From UK lands today in the blog a man who can teach us about what is struggling and encouraging a dream, and at the end, that it finally happens and one of his stories will be on the screen, well, really is more than one: Bridge of the Doomed, Bloodthirst and Adrenaline 2021. Adrian Milnes is the writer of those three films, the first two are horror films produced by the Empire Mahal,which is a two brothers producer company very interesting with bold movies and the third one is an action movie, all of them are upcoming films. Adrian Milnes talked to us about why he decided to plunge into film industry, his goals and his self made creative process as a writer.
EFF: Thanks for this time you give me... Adrian, where are you from and how did you get interested in the film industry?
AM: I was born and raised on the Wirral, England, the other side of the River Mersey from Liverpool. After living in Hong Kong for a while, I moved to Brisbane, Australia, where I still live. I’ve never even been to Los Angeles, which shows you what’s possible these days.
I started off writing fiction, short stories and novels, with very limited success. Writing movies back then just seemed out of my reach, but when I was living in Hong Kong a friend of mine lived next door to the actor and producer Stephen Fung. So I thought about writing a script for him. Of course, by the time I had a script good enough he had moved.
EFF: You have three films on the road right now, but let's begin talking about "Bridge of the doomed" How did you get involved in the project?
AM: That was a spec script I had up on InkTip.Com. Michael Mahal read it, and offered to buy it straight off, convinced he could raise the money. Sure enough, he was dead right. This was my first sale. I was really close to quitting at that point. I’d been writing for so many years and getting nowhere.
I‘ve also had a Horror short script called Trapped picked up Dmitry Torgovitsky through InkTip. That was filmed before the pandemic hit and is still in post-production due to him being in lockdown.
EFF: What approach did you apply on the movie? Maybe homage from other zombie films? Would you give us the movie synopsis?
AM:The initial inspiration for this movie was Dog Soldiers. I wanted to do a Contained Military Horror with a small cast, but as soon as Michael started looking for financing it went crazy. The script went from eight speaking roles to over sixty. We were able to expand the movie considerably, making it far bigger than the average Indie Horror.
During a Zombie outbreak a group of soldiers is ordered to defend a bridge against an oncoming zombie horse, but find what lives underneath the bridge is just as dangerous.
When I was a kid my dad took me around the sites in Holland of Operation Market Garden (later filmed as A Bridge Too Far.) Back then I thought it was really boring, but later on I began to appreciate how some areas can become so important at one point in wartime.
EFF: Now, Bloodthirst, how did you get into it? What is the movie about?
AM: One day I got a Facebook message from the director Massimiliano “Max” Cerchi, He’d seen a post about Bridge Of the Doomed and decided to approach me as he needed a writer. He had this idea of a Post Apocalypse Vampire Hunter movie. After talking to me he approached the Mahals about working together. He was originally going to direct it, but thanks to the pandemic lockdown he couldn’t make it.
Bloodthirst(2021)
EFF: When you were crafting both stories, did you suffer any block out? I mean what setbacks you encountered during the story creation and how you solve them out.
AM: With Bloodthirst I didn’t have the luxury of writer’s block. As soon as I said yes, it was announced the script would be ready in two and a half weeks, with a shooting schedule already being set up. So straight away I started sending Max five pages a day. It was finished on time, and then after feedback from various people, including the director Michael Su, the re-write began.
Sometimes on a spec I might be held up for a day or so when I feel something is not right, but that’s it. If the pressure is on it’s a real incentive to get it done.
EFF: How is your creative process? Do you lock yourself in your home, room, isolating you from the world? what?
AM:: During term time I’m able to spend a few hours every morning once my wife is at work. When it’s the school holidays I just have to grab whatever time I can. For the re-writes for Bridge Of The Doomed, my son was really sick and didn’t want to be left alone, so I ended up sitting next to his bed, tapping away as quietly as I could on my laptop.
EFF: What are your goals in this industry, how do you see yourself in 10 years?
AM: Hopefully with a string of credits, but you never can tell with this business. I’m also hoping to co-produce movies and will be approaching potential investors when Bloodthirst comes out. At the moment some distributors are favouring Action over Horror, so that’s what I’m working on, but I’ll go back to Horror first chance I get.
Adrenaline finished filming in February. It was directed by Max and starred Louis Mandylor and Costas Mandylor. I’ve also got two more Action scripts lined up with the same team.
EFF: What advice would you give for those want-to-be horror screenwriters who are undecided in how to make their first film?
AM: Budget has to be the first consideration of course. Write a script that involves three or four people in a house, and if you can get $5k together, film it yourself.
Bloodthirst
EFF: If a producer gives you a chance to write a remake of a horror film, what would. it be and why?
AM: I’d love to remake some old Hong Kong Ghost movies. Immortal Spirit and Don’t Open Your Eyes are the first two that come to mind. They can be some of the creepiest movies out there.
I actually wrote a spec for an Asian Ghost movie a while back. It had interest, but never got made.
Bridge of the doomed
EFF : Something you would like to say?
AM: I hope a lot of people will see these movies when they come out. Michael Su did a fantastic job directing them, they look amazing. They’ve got some great well known actors in them such as Robert LaSardo, Costas Mandylor, Michael Pare and Tara Reid, but also some actors who I am sure will be much better known in years to come. I’m sure Bridge Of The Doomed will do wonders for Kate Watson.
**Adrian Milnes' | Imdb | **
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