SCREENPLAY TERROR: THE DARKEST SECRET

BY WILLIAM PATTISON, AKA ERIC MORSE

My participation in THE DARKEST SECRET began in February of 2003 when Greg Tiderington sent me an extremely short treatment for what he said was going to be a ten minute horror film.(Note: at the time I didn't know that Greg had already done a film from the same treatment titled ROOM FOR RENT.) At the time I had just released online the second set of chapters for my ongoing and final installment of my series of FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH novels, THE MASK OF JASON VOORHEES.

Greg, who is really a hardcore fan of my earlier four F13 books, was very insistent that I look over his treatment with the idea of my writing the script for the film. The first thing I informed Greg was that if I wrote the script it would have to be at least twenty minutes long, because I didn't believe that I could develop the characters or situation in as short of a time as ten minutes. Though Greg pushed and insisted he'd done horror films of ten minutes or less himself, I stood firm, because I know to build tension and really deliver a terrifying punch you need to make your audience empathize with your characters. That can only be done by letting your audience get to know the character. Though there might be other writers who can do this miracle, I can't and won't compromise my work. So, eventually Greg caved and agreed to let me write a script for a twenty minute film, but he insisted that if the need arose that he had the option to cut the script down to ten minutes. I agreed, but told him he'd be doing the cutting because I wouldn't butcher my own work.

So, I started the process of taking what was in essence a less than a quarter page, undetailed, and unexamined plot line and try to create a story with characters, relationships, and backstories. My mentor, Gene Roddenberry, was known for driving writers nuts with questions in regard to what the story was truly about and what the story was truly trying to say about the human condition. So for the next few weeks I drove Greg nuts questioning him on what his treatment was truly about and what it was we were trying to say to our audience. What I found out was that Greg really hadn't thought about the story outside of creating a series of cartoonish,disassociated, spooky situations ending in an unexplained confrontation. I realized I had my work cut out for me.

So, basically, I now had to look over the treatment, rethink it , and build what would be in essence the same story, but with a more intricate tapestry. The thing that caught my eye was that Greg mentioned that the spirit of the main character's friend makes an appearance and blames him for his death. Also, this character reappears at the end and helps the zombies in the story tear the main character apart. This got me thinking and questioning. Why would the friend blame him for his death? I asked Greg. He said the friend had killed himself and the main character had pushed him into it. Ok, I accepted this. Then I asked what was the cause? Eventually, Greg came up with the idea that the friend had been mentally ill, possibly manic depressive, and the main character was very unsupportive. This worked for me and gave me some points to build a backstory from.

But what about the zombies and witch character from Greg's treatment? I could work with a vengeful spirit coming back to avenge himself on the unsupportive friend who pushed him to killing himself, but I couldn't figure out a reason for the zombies and the witch. I went to Greg again, but he was of little help. The only thing I came out with was that the zombies and witch were important to the story and Greg would not accept the script without these character involved.

For the next week I fiddled with ideas and concepts, but nothing I came up with seemed to be a satisfying way to combine all of the aspects of the story Greg insisted on. Though, at this time I did come up with the idea of setting the story on Halloween, since it is the only day of the year when the boundaries between the living and the dead are at their weakest.

Finally, I decided to take some time off the script project ,and the F13 novel, and give my mind a rest. This was exactly what I needed because inspiration hit me in the form of two videos I was watching one late Saturday night. One film was JACOB'S LADDER. The other was ANGEL HEART. One film told the story of a man who was dead but didn't know it. The other was about a man escaping his past and trying to get away from the Devil, who had come to bring God's judgment on him and take him to Hell. I realized if I combined these two concepts I would have a firm foundation for the story.

But I still had the problem of the zombies and the witch. Or did I? I remembered in JACOB'S LADDER Jacob was being assaulted by demons and other odd apparitions that had tried to make him aware of the fact that he was dead. So, in my script I decided that the zombies, or actually, I reinvented them as damned souls, were trying to make my main character, who I had decided was actually dead, understand his true condition. Ok, but now I had the witch character to deal with. In Greg's treatment the witch disguised herself as a friendly old neighbor woman. It was from this I reinvented the old neighbor woman into the landlady who was actually the guardian of a section of Hell dedicated to people who had intentionally or through their own foolish actions took their own lives. Also, rather than a witch I decided the true form of the landlady would be a crone, a witch-like demon that was known in places like England or Ireland to appear to the dying. I also decided to change the character's name from Alice to Mama Alice, the “Mama” as a reference to the New Orleans style Voodoo priestess. I also decided to make her last name Diablo, which means Devil, in dedication to the character in ANGEL HEART named Louis Sypher, aka Lucifer.

It was also at this time that I came up with the backstories of the damned souls. In Greg's treatment he had a female zombie who was being chased through the halls of the house being chopped up by another zombie. This didn't work with my revised concept, so I had to rethink this character. The most logical idea I had was that she was a suicide. I decided that she would have cut her wrists and that because of this she was cursed with having the bleeding cuts for eternity. Also, I was a real fan of the film THE RED SHOE DIARIES and paid a nod to this film by tailoring this character's backstory to the one presented in RED SHOES. Then I decided to limit the remaining damned souls to the main character's friend and another more zombie-like damned soul. I decided to make this zombie-like soul a fifties style greaser who was really messed up due to the fact that he had crashed his car in a drag race. I also decided this smelly, nasty, looking apparition would be the one to try to warn the main character of his impending doom.

It was at this point that I made the decision that I would write the script under my own name, William Pattison, as well as under my pen name, Eric Morse. The reason for this is because I knew that Greg would be selling people on the script by saying it was written by the author of the FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH young adult novel series, which I wrote under the name Eric Morse. Also, I plan to retire Eric after I finish THE MASK OF JASON VOORHEES and wanted to honor him with a film credit of his own.

