14 The Imitation Game

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28th May, 1996 (Tuesday)

Ricky Stirling (POV)

"All right, thanks a lot Dr., with that cut, your scenes have officially concluded. Brilliant performance I must say. I mean that last look of hesitance on your face, before exiting the room… mind-blowing stuff." I said as I enthusiastically shook his hand.

I'm not even lying really. It's been 9 days since we started filming, and my god, have we done some real magic in here. Here meaning the set of course, and by magic, I mean our acting.

Ping!

Acting Proficiency has leveled up!

Acting Proficiency: Lvl 51

There you go. Eight fucking level ups in 9 days, yeah. I'm that good.

"Thank you Ricky, truly. I mean, I'm old, nearing my 70s now, and you gave me an opportunity to act in over three decades… Thank you." He said, his eyes becoming teary as we speak.

Sigh, my pleasure, you golden oldie. I don't know why, but I really want this guy to live happily ever after. He's not a great guy… just a good one. And that's enough for me.

He soon leaves the set and sits in his car, waving at us as we wave back.

"We'll never forget you Dr. McRidge! My mental health is beyond fucked, and I trust no one else. So like it or not, we're seeing each other after the term starts!"

Trent. I know he meant it as a joke, it was a pretty good one at that. I don't know why, but I've always been a fan of self-deprecating humor. And Trent just… has this god-given talent for it.

As the good Doctor's car drives away down the road, I turn back to the rest.

"Alright guys and girls, the doctor is gone. We had some good times, but let's honor his absence by finishing what we started." I said in a semi-serious tone.

Trent saluted. Missy looked exasperated. Janice and Amanda just started laughing at Trent's antics.

Not because they found it funny, it had become increasingly clear to me that Amanda had a crush on Trent, and Janice had no interest in him, but plenty in cucking her 'archenemy'.

I hate drama. I really do. You know in my OTL, I used to read about drama that occurred on set of major productions that impacted the film at large. This seems trivial in comparison, but all of sudden, I can relate to the directors.

Oh silly me, I forgot to introduce Amanda. She was picked out from 4 women as Amber, a friend of the couple. To be honest her role was really minor, as was Missy's. Due to the nature of the film, they were relegated to bit roles.

A bit part means there is essentially direct interaction with the leads, or ensemble, but barely a few lines of dialogue. They were still getting paid $500 each though.

Missy, cause she's a good friend and is helping me with camera setup. She's also come up with some good ideas for scenes, so I believe $500 is well deserved. Amanda, cause she demanded the same amount Missy was getting. And frankly every day we wasted on casting calls for a role that took up barely a minute of screentime, was a day lost.

So I just went ahead and said, why the heck not? It's not like I haven't got cash to spare. Believe it or not, but I'm actually under-budget right now.

At the pace we're going, filming is all set to be wrapped up in two days at most, meaning a week earlier than anticipated, and we didn't break as many household items as I thought we would.

Also, I had changed almost half of the plot to make it better. I had removed a few nights out of the movie, because let's be real, the fact that they stayed for 21 nights was insane, from any standpoint. This meant that I had to speed up a series of paranormal events, and had to include new ones, like the phone on the nightstand moving by its own and dropping, stuff like that.

Also, the original director of this movie had clearly used a filming technique called retroscripting, also known as improvisation in layman's terms. The actors were not given a tight script to work with, they were given loose outlines of the story and told to improvise the dialogue with no framework whatsoever in mind.

Not on my watch.

Now I obviously decided to go with the original theme, and named the characters Ricky and Janice to match with our irl name. But my changes went beyond such trivialities.

I had introduced an entire subplot to the storyline, which was… Ricky and Janice's eroding relationship.

You see in the original version, Micah and Katie looked to be in their mid-20s, making their move into a new household believable. But I, even with makeup and foundation and whatnot, barely look 20. For the first time in my life, I had to let a little stubble grow around my chin and cheekbones to give off a more mature vibe.

It worked, but not to the point where we came even remotely close to the original couple's age.

So to fit the narrative, I revamped the storyline.

Thank god I had developed the necessary skill in order to do it effortlessly…

Scriptwriting: Lvl 72

So following the rewrite, Ricky and Janice are no longer a couple in their mid-twenties trying to cope with and investigate the paranormal activities they are haunted with, like the absolute buffoons that they are.

Nope, Ricky and Janice are a couple who got hitched right after University cause Ricky knocked up Janice and Janice's dad initiated a shotgun wedding. They are not a couple with a perfect relationship, they are almost kids, trying to be mature and take charge of the life they were forced into and making the best of a bad situation. So they acted lovingly at first, a little too lovey-dovey, as it becomes evident to the audience, they were overcompensating in order to hide their insecurities about their relationship. All of a sudden, they are haunted by paranormal events, things that Janice had apparently experienced in the past when she was 12, but her frightened ramblings were never taken seriously. Her sister died as a result after a series of events that remain unknown and the police, the incompetent fucks that they are, declared it a suicide, all the while only Janice truly knew what caused it.

She had compartmentalized the trauma, but it resurfaced due to the resurgence of the activities. Ricky the poor lad, tries to make sense of her ramblings and increasingly feels disconnected to her. Until one night, when the camcorder he had set up to disprove Janice of her delusions, actually caught some pretty damning evidence. He immediately tried to contact anyone in the vicinity who even remotely delved in the supernatural. After consulting the famed demonologist, who appeared helpless in front of both of them, but privately suggested to Ricky to divorce Janice and move away, correctly deducing who the demon is truly after, the couple was at the end of their rope. They called up their friends a few times to be consoled, but it all proved to be empty in the end.

Ricky was becoming increasingly disillusioned with his marriage, and regretting his lot in life, but repressed his emotions pretty well and acted normally in front of Janice. One Night, Janice was dragged away from her bedroom, screaming and kicking by an invisible entity and Ricky in a panic froze for a second in fright before screaming and running after Janice, intent on rescuing her. They later discover bite and scratch marks on various parts of her body and blood is seen pouring from her nether, showcasing a miscarriage. Both are devastated at the loss. Ricky finally decides that they need to move away, and sleep in a well-populated area, like a hotel, which will hopefully discourage the demon from further terrorizing them.

But Janice, out of character, vehemently refuses. This was the last straw for Ricky. All of a sudden, his repressed emotions come pouring out, and in a haze of rage, he drives away to cool himself. He later finds himself in a bar where he gets piss drunk. After sharing his woes to a kind bartender, he remembers a memory, a romantic moment he shared with Janice that resulted in the baby. All of a sudden, he is overcome with love and worry for her. So while drunk, but relatively sober, he drives back to the house.

It's night by the time he arrives, but he doesn't care. He shouts Janice's name and steps into the house to find it devoid of light. He sets his camcorder down on the dining table and moves towards the switchboard to turn on the lights.

As the lights turn on, he faces the camcorder, not realizing that Janice is standing a few meters behind him, smiling eerily. Just as he turns back and shouts her name, he catches a glimpse of her and is about to rush forward to engulf her in a hug, before he stops. He realizes something is wrong on some level, but can't place his finger where. He calls out to Janice, this time questioningly, and just as he does, she lunges at him with a supernatural jump, carrying him across the room and out of the camcorder's view. Ricky dies an off-screen death screaming himself sore, and Janice walks back into the frame, before turning towards the camera and lunging at it with a demonic snarl.

The epilogue text reveals that Ricky's body was found by the police the next day, and Janice has been missing ever since. And then, an audio recording of Janice's father in tears plays on a black screen. The man is hysterical, sobbing uncontrollably, and rambling about how he should have believed her.

Well, too fucking late buddy.

And that's the plot of the new Paranormal Activity, MY Paranormal Activity.

I've still kept quite a few things from the original. The visit from psychic, the black and white recordings of what happens at night to build up tension with just the right dosage here and there. Suffice it to say, it's pretty fucking good, and I am sure the critics and audiences alike will enjoy my version far better than the original. I essentially corrected everything wrong with the original, all the while keeping the good bits, complemented by significantly stellar performances by the leads.

Since a few scenes had yet to be filmed, I hadn't decided on a runtime yet, but it won't exceed 90 minutes no matter what. Any longer than that, and it'll be boring as fuck. The plot after all, even with all of its revisions is not enthralling in any sense.

I created it simply to have the audience relate to and invest in Ricky's backstory. That way, the payoff will be larger when he's killed in a gruesome manner. Some may even call his death tragic, either way, the aim of the newer version is not to 'tell the story better', it's simply to make the lead character more likable.

Anyways…

"Come on people, a coffee break, and then we get back to work. I want to film the miscarriage scene today no matter what. So let's get to it!" I finished, clapping my hands to create a BANG.

They were startled so badly by that. It wasn't necessary really, I just really enjoyed messing with them.

"Kiddo! Stop doing that! And why the hell are your palms not hurting already?! Huh?" Missy, it seems, had enough of it.

Too bad for her, I wasn't done by a long shot.

I gave her a side eye, "You want me to do it again?" Oh, the way her eyes widened comically as she along with everyone else instinctively covered their ears with their hands… I really wanted to laugh, but then again, I was busy.

"That's what I thought…" I muttered, as I slowly walked back to the set, a mischievous grin plastered on my mug.