Projects Update

After wrapping Nine is Mine, I've been asked by a lot of you some of the same questions. To save time so we can have a drink later together:

1. What's next for Ross Pruden?
2. What's up with the Ghoti trailer?
3. What's up with Safe Harbors?
4. Why haven't you been blogging recently?
5. When you film your next project, can I have a cameo?
6. Why aren't you getting back to me? Are you trapped under something heavy?
7. What sign are you?
8. Do you sign?
9. That's a stop sign.
10. I liked Signs. Did you?

Here are my long-winded answers:

1. What's next for Ross Pruden? + 2. What's up with the Ghoti trailer? + 3. What's up with Safe Harbors? + 4. Why haven't you been blogging recently?

I'm juggling a lot of Chinese plates now. It's hard to keep up, as I tend to overcommit at times:

a. I've got to finish storyboarding the FX sequences for the Ghoti (pronounced like "fish"; if you say it like "goatee" or "Giotii", I have ears like a wolverine and will come to bitchslap you. Well, I don't know if wolverines have great hearing, but they're cool-sounding mammals so they deserve to have great hearing, so if they did have great hearing, I would hear like them and would come to bitchslap you) trailer. This is the last major bit of post-production left, so after we finish these FX, we can edit it and move on to shopping it around for mon-ay.

b. Burn the Ghoti trailer footage onto DVD so it can be edited by my new guy in L.A.

c. Finish writing the treatment for Fool's Gold, the 600K feature I'll slated to write and direct (not my own story, but I'm adapting the screenplay)

d. Flesh out the storyline for Arousal, my feature film about an ebola-type virus infecting campers.

e. Flesh out the epic storyline for Safe Harbors, my 90% CGI feature film. This is the Kahuna I get asked about the most often, and with good reason because I won't fucking stop talking about it. I'm a firm believer in a great story being at the center of any project I'm involved in, because no amount of bells and whistles on a piece of shit will keep it from stinking up. Right now, Safe Harbors's story development is percolating nicely. I've resolved a large number of story quagmires, and can finally see how it could make for a great movie and/or TV pilot. The cast of characters is growing (and I'd be lying if I said I weren't already mentally casting roles as I meet more and more talented actors), the backstory is becoming more layered, the internal plot inconsistencies are getting resolved, the scene settings are designed to be on a massive scale... all in all, it's measuring up to be as epic as Lost. I don't estimate actually writing a detailed treatment until this summer or fall, but—given the amount of time I think about it during the day, thinking up new plot points and possible character storylines—the project is very high on my list of active projects. When its story is near complete, you'll be hearing a lot more about Safe Harbors. I will tell you right now that Safe Harbors is almost definitely not what it's going to be called.

f. Write the feature-length script for Ghoti. I blame Max. First he wanted it bulked up from 21 pages to 45 pages, now he wants 90. Sheesh... producers! Just kidding, Max—the feature-length script will be gravy. Wait and see.

g. Two more film projects coming up in June and July, maybe even three or four; details TBA.

So, obviously, lots goin' on. I may not be blogging for quite some time. At least, not as regularly as I would like.


5. When you film your next project, can I have a cameo?
I'll certainly try to give you cameos whenever possible! Keep asking me!

6. Why aren't you getting back to me? Are you trapped under something heavy?
That's two questions. Part A: See my answers for 1–4. Part B: No.

7. What sign are you?
Feces, the sign of the skunk. No, just kidding. Leo. On the cusp.

8. Do you sign?
No.

9. That's a stop sign.
Um, okay... that's not a question, but whatever.

10. I liked Signs. Did you?
I loved Signs, and all things Shyamalan. (Yes, that does include Unbreakable.)