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I
KNOW WHAT YOU NEED (2005)
I was having lunch one day and, and took a book with me to read. It was the shooting script for The Shawshank Redemption. In the introduction, Frank Darabont talked about how he got his first break in the film business. He was allowed to make a Stephen King short film called "The Woman in the Room" for only one dollar. This would turn into what Stephen King would call his dollar baby deal. Student film makers would be allowed to make a short film based on one of King's short stories for only one dollar. It would be non-exclusive rights, which meant that King kept all rights to the story and the student could only use it for film festivals and their own personal product reel. The only stipulations would be that the students had to pay one dollar, send King a copy of the movie when it was completed and the copyright to King had to be included (see above). I decided I wanted to do this, so I tried to figure out what short story I wanted to shoot. My first choice was "Last Rung on the Ladder." That is, in my opinion, the best Stephen King short story he has ever written. However, I did not know how I would do it. It just did not seem like something I knew how to photograph. I was working as a writer for the school and was on my way to the Big 12 Football Championship game in Kansas City and bought Night Shift on tape. I was listening to all the stories as I drove there and came across one that included all the criteria that I needed to afford to shoot this. It had to include very few locations that were easily accessible, a small cast and no special effects. It was "I Know What You Need." Well, it all began back in about 1999. I wrote the script for one of my screenwriting classes, and while I received a decent enough grade for the screenplay, my professor said he really didn't "get it." I thought about it for awhile and realized that the problem with movies based on Stephen King novels (and Dean Koontz novels even more so) is that most of the story takes place in the character's thoughts. King is a natural storyteller and when you sit down to read his story, it is like he is telling you a story around the campfire. How do you visualize that? Either way, I wanted to shoot it and make it my calling card. That was my first mistake. I never should have put that much pressure on me with my first attempt at a movie. I sent off the request to Mr. King and began waiting. Shortly after that, I met the person who I would make almost all my movies with, Rob McIlrath. We shared a love of movies and when I told him I was a film student and was planning to shoot a movie based on a Stephen King story, he soon convinced me to bring him aboard. That was where Starving Dogs Productions originated. PAGE 1 / PAGE 2 / PAGE 3 / PAGE 4
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