Exclusive Interview with AGE OF THE HOBBITS Director Joseph Lawson!

Without a doubt, one of the best Asylum films to date - not just this year, but ever - is Nazis at the Center of the Earth. This mindbending adventure-sci-fi flick commanded international attention and is often the first film mentioned when people (like me and my friends) talk about the Asylum-renaissance that's been transpiring this year: a blend of better stories, better effects, and better direction.

In the case of NATCOTE, the director in question was Joseph Lawson - supervisor of the studio's in-house VFX department - working off a script from Asylum producer Paul Bales (Sherlock Holmes, Legion of the Dead). The film was Lawson's first at the helm, and was quickly recognized as the work of a great new director. Lawson returns this December with the hotly-anticipated Age of the Hobbits, an old-world tribal epic from the pen of Eric Forsberg (MegaPiranha, Almighty Thor). He was kind enough to take time out of his scarily-hectic schedule to talk to Committed about his career, passion for filmmaking, and AotH.

COMMITTED: First of all - my readers are dying for any tidbits you can give about the concept or plot of Age of the Hobbits.

Joseph Lawson: Think Apocalypto meets Frank Frazetta by way of David Lean and Steve Spielberg with a healthy dose of John Carpenter and Sam Raimi... a fantasy and creature battle epic somewhat inspired by the true scientific paleontological Homo Floresiensis living in Indonesia of 12,000 years ago. It's all through the Asylum filter, of course, including scientifically accurate winged and flying Komodo dragons. It's a very exciting Eric Forsberg script with gorgeous cinematography by Richard Vialet and it was an adventure to shoot!

 
C: What drew you to visual effects? What steps did you take to turn your interest into a career?

JL: I've been interested in both VFX and directing since I was 10, easy. The kids in J.J. Abrams' Super 8? That was me. The first thing I committed to Super 8 film was a visual effect Star Trek Starship, rechristened The Hood, NCC 1707, and I directed the one reel film with friends in it as well. It was the first of many including a jungle war movie in the depths of Okinawa. Over the years, everything has been grist for that mill... making choices that allowed for opportunities to write, direct, act, edit, do visual effects. Commercials at KRTV-3 in Great Falls, Montana... my own animation business... working for Foundation Imaging on and CG directing an episode of Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles... so many great opportunities to work with hundreds of people far more talented and capable than I to learn as much as possible.

The first thing, though, is you have to commit to the path. I truly believe that luck is where opportunity and preparation meet for those willing to grasp at the brass ring. It's not just about being at the right place at the right time... it's about training enough so that when you DO say "hey, give me a chance, please..."  to folks willing to take a chance on you, you've both earned it and are ready for it.

My wife forwarded me another saying shortly after taking on this film... "Don't just follow your dreams, lead them." I've been blessed to get that opportunity more than a few times.
 
C: How did you come to work with The Asylum?

JL: I was brought aboard in 2010 by another great artist and VFX supervisor, Mark Kochinski (now at Disney) to help start up the facility in-house. At the time, my only familiarity with Asylum was Pirates of Treasure Island, which I'd rented about a month before even KNOWING there was an Asylum. It took a bit of convincing to get me aboard. It was a challenging start with lots of technical and time hurdles to overcome but over the years we've been able to build an amazing little group of folks who accomplish far more with the resources and time than I think they'll ever get fair credit for. The producers, Latt, Rimawi and Bales, have given us a lot of support and patience as we've learned and grown with each new challenge. We strive to get better every show and, on the whole, I think our trend has been upward hopefully with good entertainment results.
 
C: What's been the hardest part about transitioning from VFX supervisor to director? What's been the best part?

JL: The hardest part is leaving behind such a great group of people in the department. We have a lot of fun in VFX while hunkering down to meet the deadlines. It's also hard to switch gears from juggling up to five films at once to suddenly concentrating on one exclusively and away from everything you know. And being away from my personal family on Age was a challenge, though my wife and kids, God bless them, are the biggest supporters of this crazy dream.

The best part, besides just the absolute "this is what I was born to do" joy of directing, is getting to know and respect even more than ever the folks in production and what THEY have to do to get an Asylum film done. Watching the dedication and artistry of people like line producer Anthony Fankhauser, the make-up work of Haley O'Neil, the stunts of Jerry Earr, the various folks on our Cambodian cast and crew and the amazing things sound man Alex Hutchinson has to do to get great audio is humbling and educational. It's probably one of the best and most challenging film schools on the planet, for those with the iron will to take it on. 

In post, working with Rob Pallatina a second time in editorial has been great because we've developed such a fantastic shorthand as a team. The Chris Ridenhour score is an emotional, orchestral and auditory powerhouse. The sound departments' creations are a wonderful ear loving canvas, the color correction by Mark Quod and his crew is rich and gorgeous, and the disc work by David Courtice is really cool.

One should also always remember behind the scenes folks like Judith, Kala, Courtney and Kendall who handle all the heavy lifting of getting the film distributed, seen and sold. There are so many more good folks at The Asylum giving them all their deserved kudos could fill THREE of these interviews!

So, it all comes down to storytelling and characters or situations you enjoy spending time with... and co-workers you enjoy spending even MORE time with.
 
C: How do you select the projects you direct? What draws you to a project?

JL: I select being involved with any project based on two sets of things... is the story cool/fun/exciting/emotionally compelling and does at least one part genuinely make me cry (and not out of pain) or laugh. If that happens... and my wife Kelly has been there when I cried as a result of character situations for both Nazis, Age and the next one... then I feel like maybe something can be drawn out that will similarly touch the audience. Ultimately, whether a film has an Asylum budget or a two hundred million budget, if you care about the characters then people will be entertained. 

What draws me to it in the first place is the ability to create good, strong visuals and weave a story no matter what the limitations. That and for Age, Latt handed me a piece of notepaper with this list: 1. You  2. Direct 3. AotH  4. Cambodia. Both Rimawi and Bales also seemed pretty excited by the prospect. Who can resist that? 
 
C: Who are some of your favorite/most inspirational directors?

JL: David Lean. Steven Spielberg. Peter Jackson. James Cameron. Robert Wise. J.J. Abrams. John Landis. John Carpenter. Robert Rodriguez. Peter Weir. Ridley Scott. I could honestly go on and on but those would be the folks whose films have most affected my vision and approach over the years. Ultimately, every director has had an effect whether it's in the inspirational vein or the Mystery Science Theatre school of how NOT to make movies. I just hope when my turn comes at the bigger bat, I'm qualified to hold even a tiny little candle to their amazing creations.

