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?

My goal for last week was to complete the first draft of the script for a new short film.

And I did it!

And it was not easy!

I’m sorry I’m yelling!

Anyway, I had an outline that I really liked for this short film. I cleared most of my work time on Thursday to work on it. The writing didn’t flow well, but I did a pretty good job of staying focused.

But I kept being frustrated by it. So I went for a walk. And I wrote some more. Then I had lunch. And I wrote some more. Then I tried meditating. And by meditating, I mean I took several deep breaths and gently said swear words with my eyes closed.

By the end of the day, the script was half done, but I knew something wasn’t right. At first, I assumed it was just trying to break through the noise and get my focus back. But a part of me wondered if I was having a difficult time because there was something wrong in the idea itself.

I usually do well by trusting my instincts. But I couldn’t tell if the light, constant screaming in my soul was my instincts or just all the stress of the world.

For some reason, I slept really well that night. I woke up early. And instead of looking at my phone, I watched my wife, Sara, sleep. And my mind wandered. And I came up with a much better idea for the short film.

I realized the problem with the original idea is that it was just too complex for the time constraints. It was like trying to put a sweater made for a chihuahua on a great dane.

The new idea got me excited to write which is always a good sign.

Over the weekend, I told Sara, “I got a great idea for a horror movie while I was watching you sleep!” Then decided to never say it that way again.

I rewrote the outline over the weekend and I finished scripting the first draft this morning BEFORE putting out the blogletter so I could actually accomplish my goal.

Thanks again for the reinforcement, kind blogletter readers.

A NICE THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

On Saturday, Sara and I had a nice Valentine’s Date doing something we were not supposed to do.

The Egyptian Theater is hosting a series of screenings showing films on nitrate. If you’re not familiar with nitrate, it’s an old film stock known to EXPLODE INTO FLAMES.

We went to see the film BLITHE SPIRIT. I bought the tickets a while back and jotted a note in my physical calendar. When the weekend was coming up, Sara and I chatted about what we should do for Valentine’s. I looked at my calendar and saw the note. “Hey,” I said, “We’ve already got plans. We’re going to see Blithe Spirit on Nitrate.”

When we arrived at The Egyptian, it took the person there a few tries to scan the QR code for our tickets. But it worked and she smiled and said, “Enjoy the show.”

We went in, sat down, and stared up at the pre-movie image on the screen celebrating tonight’s film: MY MAN GODFREY.

I checked the website and realized I had written down the wrong day. Blithe Spirit was playing the following week.

We talked it through. Should we leave? They did scan our tickets and let us in? It’s not like we snuck in. We paid for the tickets. This particular screening didn’t have assigned seats so we weren’t sitting in anyone else’s place. We decided to pay close attention to the seats filling up and if it looked like the movie was sold out, we’d get up and leave. It was quite full but not sold out so we decided to stay.

And it was a fantastic night of HUMAN CONNECTION. The print was from 1936. It was amazing to laugh along with not just the same story other humans watched 90 years ago, but the exact same physical film.

I had heard of but never seen My Man Godfrey. We were so delighted at how fresh and alive the film felt. Partially because it was a story of horrific economic inequality and searching for morality within that, but also because the writing, performance, direction was so very, very human.

“Oh, money, money! The Frankenstein’s Monster of the soul!” one character cried out. A very funny line in context of the film and a banger post I’d expect to read on Bluesky in 2026.

It was also a lovely night of connection in the audience. I bumped into a fellow filmmaker I met a few years ago at the H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival. Another kind soul came up to introduce himself. He’s one of my supporters on Patreon. Sara ran into a friend and fellow film buff she knows from work. An older man said “Hello” to me in a very friendly way that made me think we knew each other, but HE WAS JUST BEING FRIENDLY. Strange. Marc Maron and Guillermo Del Toro were also there and people just left them alone to watch the film. Although, I hope they talked about doing a project together.

BIG PICTURE: I initially felt VERY FOOLISH for getting the date of the movie wrong. But instead of living in the shame, we embraced the accident. And we were rewarded with a great night that really reminded me the point of art is connection. Connection with long gone souls up there on the screen. Connection with strangers and friends in the audience. Connection with the possibility that the beautiful story you’re watching could BURST INTO FLAMES at any moment.

We capped the evening off with a nice walk home. We opened the door to our apartment and I immediately sat down at my computer to buy tickets for the CORRECT NIGHT to see Blithe Spirit.

LIGHT PLUGS

DEAD MEDIA’S FIRST FESTIVAL APPEARANCE: Our horror film will play twice at the NEVERMORE FILM FESTIVAL in Durham, North Carolina. I’ll be there at both screenings to do an intro and a post-film Q&A! Tickets and info here!

DEAD MEDIA MAILING LIST: We’ve got a mailing list for Dead Media. I’m only going to send out messages occasionally with concrete info and asks for help—screening dates, sales news, help getting the word out, etc. You can sign up here if you’re interested!

SHORT FILMS ON YOUTUBE: I’m still planning on releasing three of my short films on YouTube. I want to release one a week. I really want to promote these extensively on social media, but I keep wrestling with whether it feels right in this moment. But it would still be a huge help if you subscribed to my YouTube channel and hopefully it will feel right to put out the short films soon.

DONATIONS TO DEAD MEDIA: We need all the help we can get for film festival submission fees, advance money to book theaters, etc. Through Film North, you can make a one time tax deductible donation here. Thanks for all the help and support!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I’ve got a lot of little things to do to get ready for traveling to the Nevermore Film Festival next week, so I’m going to go easy on myself. So my creative goal for next week is to complete the SECOND draft of the script for a new short film.

YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week 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 a celebration of what did NOT happen. A man watching as a piece of film bursts into flame. I hope everyone has a good week and nothing bursts into flame that isn’t supposed to.