Apologies, one and all, for the lack of updates. Looking at these pages, you'd think, based on my previous post, that I was so upset about Roman Polanski's arrest in Switzerland, that I went into hiding. Far from it. I am alive and well (despite roaming clouds of H1N1 paranoia) in North Bay (in chilly Northern Ontario, Canada) helping out where I can on the low budget production "Dark Rising 2".

Written and directed (and starring and shot and to be edited by) the spookily talented Andrew Cymek (@andrewcymek) and produced by (and starring) the wonderfully quirky Brigitte Kingsley (@beekingsley), who I worked with many years ago "back-in-the-day" when I was doing wacky TV stuff. It's the sequel to Cymek/Kingsley's first feature (with an even lower budget) "Dark Rising", a horror-comedy in the same vein as "Evil Dead" and "Army of Darkness".

Andrew Cymek and Brigitte Kingsley behind the scenes [photo by Bob Mallen]

Halfway through the shoot right now and I am having a blast. I'd forgotten how much fun really low budget filmmaking can be. Added to this is the fact that "Dark Rising 2" is actually shooting in the same town I was born and grew up in. Yes, all those terrific nostalgic stories I've told here over the years happened right in this place. Turns out most of the crew attended York University Film School, a few years after me, so, yeah, nostalgia all around.

The film will be shooting for another couple of action-packed weeks or so, then (almost literally the day after wrap), work starts on the first five episodes of the "Dark Rising" TV series (!!), which Cymek is writing as he shoots this. It will bridge the stories of the characters between the first film and the second. I honestly don't know where this guy gets the energy. Actually, that's not true, I have the same energy myself, unfortunately, I usually end up running in circles rather than forward as Cymek does.

Inspired by all this creativity, I'm currently spending what spare time I have on a couple of screenplays (yes, at the same time, I'm completely insane). The first is the same one that I've been going on and on about for the last year (the one that started it's life as the experiment I called the One-Week Screenplay). I managed to get some pretty good notes from Cymek and Kingsley on my second draft, and started re-thinking the thing. Rather than continuing with the same material or starting from scratch, I decided to clear the slate a little bit and am crafting this thing as a sequel to my previous script (which at least fools me into thinking that all the work that went into the last one isn't just ending up in the bin). Hey, what can I say? It's original, isn't it? When's the last time you heard of someone writing a sequel to a screenplay that's been voluntarily shelved?

The second is a cute, nostalgic period piece where many people are brutally murdered. It's a love story. Yes, I'm charming.

Anyway, as long as the coffee supply holds up, you can count on more shoot-related posts, pics, videos and info, so stay tuned. Or, follow me on Twitter (@zombiespirit) for up-to-the-minute stuff.