Naturally, by the time I was close to finishing mine, Dimension had already hired a replacement: Ehren Kruger. I suppose from the beginning I had been naive to think that anyone would trust a multi-million dollar franchise to me: An unknown improviser from Chicago. Still, I was glad to have finished it: I had never written anything in the thriller/horror genre... and it was a great project to continue working my growth as a writer (Gee, this is getting too lofty, don't worry it won't last).

Because I had spent some time writing it... and because I knew it was pretty good, I placed the script up on various websites... hoping someone might like it and contact me to write something else. Nothing happened for at least a year.

Then what do you know? A director had been searching the web for good original horror scripts to produce. He was getting frustrated: there weren't any good ones. So he switched over and started reading: non-original scripts. That how my script was "discovered."

Sorry to go off into Ego-land again, but he told me that my script was the best one he found. IMHO, it was pretty darn swell... it was funny and clever and smart and tied up all the loose-ends from the Scream movies in a much more satisfying way than Kruger's Scream 3 script. I was really proud of it. Sorry, I'll try to keep my ego in check.

Anyway, the director Keith tracked me down and claimed that he wanted to make my film... if I could rework it to be a stand alone film... not a "Scream" movie. Of course, I screamed 'yes' and began rewriting.

Here was the first bit of trouble: In the story, the motive of the killings and the logic of the film were entirely based on the first two Scream movies. So I had to create new motives and a new back story. I struggled for a week or two, and then came upon my "big hook".

In the previous "Scream" version of my script, the murders had been a terrible ordeal for the characters. Everyone was stressed about "the killer on the set" and "the producers were worried about falling behind on the shooting schedule and press comparisons to Vic Morrow's death on the set of the Twilight Zone Movie." To give my film a unique voice apart from Scream, I changed the tone of the picture to "This is LA, people will do anything, even commit murder to succeed in the entertainment industry..." So now, none of the surviving characters really cared too deeply about the terrible ritualistic killings... in fact, many were downright tickled. The producers didn’t mind, because suddenly their film was getting loads and loads of free publicity. The surviving actors didn't mind because as more people were killed, their parts would be getting bigger and bigger. The director didn't mind because actors were such pains in the asses to deal with, etc.

Sorry for this last bit of ego, but this new version of the slashed script 2.0 was brilliant. I was so excited. I had added more humor, more satire, more characters, more everything. It was "the shit". But after I turned it in, director Keith was disappointed in the changes. He had gone online searching for a good simple horror movie. Nothing more. While he would try to get a theatrical release, Keith's objective was to make his money back by going straight-to-video. Appealing to those folks who go into Blockbuster and grab a mindless horror movie for a night of popcorn on the couch. While my new version of the script still had thrills and chills and guts and gore, it was no longer a mindless horror movie.

Back to the drawing board: Keith had loved the original script and wanted it just as it was...minus any reference to 'Scream' (copy write Kevin Williamson -- he he). So I wrote Slasher script version 3.0. It was still good, but certain aspects of the story were beginning to reach their breaking point. I'd had to stretch the exposition pretty far to explain how & why certain story points were happening in a similar way to things that happened in Scream, but not like Scream at all, ya know?

Then the budget came in, and that required even more rewrites. At this point, it became something else. I wouldn't even call it version 4.0, because now director Keith and producer Luciano were writing scenes and dialogue as well. Entire new scenes were appearing, which I would go back and rewrite. (NOTE: They added two scenes to the beginning of the film. I did some rewriting of these new scenes... but they were rather pointless, and in the final version, they delayed the appearance of the film's heroine, Samantha Cheek. With these added scenes at the beginning, Samantha would not appear in the final version until 16 minutes in... and the story was based around her?!?)

But it gets even crazier: Because of the budget, characters would be eliminated... I had too many in my script. So Keith and Luciano cut some characters... including one of the killers?!? While I understand the decision, the whole film had been based on a two killer scenario. This would allow both to have alibis during different murders. With one of the killers gone, if I wanted to keep the plot relatively the same, I had to take an existing character (one which hadn't been cut), and make them the 'second' killer. This created problems a-plenty.

Two minor characters were "beefed" up to fill in the void left by the jettisoned characters. A character without a name, simply referred to by her title "P.A.", became "Assistant Director Skylar" and a major player in the new version. A comical two-dimensional producer named "Mr. Johnson #1" (who I based on a spoof of my old boss "manager/producer" Peter Golden) suddenly became a big Hollywood player named "Hunter" in the film as well.

Speaker of Skylar and Hunter... after I'd hand in a rewrite, Keith & Luciano would change EVERY character's name. Then they'd hand it back to me, and I would be lost... "Okay, Samantha is the character I called Hannah, who was originally Sidney when this was a script for Scream 3."

I'm sure someone might be wondering about artistic integrity. Well, I have to admit... after the first couple of rewrites by Keith and Luciano, I was just trying to make it make sense (and I failed). Besides, what right did I have on artistic integrity since my original script was based on 'Scream'? And if people rewrite David Mamet in this town... what right did I have to complain? I should also add that my notes from Keith and Luciano were "Make it more like Scream... make it less like Scream." This made the rewrites a bit of a challenge ;-)

So anyway, they went and made the thing and the end result was: SCARED... but later it was actually released as CUT THROAT. During the production, I wasn't involved at all. I received almost no money (and only got some cause I bitched... which made me a hated man) and was working at my 9-5 to financially support myself when they were filming. Last bit of ego: I wish I had been more involved. As incoherent as the finished film is, it’s really only a line or two here, a rewritten scene there, from actually being okay. Seriously, watching the final result drove me crazy... certain scenes could/should have been chopped in half, while other scenes would have crucial lines of dialogue missed. Oh well, c'est la vie.

For a while, it appeared that the film was going to feature actors like Corey Haim and Nicole Eggert. My favorite rumor was that Lee Majors wanted to play the part of old stuntman, Colt Seaver... which would have truly been ironic since I named the stuntman character Colt Seaver because that was Lee Majors' character's name on his old TV show, The Fall Guy.

While the finished film doesn't make any sense... there are things I liked about it.

I think the actors did a great job. Kate Norby really could/should be the star of some show on the WB. Raquel Baldwin is probably the best thing in the film, as the airhead best friend. While Corey Almeida wasn't at all like the director character I wrote (the role was originally based on real-life director David Lynch), he was funny and quick. The character of Skylar may have started off as a glorified extra, but J. Robin Miller is really good. And though I'm sure Doug Cole never met Peter Golden, he delivered his "I'm a producer/manager, I produce and manage" lines with the same combination of braggadocio and emptiness that is Golden.

I think Keith did a good job directing... especially a lengthy steadycam shot I wrote which was meant to be the first scene. (but sadly, this scene has a couple of strange audio issues and the ending/murder gets muddled)

More to come... but I'm about to fall asleep.

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