![]() ![]() I finished the movie without any nightmarish descent into Watcher-style darkness, content with the hope that all of the tension found its way on screen. Fortunately, life didn’t fully imitate art. There were of course natural (sometimes uncomfortable) parallels shooting the movie on location in Romania: unable to speak the language, oftentimes sequestered in a hotel room amidst the raging pandemic, and occasionally fighting against the doubt that surrounds you as a woman working in a male dominated profession. She finds herself increasingly isolated- largely unable to speak the language and therefore alienated from everyone around her. This was one of those times.Suddenly, Julia’s experience as a foreigner in this new city heightens all her other feelings of unease and uncertainty. Initially, the script was set in New York City, but when it became clear that we would be shooting the movie in Romania, I decided to rewrite it to take place in Bucharest.There are times as a filmmaker where practical limitations end up being creatively very freeing- unlocking something great when you’re willing to embrace the unexpected. This has always been at the core of a story that in other ways has evolved greatly since I was first hired to direct it in 2017. We experience the world in a different way than men and then when we try to express that experience, we’re often doubted- written off as paranoid, irrational, or overly sensitive… which in turn can make us begin to doubt ourselves. It’s a situation that’s probably quite familiar to most women. She feels it very clearly- even if it’s difficult to articulate the extent of that threat to the people around her. She recognizes that the Watcher is a threat. Julia moves into this apartment building with her husband and quickly begins to believe she is being watched. Soon after, while alone at a local movie theater, Julia’s sense of being watched intensifies, and she becomes certain she’s being followed - could it be the same unknown neighbor? Meanwhile, a serial killer known as The Spider stalks the city.Below is the story of making The Watcher from Chloe's POV.In making “Watcher,” I wanted to capture a kind of constant, uncomfortable dread that accompanies many women throughout their lives- one that is expressed through the character of Julia. One night, people-watching from her picture window, she spots a vague figure in an adjacent building, who seems to be looking back at her. Having recently abandoned her acting career, she finds herself frequently alone and unoccupied. She's the director of this year's Sundance feature film Watcher.Julia joins her husband when he relocates to his family’s native Romania for a new job. Shaffner Fellow Award, and directed the award-winning horror short film SLUT.Her recent work includes writing a remake of “Audrey Rose” for Orion Pictures and writing and directing a segment of the anthology series V/H/S/94. I’m at on the show we have writer/director Chloe Okuno.Chloe is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a masters degree from the American Film Institute Conservatory. Examples of successful TV series bibles on Carol Kirschner’s website.John has also won three Australian Writers’ Guild Awards (AWGIES) and been nominated seven times.Ġ:51 | Why I’m making a kids’ TV show in Australia Most recently he was the script producer and writer for the Netflix animated series Beat Bugs (featuring the music of The Beatles) which won the 2017 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in Preschool Animation, and the 2016 AACTA Award for Best Children’s Series. John Armstrong is a screenwriter, script editor and script producer with over 20 years’ experience in creating television for younger audiences. We also discuss the US showrunner model of creating shows versus Australia’s producer-created model and how that informs how TV pitch/series bibles are compiled. In this episode we discuss what goes into different story bibles from the pitch ones used to sell a television show, to the more detailed series or writers’ bible used to help writers before and during production. We first met at a screenwriters’ pitch event in Sydney in 2017 and have since co-created a teen drama series which is in early stage development. My first guest in Season 2 of the podcast is screenwriter, script producer and script editor John Armstrong. ![]() ![]() ‘You’re selling the sizzle, not the steak.” - John Armstrong
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |