Growing Pains, Good Problems, and What Comes Next
EXILED Production Update —
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to storyboard sequences for EXILED and, honestly, fighting myself a little in the process.
One of the strange things about filmmaking is realizing how many different disciplines collide into one medium. Writing the screenplay is one thing. Translating those images from your head onto paper in a way that actually communicates the tone, framing, and movement you’re imagining is another entirely.
Right now, I’m not fully satisfied with my own drawing ability, and I’ve caught myself getting frustrated trying to bridge the gap between what I see in my mind and what I can physically put onto the page. But that’s part of this process too — learning, adapting, improving, and continuing forward even when things aren’t perfect yet.
At the same time, a few planned location walkthroughs and preliminary footage shoots have had to shift slightly due to repairs and remodeling happening at some of the sites we’ll be using. It’s not ideal, but it’s also the reality of independent filmmaking. You adjust, pivot, and keep moving.
What’s been surreal through all of this is realizing how much bigger this project has become than I ever expected.
When I first wrote EXILED, I genuinely thought I’d be begging people to participate in a tiny independent horror film being made in rural Indiana. I expected resistance. Disinterest. Skepticism.
Instead, the opposite has happened.
Actors have reached out from multiple states. Theater owners, composers, artists, promoters, and filmmakers have offered conversations, support, guidance, and collaboration. The interest surrounding this project has far exceeded anything I initially imagined, and with that comes something I take very seriously:
Responsibility.
If people are going to invest their time, energy, trust, creativity, and money into this film, then I owe it to them to make the strongest possible version of it.
That mindset is a large part of why I’m preparing to launch a crowdfunding campaign in the coming weeks.
I’m already heavily investing my own money into EXILED, and I will continue to do so, but I want to push this film beyond bare minimum survival mode. I want to properly support:
- production quality
- practical effects
- sound and score
- festival submissions
- marketing
- and the theatrical tour run I’m actively planning for after completion
I don’t want this film to quietly appear online one day and disappear into the void. I want it to live in theaters. I want audiences to experience it together in a dark room. I want conversations afterward. Reactions. Debate. Discomfort.
That’s the kind of horror film I believe in.
There’s still a massive amount of work ahead, but every week this project becomes more real.
And honestly… that’s both exciting and terrifying.
More soon.