THE DEVIL'S GAME - A Supernatural Thriller Based on True Events

I'm someone who always wants to be ready with my next project. As I'm writing this, post production for "Leap" is well underway and it's time I start playing with ideas for my next film. A week ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do next, but then I saw a trailer on Angel Studios for some movie that deals with the issue of life after death. Always one to ruffle some feathers, I remembered a script I wrote that takes the complete opposite stance.

In 2010 as we were shooting "Leap: Rise of the Beast", my lead actor and I started talking about what we wanted to do next. He challenged me to try to come up with a character piece and we started toying with the idea of doing a ghost story after filming "the bathroom scene". In the scene, the main character is seen in the reflection of the mirror and due to a black hoodie, it almost looks like a disembodied head floating there. The effect was creepy and definitely inspired our conversation.

The shot that inspired "Derek" from "Leap: Rise of the Beast" (2011)

I kept trying to come up with a story but never could. In late 2010, as I was in post production for Leap 2, I heard a woman's testimony at church one Saturday. The gist of the story is that she had to exorcise a demon from her mother while she (the woman) was a new Christian. I remember that I came home and spent the next six hours on the couch writing a treatment based on this idea. I did send the treatment to the lady and asked for her blessing, which she gave me, and I proceeded to write the script. The script was a little short, coming in at exactly 69 pages, but heart of the story was in place.

Unfortunately I ended up shelving it and got sidetracked for ten years with work, short films, and now Leap 3. However, now might be the time to revive the script and make it my next film. I dug out all my old files for "Derek", including a short film version that I shot in 2014 to practice with some effects and workflow. The big gem though was the original printed treatment and all my handwritten notes on it from over ten years ago. Using the treatment as a guide, I launched my favorite brainstorming app, "Freeform" and started hammering out the main beats. I'm really enjoying mapping out stories this way compared to treatments. It's a lot more fluid and easy to move beats around, plus the color coding is useful for different themes and such.

So that's where I'm at with all this. I'm scoring and starting on VFX for Leap 3, and soon will start the script for "Derek". I'm really looking forward to going a little bit back to my horror roots and doing something a bit more mainstream than Leap 3. My plan right now is to get the script done by the time I release Leap 3. Then, hopefully Leap 3 makes a little money on Amazon and I can apply that to Derek. My original estimates for this film were in the $45,000 range, and I still think that's doable.

Not sure when I'll be back working on this, but in the meantime, here's the short version of "Derek" that was used as a VFX test. The Oujia board is a CGI overlay on a wooden cutting board. The indicator is either CG or is a real prop with a wooden handle allowing it to be controlled offscreen. That handle had to be removed. We shot this on the Canon Rebel T2i and it was my first time using those four bulb soft boxes to light a movie. It was also the first movie that I cut in Avid, onlined in Resolve, and did the VFX in Fusion 7.

 

[Chris Tempel]

Had a chance to start working on this again yesterday while my computer was rendering some heavy VFX for "Leap". My wife and I talked a lot about this movie the night before and what my goals with it would be. I told her my goal would be to make something more mainstream, that while still having a message, doesn't preach at the viewer. Some of my favorite movies this past year have just been fun rides and I want to do the same.

I pulled out my fourteen year old file with notes and the original script and decided to basically start over from scratch. I'm keeping some of the same beats, but it's really going to be a whole new story. I'm also going to attempt to follow the "Save the Cat!" formula, for better or for worse. Even if the script sucks, I think the exercise of thinking about the story this way will be good.

As I'm reading the book through, Snyder talks about coming up with the logline first, so here's what I have for now:
When a family loses their son in a tragic accident, a Christian mother makes the harrowing mistake of turning to spiritualism in hopes of contacting him.

Going through my fourteen years of notes and ideas.

My other big change is the title. "Derek" doesn't evoke any curiosity to someone that doesn't know what the film is about, so I'm changing it for now to "The Devil's Game". Hey admins - any chance we can update the title of this thread?

 

[mlesemann]

My other big change is the title. "Derek" doesn't evoke any curiosity to someone that doesn't know what the film is about, so I'm changing it for now to "The Devil's Game". Hey admins - any chance we can update the title of this thread?

Done. Let me know if it's not how you want it.

Re Save the Cat - I'll be interested to see how that works for you, good or bad. I've evolved over time to doing a detailed outline that definitely follows a 3 act structure, with the inciting incident in the first 1-2 pages, everyone introduced in the first act, a "change" of some sort at the midpoint, a near-disaster at the end of act 2, and an "oh shit" moment at the 90% point.

I've tried but failed - and given up for now - on doing a logline first. My stories just change too much for it to work well, at least for me. I definitely admire people who can do it, and look forward to seeing how that works for you.

 

[Chris Tempel]

Done. Let me know if it's not how you want it.

Re Save the Cat - I'll be interested to see how that works for you, good or bad. I've evolved over time to doing a detailed outline that definitely follows a 3 act structure, with the inciting incident in the first 1-2 pages, everyone introduced in the first act, a "change" of some sort at the midpoint, a near-disaster at the end of act 2, and an "oh shit" moment at the 90% point.

I've tried but failed - and given up for now - on doing a logline first. My stories just change too much for it to work well, at least for me. I definitely admire people who can do it, and look forward to seeing how that works for you.

Thank you, Mara! That will work

Yeah, I'm really not too sure how this will go, which is why I want to try it. In the past I would do an outline too that follows three act structure, but I've also been getting into virtual index cards for that now too and like how it makes my brain think. For some reason, just having a visual *thing* to look at instead of a blank page helps me see the movie more clearly. The move to applying the STC! formula I *think* will be more lateral in that the cards will have a pre-ordained beat that I have to come up with. If it sucks, I can always revert back to my old, comfortable ways, but I like to challenge myself.

I'm with you on the logline. I usually come up with those halfway through or after I finished a script. I guess I'm cheating a little on this film because I did technically write a script before, so I kind of know where this one is going lol.

 

[Chris Tempel]

I wrote the opening scene yesterday. Actually it was more of a re-write, but I did do it all from scratch. In my original draft from fourteen years ago, the movie opened with a seance gone bad, a scene we would come back to near the end of the film. I really like the idea of starting with the end as a hook, then the rest of the movie is about getting to that point and then the outcome of it. My new version of this scene still has the same beats, but it's much darker and scary. I knew I was on the right track when even my skin was crawling as I'm writing.

A technique I'm using this time is to focus on the adjectives and words that I'm using. I want a reader of this script to feel the way they might feel when actually viewing the film, so I'm trying to focus on that. For example, instead of a character having a twisted smile cross her face, the characters face contorts into a twisted smile. One way just states what happens, the other way paints a more vivid picture. At least that's how I see it.