C: You shot AotH on location in Cambodia; what sort of challenges did you face shooting in a foreign country with a presumably small crew?

JL: Snakes. Land mines. Goats. Dangerous pot-hole filled travel. Rugged hikes.  Monsoons. Sketchy food. A very long plane flight. Lots of shots. Wait, why DID we do this?  Simple: at age 49 David Lean shot Bridge on the River Kwai just north in Burma... so while it's a huge bar to aim for in 15 days, it's also the fulfillment of a personal lifelong dream... to shoot with epic scope in a far off land not seen by many western cameras for a feature style film. Cambodia is one of those last best places so we have a GREAT and enthusiastic crew with a mix of Asylum vets and new eyes. We've gotten some fun stuff to see and the hope is that the end result of a cool action movie makes all the challenges worth it.

 
C: Anything you can tell us about the release?
 
JL: It's a feature packed disc, this DVD/Blu Ray.  There's a gag reel, a really sweet making of by Cody Peck, the really-sells-it-but-doesn't-tell-it kick-butt cool trailer by Brian Brinkman, four deleted scenes and a commentary where I get to sit in with editor Rob Pallitina and the wonderful Christopher Judge (who played Amthar) to have a lot of fun... with a surprise appearance by Richard Vialet, our DP. It'll also be on VOD and at Redbox (under a different title, I believe) all on December 11th.
 
C: Any Joe Lawson dream projects or people you're dying to collaborate with?

JL: I have a ton of personal story ideas and projects I'd love to do, as any writer/director does, and world building of places we HAVEN'T already gone would be a great opportunity and challenge. Playing in other folks realms, though, I'd be thrilled to get to direct a Game of Thrones episode (or five or ten), or to be part of a Star Wars live action series... and I'd actually love to have the chance to revisit a very familiar place with a different take on NATCOTE... but beyond that, someday I look forward to having the chance to pitch, write and direct the ideas and stories that I've gathered over the years.

As far as collaborating, well...  it can be the most fun part of the job and there are so many talented and creative folks in so many disciplines here at the Asylum and elsewhere. To work with any of the living folks on my director list would be a dream of a lifetime.

Heck, if Peter Jackson saw fit to take some time to watch this latest little film, THAT would be truly amazing... and he could return the favor of putting an arrow through MY chest in some future film. Consider him humbly and respectfully invited to do so. 

More importantly, though, in the spirit of encouraging folks to take a chance on their own dreams: get out there and get that ball rolling because the filmmakers I most look forward to collaborating with someday are, Mr., Miss and Mrs. Reader:  YOU!



Lawson's next feature is Age of the Dinosaurs: "Age of Dinosaurs, which is now in post, stars Treat Williams (Prince of the City, Deep Rising, 1941, Hair and TVs Everwood), Ronny Cox (Robocop, Total Recall, Deliverance) and Jillian Rose Reed (Awkward, Weeds) and was written by northwesterner Hank Woon. Set to release in May, 2013, it's the simple tale of a father and daughter rediscovering their love for each other in a city filled with rampaging dinosaurs. For his third film in one year Joe reteams with cinematographer Richard Vialet (AotH), editor Rob Pallatina (NATCOTE and AotH) and composer Chris Ridenhour for this action adventure through the streets of Los Angeles. We like to think of it as Jurassic Park 3.5."


Age of the Hobbits, as Mr. Lawson said, is out on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD December 11th. Get your hands on a copy for what promises to be a truly epic adventure.

Dig This Asylum Article From the L.A. Times

This past weekend the venerable L.A. Times published an article spotlighting the success of independent studios who draft off the popularity of larger studio titles, and of course The Asylum was mentioned; two of the studios three partners, David Michael Latt & David Rimawi, are quoted. An interesting and informative read on the mockbuster business model. Enjoy!

Nazis at the Center of the Earth on DVD TODAY!!!

In the coming century, B-film fans will increasingly look back to this date, April 24th, 2012, as the day their worlds were rocked forever. For today, The Asylum releases it's masterpiece to date, Nazis at the Center of the Earth.

Starring Jake Busey, Dominique Swain, Christopher Karl Johnson and a score of other talented actors and actresses, and directed by Joseph J. Lawson from a script by Paul Bales, NATCOTE is a can't-miss flick, a barn-burner of cinematic lunacy and wicked brilliance. I've already given my very vocal approval of the film, which can be read by simply scrolling down a few inches, but you shouldn't take my word for it, you shouldn't take anyone's, in fact, you should get your hands on a copy toot suite and judge for yourself.

By "toot suite" I mean now, go, go!!!!

observation notes: NAZIS AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

Every now and again, a movie comes along whose very concept generates hype the instant it is heard. So rarely do the films live up to that hype, so rarely do the filmmakers manage to not only fulfill but eclipse that promise, that when a film actually does manage these things, we call it nothing less than a classic. Ladies(?) and gentlemen, Nazis at the Center of the Earth is that film. For real.

Whatever you're expecting, throw it out the window. You're not predicting this one, and I'm not going to spoil a single damn second of it for you. I will say, however, that if you're expecting some sort of throwback camp-fest, you're watching the wrong movie: NATCOTE is a truly tense, gruesome, and disturbing thriller mixing history, perverted science, sci-fi, adventure and that good old Asylum sense of insanity all rolled up into perhaps the most mind-bending 90 minutes the studio has ever produced. And I know I'm biased, cuz I love these guys and everything, but for real, FOR REAL, you owe it to yourself to watch one of the most ingenious B-movies ever set to celluloid.

Again, in the interest of not spoiling a single thing, I won't go into great details about the individual characters, but our celebrity leads here, Dominique Swain (Lolita, New Best Friend) and Jake Busey (Starship Troopers, The Frighteners) bring the heat, Ms. Swain playing with emotional aplomb a hyper-intelligent yet vulnerable doctor, and Mr. Busey reeling in a pensive and conflicted performance. Other standouts include Christopher Karl Johnson as the reprehensibly vile Doctor Mengele, and Adam Burch, Marlene Okner and Lilan Bowden as other scientists.

