During the fourth quarter of 2014, Owner and Chief Creative Officer of HMPE Productions, Todd Fisher, asked me if I’d be interested in becoming a Department Head of Development and Scripts for his new motion picture endeavors. I responded with great interest. He flew me out to California to discuss the opportunity. Throughout the remainder of 2014 we jammed together on one of the two projects first in his docket. We worked together in person at his ranch/studio in California and then via Skype once I returned to my own writing studio in Maine. The first draft was completed just before Christmas and we’ve since shelved it to cool (and help us recapture fresh objectivity) and moved onto what was at first supposed to be a polish of an existing script needing adaptation to a new location. However, after reviewing the second script and doing a live read over Skype – we decided the rewrite would be much more extensive than first imagined. I was flown out to the ranch/studio where I’ve been since early January. After several discussions and scouting of several possible locations, I was left alone to draft an entire rewrite. I’ve always called this part of the process, “going into the tunnel.” As it happens, the desk I placed my laptop on was an antique. It was Greta Garbo’s personal writing desk and likely worth a pretty penny. Over the course of the next many days I labored alone to make the new story ideas and new locations work. There are many decisions required during this time and often requires my pacing back and forth for hours just thinking. This is then followed by sitting for hours typing. Eventually, (in this case – two weeks), a draft is completed and the next part of the process begins. The next part is a very fun part and I will share that with you, along with pictures, in the next installment. See you then!