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Another dollar baby
Donegal filmmaker Gerard Lough has just been granted permission by Stephen King to turn one of the world famous author's stories into a short film adaptation.
By Sean P Feeney
A Donegal filmmaker is about to begin the project of a lifetime as he is about to turn a short story by one of the world's most successful novelists into a 'very, very, scary' short film.
Over three decades ago world famous author Stephen King decided he wanted to give something back to the art world as a thank you for the commercial success he was beginning to enjoy.
King came up with a policy that would allow up-and-coming young filmmakers to adapt stories the author had written and turn them into short films.
The writer would grant a student filmmaker the right to make a movie out of any of his short stories (but not novels) so long as the film rights were still his to assign, that no resulting film would be exhibited commercially without approval, and that they send him a tape of the finished work.
For this one-time right King asked for a mere one dollar fee and once he had watched the finished work he would put them on a shelf marked 'Dollar Babies'.
One of the most high profile 'Dollar Baby' films is Frank Darabont's adaptation of The Woman In The Room. This young film-maker went on to make three feature box office smash hits based on King's work, namely The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist.
Having been granted permission by Stephen King to adapt one of his stories and turn it into a short film, a Letterkenny native is hoping that he will soon be following in the footsteps of Darabont.
This will be Gerard Lough's seventh short film to date and, as he admitted, his most ambitious project so far in his career as a director. "The most difficult thing for me was actually finding a suitable story to adapt.
"It had to be something that could not only be produced on a very small budget but something I felt passionate about spending many months bringing to the screen."
Although details have to be kept very much under wraps for the time being, Gerard revealed that the story he is adapting is in some way similar to The Shining.
"The story is basically about a dysfunctional family attacked by forces that may or may not exist and it explores some very dark themes which I will not be shying away from.
"I wrote the screenplay and it is a very faithful adaptation of King's work with only two new scenes added that do not appear in the book.
"His [King] story is so sound it warranted very little change and as the saying goes, 'If ain't broken, don't try to fix it'," he said.
Gerard said the short film will be a horror, but rather than 'zombies running around eating people's brains' it will be of a psychological thriller nature.
"A rather nasty creature does feature in this story, but there is always the suggestion that it may just be a figment of the lead characters imagination, a metaphor or parental neglect.
"People forget that Horror films can be intelligent and explore very dark and complex ideas, as well as leaving room for ambiguity.
"So apart from giving the audience a good scare it will also be my ambition to give them plenty to think about after the end credits have rolled, for example some people see The Mist as simply a monster invasion story but if you look closer you could also say its an analysis of xenophobia, religious intolerance and how people behave in a crisis.
"My previous experience in this genre was a short film I made in 2008 called Deviant which was about a serial prowler.
"Like this new film, it was set in a suburban neighbourhood and it dealt with the theme of home invasion and if I do my job right, this one will be very, very, scary."
This will be Gerard's seventh short film as director and he said everything he learned making the previous films will be needed to put this one on the screen especially knowing that the famous author himself will be viewing the final result of his work.
"Mr King will indeed see the finished film as he insists on it which is only fair.
"He even has a shelf at home where he keeps the DVDs of these short films which he usually only watches once.
"I hope this one is the exception and will give him cause for repeat viewing.
"I sincerely hope he appreciates what I was trying to do as a director when he watches the film."
Gerard hopes to start shooting in April/May, with between 15 and 20 people making up cast and crew.
"The script is finished but the reason pre-production will take a long time is because the film will include some intricate special effects and I need to find a very skilled male actor (mid 30s) who will be able to take on a difficult and demanding lead role."
Gerard's most recent short film, The Stolen Wings, can be viewed online at www.youtube.com and it will make its debut in front of an audience at Underground Cinema, Dublin on January 29.
Male actors interested in auditioning for the lead role of Gerard Lough's upcoming 'Dollar Baby' project can send their CV to e-mail gerardlough@hotmail.com
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A Donegal filmmaker is looking for Derry actors to help realise his "opportunity of a lifetime" - after securing the rights to adapt a short story penned by horror master Stephen King for only $1.