The film, the first directorial effort from Asylum VFX Supervisor Joseph J. Lawson, does not skimp on the visuals and does not fail to deliver. My expectations in this specific arena were pretty high, especially as I really believe Asylum VFX have improved a hundred-fold in the last couple of years, but the things these guys pulled off in this one? Some of the most memorable visuals of the year. And you'd never know it was Lawson's first time at the helm; there's a very keen sense of control over the picture, for as crazy and labyrinthine a mystery as this film is, it moves at an expert pace, doling out the goods like breadcrumbs leading to a wholly satisfying and thoroughly unexpected climax.

The story comes courtesy of Paul Bales (Sherlock Holmes, 2010 Moby Dick) and is smart, steeped in scientific and historical details that only enrich the suspense and horror, and wickedly brutal. Seriously, I'm struggling to find the words to describe just how surreally awesome this film is, while at the same time being starkly scary, wildly inventive and all-too possible. The last 35 minutes of this film is a masterclass in WOW. Plus, I learned a lot of useful German.

So have I beamed enough? Have I spit enough hyperbole to convince you that Nazis at the Center of the Earth is a tent-pole Asylum project, certain to be one of the first three anyone mentions 100 years from now? This one's a game-changer, folks; the bar has been raised. This isn't what you were hoping for, this isn't what you were expecting: it's sooooo much better. Out Tuesday on DVD, Blu-Ray, and VOD. Whatever else you thought you were doing, scrap it. Trust me.

inmate profile: Paul Bales

Continuing to shine the Committed spotlight on the talent behind The Asylum's upcoming masterpiece Nazis at the Center of the Earth, we turn now to the imagination behind it all, the film's screenwriter (and one of The Asylum's 3 producers) Paul Bales.

NATCOTE marks Mr. Bales 8th script for the studio, and the list is pretty impressive: Killers 2, Legion of the Dead (which he also directed), The Da Vinci Treasure, 100 Million B.C., Mega Fault, Sherlock Homes and 2010 Moby Dick. All good films, but for my money, Sherlock and Moby are among the best the studio's ever put out; the former managed to mockbust not only the Holmes character, but also Robert Downey Jr.'s recent filmography, and the latter put a convincing modern twist on an established tale, plus gave Barry Bostwick reason to make his own whale-killin' gun.

Add all this together and what you get is one more reason to be super-psyched for the film event of 2012. Catch Nazis at the Center of the Earth on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD on April 24th.

Asylum Bits and Pieces

It's been a newsworthy week for everyone's favorite independent studio, as they've turned up a couple of times in popular media. Check out these links:

CNN's Outfront Blog spoke with Asylum producer Paul Bales on mockbuster moviemaking.

Then there was this list of the Greatest Shark Attacks in Film as compiled by Complex Magazine. Not only does Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus occupy two of the 31 spots, number 29, 30, 31, come courtesy of The Asylum and yours truly, from 2 Headed Shark Attack. 


And last but certainly not least, here's Asylum producer David Michael Latt conversing with American Airlines' American Way Magazine about, you guessed it, making these wild and wonderful movies.

Behold the Teaser Trailer for NAZIS AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

With only six weeks or so until the release of The Asylum's next impeding classic - and candidate for best title ever - Nazis at the Center of the Earth, the film's teaser trailer has at last hit You Tube this week, for all the world to relish:

Dominique Swain, Josh Allen, Christopher Karl Johnson, and Jake Busey star for first-time director (and long-time Asylum VFX maestro) Joseph J. Lawson, from a script by writer and producer Paul Bales.


April 24th is when it all goes down, so enjoy the trailer then spread the word; this one has the wings to become the biggest Asylum hit yet!

COMMITTED EXCLUSIVE: A Conversation Between 2 Headed Writers Edward DeRuiter and H. Perry Horton

For Committed's final post of 2-Headed Shark Week, I thought we'd host a conversation with the two men responsible for writing the film, Edward DeRuiter, who wrote the story, and H. Perry Horton (me), who wrote the screenplay. Outside of 2 Headed Shark Attack, Edward DeRuiter also wrote this year's 3 Musketeers mockbuster, in which he also acted in, as he did in Battle of Los Angeles. H. Perry Horton is best-known for penning A Haunting in Salem, and this blog. Two men, two writers, one two-headed shark. How did they do it? Let's see, huh?

P: How's this for a perfectly benign first question: How'd you come to work with The Asylum?

E: Well, about a million and a half years ago I was cast as one of the leads in a flick called The Source (which was later retitled The Surge). This was in the early days of The Asylum, and while they were already functioning as a distribution company for other people's films by then, The Source was one of their first forays into the production side of things. It was also one of my first feature film roles, and it was a crazy shoot. We filmed it in all in nine days nonstop, no off days and pretty much all in 120 degree heat. Unlike today where everything is shot on HD, this was shot on 35mm, so all of the camera setups took that much longer and you had even less time to shoot. We're talking serious indie pace back then, and everyone doing multiple jobs just to get it done. The Asylum senior partners (David Michael Latt, David Rimawi, Paul Bales) were all on set for every minute of it too, something that would be impossible for them today given how many projects the studio tackles at once. I think they got maybe 90 minutes of sleep a night between them. It was one of the most fun things I'd ever done in my life. And then I got paid on top of it.

I've done a few more films with them since then and have watched the budgets increase dramatically (and mercifully, the shooting days have increased too).

What about you? It's a big leap from being a cinephile and blogger about all things Asylum to writing a pair of movies for them. You can blog about The Dallas Cowboys too, but that doesn't mean they're gonna call you up and ask you to coach next Sunday's game...

P: New Years 2010, I'd had the blog up for about 4 months, and had been getting some positive feedback from The Asylum, creating a bit of a repoire, so I worked up the nerve to offer myself in whatever capacity they could use me. What I really wanted - my endgoal, as it was - was to write for them. A couple of days later, (Asylum partner Paul) Bales responded and gave me a chance to pitch. He'd been reading the blog - which at the time included a Potential Pitches regular feature - and graciously decided to give me a shot. The next day I received my first 3 pitch opportunities - the movies that would become Barely Legal, 3 Musketeers and 2 Headed Shark Attack. The first ended up going to Naomi Selfman, the other two to another writer (ahem). But a month or so after that, they came back to me wanting an idea for a haunted house movie, preferably one based on a true story. A few hours of internet research later, A Haunting in Salem was born. 

