Frustrated with the Hollywood rigmarole, Chris Bancel set out to produce a script without going through the regular channels. A former theatrical director and producer from New York, he recently discovered a comedy/horror script, CURSE OF THE BOG WOMEN, online. The script is now in pre-production and will be shot in the Scottish Highlands. The screenwriter, Barry Hutchison, was a 17 year-old student at Aberdeen College when he wrote it.

Glatzer: What sparked your interest in film and theater?

Bancel: I guess it all started in kindergarten. Our entire class was going to put on a play called "The Littlest Christmas Tree." I really wanted a "big big" part and did my very best in try-outs ­ but, alas, was only allowed to be a tree - one of many trees, actually. My entire role consisted of being chopped down. Even at age five, I knew something of method acting, so when my turn came to fall neatly on a wagon pulled by little Jimmy G. and Holly, I felt it would be much more realistic if I fell and rolled off the stage into the orchestra pit. I did. The play stopped dead, all were incredibly embarrassed, and I was pretty much banned from participation in any future thespian activities.

My father, God bless him, came to the rescue and started an "acting troupe" made up of the rest of the kids in our little neighborhood and myself. We named ourselves after the town dump that happened to be across the street and provided us with an endless source of good, but fairly used, props. We went on to perform two "big big" shows a summer, presenting the classics from staged versions of Robert W. Service's "The Shooting of Dan MacGrew" to Shakespeare's "The Tempest," "The Taming of the Shrew," and many more. From our own "garage summer stock," I went on to direct and produce plays in high school. At the time (11th grade,) the school drama teacher became ill and was unable to continue. Somehow, I managed to convince the authorities to let me take over. Between 11th and 12th grade, I produced and directed eight shows.

Glatzer: Did you go to film school then?

Bancel: I went on to Hampshire College, fully expecting to study film. When I went to sign up for classes that first incredibly crowded day, it seemed to be everyone else's idea too. So, quickly realizing that the school (at that point) only had two rather old Ariflex's and that my time with them would be severely limited, I chose to continue directing and producing theater. It seemed to me that I would get a lot more time to develop the craft of directing and have a far greater opportunity to work with actors-- which I did. By the time I graduated, I managed to direct/produce another sixteen plays.

From Hampshire, I went on to win a directing internship at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN. I worked there for a year, then my father took ill and I came home. He died a few years later. After that, I enrolled in the American Film Institute's screenwriting program. I'd directed and produced so many other people's stuff, and I decided it was time to direct and produce my own work.

Glatzer: Why did you decide to get into producing?

Bancel: Someone's gotta do it. But seriously, I'd had a taste of producing, raising money, budgeting etc., before, so it didn't seem entirely foreign to me. Besides, I'd sent out my share of query letters and had cold called prod-co's till my fingers bled. I finally realized that if I took all the time I'd spent trying to get other producers interested in my work (or even someone else's, for that matter) and focused it on getting a project done myself, I might actually be able to pull it off. And here I'll say these important words: The advantage of naiveté is greater daring. Producing is very, very hard work, and much of the time, quite thankless, too.

Glatzer: How did you find the CURSE OF THE BOG WOMEN script?

Bancel: I joined Coppola's American Zoetrope screenwriting site a few months after it opened. I actually did this to get some feedback on an adaptation of Kafka's "The Castle" that I had planned to raise the money for and produce. At that point, I had a fairly well-known director (Ivan Passer) interested in the project, but raising money for a piece like that was very difficult. Most of the private investors I talked to wanted something "fun" to do with their money rather than "important" or "artsy." So, I started reading a lot of other scripts. One night, after finishing about 50 scripts and really understanding just what a professional reader has to go through, I decided I'd read just one more.

Glatzer: What drew you to the script?

Bancel: The title. I was bleary eyed. I'd read too many scripts - but when I saw the title, I laughed out loud. I had to read it.

Glatzer: What is the script about?

Bancel: Well, in a nutshell (and this really doesn't do it justice), you could describe it as "Waking Ned Devine" meets "Creature from the Black Lagoon." A small Scottish village (with only 67 people in it) decides they're going to "get on the map." So, they plan to host a ladies international golf tournament. At the last moment, the organizers in town realize they've only got an eight hole course. The golf commission insists on a total of nine to make the tournament "official." So, at the last minute, they tear an old scarecrow out of the center of a field next to the golf course and call the field "hole nine." Of course, the scarecrow just happens to be on an ancient cross that protects the town from an equally ancient curse ­ "The Curse of the Bog Women" ­ and all hell breaks loose.

Glatzer: Did it deter you at all that the script is set in Scotland?

Bancel: Not at all. In fact, it has proven to be a big plus. I don't know about you, but I always enjoy going to a film set somewhere other than the States.

Glatzer: Rather than hiring other writers to do rewrites, you stuck with the original writer, Barry Hutchison. Why?

Bancel: Barry has a unique voice, and is a tremendously talented, hard working writer. It didn't make any sense not to let him continue on the project. We've written about a dozen drafts since the first, and will probably keep right on working until we shoot it. The story has improved tremendously and I suspect it will continue to do so as time moves on. I have found that working by e-mail and ICQ is very beneficial. It keeps the B.S. to a minimum. I've always hated group/in person - writing sessions. They go on forever and don't seem to accomplish nearly as much as this method. Barry writes, I edit and comment and send it back, he re-writes, I add my two cents and things get done. It's very linear and focused this way.

Glatzer: How did you set out to find financing for the film?

