Optimism is a dish best served cold.
You know, I’m a pretty bright guy but there are some very basic flaws in my character that tend to make me a bit thick at times. And while many times, I come across as a bit of a pessimist (which is an optimist with experience). I do like to believe at the base of my heart in the goodness of mankind. Which is why I’m no longer reading any of the comments on AOL, which is like running manure through a filter and being surprised that there’s shit everywhere.
But back to my thickness. Anybody who has been following this blog (I’m sure there are at least two of you) know that last year writing wise, was a series of downs. Mainly because I allowed myself to believe in certain individuals who had not earned that right through proven track record. As a result I got burned and time got wasted. My time.
Sure there was money for that time but it was hardly enough and in the end, it really is cold comfort for change. However, this is a new year and it calls for old tactics. Before I got into writing for film, I wrote books in the Techno-thriller genre. I have an extensive background in Terrorism, Counter Terrorism, Insurgency, etc., etc. When I came to film, I decided to put all of that behind me and write stuff that didn’t contain, copious amounts of firearms, nuclear weapons and members of fringe communist states. But somehow, that shit creeps through and you can’t help but feeling that family drama really could be amped up with the help of a handgun or two. Which might be why I sort of drifted into horror. It’s about extreme situations and I like the extreme.
Horror though is still as full as any other genre of the nuts, weirdos and flakes that populate the film industry. Some of whom are amusing and fun and others who are most definitely not. Which brings me to the Canadian reality. Ignoring what is said by all others in regards to how well funded we are (when we are most certainly not). How our govt. supports the arts (Less now than ever). There is a central unshakable fact, we my friends are on our own.
Which brings me back to my past life… This ain’t art, this is war. A nice little low intensity conflict. Just the sort of thing I’m very good at. There low budget and then there’s no budget, which thanks to technology, we’ve been able to drop our front end and back end production costs through the floor. The only place you can’t skimp is on equipment. So I’m tossing my hat in the ring with some other good people and bringing some equipment to the table, that meets up with their needs. Our cell meets with other cells and we pool resources. We do our own projects as part of the collective and pretty soon we’ve got good stuff to show for it. I’ve got a ton of sales and distribution contacts who respect me enough to look my stuff over.
I think 2008 is going to be a very good year… at the very least, it’s going to be interesting.