DEAD MEAT Makes the Quarter-finals in the FADE IN AWARDS

Anyway, to the meat of this blog...

Looks like that Philip Davetas character made the Fade In Awards (Quarter-Finals). Observe:


The Full Quarter-Final List

My reason for posting this totally jackassy vanity blog is to thank all you kick-assers for sending me some really awesome congrats and lots of cool shit. So, instead of responding to every single email and typin' 'em all out this follows:

pat redux, dude, thanks again and best of luck to your friend who also made the Quarter-Finals.

Ed, thanks for the email and kind words, but who said you could call me Phil?

Corybelle, I say thanks while givin' you a no-look flip-off. And The Cogi is one mean cocksucker.

Joseph™, thanks for the 22 exclamation points. Yes, I counted them. Actually, I kept losin' count, then said, "Fuck it." But I think I came up to 22.

Just Linda, once a jigga, always a jigga. Thanks for your sayin' some really cool shit.

Celia, yes, it's true. I'm pretty fuckin' badass. I hate to sound humble, but yes, I'm pretty fuckin' kickass.

Jamie, not to be confused with my Jaime, thanks for the "congrats" and the "awesome" thrown in on the side there.

GmanC, thanks for the words, man. Keep makin' those flicks. Killer Klowns from Outerspace is still a fuckin' classic!

James Gunn, dude, thanks for everything this week. I know my email gets lost in your fan mail sometimes, but thanks for sayin' something.

Betsy, congrats to you for making the Quarter-Finals also this year in the very same contest, but above all, thanks.

Tricia (aka Tee2), yes, I got your meaning the first time around, but thanks for taking the time out to actually say something. I know you're probably hanging off a cliff with a gang of natives spitting poisonous fireballs and all.

Bowitz, dude, that's some awesome art ya got there. And I too would like to see Dead Meat made into a flick.

And thanks to all you folks on Zoetrope for reading and critiquing the script.

Big Names in the FADE IN AWARDS

Okay, clearly there are some really big names attached to this contest, but I'm not sure what roles they play. Sponsors? Judges? Don't know, but what I do know these are writers of such fine films like Die Hard, Three Kings, Men in Black, Con Air, The Green Mile, A Simple Plan, etc.

FADE IN ADVISORY BOARD

Frank Darabont
Steven de Souza
Scott Frank
James Gray
Nicholas Kazan
Scott Rosenberg
Eric Roth
David O. Russell
Ed Solomon
Robin Swicord

Now, I don't expect to actually win any of these prizes, but it sure would be fuckin' cool if I did.

OVER $15,000 IN PRIZES!

GRAND PRIZE: iMac Computer, plus an expense-paid trip (hotel & airfare) to meet with top literary agents and studio executives for three days and two nights (or cash equivalent).

FIRST PRIZE: (in each category): $750, script analysis by WGA-credited writer, Waterman fountain pen, and one-year Fade In subscription.

SECOND PRIZE: (in each category): $500, script analysis by WGA-credited writer, one-year Fade In subscription.

THIRD PRIZE: (in each category): $250, script analysis by WGA-credited writer, one-year Fade In subscription.

Winners will appear in an up-coming issue of Fade In, Variety and/or Hollywood Reporter.

Why Did I Write DEAD MEAT?

It was around 2002, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write after my Santa Monica zombie story. I was starving to death, because I didn't have any money. My friends at CineFile took pity on me and let me rent DVDs for free and fed me on occassion. It then I revitalized a sense of doing something that I wanted to do. Something that didn't cater to the likes of the average homogenized Saturday Night movie-goers, but something I wanted to do if I had carte blanche. Basically, a movie that couldn't ever be made because of its twisted subject matter, but still had the formula of a hardcore action flick with douses of sci-fi and horror. I said, "Yes, I wanna write something about the fast food industry and the heroes would be these society misfits. Yeah, that's what I wanna do." That's right about the time my fuckin' HP broke the fuck down and I had to raise money I didn't have to buy a new computer.

That's when I got back to reading books and comics. Oh, thanks, Robert, for loanin' me all your comics. They really opened my eyes to what was possible beyond the media of film. I started sketching some pictures of Popcorn Rockaway. I said, "That's my first heroine. Now I need some villians. Ah, how about these dudes called the Troubleshooters."

I drew those guys on a little sliver of blank spot in my Anthropology book at the end of the chapter. So, why isn't it a comic book yet? To make a long story short, I decided to scrap the comic book project after seeing Sin City. Then I scored a new computer and then finished the script and wrote The Horrors of Frank Ackerman. I go into more detail in my FAQ section in WillmoreCity.com about all that.

But you will see Popcorn Rockaway again...

After Thoughts

In the end, what's really cool is that this is a really twisted screenplay about the corruption of the fast food industry embedded with lots of political overtones. It's uber-loaded with action and twisted science-fiction whackiness that it's so fuckin' bad-ass of these readers to actually validate this script as something worthwhile. While, it's not really a contender against those feel-good dramas that will most likely win the grand prize, it's still pretty damn cool. I'm not so big-headed about all this, but more stoked than impressed with myself.

So, thanks again for the motherfuckereth time, everyone.