Timing is nothing if not everything

Last September, it seemed I was finally poised to launch myself into my first feature film. That was when I learned that Casey Affleck really liked OTHERNESS but that the timing just wasn’t right. This was the first I’d heard of the imminent WGA and SAG strikes, and I was told to approach him again once it was all over. Soon thereafter, the WGA made good on their threats and took to the picket lines. The effects reverberated through Sundance and Cannes, canning the sales of many would-be indie gems. Months later, in June, SAG was allegedly poised to strike. Instead, they dragged their heels and made deals that allowed all the big studios to keep bankrolling films. Meanwhile, insurance companies stopped insuring indie films. And now it’s October—as in thirteen months later.

Despite everything, my brain has kept churning. I am as inspired today as I was a year or more ago—if only a little bit more skeptical of the powers-that-be. In this time, I’ve written THE CENSOR and begun exploring other forms of writing and creative expression. Hence LITTLE BOY PIG: A GENETICALLY MODIFIED TALE, which unexpectedly transformed the way I write. Whereas OTHERNESS and THE CENSOR and THE LIVING DEATH OF LEONARD FISK explore the internal terrain of their protagonists, the events of LITTLE BOY PIG are driven by elements beyond the protagonist’s control. And whereas THE CENSOR was written with a relatively small budget in mind, the only constraints for a short story like LITTLE BOY PIG are those of the imagination.

Lately, I’ve been writing a new as-yet-untitled feature screenplay, and I couldn't be more excited. It’s a bigger story than anything else I’ve written before—and it’s as driven by character as by plot. And though I’m plotting a new short film tie-in, I may adapt the final feature script into a graphic or even literary novel. And especially since I’ve recently been given the exciting opportunity to do quite a bit of writing for EA, I even see these ideas spilling into a game. The crossover potential is huge.

Suffice to say the film industry isn’t the same as it was a year ago, and neither am I.