Claustrophobia - yes, under its new title Serial Slayer - is out on DVD today in Australia. If you live Down Under and you're reading this, go out to your local video shop and ask for it. And if you like it, tell your friends. I actually get royalties from this release, unlike the American one. So word of mouth is extra important in this case. Thanks!
High time for some updates in general. I finally tackled the polish on my Dial 9 to Get Out screenplay. I clarified a few plot points and pared the script down from 120 pages to a more digestible 108. I was inspired to get off my ass (or, rather, on it) in order to enter it into the Nicholl Fellowship screenwriting competition by its May 2 deadline. (I also entered Sharky Baby, for what it's worth.) I don't do these contests, as most are scams, but the Nicholl Fellowship - run by the Academy - is the real deal. I'll know by July if I make the quarter-finals. Right now I stand a 1 in 6000 chance of winning - slightly higher odds than I'd have if I kept my screenplays in a box.
Meanwhile, my foreign sales agents MonteCristo Entertainment have sold the rights to Claustrophobia to Thailand and Japan. God only knows what the film will be called in either of those countries. Now, Thailand basically buys everything put in front of them, so that's not really a big deal. We'll see about Japan, though. Coincidentally, a friend just profiled me for a Japanese teen magazine(!), so maybe I'll have some new fans over there. Oh - and MonteCristo also got an offer for UK home video, but it was too low for my tastes, so I said no. Hopefully a better offer for that territory will come in soon. Finally, Serial Slayer is currently airing on iN DEMAND's Video On Demand (VOD) service in the US (and will until the end of this month), so you Yankees can see the film that way, if you have access.