Hi, how’s it going?
It’s been a little while since my last video, but I want to assure you that I’ve been hard at work these past couple months.
This is probably the most ambitious single video I’ve ever done. The video I’m working on is about the process of me trying to write a movie concept based on The Thing as an experiment to prove a Thing anthology series is not only possible, but could be awesome.
I basically wrote three different videos that I then whittled down and compressed into one video script, which is probably going to be about an hour long. It will go through my writing process while also telling a compressed version of the story I came up with.
This has been a very difficult process because, honestly, I’ve spent way too much time on it.
I first wrote a whole bunch of stuff about what a new Thing movie would need in order to work, what the problems would be, and what all the rules are across the various Thing media. I went through Carpenter’s movie, The Thing from Another World, the video game, the comics, Peter Watts’ short story, and all sorts of other stuff to research what would make a Thing movie work.
But as I was doing that, I started realizing that through this past year of doing a deep dive into The Thing, I’d come up with my own ideas of what I might want to see in a Thing movie.
So I decided to try and write it out.
I’ve never really written anything before aside from a couple of short movies for school. And now that I’m 40, I’m starting to realize that I’ve spent my whole life trying to learn how to tell stories, but I haven’t actually had the courage to write one.
So I thought this would be a good opportunity and could make an interesting video.
Of course, there was also the added complication of the legal issues surrounding writing something based on another IP. But this idea has nothing to do with Carpenter’s movie aside from the Thing monster itself. So no MacReady. No Antarctica. No Outpost 31. And the video will be mostly about the writing process to prove my Thing anthology concept.
I spent a little over a month actually breaking this story. I think it turned out pretty cool. And I’m excited to share it with people and get some feedback. I think you'll get a kick out of it.
At the same time that I’ve been tearing my hair out over this gigantic video, I’ve also been a little demoralized lately because of various life stuff. Though I can’t complain too much.
Yesterday, my external hard drive—the one I was using to work on this project—had an issue that took all day and a $200 piece of software to get my files back. So that was pretty annoying. Especially when money is tight these days.
But I’m also excited because I’m working on getting my office/studio space ready. My brother-in-law has finished the floors, the back wall, and all that stuff. So now I just need to get it painted or wallpapered, and then I can start moving things in.
That is extra exciting because we’ve been storing a lot of our stuff that needs to go into that office. So once I can start moving things in there, it will actually feel like we’re finally moving in after about four months of living here.
Anyway, I wanted to check in and let you guys know what’s going on.
I also attached a little script version of the opening to my Thing concept to tease my concept.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You help keep me going. Your kind words and positivity have really made this all feel worthwhile.
So thank you very much. I appreciate you!