Darkness Visible Publishing

We are pleased to announce that The Protos Experiment, by Simon Clark, will be published in paperback and on Kindle worldwide on Tuesday October 8th 2024. It’s a gripping dystopian sci-fi/horror thriller based on an Avenet-Bradley Film, scripted by Simon Clark and Brian Avenet-Bradley, and directed by Laurence and Brian Avenet-Bradley. 

Simon has written this informative introduction, describing how the project came into being:

‘How does a story become a film? '

There must be as many answers to that particular question as there are fish in the ocean. 

Though my experience of working in the movie industry is slight, I imagine that in many cases, Film and TV companies will commission drama content as part of their business. Other cases will see a famous actor making the kind of film they want to appear in. Or a director might read a novel that they fall in love with, then move heaven and earth to turn the book into a film. 

If I direct the question at me, and change the wording slightly, and ask, ‘How did your story become a film?’ I can share with you my own personal experiences that took my initial idea from my customary messily scribbled note on a piece of paper, to sitting down one day and watching the completed production. 

I’d written a short story, ‘Murder in Chains’ many years ago. It had one of those plots that continued to prod away at something in the back of my mind, as if the story wasn’t finished with me yet. Eventually, the prodding led me to realizing that the story of just seven thousand words could be the foundation for a full-length film. 

So, great. I had the idea for a film. One that would be full of twists and turns and drama. A film that would ask how far we can trust one another, and ask how far we can trust ourselves in times of extreme crisis. And, crucially, enquire to what extent do our memories make us into the people we are. However, my first obstacle to turning the idea into an onscreen drama was… ‘Where do I begin?’ I’d never written a film script before. I had no track record in the movie industry. Yes, okay, I’d written plenty of short stories and novels. The nearest I’d come to writing a screenplay was adapting my novel The Night of the Triffids into a Big Finish audio drama. Something, to this day, I’m very proud of. And though the audio script for Triffids wasn’t a screenplay, I did gain experience writing dialogue for actors. And, just to digress slightly, if John Ainsworth, a producer at Big Finish, hadn’t encouraged me to pen the adaptation for the audio, I would never have mustered the confidence to write a film script, and The Protos Experiment simply would not exist. 

Earlier, I said that The Protos Experiment began with an idea. Eventually, that idea would become a massive journey, one full of twists and turns and drama in its own right. However, at my ‘this seems a good idea for a film’ stage, nobody had commissioned the script. Nobody knew that I even planned to write one. Therefore, that first step of the journey was to switch on the computer, open a new file, and begin typing. This is the first part of the first scene I wrote, back in the Summer of 2020: 

INT. WAREHOUSE – DAY

JOHN’s unconscious, lying on the floor. John wakes. Groggy, he turns his head and sees a chain. Puzzled, he stares at the chain, trying to process what’s happened to him, thinking, ‘What is this place? How did I get here?’ 

There are many reading this who know a heck of a lot more about scriptwriting than I did, back in 2020. Admittedly, my script was unconventional in execution. I wrote it in Word, while most scriptwriters use a dedicated screenplay software. I didn’t even own such a program. However, somehow, I got there, with the help of plenty of strong coffee – that, and heading out into the countryside with Mylo, the Border Collie, for plot-mulling walks. After six months of translating the story, which was blazing so impatiently inside my head, into words on a screen, I had a completed script sitting there on my computer. 

The next obstacle on the script-to-shooting journey now blocked all forward progress. I didn’t have any contacts in the motion picture industry. So, who could I send the script to? Would all the filmmakers’ doors remain sealed tightly shut to me? Would I end up with a completed script gathering proverbial cobwebs on my computer, which would never have actors speak its lines? Possibly so. 

Then I remembered a name. It was the name of someone who did work in the film industry. This would be a long shot because I hadn’t emailed him for years and years. However, we followed each other on X. So, I gathered my resolve to send a direct message to him out of the blue, mentioning that I was trying to sell a script, and knowing full well that he might have a hundred writers a week emailing their screenplays to him. Even at the time, I did think that I was being brazenly presumptuous asking for his help to find a producer for my work. Don’t you hear countless stories of long-suffering film agents and directors having a script thrust at them by total strangers? 