Now that I had all these details figured out I was able to start writing the script. Though Greg, at this point, was continuously bugging me about the script everytime I got on the internet I didn't tell him anything about my revisions to the script. Greg was pressuring me to get the script done because he had found an amateur film maker, named Dug, who was interested in doing the film.

Two weeks after I started to write the script Greg contacted me and asked me to join him for a virtual meeting, through Instant Messaging, with the people who were interested in doing the film. I agreed, figuring I needed to get an idea of who it was that Greg was trying to sell my script to.

The next evening I got online and connected with Greg and two other guys who represented themselves as Dug and Bill. Greg explained to me that Dug was planning to both direct and produce the film. Bill was going to be the combination cameraman, lighting expert, and sound engineer, though from his attitude he was going to do this reluctantly. Dug seemed a very friendly sort, but Bill seemed very adversarial.

Dug explained to me that they planned to do the film on a shoestring budget, around two hundred dollars. I admitted that I had doubts that they could do this film on such a lean budget. Bill countered by asking how many films I had made. I admitted I'd only directed and edited one film in college, but that I'd worked in various positions on twelve student films and had helped on the scripts for two major Hollywood films. Bill pressed me on this and I had to tell him that I'd worked on the early treatment work on STAR TREK II and worked on sections of the script for STAR TREK III. This caused Bill to accuse me of being a liar and a fraud. Greg came to my defense saying that though he couldn't be sure of my work on the two STAR TREK films he had read my work on the FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH young adult novels and knew me to be a capable writer.

It was at this point that Dug interceded and asked me if he could view a sample of the script so he could ascertain if the script was worth his attention. Unfortunately, I had to tell him that it was my policy, given the fact that I'd had my work stole in the past, that I never let anyone look at my work until it is finished and properly copyrighted in my name. This got Bill going again. He told Dug that he should refuse to accept the script if I copyrighted it, because he felt I was taking too much control over the script. I admitted I did want a say on the editing of the script. I also told him I wanted a share of any profits that came from the film. Bill started to complain, but Dug cut him off. He agreed to wait until the script was completed, and copyrighted, before viewing it. He also agreed that if the film was made I'd get my just share of any profits made.

After Dug and Bill disconnected from the Instant Messenger I asked Greg about why Bill was so pushy and negative about the project. Greg admitted that Bill was pissed because Dug had promised to do film from a script of his, but had put the project on the backburner when Greg gave him the opportunity to do a film from a script by a published author.

So, after this I went back to working on the script, though I had come out of the “meeting” with a less than enthusiastic impression of how this project was going to be handled.

It was soon after the meeting that I got the idea of using a montage of black and white photos to present the scenes that would have normally been done with a flashback. The inspiration for this came when my business partner, Shane, insisted I see an independent werewolf film titled GINGER SNAPS. The film opens with a montage of the two main characters of the film in snap shots of representing various suicide scenarios. This sequence reminded me of the end of the classic horror film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, in which director George Romero tells the end of the story through a series of grainy black and white snap shots. I figured this would be both an artistic and inexpensive way to do the scenes.

Then, after three weeks of writing on the script I finally finished it. I was very pleased with finished work and was sure Greg and his associates would be equally pleased.

I printed a copy of the script, put it in an envelope, and sent it to myself to gain a postmark on the envelope and to establish my copyright.

Then, I contacted Greg and informed him that the script was finished. Greg got back to me and informed me that his relationship with Dug and Bill was strained and he wanted me to send the script only to him. This concerned me. I figured that it was a good possiblity that I'd gone through all the trouble of creating this script for nothing.

Anyway, soon after, Greg informed me that he had parted ways with Dug and Bill. He told me that one of the reasons was that Dug and Bill wanted to majorly cut the script down and totally change the ending of the film without even consulting me. He told me they figured they'd keep me in the dark until the film was shot, and then it would be too late for me to do anything. Greg said he didn't like the disrespect these film makers were showing me, especially Bill. He told me, though, he hadn't quit on the project and would look around and try to find another production company interested in doing the film.

It was another three months before Greg contacted me about the script again. He told me that he'd contacted a director he'd worked with on a short film titled STREAKS IN THE MIRROR and though the director wasn't sure he'd be able to do the film, because of financial problems he was having, he was still interested. Unfortunately, his interest only lasted a week.

After this my confidence in ever getting this project done had gone down the toilet.

Then it was three more months until Greg told me that he'd shown the script to a very talented young director named Shawn Buffington. He said that Shawn had been literally blown away by the script and was very excited by the fact that it had been written by a “published author”. For me, hearing this was like a shot in the arm for my confidence.

Greg told me that Shawn had a production company, OMEGA WORKS PICTURES, and a website. After getting a few more details from Greg I decided to check out Shawn's website. I must say I was impressed. From what I saw of the production stills and info from Shawn's films I knew that Greg had found a compentant and dedicated film maker.

Greg kept me informed about the progress of the production over the coming weeks. Then, finally, Greg informed me that the film was shot and in the can. He also informed me that Shawn planned to include THE DARKEST SECRET in an anthology he was planning titled THE SEASONS OF HORROR and that he planned to release the anthology on VCD, DVD, and video. This really blew me away.

Since, I've seen production stills from the film and read Shawn's production journal, and am even more excited.

I have to say that I see great potential for this film, and this anthology, and I'm very proud to have been a part of it. Though I know what will appear on the screen may not be exactly what I envisioned I still feel a connection to it, because it's essence is the tapestry that I so lovingly constructed.

T.T.F.N.

William Pattison/ Eric Morse

San Mateo, California