I know it seems a little out of the blue that I was asked to pitch, and believe me, there have been a lot of (rejected) comments on my blog questioning my abilities, and though I never bother to retort by listing my qualifications, I will say it's not totally random that I'm here. I am a writer, and have been since I was 11. For better or worse, it's all I can do. And I love it, every second of it. And of everything I've dabbled in, writing direct-to-DVD genre films is the most enjoyable, and the most representative of who I am not only as a writer, but as a guy; again, for better or worse. 

So long answer short, I got involved with The Asylum when they threw me a bone, which I then pounced upon like a wild, starving, rabid dog.

E: Ah yes, the harassment that writers get when the movie comes out. In defense of writers, a writer deserves a lot of the credit for a good script, but not a lot of the blame for a bad movie. People need to realize that just because you turn in a script doesn't mean they're going to film it as written (quite the opposite, really). On just about every feature film from the lowest budget indie to the biggest budget summer blockbuster, there are uncredited rewrites done by the producer, director, or in-house studio writers (not to mention production rewrites while filming) all which most of the time happen without the credited screenwriter being involved in the process. And that's all before they shoot the movie (which will be totally different from how the writer conceived it) and edit the movie together (which will be totally different from how the director conceived it). And even if it's the rare instance where the writer, director, and editor are all on the same page, you still have the producer - the person who bankrolled the entire project - who probably has a different take on how the movie should be, seeing as how they have to sell it and try to turn a profit. So guess who wins that creative tug-of-war? 

In short, haters gonna hate. 

P: Haters are indeed going to hate, and truthfully, having seen how people respond to B-movies online, I expected to be told how lousy I was. But you're right about the validation; I count myself luckier than I deserve everyday I wake up and these films exist. For me, I prefer to go with Kanye's frame of mind: "Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it;" at least I got work out there for people to hate.

And I also agree with you about the path from script to screen. My role in this, ultimately, is small: I sit at home and write in a quiet room. It's not easy by any means, but it isn't as hard, in my opinion, as others' roles. Because from there, all these things I've put down on paper have to be made real, or as real as they can, and that takes a sort of coordination and organizational prowess I can't even wrap my head around. I just wrote the thing that became the movie, is all, and that's how I've been trying to think about it, because sometimes it's hard when your intent isn't translated as literally as you'd hoped. It's odd for me to watch the movies I've written, because I don't see the things that are there, I see the things that aren't, whether it's because they've been cut out or changed or because I left them out in the first place; sometimes I like these things, and sometimes they befuddle me a little, but I understand that my participation in the project is just the first rung in a tall ladder that includes contributions from dozens upon dozens of others, all of whom leave the thing a little different than they found it. 

Regarding Salem's transition from script to screen, there were some lengthier explanations and stretches of exposition whittled down, altered or cut out, but in the end I was happy. Who am I kidding? I was beside myself with glee. I mean, it was my first produced script, and it all happened so fast - no more than five weeks from pitch to production - I'm just happy I didn't choke. I was so nervous, so distracted by trying to get everything about the story right, I don't think I realized they'd given me a chance to write the script before I was halfway done with it. But that process, getting the idea from pitch to script, that, to me, is the best part about the whole filmmaking process. I've been writing alone a long time. My work wouldn't see other eyes, if at all, until it was what I considered to be a final draft. So to have other people - development heads, directors, producers - giving their input from the germination phase all the way through to the final polish, that was rad. I felt like I was in a writer's band.

What about you? What were your thoughts on how 3 Musketeers wound up?

E: I think the big thing to remember is that the screenwriter on most movies is there to provide a rough framework for the filmmakers to then play around with. The script I turned in was a lot bigger in scope, characters were a lot more “grey” and there were a lot of carefully choreographed action sequences, which in hindsight I realize were never going to be filmed… But you’ve still got to put it in there. You’re asked to write a $100 million dollar movie and then THEY figure out how to realize it for less. The end result is that character motivations and relationships to one another change; scenes are rearranged, combined together, or deleted; new characters are added while others are cut; action set pieces are altered because of safety/cost/the laws of physics. Sometimes discrepancies do happen, and conveniently located items or characters can seemingly appear out of nowhere... BUT THIS HAPPENS IN EVERY MOVIE THAT HAS EVER BEEN MADE. As you said, the writer notices the differences because they're aware of the changes, but really all that matters is if the audience is entertained.

P: You mentioned you started out as an actor. At what point did writing enter your wheelhouse? Did you come to Hollywood an actor/writer, or is it something you developed after entering the industry?

E: Well I've always had stories I've wanted to tell so that's always been there in the background. I'd also been in enough films where I found myself thinking how I would have written them differently, so that was building to a head too. I'd say the straw that broke the camel's back though was really the current state of the Hollywood landscape - Movie stars are doing TV, TV stars are forced to take guest starring roles, and guest stars are lucky to get two lines now. So I started writing... and not only do they pay you for that, they throw you a part in this movie or that as a bonus. Had I known the secret to getting acting jobs was actually to be a writer, I'd have started a lot sooner.

P: Let’s talk about 2 Headed Shark Attack for a bit, what was the genesis of that idea?

E: The Asylum asked me to pitch a movie called 2 Headed Shark Attack. That was it, that was all the guidance I had: Three words and a number. Which means it was pretty open as to what I could do with it. I had a couple of different ideas, but I knew wanted to stay away from the beach community getting terrorized by sharks, which you see in 99% of these shark attack films. I don't want to see another one of those movies and didn't think anyone else did either.

One major problem with shark attack movies is that once the characters realize there is danger in the water, just don't go in the water any more... problem solved. So I had to figure out a way to a) give the shark legs, b) force the characters into the water for some reason, or c) take the land away from them. I was on the island of Penang in the Indian Ocean during the 2004 earthquake and tsunami and saw how far and how quickly the land can be covered by water, so the inspiration for the quake causing the island to flood came from there. A few days after the quake all manner of strange creatures were driven up from the deep and started washing ashore, so I knew I had to incorporate that too as you never see it in movies.

Another thing you never see in shark movies is electroreception (for those that don't know, sharks have a special organ in their head which lets them detect minute bioelectrical impulses given off by living creatures). This same ability makes sharks very susceptible to electric fields produced by machines, so obviously those both had to go in. 

P: What about the characters, where did those come from?

