This is Finish Your Monsters, a (hopefully weekly again) 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?

When I last posted, I was promoting the second leg of the roadshow tour for our horror film about a haunted DVD, Dead Media.

These were the two goals I set:

-Get back to regular blog posts in October and make them shorter. I’m typing this now so I managed the first part, but will I keep this shorter???? Let’s find out!

-Get started on the script for my next horror film. I have copious notes and two pages of screenplay so I’m going to say that’s a yes. Still fighting to find an hour or two a day to give it my full attention. Baby horror steps!

LIFE ADVENTURES

I’ve been back from the second leg of the Dead Media roadshow for about 5 days now. I went from Birmingham to Atlanta to three stops in Texas to two shows in New York to Portland to Palm Springs in just over 2 weeks.

I’m very tired, but also very excited about the future of the film. Response on the road continues to be great.

My wonderful wife, Sara, was able to join me in New York for my one true day-off during the tour. I haven’t spent any time in Manhattan proper so I decided to try to see as much of it as possible by going to the top of the Empire State Building like King Kong. The view was spectacular and I do love an over-the-top photo opportunity, as seen below.

King Kong looks much more alarmed than me in this photo.

Now that I’m back home, I’m focused on what’s next for Dead Media.

We’ve got a couple theatrical screenings in the scary month of October with more to come in November. Just theaters that want to show the film without me being there. Here are the current dates:

0ct 13 - Partizanfilm - Burlington, VT

Oct 20 - Cinema Underground - Rutherford, NJ

If you want Dead Media to screen in your city, let your local theater now and they can request it on the distribution company’s website here!

Plus, we’ve got two screenings in Los Angeles with intro from me and Q&As with cast and crew post-film.

Oct 17 - 4 pm at Whammy Analog! (Whammy is an old-school VHS video store with a micro-cinema and this screening is happening on International Video Store Day. A great day for a film about a haunted DVD. Q&A will be moderated by Ken Napzok!)

Oct 23rd - 7:30 pm at Eastwood Performing Arts Center! (The events of the film happen on this date, Oct 23rd, so I’m very excited for our first annual “the night it happened” screening. Cast & crew Q&A moderated by Laser Webber!)

And soon I hope to have concrete news about the streaming debut of Dead Media!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I really want to make some progress on the next horror movie script. I’m getting back to the absolute basics of the “Finish Your Monsters” ethos—that any progress is good progress and the focus should be on finishing a draft. So rather than hold myself accountable for some number of pages, I’m going to set this goal for myself—by the time of next week’s blog post, I want to have spent 3 dedicated hours working on the script.

YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEKS AHEAD--

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 from a nice meal with my friends Mollie and Alex Damon after our screening in Atlanta, Georgia. I make a point of taking a photo of every martini I have. A part of what I enjoy about meals and drinks is the connection to the moment. Who was I with? What was the event? Were we celebrating something or commiserating?

Anyway, this was one of the few times I forgot to take a picture so when I got back to my hotel, I drew one on a napkin that came with my leftover fries.