Bancel: Well, again, raising money is something I have had a bit of experience with both in the theater and business. As an example, after the Gulf War and during the terrible oil fires that the Iraqis left behind in Kuwait, a friend of mine and I designed, built and tested a device for arresting wild well fires. We got the Kuwaitis to approve its development and raised a million dollars for the project. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the fires were pretty much all out by the time we were ready to go, so we bagged it.

Anyway, the first thing I did for this project was read just about every book I could find on financing feature films. The two that were the most helpful were "43 Ways to Finance Your Feature Film" by John Cones and "Filmmakers and Financing" by Louise Levison. Besides being the woman who put together the business plan for The Blair Witch people, she's a terrific person, too. I hired her to write the business plan for my original Kafka project (this was way before anyone knew anything about BOG WOMEN) and then again to put one together for BOG WOMEN. The plan has expanded a lot since it was first written, mainly to include our website and its plans. A business plan has to be fluid. You have to be able to change it to fit needs that arise as you go along.

With a detailed business plan in hand, I formed an LLC (Bog Industries), put together a regulation D 505 limited offering, and started raising money from private investors. So far, all investment in the project and website has been through private individuals. Now, the interesting part of this is that we created a website, Glen Lachart Online, to promote the film and to have more to show investors than just a business plan. The site is taking off nicely. We will host close to 100,000 unique visitors in March, will probably double that in April, and should be breaking the million a month mark by early Fall or sooner.

Glatzer: What's on the website?

Bancel: Rather than put up a site for the film itself, we opted to try something we felt would have "legs" and set it up to look like the little West Highland Village of Glen Lachart had put up their own site. (Glen Lachart is the setting of the film.)

The site is very large at the moment - over 200 html pages ­ we've got three issues of the town paper (The Glen Lachart Star) published and will continue to publish an issue once a month. Soon, you will be able to log on live to the town bar (The Pig & Bicycle) where we plan to have three web cams set up. At the Pig, visitors will be able to chat with people in town and if they feel inclined - give the site (yes, it is a secure site) their credit card and "buy the lads a round." The home of the P&B is a real village pub at an undisclosed location in the Scottish Highlands. Everyone there is very excited about this because they all expect to drink for free for a long time to come - and they probably will.

In short, the site is a lot of fun and will start generating a profit in the next few months. Money raised on the site will go toward production.

Glatzer: What are you doing to market the film?

Bancel: Well, right now, all promotion for the film is generated by the website - and it is doing a fine job of it, too. The UK press has gotten a hold of it and run a dozen or so articles on Glen Lachart and the site and, most importantly, we've started appearing as questions in crossword puzzles in the UK. Hey you know you're on track when you're a question in a crossword puzzle - right?

Glatzer: What's the funniest thing that's come of the website?

Bancel: We get mail all the time from people asking directions to Glen Lachart, looking for relatives in Scotland, etc. Some of the best and funniest stuff on the site has come from people who have logged into the Forums and started participating in the life of the village. It's getting very hard to tell who is real and who isn't.

Glatzer: Why did you decide to wait until the film is in production or post-production to seek a distributor?

Bancel: Probably the most important negotiation in the life of an independent film is the one you strike with a distributor. A film lives and dies at the hands of a distributor. By waiting, we are taking a gamble that, once done, the project will be something someone will want to distribute. This gives us much greater control over the finished product ­ on the other hand it is a lot riskier because you may end up with something no one wants.

The website looks like it is going to be a tremendous marketing force for this film. The more people we can get to participate in the site, the stronger our position will be with potential distributors. In a way, we are pre-selling this film to an audience. Once we start hosting a million plus visitors a month, I think we will be able to make a strong case for the film.

Glatzer: What are the best and worst parts of your job?

Bancel: The best part is getting an e-mail from some one out of the blue who has enjoyed the site and has taken the time to let us know. The worst? Self-doubt. No matter how bullheaded you may be, there is always a nagging feeling lurking somewhere that you may be completely wrong about something. This never goes away, or at least won't until the film hits the streets. The deeper you get into a project like this (one that takes years to pull off), the less chance you have of backing out - the further you are from "the shore." So right now, I'd say I better just keep swimming and hope there's land ahead, because it's way too far to go back now.

Glatzer: Where will you find your crew and actors?

Bancel: We will try to use as much local (Scottish) talent as we can. The more we can bring to the local economy over there, the better off we'll be.

Glatzer: How do you determine a budget?

Bancel: Darts. Actually, for this piece it is sort of backwards. It is really a case of how much I think I can raise. The budget (including a healthy section for the website and marketing) is 4.5 million.

Glatzer: You're working with partner Anthony Santa-Croce. How did you meet up with him and decide to co-produce?

Bancel: Both Anthony and I went to AFI around the same time. Anthony has a huge amount of experience with projects in our budget range.

Glatzer: What do you expect to come of this film in terms of box office?

Bancel: Well, that's a very tough question. I know what I think - but then I'd hate to look back here and find out I was way off. Let's say this-- there is more than an excellent chance that this film at its current budget will, at the very least, make its money back. Beyond that - if the web site continues like it is, and the film is as good as I know it will be, there's no reason why it can't do as well as BLAIR WITCH or THE FULL MONTY.

Glatzer: What are your future plans in film?

Bancel: Never stop making them once this is done. Between Barry and myself and a bunch of other very talented writers I've met, we've got enough material to last a lifetime - not to mention RETURN OF THE BOG WOMEN and of course - REVENGE OF THE BOG WOMEN.

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Jenna Glatzer is a full-time freelance writer and optioned screenwriter. Her works have been published in hundreds of magazines and websites, and she runs the Absolute Write website for writers and is an original member of The Screenplayers. You can reach her at jenna@absolutewrite.com. She also suggests, quite heavily, that you visit the Glen Lachart site immediately, if not sooner.