E: I had originally wanted to use a small group of Navy Seabee’s as the heroes, basically a bunch of engineers and construction workers in uniform. The story would have been them MacGuyvering the island against the shark, brains against Brawn taken to the extreme. But a production note I was given early on was to ditch the military and try and get some scantily clad teens in there, so I figured a semester-at-sea ship loaded with college students was an organic way of doing this without it feeling tacked on. I dumped them on a deserted island out in the South Pacific in order to give them no one to turn to for help, not to mention it kept the cast small. After that, it was all about coming up with some unique ways to kill people, emphasizing the two-headed nature of the shark. The beast needed to do things that a one headed shark couldn't, otherwise it would just be a bit boring.

P: Soldiers become bikini wearing co-eds, probably for the best I think. Any other key differences from the original concept?

E: I had originally had an abandoned WW2 Japanese outpost on the island, which the kids would take refuge in during the flooding but which the shark would also find its way inside of as well. After having the shark annihilate people outdoors for the whole movie I thought it might be fun to put a shark indoors for the finale, the last place you'd expect to find one. Sadly this would necessitate the construction of a floodable soundstage, and that would have sent the budget skyrocketing. So it had to go.

By this point we had a pretty solid treatment going when it was turned over to you to handle the big task of actually writing the thing. What was that process like?

P: The first thing they had me do was adjust how the island came to be underwater. You had written the treatment before last year's Japanese earthquake; owing to sensitivity issues, they didn't want the island to be flooded because of an earthquake or tsunami. So all I could think to do was sink it, which meant adjusting it from an island to an atoll, which doesn't sound like much, but structurally it changed things. There were some elements of scientific mumbo jumbo attending to just how and why the atoll was sinking (which mercifully were cut before production; science ain't my strong suit), things like that to tweek. 

The second thing I had to alter before I could start writing - which you've already mentioned - was the WW2 Japanese outpost. Interiors were going to be too costly, so I had to adjust the setting to a seasonal fishing camp, abandoned at the time our characters discover it. This actually changed a lot: all scenes had to be reset, which meant reestablished with their own context and backstory, character reactions et cetera, new things had to be explained and utilized, but this only took a few exchanges, and three or four days after getting the treatment, I started writing the script.

E: Yeah, my treatment involved a tsunami flooding the island, but this was about a week before the Japanese quake and tsunami. It validated the concept for sure, but given that one of the big markets for Asylum moves is Japan, it's best to play it safe. I don't know what other choice you really had than to sink the island. And I hear you on the technobabble, I'm not a big fan of it either and roll my eyes whenever I hear it. But if one of the production notes is to add more "science mumbo jumbo" as you put it, it's going in the script. The only real option is if you write it or if someone else does.

P: Once I got into it, things went well. The only real struggle I had was with the number of characters. Dumping people on a South Pacific Island (or Atoll) should have meant a small cast, but there was a need to justify the existence of the semester at sea, so six or eight kids weren't going to cut it. So I threw in, like, a dozen more, which gave up plenty of bodies in the end, but called for establishing a plethora of different personalities; it was a lot like juggling, only with 20 flaming bowling pins instead of three. But overall, writing this was - for lack of a better word - easier than Salem had been, both because I wasn't as nervous, and because I really wanted to write this movie. Shark movies are my favorite sort of movie, always have been, and it was a dream of mine to write one. Odd dream, I know, but it is what it is; I fucking love shark movies, and I wanted to be a part of the canon. So writing this script was fun for me, but more than that, it was important to me. And I feel like even though it was based on your story, I got a lot of myself in there, a lot of what I think makes a good shark movie, the suspense, the surprise, the hopelessness of going up against something so primal, the uselessness of all our distinctive attributes - strategy, communication, technology - when it's just you and the beast in the water, the fierce intelligence of sharks, their sheer evolutionary superiority...

From there it was the usual routine: notes from producers, notes from the director - the majority of these were practical things once locations were arranged - until production started and put an end to my involvement. I was intrigued to see how the story had changed from your treatment to my script and my first draft to my final, just as I was intrigued to see how the film itself varied from that draft. I think in this initial phase of my career I'm just absorbing everything I can, trying to inform the next script with the things I've learned from those before it, both about the process and about how to tell a good and effective story in this medium. It sounds hokey, and perhaps a tad arrogant, but I really do want to be the best damn B-movie writer in film history, or at least the best I can be. I just want to write fun, thrilling, chilling, interesting, hair-raising and imagination-stretching yarns for the masses. If I can fashion a living doing that, I'll be perfectly happy all of my days.

E: I know that another big change from my version of the story and the end product was flipping the gender of one of the protagonists from male to female, which cut out not only romantic tension with the heroine and altered the conflict with a male bully character, but undoubtedly created a lot of other changes in the cascade. I'm curious to know what some of those changes were and how you handled them.

P: Flipping "Dan" to "Dana" was another significant change. The biggest effect of this was, as you said, the elimination of the primary romantic tension. I tried to work a slighter, nerdier sort of relationship between Dana and Paul, but that didn't really make the final cut other than a few awkward glances, which I don't mind. While it's a tried and true staple of this sort of film to have two of the characters emerge from this uber-intense experience with romantic feelings, given the sheer number of characters in the film, not to mention that it takes place over the course of one day, there wasn't a lot of room for backstory so any romantic subplot I pushed would have come off as hackneyed. It was one of those, "if I can't do it right..." situations. 

The bigger adjustment for me was the elimination of the good-guy student lead. For every bully there's a geek, for sure, and we have that in Paul, but in the best social structures there's also another male outsider who isn't as weak as the geek, though not as strong as the bully, but blessed with enough intelligence and brawn to come off as formidable. That's who Dan was supposed to be, and that guise didn't really fit on Dana. That's where "Kate" (Brooke Hogan's character) stepped into a bigger role, taking on the bravado that Dan would have had, the stand-offish swagger. This also changed the structure of the leads from a pair to a trio, which was something I really liked, because it gave me a chance to define the leads based on their specific group dynamic, Kate as the muscle, Paul as the brains and Dana as the heart. I think in the film these attributes and actions have been spread out among other cast members to give things a more ensemble feel, which given, again, the sheer number of characters, is perhaps a more balanced solution.

