For the last five years, VFX-savvy filmmakers trying to break through the Hollywood logjam have been making proof-of-concept short films to communicate their ideas for original sci-fi movies. But very few of these projects have managed to escape from development hell and make it onto a big screen in a studio system that is increasingly focused on branded content and pre-existing concepts.
Last week, former Warner Independent executive Polly Johnsen came on to produce “The Garden” under her WB-based Polymorphic Pictures banner. A sci-fi reimagining of “Paradise Lost” that cost only $30,000, “The Garden” is a proof-of-concept short that came with a feature screenplay written by director E.B.