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TRADING ONE FOR THE OTHER & CROSSING OUT LINES
Sleazy Mike, his wife, the whorehouse and the rest of that storyline seemed to be forced into the movie and there is a reason why it seems like that. It’s exactly what happened. During one day of filming, I had several no-shows and was left with Mike Lane and a few others that didn’t have roles. I had thought about just making them campers and killing them off, but I needed to shoot something. I sat at my kitchen table and wrote up a couple quick scenes. It was a learning experience and one that I would not do again. Another thing that I would not do again is keeping a sharpie with me to cross out lines because the actors did not know them and I kept reducing the dialogue to make it work. I keep that screenplay with me to this day as a reminder of what not to do.
THE HICK & PETE – YOU SHOW UP…YOU’RE GETTING A PROMOTION
During filming, Pawel Watracz and Mark Scarborough were coming to the set when they were supposed to be there and actually performed well. I began shifting my focus to them and adding some new elements to their characters. I was trying desperately to make this story work and then, make it make sense. It was another learning moment for me. It was also the drawback of working with friends and friends of friends that like the idea of making a movie, but don’t realize that it takes work and consideration to do so.
I QUIT
I was so frustrated with this film and how the production went, I gave up filming and planned to go into journalism or accounting. Damn…accounting. What was I thinking? I allowed things to get out of control and allowed my screenplay to be bent and twisted as I constantly amended it to fit the situation I was dealing with at the time. The production convinced me that I didn’t want to be a filmmaker and it got me out of film for nearly 6 years.
the production went, I gave up filming and planned to go into journalism or accounting. Damn…accounting. What was I thinking? I allowed things to get out of control and allowed my screenplay to be bent and twisted as I constantly amended it to fit the situation I was dealing with at the time. The production convinced me that I didn’t want to be a filmmaker and it got me out of film for nearly 6 years.
The filming concluded and the editing began. At the time, I felt that there was enough to make this work and when it was done, I was happy with it. I was happy that the production was completed and that I had a movie to show. It would take four years for RISE OF THE SCARECROWS to find distribution and it shocked me quickly at how fast it took off.
DISTRIBUTION
Timing is everything and luck can play a part as well and both seemed to be on the side of this film. CBS, for some reason, made RISE OF THE SCARECROWS one of their most anticipated releases, and horror sites began saying that it was a remake, reboot or sequel to the 1988 film