A blocked writer, a creepy fan, and a script that might be a confession. What could go wrong?
Having missed several deadlines, and with the studio's attorneys hassling him, screenwriter Elliot Callahan (Tom Gilroy) takes the advice of his agent and rents a beachside house on the island Nantucket to find the peace and quiet he needs to get the creative juices flowing. There he meets the seriously intense Henry Carver (Matthew Dixon), who's written a screenplay he wants Callahan to read. Before long, Callahan suspects that Henry might be a serial killer writing about himself and that his screenplay is worth plagiarizing.
Writing
Script-within-a-script gimmick that actually commits.
Acting
Matthew Dixon's unhinged fanboy energy carries the whole thing.
Director
John Johnson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director John Johnson reportedly financed this through credit cards after studios passed on his 'writer's block thriller' pitch for being 'too inside baseball.'
This was part of a weird 90s micro-genre of 'screenwriter in peril' films that peaked with Swimming with Sharks—apparently Hollywood loves watching itself suffer.
US
