The Year of Development Hell (Part 6)...

Continued from a previous post...

I, by no means, would not compare what happened to our film to what happened to the people that lived in New Orleans. I know a few people that were displaced by the damage that occurred. However…

A while after the incident, I received a phone call from a colleague. He told me that we had been mentioned on a news channel as one of the productions that had been affected by the damage. (I must note that he was “flicking around” and did not pay attention to what channel it was. Also, I never found a reference online. However, he did refer to it by the revised name Clinical; we always referred to the script/film as Phobia when talking with anyone except our agent.)

RnD helped support the various charities that were providing assistance, we donated food, clothing, home goods, money and time to work at the Ice Palace which had become a makeshift “distribution center”.

Our agent kept trying to get the location team back in… but obviously they were not allowed.

Our DP turned 1st time director left to direct another project that never materialized. Our actors left as well, they needed to work. Everyone was released.

It was September now, more than half a year had passed and we were now starting over… with a script that we (the writers) no longer liked. The money was still ready to go. All we needed to do was lockdown locations, get a new cast and crew signed on and the money would be released…

All we needed to do… Ugh!

We were no longer being tasked with inane notes. Now, we were being tasked with finding places to shoot the film and to then pitch that idea in a way to our agent that he could then pitch it to the rest of the production team and money men.

Prague. Vancouver. Los Angeles. Tampa. All were considered. And, many more international and national cites as well. I believe at one point an actual rundown "Ghost Town" in the south west was in consideration...

The producers only had so much time to get everything in place before they would have to start looking for new money. They wanted the film in the can before Christmas. Where would we go?

(and so it continues...)

to be continued, again...

Don.