E: It's funny that you mention changing the structure of the leads from a pair to a trio, because a heroic trio was always my intent. I had also tried to incorporate a number of character flaws into Dan/Dana that if anything made him the weakest link in the team at times, which I thought was an interesting thing to do. I'm also a huge fan of playing with expectations, and in these sorts of films it's often the nerd character who comes up with the plan to save the day and gets killed by the monster at the end, while the male and female leads get to live on and presumably make uber-babies to defend against future attacks from the monster... And I just hate that, so from moment one I knew Paul had to survive.

P: I sensed that nerd-hero element in your treatment, and I think that it survived through my final draft, and to a certain extent it is apparent in the film. Other tweaks to other characters might have softened the edge of this a little, but in my head, Paul is as much a hero as this story gets.

The biggest cascading effect of these changes, to me at least, was that it altered how I looked at the script: what had been something I was envisioning as character-driven now became creature-driven: there were a lot of people and not a lot of time with them so aside from surface attributes and a few deeper delvings into the leads, you weren't going to get a lot of non-panicked interaction between them. The script then became about the situation, the shark, and he became my lead, the people my supporting chum. There are, after all, more deaths in 2 Headed Shark Attack than all four Jaws films combined. That didn't leave a lot of time for much more than killing, so it was only right that I come at it from the point of view that the shark was my lead. It's his name in the title, after all.

So knowing what we know now, what advise would you offer budding B-movie screenwriters? 

E: It's not your script. I keep saying that but it's really important to get this across. You sold it and it belongs to someone else. Distance yourself from that emotionally and don't argue the notes. The changes are going in there one way or another, so just smile and say "yes sir, yes sir, three bags full".

Jump the gun. You are going to have a shockingly brief amount of time between getting the greenlight to start writing and when the first draft will be due, so you need to start writing ahead of time. I recommend outlining the hell out of it if you can. One page outline, then three pages, then ten pages, then 25 pages. Your 25 pager should have already have all of your scene headings as well as loose dialog and action, so you can turn it into 100 pages lickety split. Make your action not tied to location. At the speed indie films move at they just don't have the time, so keep it quick and light and don't make anything dependent on specific location details. The action involves a room with exposed pipes in the ceiling? Your hero low crawls down a long glass hallway? Those location details probably won't be available assets to the film crew, so not only did you waste your time writing it, but you waste the director's time coming up with a workaround on the day of filming, time they could otherwise be using to make the movie.

You?

P: Let's see, first off I'd say know your market. If you're writing a shark film, watch other shark films to make sure you're not rehashing material or treading on too familiar territory. Just like a novelist has to read, a screenwriter has to watch. I watched a steady regimen of shark movies while writing 2 Headed, and it paid off: one night, well into the second draft, I watched Sharktopus and realized I had used a line similar to one of theirs at a climactic moment. If I hadn't been versing myself in what else was out there, I would have made a huge (unintentional, I swear) kerfuffle. 

Second - and this is branching off your Work Ahead tip, which I 1,000% support and endorse - know your characters. The pitch and treatment processes happen fast - real fast - and the one element that isn't naturally included is extensive character work; you're on your own there. The second I send off a pitch, the very next thing I do is go back and expand the characters, figure out who exactly they are, beyond surface attributes and professions; I delve into their personalities and backstories, stuff that probably won't make it into the script, but will still serve to further my understanding of each character, making it that much easier to dive head first into the script. 

And lastly, keep working even when you're not working. Since I finished 2 Headed, I've written 16 treatments, two spec scripts and 50+ pitches, all for myself, to both keep my practice sharp and to build a reservoir of material ready to develop. Writer's block doesn't really exist, I'm convinced, so long as you plan ahead, be it as a treatment, an outline, a notepad of random dialogue or even just an idea book to ensure you're never at a loss for words.

What about aspiring actors? What words of advice would you offer those looking to become the next mega shark slayer or alien defender?

E: No one wants to spend the next ten hours reading my extensive thoughts on the acting side of the business, but I can give you some advice on what to expect when you DO land a job on one of these movies.

1. The script? That's a guideline. Chances are it got rewritten between the time you got it and the time you shoot the scenes, and no one gave you the latest draft. So learn to memorize new lines VERY QUICKLY. 

2. They shoot fast. You will have one or two camera rehearsals, then maybe two or three takes before moving on. So you will have very little time to get it right. Know your character well, make strong choices from the get go and keep working through any bloopers... They can cut around the gaff and it takes less time than starting from the top of the take again. 

3. Be cool. Even on big budget movies, creative people are high strung and film sets are stressful places... On indie films it's much more so. The people you are working with have gotten two hours of sleep tops for the last week, and they're got two more weeks left to shoot after you're gone... The last thing anyone needs is attitude from an actor of any kind. You might not think you have attitude, but trust me, you do. Be the easiest person to get along with on the set. These productions use the same people over and over again, and given the choice between the greatest actor in the world who gets into arguments over how to do the scene or a regular joe who can do the scene without being a diva, guess who gets hired for the next movie?

P: So what's coming up for Ed DeRuiter? Acting? Writing? Branching out?

E: On the acting side, I'm back at work for The Asylum, this time in "Air Collision" due out March 27th. I've also got a guest starring role in a new Cinemax sitcom called "The Girl's Guide To Depravity" due out this spring, which is billed as "Sex and the City" but with young, hot women as the leads… It’s a very funny show. Then I’m back to playing it serious, this time opposite Sean Astin and Brendan Fehr in the feature film “Adopting Terror” for Lifetime which will hit later this year.

On the writing side, I’m developing a big sci-fi feature for the Asylum right now but the details are under wraps so I’m not allowed to say much about it. I’ve also formed a production company with some industry friends of mine; we’re pitching some series ideas around town right now and are also putting together our own sci-fi action thriller that we hope to film this summer.

What can we expect out of you in 2012?

P: I am one of those ridiculously superstitious people who don't like to talk about projects until they're sure-things, lest I jinx them, but I will say I have an iron or two in the fire and plan to write as much as people will let me in 2012. And then probably a little more.

E: Great, now you've got me all paranoid that I've jinxed myself by telling you what I'm up to. Thanks a lot Perry. 

P: Umm-hmm. So where can people keep up with all things DeRuiter?

E: If you want to see some pictures of my ugly mug, you're always welcome to check me out on my official website edwardderuiter.com. I've been meaning to add a blog to the page, hopefully I can get to that sometime this decade. If you can't wait for that and need some brain nuggets ASAP, you can always follow me on twitter @edwardderuiter, provided you can handle how awesome my tweets are.

