cop Dog Inception Trailer

Hafta say this is rather cool:

Behind the scenes of Behind the Scenes of Zombie Hamlet

I don't even know how many levels meta we are in this one.  Here's a clip from a Baton Rouge newscast that came out to visit the set during the early days of the shoot:

On Location Photos

I'm uploading some photos from location to a Picasa album:

Click on the photo to go to the album.

They're also shooting the next two Twilight movies down here so we had a bunch of teenaged girls out at the edge of the property screaming.

Go Team Zombie!