So right now, as of writing this, there are nine drafts of the Sikh script. I think it's safe to say that both Axe and I hate them all.

That's wrong. I was wrong there. We don't hate them all. Just most of them.

When we originally started Sikh, it was in desperation. We had been tapped by the guys at Perfect Pictures to write them a horror short. They had been working on Dead Walkers, and they wanted to explore that same market. Well hell, Axe and I can write a horror short no problem, right?

Christ No.

The first script we started on was about an evil beer company, transforming people in murderous lunatics. For the first month we thought it was brilliant. We threw out about five drafts of the script, coming up with new ways to twist it. And then we hit the brick wall. I would say every writer has found that wall at one time or another on a project.

It's the place where we couldn't find any logical reason for the events of the story to end. We come up with all sorts of jokes, interesting twists, and what not, but when we came to the climax of the story, there was nothing. The only event we had was a sensationalist moment, irreverent to the theme and narrative, with nothing better than a tenth grade lesbian joke. We were completely screwed.

We come across walls all the time, and the quality of the piece is usually determined by how high that wall is, and how well we hurdle it, but with that first short, we had nothing. No escape, no reason, no logic. Full Boned.

So in an act of desperation we found Sikh. And the idea just clicked on in our minds. There are so many stories about the existential vaccum, but they deal with characters that are so Vanilla, most of us have a hard time feeling anything about them. They're cardboard cutouts that can't be related to, because their problems are so petty, or so detached, the audience is only really watching because nothing else is on.

Sikh was different.

Stay tuned, and you'll see why.

The first time we talked about the story for Cops 4 Kids, it wasn't like any of our normal story meetings.

Usually Axe will have an idea, and then he'll message me about it. A cold feeling of dread will suffuse my body; like the knowledge that death is closing quickly. Kind of like being attacked by a Lion, or really pissed off Emu. Anyway... I was at work, doing my day job (IT Peon), and Axe told me about the project.

At first it wasn't even something that WE as an entity would be working on. Axe was doing it solo, as part of his client work. However, they eventually decided to hire Axe to write a new script, and he decided to bring yours truly in. A wise decision.

Normally we have more than a few meetings in which we try to "Break" the story; work out the tentpole concepts and story points. This process is both gratifying, and terribly painful. Breaking story is so great, but the process can be akin to a torture session with the National Algerian Army. But this time round, Axe already had an idea, since the Police officer we were liasing with had a specific series of incidents that he wanted portrayed.

All that remained for Axe and I to work out was the way in which the three separate characters would entwine. It was an interesting process, since we didn't need to stretch to find the nature of our characters. It's always fun to find that perfect expression of a person, but sometimes it's nice to know a story already has teeth, and all that remains for the writer, is to coax out the highlights, and make them live on the page.