And of course, everyone should know that we can follow you on twitter @hperryhorton. 

P: I can personally attest to how awesome your tweets are. And yes indeed that is my Twitter handle if you just can't get enough of the witticism of H. Perry Horton. Mostly it's me with a healthy buzz on talking about whatever movie I'm watching that night, but whatever, that's what Twitter's for, right? Other than that, I'm always here to receive your questions and blistering criticism.

So there you have it, Committed's ridiculously thorough conversation with screenwriters Edward DeRuiter of 3 Musketeers and H. Perry Horton of A Haunting in Salem. Their joint effort, 2 Headed Shark Attack, for which DeRuiter wrote the story and Horton the screenplay, is available on DVD and Blu-Ray RIGHT NOW.

Holy Crap! First Stills From Nazis at the Center of the Earth!!!

Oh happy, happy Friday! Seems everyone's favorite independent studio just wrapped production this week on what is sure to be one of 2012's most hotly-anticipated films, and a contender for best film title ever, Nazis at the Center of the Earth. Well, now we get a look at the first round of stills from the set, and man oh man oh man does this one look every bit as awesome as its promise.

The film stars Dominique Swain, Christopher Carl Johnson, Lilian Bowden, Josh Allen and the always wonderful Jake Busey, and is directed by first-time helmer and The Asylum's in-house VFX supervisor Joseph Lawson, from a script by Asylum producer Paul Bales, who also wrote Sherlock Holmes and 2010: Moby Dick.

So go, now, and dig on these excellent stills, then try not to pass out holding your breath for the film's release, April 24th, 2012.

At Last!!!...First Details for Nazis at the Center of the Earth!!!

I am a sucker for titles, always have been. I've bought books, movies and albums based on the title more so than any other determining factor, and that includes quality. I love words, and, to paraphrase Johnathan Swift, when the right words are in the right places, it's magic.

So then it should come as no surprise whatsoever that my second-most anticipated film of 2012* would be the awesomely-titled Nazis at the Center of the Earth, a film The Asylum announced they were making a few months ago. And now, after all our patient waiting, we at last have cast, crew and plot details, and boy-ar-dee are they delicious.

First let's take a look at the plot: "Researchers in Antarctica are abducted by a team of masked storm troopers. They are dragged deep underground to a hidden continent in the center of the earth. Here Nazi survivors, their bodies a horrifying patchwork of decaying and regenerated flesh, are planning for the revival of the Third Reich."

Oh my god. So, not only is it a modern-day Nazi flick, and a Vernesian-secret-continent flick, but it's also a zombie flick? Dear lord this is gonna be even better than we thought. And just who are the creative powerhouses set to pull off this masterpiece? That's where shit gets even better... 

At the helm of the flick is Joseph Lawson, best known to Asylum fanatics as the company's visual effects supervisor, a position he's held over for 18 films and counting. This guy was in charge of making Moby Dick breach his hump like a snowhill, the guy who made those python mega and those gators oided, among many, many other fine feats. N.A.T.C.O.T.E.  will mark Mr. Lawson's first time directing, but come on, let's be serious: the guy is responsible for heading up the best FX the studio's ever had; is there any doubt he's going to knock this one out of the park? Not from where I'm sitting...

...especially when you consider whose script he's working off of: none other than Paul Bales, Asylum partner and the pen behind two of my favorite Asylum films (all ass-kissing aside), and certainly two of the smartest (see my last parentheses): Sherlock Holmes and 2010 Moby Dick. You put these two guys together, and what we now have is an Asylum Prestige picture...and that's not even taking into account the cast...

First up - and there are no hints as yet as to who or what these folks will be playing - is the lovely and talented Dominique Swain (Lolita, Face/Off, New Best Friend with Born Bad's Meredith Monroe). You gotta love how no matter the situation, The Asylum finds away to work in a foxy lady. God bless those guys.

As if you needed further enticing, the film is also set to star Christopher Karl Johnson of Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes and the one, the only...Jake Freakin' Busey.

Jake is best known for memorable turns in films like Starship Troopers, The Frighteners, The Hitcher 2 and Roadhouse 2, but around here, he's most-remembered for his earlier appearance in an Asylum film, in the very film, in fact, that launched the Mockbuster craze: War of the Worlds. Nice to see him back in the stable.

Josh Allan is also slated to star, but there are a handful of Josh Allan's on IMDB, so I wasn't sure which Josh was Josh. Alex Yellen is shooting the film, his 18th turn as cinematographer for the studio.

Nazis At The Center of the Earth has a tentative release date of April 24th, 2012. I've already marked it in my phone calendar.

*c'mon, you know what my #1 is

A Couple of Asylum Tidbits

photo from the BBC

Couple of interesting news items pertaining to The Asylum today, this first bit coming from the fine folks at Adult Swim, who interviewed two of the three Asylum head honchos - Paul Bales and David RIMAWI (the third, of course, being David Michael Latt)- about what exactly it takes to make a mockbuster succeed. I get a lot of questions - and by a lot, I mean like half a dozen, I run in small circles - about how The Asylum works, and to date this is the best article out there, well, articulating it. And I can personally attest to the speed with which they work: both of the scripts I've written for them - A Haunting in Salem and 2 Headed Shark Attack - I composed first drafts in about five days. Don't let that stop you from believing in these scripts' utter awesomocity, by the way, in both instances they were an inspired five days. Anywho, take a look at the article, it might be the most thorough in-print interview with the studio higher-ups to date; and their enthusiasm is contagious. 

Secondly, today SyFy announced their Fall programming schedule, including the air-date for The Asylum's next foray into the realm of the undead, Zombie Apocalypse, starring Ving Rhames (hell yeah!) and Taryn Manning (also hell yeah!): October 29th, two days before Halloween and the crown jewel in the network's "bloodcurdling programming" block for the month. SyFy exec Craig Engler co-wrote the script with Brooks Peck, and the film is being directed by Nick Lyon (Species: The Awakening). I'm super excited about this one, not only because of the stellar cast - which includes Lesley-Ann Brandt ("Spartacus"), Eddie Steeples ("My Name is Earl") and Gerald Webb ("Law & Order: L.A.," Battle of Los Angeles, 2012 Ice Age, A Haunting in Salem, 2 Headed Shark Attack) - but also because the story - rugged band of survivors fighting through an infested L.A. to a supposed sanctuary on Catalina - sounds kinda like a Zombie Judgment Night, which to me at least is kick-ass. Catch this one when it airs, or suffer the two-month wait until its DVD release December 27th.

creature feature: Moby Dick

I had the pleasure of re-watching Trey Stokes and Paul Bales' modern-masterpiece 2010 Moby Dick the other day, and it reminded me I had yet to shine the Committed creature feature spotlight on this titular, terrible white whale. Well, consider that oversight overturned.

