We're Making a Movie!
Hot damn, that was a hell of a weekend. Even a few days later, feels like I’m still recovering from all the events, socializing, and running around to help keep the plates spinning. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, last weekend was Authors & Dragons Con 2021 in Nashville, where we had live events, constant gaming, and more than a few fun surprises.
Before we dig into the meat of that, just wanted to say a special thanks to everyone who attended A&D Con this year, and especially to the folks who contributed their time and talents to help make it happen. With everything going on, we know travel wasn’t easy, and really appreciate those of you who undertook the effort.
As to when the next A&D Con will be… that remains to be seen. I got to speak with some of you during the con about this topic, but wanted to make sure and address it somewhere accessible to all. For now, we are currently in something of a “sit and see” situation. While we love throwing this con, it’s also very important for us to do so safely, and with delta now on the rise that’s not something we’re sure we’ll be able to do. Booking arrangements for cons are complex and expensive, so even if things clear up somewhere in 2022, it might be too late for us to be capable of securing facilities. If we’re unable to have a physical one for 2022, we will absolutely do another digicon, and if it comes to it, for every year until we’re able to go in-person again.
Now then, onto one of the bigger, more ambitious announcements I’ve gotten to make: we’re bringing Shingles to the (metaphorical) silver screen! It was our delight to drop a surprise trailer to Shingles: The Movie at A&D Con 2021, and a relief to see the crowd so excited. Want to watch it for yourself? Well then take a gander:
For those unfamiliar with them, Shingles are a series of comedy/horror novellas written by various authors. They tend to be especially gruesome or dark humored, depending on who is writing which particular entry, but otherwise span the gamut of topics from evil ventriloquist dummies hungering for past glory to stage magicians stuck in a deadly fighting tournament. They’re released monthly, then combined into audio compilations by Tantor twice a year.
Shingles: The Movie will be an anthology comedy/horror film pulling from various stories, one from each author, with a wraparound segment tying it all together. Which, speaking as someone who has watched countless horror movies, is honestly my favorite format for them. The job will be helmed by Steve Rudzinski of indie hits such as CarousHELL, who we first reached out to because we liked his work so much.
As this is my blog, I should probably touch on which of my Shingles stories will be included in the movie, but here’s the thing… mine is a bit in flux. Those who have read my Shingles entries might recall that none of them are exactly small scale, limited words be damned. Alien spaceships, entire film studios, an abandoned theme park, and an magical island death tournament; my stories all tend to have some extravagant settings. Books don’t have to budget for locations, but films are another story. However, some of the set pieces would also be really cool additions to a visual medium, so it’s something of a trade-off.
The fix we finally found was to tier the funding plans so that we’d have a point where we could make a movie, but also able to pivot to a slightly more ambitious version if funding went well. Hopefully, you’ll get to see Slaughter on Giggletime Mountain brought to real life, but rest assured we do have a more cost-effective script for one of my books at the Plan B From Outer Space funding level.
Let me say upfront, I know this a big swing for the fences. Making movies itself is challenging, and while compared to the budgets of huge blockbusters the number we’re aiming for is a drop in the bucket, for those of us in normal life it’s still a sizable amount of money. But throwing a convention was a pretty big swing too, back when we did our first in 2019. Heck, just the act of being full-time writers demanded several huge swings that easily could have gone nowhere.
All you can ever do is your best. We’ve got a script we love, a director we have loads of confidence in, and a plan to make this happen on a budget that might just be in reach. What happens next remains to be seen, though personally I’ve got both sets of fingers crossed (which made typing all this quite a challenge) that we pull it off. It’s a chance to add something to a genre that I’ve gotten untold hours of entertainment from, and I genuinely think folks would enjoy.
Hopefully we’ll get the chance to see if I’m right!
For those curious about the series, here are a list of the Shingles titles written by me. They are all standalone, and can be read in any order:
Shingles #4 - Aliens Wrecked Our Kegger: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BRCCQ9F
Shingles #10 - Slaughter on Giggletime Mountain: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HWPSCZQ
Shingles #17 - They Came from Studio 13: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RCBQKF8
Shingles #33 - Action Kadabra: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08H3Q8G8B