Donegal filmmaker Gerard Lough has just been granted permission by Stephen King to turn one of the world famous author's stories into a short film adaptation.

By Sean P Feeney

A Donegal filmmaker is about to begin the project of a lifetime as he is about to turn a short story by one of the world's most successful novelists into a 'very, very, scary' short film.

Over three decades ago world famous author Stephen King decided he wanted to give something back to the art world as a thank you for the commercial success he was beginning to enjoy.

King came up with a policy that would allow up-and-coming young filmmakers to adapt stories the author had written and turn them into short films.

The writer would grant a student filmmaker the right to make a movie out of any of his short stories (but not novels) so long as the film rights were still his to assign, that no resulting film would be exhibited commercially without approval, and that they send him a tape of the finished work.

For this one-time right King asked for a mere one dollar fee and once he had watched the finished work he would put them on a shelf marked 'Dollar Babies'.

One of the most high profile 'Dollar Baby' films is Frank Darabont's adaptation of The Woman In The Room. This young film-maker went on to make three feature box office smash hits based on King's work, namely The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist.

Having been granted permission by Stephen King to adapt one of his stories and turn it into a short film, a Letterkenny native is hoping that he will soon be following in the footsteps of Darabont.

This will be Gerard Lough's seventh short film to date and, as he admitted, his most ambitious project so far in his career as a director. "The most difficult thing for me was actually finding a suitable story to adapt.

"It had to be something that could not only be produced on a very small budget but something I felt passionate about spending many months bringing to the screen."

Although details have to be kept very much under wraps for the time being, Gerard revealed that the story he is adapting is in some way similar to The Shining.

"The story is basically about a dysfunctional family attacked by forces that may or may not exist and it explores some very dark themes which I will not be shying away from.

"I wrote the screenplay and it is a very faithful adaptation of King's work with only two new scenes added that do not appear in the book.

"His [King] story is so sound it warranted very little change and as the saying goes, 'If ain't broken, don't try to fix it'," he said.

Gerard said the short film will be a horror, but rather than 'zombies running around eating people's brains' it will be of a psychological thriller nature.

"A rather nasty creature does feature in this story, but there is always the suggestion that it may just be a figment of the lead characters imagination, a metaphor or parental neglect.

"People forget that Horror films can be intelligent and explore very dark and complex ideas, as well as leaving room for ambiguity.

"So apart from giving the audience a good scare it will also be my ambition to give them plenty to think about after the end credits have rolled, for example some people see The Mist as simply a monster invasion story but if you look closer you could also say its an analysis of xenophobia, religious intolerance and how people behave in a crisis.

"My previous experience in this genre was a short film I made in 2008 called Deviant which was about a serial prowler.

"Like this new film, it was set in a suburban neighbourhood and it dealt with the theme of home invasion and if I do my job right, this one will be very, very, scary."

This will be Gerard's seventh short film as director and he said everything he learned making the previous films will be needed to put this one on the screen especially knowing that the famous author himself will be viewing the final result of his work.

"Mr King will indeed see the finished film as he insists on it which is only fair.

"He even has a shelf at home where he keeps the DVDs of these short films which he usually only watches once.

"I hope this one is the exception and will give him cause for repeat viewing.

"I sincerely hope he appreciates what I was trying to do as a director when he watches the film."

Gerard hopes to start shooting in April/May, with between 15 and 20 people making up cast and crew.

"The script is finished but the reason pre-production will take a long time is because the film will include some intricate special effects and I need to find a very skilled male actor (mid 30s) who will be able to take on a difficult and demanding lead role."

Gerard's most recent short film, The Stolen Wings, can be viewed online at www.youtube.com and it will make its debut in front of an audience at Underground Cinema, Dublin on January 29.

Male actors interested in auditioning for the lead role of Gerard Lough's upcoming 'Dollar Baby' project can send their CV to e-mail gerardlough@hotmail.com