Uncle Rusty:

Of all the lessons I've learned in this process, continuing to learn more about the "nuts and bolts" of storytelling has been one of the greatest!

The most interesting "discoveries" in the VACANT HOUSE writing process was the development of the character, Uncle Rusty.

When I talk about Rusty, I usually describe the experience of discovering him to the way in which astronomers discover new planets and black holes. An astronomer can look to the sky, and JUST by observing HOW other planets and celestial entities interact with each other, they can deduce that SOMETHING ELSE is out there. They can discover a planet before they even SEE IT just by how everything in neighboring space is reacting.

That is how I discovered Uncle Rusty.

From the very beginning I think I (and my characters) were aware that Uncle Rusty was in our story; I just hadn't discovered him yet. There was a force in the script... something that was compelling my characters to react the way they were reacting, and slowly, over time, Uncle Rusty was DISCOVERED just like a distant planet in our solar system.

In an early version of the treatment, dated 2007, the character of Uncle Rusty was a nameless individual only mentioned once in a line of dialogue.

At that point, I had no idea that this "off-hand" character was going to grow into one of the most important characters in the whole story! In fact, I can go as far as to say that Uncle Rusty is the WHOLE REASON the story of Vacant House even happens.

After Cris took an initial read of the treatment, he too gravitated to this nameless character. He wanted to know more. And from his own experience as a writer and an actor, he knew this character was important. Just for the purpose of discussing the character, we quickly gave him the name "Rusty" and the name stuck.

Without divulging too much of the story here, Uncle Rusty became the catalyst that the whole story was lacking. He became the REASON Cameron does all of the things he does. In fact, in retrospect, I'm not even sure how the story worked without him.

So the character of Uncle Rusty was born.

But, Rusty's development into a full-blown character wasn't over.

He now had a name, and his roll in the story was made more prominent, but Uncle Rusty was still just a character mentioned in dialogue. We never saw Rusty; we just new he existed.

And so we started shooting the film. (The entire process of writing this script and shooting the film, I will save for future posts - it was unconventional to say the least!)

We shot the first summer and knocked out about 60% of the film. We returned the next summer and shot (what I thought at the time was) the remaining 40% of the film. We were fluid in our storytelling, and the script developed as we shot.

After that second shoot I cut all of my footage together and realized...

...we still don't have a film.

Over the course of these two summers, Rusty had grown into such a prominent character, motivating and influencing Cameron, our main character, that the next step in the script writing/filmmaking process seemed obvious.

We need to SEE Uncle Rusty. And so, with the vast majority of the film already shot, I added an entire new character to the story/film, I wrote new lines, cast a good friend of mine (TJ Maxwell) in the role, and we set out for shoot #3.

Uncle Rusty's scenes added a new life to the film. In fact, some of the initial feedback we received suggested that Uncle Rusty's journey in the film is the most concise and clear storyline. I was excited about the encouragement, but something STILL wasn't working.

I was so tired of my film, and the idea of shooting anything more wasn't an option at the end of the second summer. But after discussing the film's problems with TJ, it became obvious... once again... that there was STILL more to Uncle Rusty that needed to be uncovered. And so, after a few pep talks from friends, I decided ONCE AGAIN to pick up the cameras and schedule TWO MORE shoots to finish up my film.

These final two shoots will round out the character of Uncle Rusty even more. One of the main problems with that initial cut of the film was the ending. I had a specific ending in mind for the character of Uncle Rusty, but I didn't shoot it. I chickened out. I shied away from the direction Uncle Rusty's character was heading. The ending didn't resonate. The film didn't end where it needed to end. And the result was a flat, two-dimmensional ending.

So with these final two shoots, I'm delving even deeper into the character of Uncle Rusty... and hopefully giving the film the end it deserves.

Is it all going to work??? I guess that's still left to be seen.

But the process of discovering, developing, and writing the character of Uncle Rusty has been one of the greatest writing lessons I've ever experienced. LISTEN to your other characters. What are they telling you about the world they live in? Are your stories just sitting there, not moving forward? Chances are your story lacks conflict or your main character doesn't have a clearly defined goal... and in the world of storytelling, the most interesting goals and conflict come from other people. And the closer your characters are to those people, the more intense the drama will be.

Uncle Rusty is the blood line of Vacant House. He's the "thing" that keeps the story moving.

Thanks Uncle Rusty!