SF Short Vessel Becoming A Full-Length Feature
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Anybody who follows the development of films and television knows that Hollywood is often petrified by the prospect of original stories. Even if it’s not a sequel, prequel, reboot, reimagining, or shot-for-shot remake starring Vince Vaughn for some reason, a project is a lot more likely to take off if it’s based on some sort of pre-existing content. Books, comics, games, even magazine articles can help calm the jittery studio execs, since that means the property at least has a fan base of some sort. Case in point: Paramount thinks Vessel, a Kickstarter short film in the vein of The Thing or Alien, deserves a shot at the big screen.
Clark Baker directed the 14-minute short from a script by Matt and Ross Duffer. Screenwriter Stephen Susco (The Grudge) is penning the feature adaptation. The setup for Vessel is a spin on the “trapped in a confined space with a monster” idea we’ve seen a thousand times before, this time aboard a passenger airliner that collides with another ship. You’d think the movie would then end with screaming and fire and terrified people plummeting thousands of feet to their death, but apparently not. Instead, the passengers find themselves fighting for their lives against an “otherworldly force.”
In many ways, Vessel is emblematic of the ways the internet is changing media across the board. Kickstarter provides not only a proof of concept for a larger project, it brings with it a group of fans who believed enough in the project to donate their own hard-earned cash, and I’m sure that would make any studio head’s mouth water.
You can check out the original Vessel short film below.
