Had a really interesting conversation with Paul the co-writer today during a story conference meeting we were having. We’re in the process of really nailing the structure and tone of the film in treatment form before moving onto the actual screenplay draft.

It’s constantly evolving, characters are changing and morphing into others and levels of importance are constantly in flux. This is the fun part, but also pretty tough. It’s easy to get lost - but it helps to work in a team. We both can keep each other in check.

With an idea like this it’s easy to let your imagination totally wander and you start getting an idea that would require a budget of $100m or something. Our aim with this film isn’t to make a blockbuster type affair but more something like a dark thriller, a film that deals with the characters’ lives and situations in a fantastical and visually interesting setting.

We’re having to strike the balance between taking the story to the limits and writing a script that can be produced on a reasonable budget. Normally you just worry about the story you want to tell - which is pretty much how we approached the short script version of this idea. But developing and expanding this film, it could quite easily be a $100m film or it could be a $20m film. Sounds obvious but that constant reminder of the budget is helping to define the story we want to tell.

Onwards with the story writing. Paul and I hope to come out the end of this with a really awesome script that we all want to see on the screen. More as it comes…