Letterkenny based director Gerard Lough, a graduate of Derry's North West Regional College, is the latest ambitious young filmmaker to benefit from a pledge the multimillion selling author made in the early 1980's to support and promote cinematic talent.
" King had the idea for his 'dollar babies' in 1982, where he allows an up and coming filmmaker to secure the rights to one of his stories for $1, under the premise that the film can not be commercially exploited" Gerard told the 'Journal.
" It can be shown at film festivals but you ll not find it on general release or in the video shops, I suppose it's a way for him to give something back, but its a fantastic honour and a great way for someone like me to be able to showcase his talent
" I'm sure his accountant wasn't too pleased but its great up and coming filmmakers."
The director, - the first Irish filmmaker to secure one of King's dollar babies - has completed the screenplay and is near ready to start the cameras rolling on what will be his seventh film.
But for now, and in the best interest of suspense, Gerard is keeping film buffs and King devotees in the dark over which story he has bagged the rights to.
" King fans will know the story, you can walk into Eason's and pick it up off the shelves. I have tried to be pretty loyal to the original short story.
" It's a pretty dark story, quite like the Shining - more psychological thriller than out and out horror. It's about a dysfunctional family, about parenthood, and there is a supernatural creature, although it may only exist in the mind of one of the characters.
" JK Rowling it isn't," he said.
Gerard's now hoping local talent will come on board with his project and is throwing his casting net out over Derry.
" We have a crew of around 20, and a fair degree of special effects and CGI.
" Filming gets underway in April and we are still casting. It'll be shot in and around Letterkenny and I'm hoping to tap into the wealth of local talent in and around Derry."
Gerard, whose most recent project The Stolen Wings made its debut at Dublin's Underground Cinema last month, said he is still keen to see potential male and female leads.
Aspiring actors can send the CV's to Gerard via email at gerardlough@hotmail.com
King, whose work including Carrie, It, the Shawshank Redemption, and Misery have all successfully transferred to the big screen, will be among the first to view the film when it is completed
Coincidentally, the master of modern horror is no stranger to Derry, with a fictional American town of the same name providing the setting for books including It, Pet Cemetery, the Tommyknockers, Needful Things and the Running Man.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/v/h1Z3QasS47c[/media]
and web site
http://mute.stephenkingshortmovies.com
John
John
[media]
BANGOR, Maine — “The Last Rung on the Ladder” may very well be a giant first step for a select few students at Bangor’s New England School of Communications and a small group of yet-to-be-determined actors.
The lesser-known short story by Stephen King published in 1978 as part of the “Night Shift” collection was adapted into a 12-minute film in 1987, but NESCom video production curriculum coordinator Frank Welch has held film adaptation rights to it since 1997.
“A friend of mine and I tried doing it, but we just couldn’t get it together, fundingwise,” said Welch, who has been with NESCom for 3½ years. “Last April or March, I’d been talking to my students, who are very talented, and with the really good digital equipment we have here now, I thought it was a good time to do it.”
Welch, who is the film’s executive producer, checked with King’s legal representatives, told them it would be a nonprofit student production and had his nonexclusive adaptation rights extended.
“We can’t use it as a vehicle for Stephen King promoting NESCom, and we have no intention of selling it,” Welch said. “But we have a handful of really talented kids here now, and because his name is on it, it’ll give them attention, give them a big leg up, and likely help them find work.”
The film’s producer is Philadelphia native Joe Giordano, 21, a producer and assistant at Bangor TV station WLBZ 2. Fellow NESCom student Lucas Stewart, a Durham native and also 21, is the director.
“We have an open casting call for our characters Saturday, and then we’re going to try to get this done in three or four months,” said Giordano, who has six years of video production experience. “The biggest problem is we want it to look like summer, so we’ll have to wait on the weather a bit.”
The casting call — for males ages 10-16 and mid-30s to late 40s, and females ages 10-15 and late 20s to mid-40s — will be at Husson University’s Gracie theater at One College Circle from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday
“We have a great crew of 10 hand-picked people, we have a budget where NESCom is fronting us what we need, we have a great screenplay written by Godfrey Taylor, and we’re ready to go,” said Stewart. “Once we get actors matched up with our characters, it’ll feel more like we’re doing it, so that’s why this weekend is so big for us.”
