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 2 pages of the script for my next film.

And I half-failed and I half-succeeded depending on how you look at it!

In the time I was able to set aside, I only got one page done because I got distracted revising the previous pages.

The whole point of this blog is advocating forward movement, but I’m telling that to myself just as much as I’m telling that to kind readers.

But I did make changes I like to the previous pages so that will hopefully help me move forward a little better next week.

It continues to be a challenge to clear my mind enough to focus on this script. And I was beating myself up about that, then I looked back at my week to prep for the blog.

Here’s what else I was up to this week:

-Daily social media promotion for our horror film, Dead Media, on streaming

-Writing some bonus features material for the physical media release of Dead Media next year

-Booking and recording a bunch of podcast appearances to promote Dead Media

-Researching, voting, and celebrating the hugely important mid-terms elections

-And celebrating my favorite holiday, Halloween, which leads me to—

LIFE ADVENTURES

This was a special Halloween because it was the first one where I got messages from people kindly letting me know they were spending Halloween watching the horror film I wrote and directed. A dream come true.

But it was also just an evening to slow down and enjoy a creepy night with my wife. (Please don’t ever share that sentence out of context.)

Sara and I wondered around our neighborhood, checking out the decorations and the folks in costume. The scariest was two people in large Shrek costumes standing outside an abandoned Toyota dealership on Hollywood Blvd. The not knowing WHY is always the most upsetting.

Then we picked up a pizza and picked out a scary movie. I’d recently seen folks on social media shouting out the George Romero film, Season of the Witch, as an interesting and overlooked film about feminism, witches, and asshole husbands. Three topics that go well together! Sara and I both gave the film two severed thumbs up.

As someone who made a film on a low budget, it was really fun for me to see this older film that was also made on a low budget. Romero created so much mood, power, intrigue, suspense purely through editing and sound design. And I think those things are so key to being as creative as possible with a small budget.

At one point in the film, the main character uses a credit card. Sara asked to pause the film. Given that it was a film from the early 70s about a woman trapped in a horrible marriage (the film was originally called Jack’s Wife) she was curious if the credit card would have the husband’s name on it.

So we paused. We couldn’t make out the name. I got off the couch and walked to the TV and as I took a step forward it clicked with me that this was a very low budget movie made with creativity and drive.

I was pretty sure whose name I would see on the credit card. And, yes, yes, it was: George A. Romero.

A detail that I’m sure no one could discern when watching the film in a theater in the early 1970s.

It was strangely heartening. This is the truth and history of indie filmmakers—putting everything they have into making the film a reality.

Not just the credit symbolized by the card, but the actual damn card. Strangely, through the spooky mists of time, I felt seen by that credit card. Thanks, the past!

LIGHT PLUGS—

There’s been a great response to the initial release of Dead Media over the Halloween season and I hope to keep the momentum rolling.

Check out Dead Media now streaming on Prime Video, Moonbeem, and Bloodstream TV.

And if you already watched, leaving a rating/review on Letterboxd, IMDb, or Rotten Tomatoes helps a ton!

And please let me know in the comments or on ol’ social media if you check it out!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

Next week is packed with podcasts, streaming promo, and prep for a trip Sara and I are taking to celebrate our 20th (!!!) wedding anniversary. But I still want to stay on target for the next script, so I’m going to try again with the same goal. 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 a very calm drawing of what it felt like trying to concentrate on writing this week. Hoping to smooth out some of those lines next week! Thanks again and best of luck with all your creative adventures!