A Full Whack of Story...

Just posted the whole Warren Ellis quote about an hour ago, and it really resonated with me. That quote should be the goal of every writer - "a full whack of story" that's put out there for the mass market (that's where the "pocket change" portion comes in). Stories that are easily accessible and affordable.

That line of thinking is what I and my former colleagues at York tried to do with the projects we were developing. That's also what I'm doing with my current projects, bringing the comic book sensibility to the DVD marketplace. Movies and other entertainment that's affordable and accessible and uses the attributes of the DVD format to greatest effect.

Below are some of the horror projects we were developing at York. They are all copyright (c) 2005 by York Entertainment or whoever holds the rights. While I may have been involved in their creation when I was an employee there - I don't have any rights to them. I have my own stuff that I own 100% or have optioned. This stuff gives you an idea of what the "Powers that Be" at York thought would sell. Some have sold internationally already and are in the pipeline to be produced and distributed. Some of them will never see the light of day. All of them represent our attempt to see a fun movie made for $125K each.

BIG BAD BOOGEYMAN was an attempt to mix the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE with a fairy tale type mystery. I understand that the film is now going before the cameras and is to be directed by my good friend Emmanuel Itier (SCARECROW). He should do a great job with it!

DR. CHOPPER was something that was really fun as we had a big meeting to come up with cool titles and I came up with this and BB Boogeyman in the same meeting. That's where it starts guys - the title. I saw the trailer for this that was posted on YourVideostoreShelf, but is no longer there due to bandwidth restrictions. I aslo remember pitching several different approaches for this one which included a "Hammer-esque" approach, and a "Rave party- serial killer approach." We had originally pitched it as "cannibalistic backwoods serial killers" movie which is what I think they eventually went with. I think Louis Mandylor ended up starring in this film...

MISTER STIXX was my idea to create an almost sympathetic type of monster movie - kind of like the HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Stixx was a kid with a brittle bone disease whose poor father (Gepetto?) fashions braces for his son out of wood.

The kid is picked on at school and then goes on the revenge trail using his braces as a weapon. In my version he would have fashioned stilts for his legs as well to give him a disjointed, super-tall look - kind of like a Walking Stick.

Arik Ben Treston worked with me on developing these as well as Scott Pfeiffer, Giulio Costanza (who did all the art with no photos to work from) , Ivy Kim, Bruno Torres and several other people in the company who contributed from a sales perspective (always important because if you can't sell it then you shouldn't make it. Sam Arkoff and Roger Corman taught me that).

So there you have it - my past (warts and all).

The new pulp titles I'm developing : THE SKULL, HEXX, RIP ROCKET, MONSTER BOY, ALIENATED, I, MOBSTER and THE KNIGHTMARE (all of which are copyright (c) 2005 by Bill Cunningham) . The budgets will vary, but the sensibility will be the same - pure pulpy fun. Affordable and accessible.

Here's to the future, it's a lot like the past only now.

Stay tuned...