I Wrote A Pickle
My wife and I, channeling our über geekdom, have been watching The X-Files TV show from start to finish leading up to the return of the show this coming January. We’re currently on Season 4, Episode 11 “El Mundo Gira” or the Chupacabra episode as some of you may know. With all due respect to Star Wars: Episode VII, The X-Files return is my most anticipated moment in the coming months.
Most people I talk to already know this. And it came up about a short I had written many years ago called A Pickle. It’s the first thing I’ve written that was optioned by someone else to direct, which of course was uncharted territory for me. But I’m happy to just be the writer sometimes. In fact, most of the time. Being in the director’s chair has allowed me to appreciate just what it takes to transform the written word into moving images on screen.
Here are the details. Karen Nielsen of Blue Finn Productions optioned the script and was the director on the short. The movie was shot in Canada, I believe around the Vancouver area. It went on to be an official selection in 14 film festivals across the country and it won a few festival awards. Not bad, right? I’m completely taking zero credit for any of that. I mean, yes, I wrote the script, but the short could’ve just as easily been disastrous with the same pages and a different crew. It takes a talented village to tell a good story and Karen and her crew did that.
Why bring up The X-Files? Well, look at the poster. You’re looking at Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) as one of the actors in the short. Pretty cool. This isn’t me being an unprofessional douche. It’s me taking a step back and enjoying the fact that an actor that’s part of one my favorite all-time shows on television is also in a short, saying dialogue that I wrote. It’s just something I think is pretty cool.
Thought I’d share.
Check out the trailer below: