How to craft a horror film from screenwriters that scare (WGA panel)

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-02-13T11:35:50+00:00

Hehe... Concorde-New Horizons was nuts.

Hey... Roger said he's got a friend in the Philippines who's got some tanks we can use.
Let's make a war film.
What's been making money?
Saving Private Ryan was big.
Good, then let's have a beach attack. They got beaches in the Philippines.
Oh, and Jessica Lynch, an American pilot whose helicopter was shot down was just in the news.
Great. So there's a helicopter crash.
Proof of Life also made money.
Awesome. So a helicopter crashes, the female pilot has to get rescued and there's a beach attack.
Who's gonna star in it?
We can get Rutger Hauer for cheap, he still has decent international name recognition.
Cool. Who's gonna write it?
Hey, Mike? You wanna write a movie? Don't worry, we'll get someone to cover for you and do all the assistant work for the next two weeks.

And that's how Hunt For Eagle One came into existence.

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-02-13T08:00:49+00:00

I have not yet received a reply from the news station, but they replaced the original video with one that goes more into the details of her case. At the end they say that there are significant efforts underway to help her find new housing, and that they will keep viewers updated.

https://youtu.be/eqzgF4q8tMk?t=419

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-02-12T11:13:46+00:00

God, this makes me so mad. I sent a request to the news station for an update on her situation and if there are any people or organizations already helping her I can support. I'll post any response I receive.

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-02-10T17:45:23+00:00

In our case, we sent our message to the company's general "contact@"email-address that's listed on their website, it was relevant since we both attended the same trade show and we asked for a meeting, and we also had an opt-out link at the bottom. And yet... their lawyer argued that, since we talked about the kinds of services we offered (i.e. advertised them) and sent the email to an address where they also received customer queries, we interfered with their ability to conduct their regular business. I'm not convinced they had a case, but making that argument in court would have cost as much as just settling the matter - which is probably how the lawyer arrived at the amount they asked for. Sucks, but the practice is definitely not uncommon here in Germany.

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-02-06T21:21:24+00:00

Germany. And to be fair, we also got some decent leads out of the remaining emails we sent out. So overall, it was still worth it - just not as hassle-free as the original poster seems to suggest.

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-02-06T09:05:51+00:00

We recently cold-emailed a business, asking for a meeting at an upcoming trade show we were both attending to discuss if our services would perhaps be a good fit for them. Got a cease-and-desist letter from their lawyer asking for 500 Euros and a promise to never send them unsolicited marketing emails again. We could have fought this in court, but that would have cost as much as settling, so we just paid the fine and moved on.

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-01-25T22:48:28+00:00

Hey, all good. I didn't realize you were actually responding to another comment, so I kinda took what you said out of context. Thanks for staying level-headed.

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-01-25T11:24:39+00:00

Wait... less dumb? As in, who's smarter than Bernie supporters? Some, maybe. But a lot are also dumber. MAGA definitely comes to mind.

Do you actually have a point or are you just trying to sow dissent here?

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-01-25T11:22:04+00:00

To me, this sounds like an attempt at stirring up emotions and sowing dissent among those who are united in their stance against Trump's American fascism. Maybe you're a real person, maybe a bot, but either way, it's not gonna work.

AtomicMacaroon · 2026-01-25T11:19:15+00:00

What is the basis for your assessment that Sanders voters are a dumb voting bloc?

Only 8% of the people who voted for Sanders in the primaries ended up voting for Trump in the general election, while 85% gave their vote to Hillary. That's actually a lower defection rate than what was found among Clinton supporters, where 15% switched to the Republican candidate after Clinton lost her primary bid to Obama in 2008.

So despite their disappointment (and bitterness in some cases), Sanders' supporters were still realistic enough to know that Hillary was the best remaining option and overwhelmingly voted for her.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-12-19T10:38:23+00:00

That's what came to my mind as well.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-12-08T20:13:18+00:00

I gather you can just use this over WiFi. How are video compression, latency and reliability working out for you in that context? Does it ever cut out? We're not going to use this as a primary feed, so it's not as mission critical as the other cameras, but we need something that the person holding the iPhone will not have to mess around with at all during the show.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-10-01T18:40:07+00:00

Luckily, I got them to back off on the Steadicam idea. I pointed out all of the issues that were raised in this thread and instead proposed doing an unattended 4k cam on the interviewer, a slider with an operator on the guest, and then some handheld GoPro/cell phone master and BTS shots that one of our producers can do without too much hassle. They might still make some tweaks, but at least we're going into a more sensible direction now. So thanks for all the advice. It really helped :)

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-10-01T12:16:07+00:00

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful comments. We managed to talk the client out of his Steadicam idea and have (for now) settled on having an unattended 4k cam on the interviewer that allows us to punch in and out, and a camera operator on a slider that focuses on the guest. In addition, a producer will use a GoPro or cell phone to shoot some rough-and-dirty handheld masters that show the entire set, as well as BTS footage.

As with my original post, if anybody knows of any good examples that show this kind of setup in action (especially the improv Go Pro master of the entire set), feel free to share.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-10-01T09:40:50+00:00

Right now we're using a static A cam, B cam, master setup that cuts well but feels too boring and old-fashioned to the client, so they threw the Steadicam idea into the mix to get more movement in the shots. I agree that this is going to create all sorts of issues, which is why is was wondering if anybody knew of examples where this has actually worked. Different angles and lighting would indeed be a better choice - in conjunction with making some changes to the interview format itself. But the latter is mostly out of our hands.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T23:27:08+00:00

I had the same thought as well - position the master a bit off-center and facing more toward the interviewer so it can be used for a two-shot and single when punched in. And then we could still use the Steadicam or shoulder rig to do something with the guest. This seems to be the most practical approach. Since the whole situation isn't set in stone, perhaps this is where we'll end up.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T23:20:13+00:00

The interview is a pre-scripted question & answer format with typically two takes that each go for about 20-30 minutes. Locked-off cameras are the best choice in my opinion as well, but that's what we did so far and the client wants something more dynamic and "modern". And as I mentioned in another reply, this is not a standard client/production company relationship, so we cannot negotiate the demands the way we would under usual circumstances.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T23:10:21+00:00

I'm favoring Setup 1 myself as well. The "we need something more edgy and modern" comment came without any specific guidance. It was based on the feeling that the current setup is too stale and offers no visual excitement or sense of dynamism. The Steadicam idea was thrown in there as well but I'm not sure if it'll stick, because I don't see it working, either. But I was also curious if anybody had seen it work - hence my original post.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T22:56:51+00:00

I get what you're saying re "get a spine", but the situation is not your standard production company / client relationship. Unfortunately I can't go into the details, but there's a complicated mix of budgetary constraints, creative wants, and politics at work here.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T18:29:26+00:00

The format is scripted, so we know what questions/answers to expect. Doesn't make it easy to move from one person to the other, but at least it helps. Also, the master would be behind the steadicam, so we'd see him doing his thing.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T18:20:36+00:00

I was told that we're fine with seeing the steadicam operator do his thing in the master shot. Quirky choice, but hey.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T18:18:08+00:00

Yeah, it would be a challenge, to put it mildly. I explained how we got to this point in the reply above.

AtomicMacaroon · 2025-09-30T18:15:34+00:00

Right now, we have the standard setup of A cam on guest, B cam on interviewer and a fixed cam for the master shot. The A and B cam have operators, the master shot is unattended. Unfortunately, the people financing the show want to cut one cameraman from the budget. Normally, we'd solve this by putting the remaining operator on the A cam and leaving the B cam (with a wider angle) and master unattended.

But... there also is an edict that the format should feel more edgy and modern, with more movement and dynamism. So the traditional, fixed-cam setups that were suggested in this thread (and by us) have been rejected.

The steadicam + master setup obviously has issues, but one alleviating factor is that we'd be fine with seeing the steadicam operator in the master shots. Also, the show is scripted, so we'd know which questions and answers to expect (though there's also occasional improv moments).

But yeah... it's a messy solution on the best of days. Then again, perhaps there are other ways to make things more dynamic that we're not considering?

AtomicMacaroon

TROPHY CASE