Do you have children? If you do, have you experienced the hell which is their first day at school yet? Anyone who has will know exactly what I'm talking about. With your stomach churning you drop your innocent and unsuspecting little offspring off in their new and unfamiliar classroom with their equally new and unfamiliar teacher and you walk away. No matter what your kid is doing - screaming, crying, laughing, singing, fighting, hanging onto your legs and pleading with you not to go - you have to turn your back and walk away. It's damn hard but you have to do it.
So what's that got to do with the AUTUMN movie?
For a long, long time Infected Books was just me working alone and I took responsibility for everything. I guess I'm a control freak - I generally have a pretty firm idea of how I want things to turn out and I'll do all that I can to make it happen. After working alone for many years, when Renegade Motion Pictures contacted me and acquired the film rights to the book, I had to get used to the idea that AUTUMN wasn't going to be just my baby anymore, and that other people were going to take care of it. When I signed the paperwork and handed it over, I felt just like I had done when I'd dropped my children off on their first day of school. I didn't want to let go but I knew that I had to. I needed to have faith and butt out!
Over the months I kept in regular contact with Renegade, but I didn't get too involved. I handed over my draft of the screenplay and turned my attention to some of the other projects I've been working on. Every so often something would come my way which would grab my attention and ramp up my excitement and curiosity - movie posters, teaser videos, cast announcements, early footage - but I resisted the temptation to stick my nose in too much and I kept my head down. In December, however, came the moment I'd been waiting for... the chance to fly to Canada and visit the set and see how my 'baby' was getting on and growing up.
So how was it? Was it worth the trip? Christ, yes! AUTUMN is shaping up nicely. And now that the film is in the can and post-production is in progress, it's finally time for the readers of the AUTUMN books to get a first proper glimpse at the AUTUMN movie.
