This journey started several years ago, but I won’t bore you with all the details on how I reached this destination so I’ll give you the abridged version. All I’ll say is that every indie author dreams of having their book turned into a movie, series, or something live action. After failed attempts with a producer I said to myself, fuck it, I’ll do it myself, so I learned as much as I could about filmmaking in two years. When I began this journey into long days and sleepless nights in July 2020 to its conclusion late December, I swear I must have aged twenty years. I’m not saying it was horrible, not by a long shot, but it was a major learning experience on every level. Let’s take a look at my thoughts on the ups and downs and the breakdown of making an indie film series.
MORIUM - Why Morium. Well, I had a script I’d written for the film adaptation many years ago for a producer I signed with. After that fell like a brick in water, I shelved the script and hit the books, well, books AND YouTube. During my study time I’d written another script based off of The Splintered Love series story, Leap of Faith (that story is currently collecting dust on the hard drive) to get some more practice. Morium was a powerful story at the heart of it and I thought (and I was waaay wrong) it would sell, but more on that later.
SCRIPT WRITING - In June I went back and re-read the original script for Morium and holy crap was it a mess. It was this time I used what I had learned and did a complete rehaul of the script and decided to turn it into a series. Now writing a script is different from writing a book. Sure it pretty much follows the same act structure, but the style you write is different. Book=Tell don’t show. Script=Show don’t tell. That change can really mess you up when you bounce back and forth between writing a script and writing a book. It was at this time I was close to wrapping up the sequel to Morium and I found myself unable to finish because I was stuck in the scriptwriting frame of mind and I couldn’t switch back. Needless to say, that book sits at 80% complete.
BUDGET - I knew I couldn’t afford the thousands of dollars I would need for a month long shoot so I figured I’d film some scenes for a crowdfunding campaign. I decided to film these scenes on my iPhone, now I know that may sound strange, but after I watched a few movies from well known directors who filmed on iPhone'S I came to like the style. Since I couldn’t afford to pay actors at the time, I turned to a website called Backstage to find the cast that would work for two days for free in return for demo reels, meals and a chance to move forward and get paid.
CASTING - Continuing where I left off above, I spent a month or so putting together a cast of eight actors and actresses that bought in what Morium was about. This was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the process for me. I auditioned many, many actors and actresses during Friday/ Saturday and Sunday’s nights and afternoons. Some were so-so with script reads, some were fantastic during live auditions. Let me tell you this, telling somebody that got the part is a wonderful feeling, but, on the flip side, telling somebody they didn’t was very hard, but not as hard as to what would be coming later.
It was at this point the Morium Facebook page had grown and was getting attention. Cast auditions were posted, got Likes and shares, and everything was going great. The cast had been set and I started doing the many re-writes the script would go through. I also started scouting for locations that would stand in for the fictional town of Westview which eventually fell on the town of Farmer City, IL. I understood due to Covid that most, if not all, scenes would need to be filmed outside. I did have one location I thought I had and that was Farmer City library but that fell through when I never got an answer giving us permission to film there. Finding locations, script rewrites, social media, deciding how to film scenes all while I was working 10-11 hours at my regular job.
FILMING - The first day of filming had come where we would all be together on location and I was nervous. No, nervous isn’t the right word. Scared is more like it. The first day found us fighting winds reaching forty to fifty miles an hour which played havoc on sound, not to mention the actresses hair. But, the cast was awesome and we pulled through it. There were shots I didn’t get and in the end I regret it. Outside the hurricane conditions, the day went well considering. The second day came to another wild weather adventure. It started out a beautiful day. Sunny, no wind, temps in the fifties, it was perfect other than the fact the location we were filming at that morning, a park in the middle of town, had already started putting up Halloween decorations. Remaining calm, we simply shifted the shots where they wouldn’t be in view. After lunch, the wind came back, followed by rain and a temperature drop. We persevered and made it through. We left that day in high spirits of what was possible to come.
EDITING - It was the beginning of editing where the drain started to settle in. It’s not only editing, but color grading the scenes, matching up audio to video and adjusting the volume to match. I spent many nights/days doing the best I could to perfect the scenes. There were a few times where I didn’t sleep for two days straight and coffee became my beverage of choice. I’d come home from work, start working on post production and before I knew it, I’d been up all night and had to be to work in an hour. By the time I completely finished all the scenes (about three weeks I think) I was emotionally and physically drained. It got to the point where I was so burnt out that it mentally affected me.
CROWDFUNDING - I figured out the lowest amount I felt I could go to get four episodes filmed. I had a professional editor and sound designer lined up to relieve the workload from me. I had a director who would handle all the shot selections so I could concentrate on other things related to the series. The Facebook page saw normal activity and my hopes were kind of high that everyone who enjoyed all the updates, pictures, and behind the scenes info would find interest enough to contribute. I posted the campaign everywhere I could. It started off great the first few days / week and then nothing, except a few donations here and there. In the end, I didn’t even come close to reaching the goal. To say I was deflated is an understatement.
AFTERMATH - Next came one of the hardest emails I’d ever had to send. To tell the cast and crew that we would not be going forward. I would be lying if I said I didn’t shed a tear, shit, I’ll admit, I cried. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast and crew to work with for my first film attempt and in the end I felt like I let them down. It will linger with me for a while, that’s just the type of person I am. I will look back at everything we filmed and think of the possibilities.
Will I continue to pursue getting Morium filmed? Possibly. Will I give up trying to film something else? That’s something I’ll really have to think about, though studying two years seems like a waste if I were to give up. I will say this, getting behind a camera and bringing something to life that you created is a feeling that is unmatched. I’ve watched a few scenes and thought to myself, “that’s actually not bad. Did I write that? Did I put that scene together?” I learned a lot during the six months I worked on Morium. I learned how far I can push myself before I reach a breaking point. I learned that having a passion can be unhealthy if not controlled.