This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--

DID I MAKE MY GOAL?

Last week, I set the goal to write the second scene of the next feature film I’m going to make.

And I made that goal, but under duress!

It’s a very big week for our horror film Dead Media (more on that below) so I struggled to make time to write. But I got up extra early this Thursday and knocked it out which I absolutely would NOT have done if I hadn’t set the goal in this blog.

And in total honesty, it was not a Herculean scripting feat. Once I got into it, I realized the correct length for this scene was just over one page.

But on that one page, I needed to establish the looks and names of multiple main characters.

I mentioned previously that I’ve been struggling with names as I get rolling on this new script. The characters don’t really lock in for me until their names feel correct. I’m also making sure their names are unique without being outlandish. A tricky balance.

And on this particular morning for whatever reason, names were flowing. I thought of the perfect first name for my main character and had to go back and change it everywhere.

I thought of about six names that flowed, made sense, and they were unique! There were not 100 instagram influencers and accident attorneys with those names!

A huge thanks to the MUSE OF NAMES whose first name should be Rhonda.

I very much look forward to getting deeper into this script but first I’ve got lots of promotion work to do because—

LIFE ADVENTURES

—Dead Media is now available on streaming! Yes, a movie about physical media is on streaming.

It’s available for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Bloodstream TV (which is a dedicated horror streaming service), and a new streaming service focusing on indie films, Moonbeem. (Dead Media is on the front page next to The Love Witch!)

The film should be available soon on YouTube and Fandango, as well. And in late November or early December, it will be up on Apple TV. Unfortunately, I don’t have an exact date or time on those drops, but I will be very loud about it when they arrive!

The film’s page on our distributor Antenna Releasing’s website has links to all the places we are streaming and you can find that here.

Also on the Dead Media page—

1) Links to all the places you can leave ratings/reviews. Letterboxd, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, etc. Those ratings and reviews make a MASSIVE difference for indie films like ours.

2) Shirts! We’ve got Dead Media t-shirts for sale. Including Maggie’s “Skull With Music Notes For Eyes” shirt.

And with the promo out of the way, let’s talk emotions!

This has been a thrilling, strange, nerve-racking, wonderful few days.

On Tuesday night when the film released on streaming, I sat in the exact same spot on my couch that I wrote the script three years ago. Now, from the same spot, the film was on my television. I’m thrilled with the accomplishment that the film exists. People can watch it all across the United State and Canada and I don’t have to be there. Amazing! Hard to process!

But it’s also nerve racking because I won’t get any report on how the film is doing for weeks or months.

One of the reasons I wanted to make films is so my creative work could reach a wider audience than doing live theater and live comedy.

But I keep being surprised how much my live show instincts affect how I feel about the film.

I kept thinking of Tuesday as Dead Media’s big opening night performance. And it was. But not at any set time. No stage manager giving me a 5 count. It felt like I was doing a big spectacular show while locked inside a Faraday cage and a month from now, the house manager will tell me how the audience responded.

With all those emotions swirling, I want to thank everyone who DID let me know they were watching. Folks who posted on social media. Folks who left nice reviews. Folks who are commenting on and resharing on all of the promotional posts and videos I’m putting out. To everyone who came to one of the live screenings this summer and fall. To everyone subscribed to this blog.

I feel incredibly lucky to get such great support from folks like you.

And now to put my carnival barker hat back on and keep promoting until the rafters shake!

LIGHT PLUGS—

Everything above was a plug so I’m ruining my own format!

So one more time, check out Dead Media on streaming.

More in-person screenings to be announced soon, I hope!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

In addition to all the promo, I want to keep rolling on the script for the next film. The next scene in that one is a little murky, so I’m going to try a page count metric. So my goal for next week: Write the next 2 pages of the script for my next film.

YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I would LOVE to hear what you're working on in the comments below. What's your goal? How can I help you literally finish your monsters?

A LITTLE SKETCH--

This week’s sketch is the Muse of Names offering some poor stuck writer the name “Steve.” Thanks again and best of luck with all your creative adventures and names!