Patrick is the master at monosyllabic communications in email. I've gotten dozens of emails from him that contain less than five words. Today's email was titled "Would like to talk". The actual message was "A good time?"

That's about as wordy as he gets.

I let him know I was available and he called and we chatted for a bit. He told me that he wasn't going to be able to raise funds for Monster this year and apologized. I told him this wasn't completely unexpected and it wasn't a problem. He'd like to try again next year.

He mentioned that to keep the momentum going that he has achieved with Mercy, he needs to shoot something this summer. He thought he could raise 10k or so and had a project in mind.

He told me about a short story written the 1930's by pulp fiction author Paul Cain called Red 71. He told me a bit about the story and offered to let me write it to get a writing credit. Because of the project's low budget he wouldn't be able to offer a WGA signatory deal.

I was intrigued and I want the credit - so I said yes. Besides, I like the way Patrick's mind works.

Of course he needs a rapid turnaround.

He's sending me the short story.