"You’re going to shoot a period piece for your first indie-feature?"
"You’re doing an action-comedy?"
"You have less than $5000?"
"You’re out of your mind."

Well, yes, probably. Anyone who pursues making independent film is clearly crazy. But as for the other stuff—maybe.

But we did it.

It wasn’t like we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. The trio of action/horror thrillers we’d shot before had gotten progressively longer and more complicated. But there were a couple of different factors that pointed me, as the writer/director, to choose to write the script that started life under the regrettable title of Rapier Wits. (The current title was chosen just before we started shooting. It may still change.)

The first consideration was a love for the genre. I’ve been known to excuse a good number of foolish actions by blaming an early exposure to the works of Shakespeare and too many Errol Flynn movies. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. And while the rich, tattered authenticity of wonderful films like Lester’s The 3&4 Musketeers or Rob Roy were clearly out of our budget’s reach, the lighthearted rollicking fun of At Sword’s Point or The Princess Bride seemed within our stylized reach. Besides, making such a film was a lifelong dream for me. Never under-estimate the power of a dream to drive something into being.

The second consideration was inspired by the words of Robert Rodriguez, who extols young filmmakers to look around and see what they have around them and make a movie about that.

Sword & Cloak Prod. began it’s life with the production of a period play—The Phantom Lady, and it’s founders and many of the fine folks we’ve worked with have shared countless Summers working at The Bristol Renaissance Faire, as well as other environmental theatre events, and whole lots of stage combat with organizations like The Society of American Fight Directors. Consequently, looking around us, I found we could get access to costumes, swords and other props (including a trio of small cannon!), as well as a wealth of extremely talented actor-friends for whom stage combat and comedy were their bread and butter. Add to those a beautiful Tudor mansion (thanks to the Stronghold Retreat Center), some rugged outdoor locations (with a little looking), and some streets, stages and buildings designed to look like a 16^th century village (as long as you didn’t point the camera at one of Bristol’s many beer signs.) and we had the perfect back-drop.

Lastly, we wanted to do something fun and different. The world of indie-films is filled with dark, gritty films. Movies shot in people’s apartments, coffee shops, alleys or somewhere in a rural backwater. Looking to strike out in edgy directions to distinguish oneself, the films frequently mine the shadows of the human psyche—finding rich material in violence, sex, or the forbidden. Don’t mistake my point here—I’m very glad such films are made. Indie-films have the freedom to explore places no studio would ever poke it’s nose into. We certainly trod those lanes in our earlier horror-thrillers, and I’m sure we’ll journey there again. But in entering into this project, there was a welcome feeling among the cast that we were making something light-hearted, broadly entertaining, and most of all fun—both to make and to watch. We wanted to add something positive to the world, something that could be enjoyable for ourselves, and for our nieces, nephews and grandparents. It proved to be a strongly appealing idea that attracted lots of very talented people and energy to the project—including the 80-some extras whose every contribution added to making the project just that much better.

The first draft flew out of the computer in a matter of two months. Over the next year three more drafts evolved. I’m the first to admit that when it comes to re-writing I truly and deeply suck at it. Fortunately I had the help and feedback of many friends and loved ones. (Special thanks to Liz, Brenda, and Ron!) I’ve written any number of scripts, produced and otherwise. This one proved to contain a number of special challenges.

First was the genre—the swashbuckler, long a staple in golden-age Hollywood, hasn’t garnered a great deal of critical respect—unlike the Western, Film Noir or the Horror movie there are maybe two or three books written about it’s particular form and structures. (The curious should seek out Swordsmen of the Screen by Jeffrey Richards for a detailed discussion of these.) It appears to me that the failure of many of Hollywood’s recent attempts in the genre has largely been due to a failure to understand those structures and audience expectations. Clearly we didn’t want to make the same mistakes. It was important to play within the boundaries of the genre while still finding twists or new elements to make it fresh for ourselves and the audience.

Second was the tone. It needed to be light-hearted and energetic but not dissolve into farce. We wanted to be playful, but have the humor be character-driven. The Princess Bride, not Hercules. It also needed to have dramatic strength. Characters with depth and an emotional history so the audience would care about them. Conflicts on several levels so that the action and the confrontations would carry some weight. Finding the right balance of the two was critical.

Last, but hardly least was the language. It was a period piece. The dialogue couldn’t sound contemporary. At the same time the iambic pentameter of Shakespeare’s plays (which I deeply love) might carry it out of the reach of younger viewers, and the heightened language seemed out of place with the lighter tone. Of course having actors who are comfortable with the language is absolutely essential—and we would be blessed with a wonderful cast that way. The first draft was heavy with period terms and sentence structure. The following drafts toned it down, but I think enough remained to keep the feeling of another time, without being stilted or hard to follow.

In the end it was something of a balancing act. Successful? We shall see. But the shooting script generated a great deal of excitement among the cast, crew, and encouraging folks drawn to the project. The blueprint was done—the adventure just starting.

Next Time: Pre-Production!