back to the story…
james and i started searching for some stars. we sent the script through channels we knew (friends, ex-girlfriends, old acquaintences) to a few "name" actors/actresses and received positive response. "sure, I’d love to do this script. you can’t quote me on that though. once you raise the money, you can quote me on that."

it’s a catch 22 in the movie business. in order to raise money for a movie, you have to find a star to be in it#–but in order for a star to accept the offer, you must already have funding in place (at least, the amount you plan on paying the star). it’s known as pay or play: if you make the movie, the actor plays the role; if you don’t make the movie, the actor still gets paid. SO, there are many instances out there where an actor gets paid for a role they never performed. at first glance, this sounds like horseshit. why should an actor get paid for never performing? ah, but here’s the rub. when an actor accepts a role, they clear their schedule#–not to mention invest time and emotion into preparing for the shoot. so when a shoot doesn’t materialize, when it dissolves, the actor is stuck with a block of time they could have devoted to Backdraft 2. they are also stuck with feeling foolish, and a publicity blitz that makes them out to be a failure. a failed film, a film with an attached star that never got funded, is like a big zit on the day of prom: sure, it’s going to go away and people will forget about it#–but until it does aint nobody taking you on a date (and you’re out the ten bucks on a corsage). in the past, producers took advantage of stars by attaching them to a script before any details of the production were ever in place#–they used the stars as bargaining tools to get more money from investors. not a bad deal for the producer. but as you can see, the star stands to lose even if they never show up for the first day of shooting. SAG (the film actors’ union) put an end to this with pay or play deals#–the best thing to come along protecting actors from unscrupulous producers since craft services. but, also, the biggest pain in the ass for indies since Miramax. occassionally you’ll find stars willing to attach without a deal, but usually it’s because they’re dating the director or they share a parent.

so basically, we couldn’t attach anyone. as the summer wore on, it became clear that Ozark Mile was not going to happen in 2004: and i put my foot down.

the decision:
when i came back to missouri, i made it impossible on myself to fail. i told everyone i was making a movie, and dammit, i wasn’t going to be a liar. i’ve never liked lying, or fibbing, or telling half-truths. occassionally it’s necessary to avoid uncomfortable moments, but i hate it, despise it, loathe it, and avoid it. even when i run into someone i haven’t seen in years but should remember their name, rather than lie i will admit i don’t know. so rather than be a liar, rather than give up, i said dammit, lets make a movie. i gathered together the resources i knew i had available: 11 actors, a house, a few vehicles, a DV camera, some sound equipment, two weeks of vacation. i knew shooting a complex, multi-location film was out of the question, so i thought about the structure of a story taking place in one spot. a slasher movie! perfect! a slasher movie in branson, mo on the lake next to mel tillis’s…okay, bad idea. a hot house movie! last tango in branson, a young sweet innocent girl from Hurley lured into lurid fetishism by a cranky retired country singer who…hmm. good idea, probably wouldn’t go over well with the locals.

what could be done with those elements? well, the actors i could get for two solid weeks were all young so it would need to be about college-age kids. the people i hang out with are all dealing with graduating college, the stress of growing up, breaking up with their boyfriends, coming to terms with their sexuality, learning responsibility….hey! why not make a movie about THAT? so i wrote some basic character sketches, developed conflicts, set up a few plot elements and tried to wake james from his isolation of mourning after the news that Ozark Mile was going dormant. i was thrilled to find him immediately gung-ho: sleeping beauty awakened from her sleep and sipping Red Bull.

the script:
james took a job as Riff in West Side Story for Music Theater of Wichita and was leaving town in only three weeks. the job lasted two. in order to get our actors, we had to shoot before college started up again in late August. with a two week shoot, that put our first day rolling cameras on August 9th#–six weeks away. the story was easy to flesh out#–i always keep a notebook of story ideas, and james had a few he’d been toying with for another script. between the two of us we worked out the basics in just a few days. we narrowed the cast to nine, combining a couple of characters to strengthen some subplots and simplify the casting. with five weeks and four days left, we started writing.