And yet I wrote this DM to Julian Richards, CEO and Head of Production at Jinga Films: ‘Hello, we haven’t been in touch for a while. However, I’ve written a script, and I wondered if you would …’ And so on. Very graciously, Julian emailed me these wonderful words: ‘Yes, Simon. Please send me your script…’ 

To my surprise, and very happy amazement, the script found its way into the hands of Brian and Laurence Avenet-Bradley. They are L.A. professionals in the Film and TV industry. They are also people who love film, and they have independently produced their own features. These include Dark Remains, Ghost of the Needle, and the extremely successful Echoes of Fear, starring Trista Robinson. 

Then I receive another email from Julian saying that Brian and Laurence would love to produce my script. There follows several moments of heart-pounding excitement as I try to come to grips with the news – that The Protos Experiment is poised to be launched into pre-production.  For a while, I admit it, I was stunned. All the hitherto daunting obstacles were being overcome; soon the cameras would roll. 

Now, we take a leap forward to January, 2021, when Brian, Laurence and I meet via Zoom for the first time. The video call lasts a formidable two hours but we talk so enthusiastically about the script that time flies. I’d swear only ten minutes have gone by – not one hundred and twenty. I learn that Brian and Laurence have lots of ambitious ideas for the story. Initially, I envisaged that The Protos Experiment (back then, my working title was Taste Hell) would be filmed in one studio with a very minimalist set. Brian and Laurence explained that they wanted to expand the story. To make it bigger. More ambitious. And to make good use of some fantastic locations they had scouted. 

After that first meeting, the story grew much, much bigger. During numerous Zoom meetings, Laurence, Brian and I brainstormed ideas. Everything from character motivations, to plot, to stunts, to special effects – and much more. What’s more, when the three of us agreed that certain characters would be wearing sophisticated electronic headsets, it was Laurence who took on the job of inventing these complex electronic devices, then she sat down with a soldering iron, diodes, wiring, and the latest chip technology, and built fully functional headsets that the actors would wear in demanding locations.

After those epic brainstorming sessions, Brian and I worked on the script to accommodate far more wide-ranging locations, and even more powerful scenes than I had originally created. Brian’s visionary input soon made me realize that it would only be right and proper to suggest to him that he be acknowledged as being the co-author of the screenplay. Being the gentleman he is, he never asked for a co-credit; however, I made a strong case that he very much deserved that writer credit – and he accepted. And, yes indeed, I will be the first to admit that Brian’s input raised the story to a much higher level. 

And so, the journey from penning the script to shooting the film continued. There was a huge amount of work accomplished by Brian and Laurence in pre-production. They found the actors, hunted for the right studio, nailed down breathtaking locations in wilderness places, devised amazing props, eerie costumes, and they figured out how to create unique lighting solutions for scenes that I’d described as being lit in a decidedly unusual way to create an otherworldly, nightmarish environment for the action. 

Pre-production was a fascinating time. I loved every moment of it. Though, admittedly, my contribution was from far away. Brian and Laurence live and work in California. I’m based in the English county of Yorkshire. Thankfully, Zoom brought us together at the speed of light, resulting in lots of brainstorming sessions. Also, we passed the script back and forth, each of us enlarging and enriching this story of dystopian evil. 

Then, one memorable day, Brian emailed me a private link to a video streaming site with the words: ‘For your eyes only, below is a link to the latest cut of the film. It's a fine cut – but very close to lock we hope!’ 

The journey was almost complete. I could sit down at the computer, headphones on, cup of coffee in hand… There’s the title onscreen: The Protos Experiment. The character ‘John’ is lying on the concrete floor. The chain is fastened to his neck. And, ladies and gentlemen, the film begins to tell its story.