King’s short story, which is about 16 pages and not a horror tale, is about a man who finds out his estranged sister, whose life he once saved, has committed suicide.
“It’s a touching story about the consequences of losing touch with family,” said Stewart. “I know after reading it, I called my brother.”
None of the production crew or cast members is being paid.
“The pay is getting your name out there and generating notice or acclaim from the filmmaking industry and the public,” said Stewart.
Giordano and Stewart intend to enter the film in as many festivals in New England and beyond as they can.
“Ideally, the payoff for this would be getting it into some kind of film festival like Sundance. This isn’t something that’s just going to be screened locally here in Bangor,” Giordano said. “This is something we fully intend to launch outside Maine.”
Giordano, who was involved in producing a documentary about Bangor’s American Folk Festival last summer, says shooting for the film, which likely will run about 30 minutes, should start in March and could premiere at The Gracie as early as mid-May.
This is the first project like this for Giordano, Stewart and the rest of the crew.
“We have a head-turner here with Stephen King’s name on it,” he said. “So if we do this right and do it well, this is something we can really put on the map, not just for ourselves but for the school and the people who will participate in it.”
The story is set in a small New England town at the height of a blizzard, so it shouldn’t be hard to fabricate.
A man’s car gets stuck in a ditch and he trudges through wind and snow to find help in a local bar. His wife and daughter are still in the car, but what the man doesn’t know is that vampires are watching.
“One for the Road” is the story, a sequel to “Salem’s Lot” and one of many written by Stephen King.
Local cinematographer and horror hound Ricardo Rebelo purchased the rights to “One for the Road” for $1, and plans to shoot the short film in the city.
“I’ve always been a fan,” said Rebelo, whose been shooting films since his uncle gave him a video camera in 1984.
Rebelo is a TV and film instructor at Bristol Community College and also a staff assistant in television services at the college.
He learned that King regularly offers up movie rights to independent filmmakers for $1 and applied for “One for the Road.” His proposal was accepted.
“Within 24 hours, they sent me a contract,” Rebelo said.
The film can only be used for noncommercial distribution. He plans to enter it in film festivals.
Rebelo said he’ll need just a small cast of about six people. He’s already gotten some interest from professional regional actors. If Rebelo begins filming soon, he’ll already have the snow. What he needs is a bar with a fireplace.
“There are three predominant characters, and three locations — the bar, the car and outside,” Rebelo said.
Rebelo has produced several feature films, such as “Splatter Disco,” “Creature from the Hillbilly Lagoon,” and “They’re Out There.” All are available online.
“This is the first I’ll be directing entirely myself, other than documentaries,” Rebelo said. Rebelo said the film should entail about a month’s worth of shooting and editing and will cost him about $2,000.
Rebelo said some well-known directors have shot King’s “Dollar Babies” not-for-profit films. He knew of Frank Darabont who directed “The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank Redemption” after making his King short, and Guillermo del Toro, who directed the “Hellboy” movies.
Rebelo just finished (about 10 minutes before his interview) a documentary about Azorean immigration. It’s slated to be aired on PBS in late spring or summer.
Rebelo was born in Sao Michael in the Azores and came to Fall River at the age of 3. He grew up on Globe Street and graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School. He served in the Air Force as an air transfer officer and in public affairs, where he shot films and news stories.
Rebelo now lives in East Providence, R.I., with his wife, Arline. They have a 17-year-old daughter and a son due in March. Rebelo traveled to the Azores on a grant to interview residents for his documentary and studied life there and why some immigrated to the United States and others did not.
In October, PBS aired Rebelo’s documentary “Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare,” about the life and afterlife of Lizzie Borden. It was his media studies master’s degree project at Rhode Island College, where he received his degree last year. “Lizbeth” won Best Documentary by the Alliance for Community Media and Best Documentary at the 2010 Rock and Shock Film Festival.
Rebelo has worked at BCC since 1999. Previously, he was the executive director of the Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival. He also worked with Worcester Rock and Shock.
“I’ve always been blessed that I got to do what I wanted to do,” Rebelo said.