Now, it should be noted that while this film, and its whale, are based on the Herman Melville's novel of the same name - minus the 2010, of course* - this is by no means the same whale. Melville's cetacean is vicious, yes, but it's still a conceivable whale, size-wise. 2010 Moby is amped up on whey protein or something, cuz mofo's the size of...I honestly don't have anything comparable in mind. It's huge, the kind of huge that can seize a nuclear sub in its jaws the way I would a baguette.

Furthermore, while the whale in Melville's classic was a bane on the existence of one very obsessive sea captain and the unfortunate crew serving under him, 2010 Moby is a full-blown menace to society, destroying everything he comes across, from the sub above to the whale-watching vessel above that, to the army chopper below. Dude just wants to kill, no rhyme, no reason, other than being the biggest predator in the history of history and having, as such, a comparable appetite.

Massive, sharply-toothed - no baleen here - and covered blowhole to belly in tough, thick, near impenetrable blubber; even Greenpeace would want this thing dead. I could offer speculative conjecture as to who would win in a fight, Moby or Mega Shark, Moby or Giant Octopus, Moby or Crocosaurus and so on, but the simple answer is, Moby would just swallow them like Jonahs, fight over. 

So a Committed salute, then, to what might just be the top of the Asylum food-chain, the Alpha predator in a menagerie of alpha predators: the melanin-deprived marine terror that is 2010 Moby Dick. If you haven't laid witness to the film yet, remedy that error toot suite.


*can you imagine how sweet it would have been if Melville had applied his nautical fetish to the sort of speculative fiction of Wells and Verne? I think the closest we get is China Mieville.

New Asylum Title Announced (Kinda)

So, in this post over on The Asylum site, producer/writer Paul Bales gives us a look at Asylum coverage from around the world, including this list of the so-called "Worst of Cannes" - the "worst" projects offered at the prestigious festival - on which a project they "haven't even made" made an appearance. And the title of that project? Brace yourself:

NAZIS AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

Holy fucking shit, right?! If that's not the greatest title/premise for a movie, I don't know what is.

Furthermore, when I expressed my unbridled elation for such a project on The Asylum's comments board, Paul Bales himself replied to my reply saying not only is the project legit, but it springs from his very pen, the same pen that wrought Legion of the Dead, 2010 Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes, MegaFault and 100 Million BC, among others.

No word what the plot may be, other than a brief mention of "mutant zombie Nazis threaten[ing] to overrun the world from their secret underground cavern," which could only be a reporter's speculation, but honestly, with a title as informative as that, as long as all the major elements are in play - Nazis, a secret world within the world, some kind of drill-car - this film will be one of the greatest things B-cinema ever conjured. Nazis. At the center of the Earth. C'mon, people, get excited!

Asylum Saturday on SyFy - THIS Saturday!

So this coming Saturday, a day I'm officially declaring a holiday, the fine, fine folks at SyFy are showing not one, not two, not even three but four Asylum films, and not a one of them at 3 in the morning! 

Things start off with the undisputed classic Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus at 1 p.m., then a little break followed by a six-hour mega-marathon that includes Mega Piranha at 5 p.m., Mega Python vs. Gatoroid at 7 and the world television premiere of 2010 Moby Dick, starring Barry Bostwick and Renee O'Connor, written by Paul Bales and directed by Trey Stokes, at 9 p.m. 

So whatever else it is you thought you were doing Saturday, cancel it; four of The Asylum's best are on the boob tube, and you, dear boob, simply can't afford to miss this rare alignment.

The Asylum Soon to be Blowing Up Your TV! PLUS - A Lifetime Premiere for BORN BAD!!!

So, there's about to be a barrage of Asylum on your TV this summer. In addition to their usual rotations on SyFy and Chiller, the films of our favorite independent studio are also about to grace TMC, Showtime and...wait for it...LIFETIME!!!

That's right, writer/director Jared Cohn's Born Bad will gets it's television premiere four months before it drops on DVD on noe other than Lifetime. This is the studio's first appearance on Lifetime - naturally - and heralds a pretty bold shift (or at least an addition) to their creative direction. I was hoping Born Bad was the harbinger of other straight-up thrillers to come, and it looks like maybe it is. Born Bad stars Michael Welch (Twilight), Bonnie Dennison ("Guiding Light"), David Chokachi ("Baywatch") and Meredith Monroe ("Dawson's Creek"), and features none other than Bill Oberst Jr. and Gerald Webb, both of whom can be seen in August's Asylum release, A Haunting in Salem (surely the newest horror classic, but I digress...). Born Bad can be seen Monday, July 11th, at 8pm Eastern/Pacific.

But that's not the only Asylum-boob-tube news: Showtime and TMC are both picking up the delightfully-steampunk-intellectual-action-fest Sherlock Holmes (which, the more I watch, the more I love) from director Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Princess and the Pony, Sunday School Musical) and writer Paul Bales (2010 Moby Dick, Legion of the Dead). The film is currently airing on both networks, and then in July, TMC trades Sherlock for 6 Guns, The Asylum's only (and sooo awesome) western from writer Geoff Meed (I Am Omega) and director Shane Van Dyke (Titanic II, A Haunting in Salem (!!!)).

So as you can see, it's going to be a great summer on cable. Check out The Asylum's site for listings. 

Check Out Video of Asylum Heads on CNN Money!

I'm no studio executive, but I'm wiling to bet if I was one, and CNN Money did a story on my studio, the best-case scenario headline would be: "This Movie Studio Never Loses Money." I mean, doesn't that sound just about as good as it gets? The only thing that could make that better would be, "This Movie Studio Never Loses Money, and Cured Cancer." That's it. And who knows what the guys have planned for 2012?

Anyway, CNN Money did do a story on The Asylum, a video story, and they did title it, "This Movie Studio Never Loses Money." Check out the video here and PLEASE GOD rent or buy A Haunting in Salem when it's released August 23rd.