Tom Vaughan@storyandplot
My friend Jamie Blanks passed away.
Jamie and I met in the late 90s. Producer Don Murphy introduced us. Jamie had just missed the directing gig for I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, and I had written a crazy $200 million werewolf movie that no one was ever going to make.
He was in town from Australia, and we met at Birds in Hollywood over a lot of beers. He was effusive about my script. I had dreams of a long writer-director partnership.
I would later learn Jamie was effusive about everything horror! All of it sincere. He had a well of enthusiasm that was absolutely contagious.
Months later, he called me out of the blue and said he was coming back to the States. He just got hired to direct URBAN LEGEND. He introduced me to young Hollywood. We would marvel at how just following Tara Reid, who was cast in the film, would get us into any place in town.
One night at Atlantic on Melrose, I was introduced to a slew of extremely attractive actors who were all going to Austin the next day to film a movie. My own urban legend is that this was the cast of VARSITY BLUES.
All these young actors hung out together and knew each other. They all partied together, and I felt special to be around them.
We were young, silly, and we all felt like we were on top of the world. I was insecure and wanted to be accepted by the cool crowd, but Jamie quickly grew out of it. His heart was with Simone and his home country.
I remember at a party once, I pointed out to him, "Neve Campbell is here!" and Jamie shrugged, "I'm over it."
Jamie and I lost touch sometime after VALENTINE. I moved back to Texas to get sober, and he and Simone moved back to Australia. They didn’t want to raise their son in the States.
We reconnected about 18 years later here on Twitter! It was like no time had passed at all. Within months, we were talking about finally making a movie together.
I tried to get Jamie on a project of mine that was looking for a director. It had been years since Jamie had made a film, and in true Hollywood fashion, that made the producers nervous. Why didn’t anyone else want to hire him?
I told Jamie that he needed to explain this gap. He did. And it says all you need to know about Jamie.
He explained that his dad was away from home often when he was growing up, and it affected their relationship. He didn’t like how directing would take him away from Simone and his son Oliver for months on end so he stopped doing it.
Jamie was a very talented editor and composer and never had trouble getting work in that area.
But now that Oliver was grown and off to college, it was time to direct again.
Just like back in the day, Jamie had his priorities straight.
Jamie didn’t get the gig, but we were both determined to finally do what we set out to do in 1997. We were going to get SOMETHING going together.
Around this time, Jamie had developed an online friendship with my brother Lance. This didn’t surprise me at all as Lance is perhaps the finest observer of horror I know. Of course, they would get a kick out of each other!
What killed me is that Jamie didn’t know we were brothers! His absolute joy in discovering this was such a treat. Jamie loved horror, he loved surprises and he loved life.
For the last two years, Jamie and I have been working together to get this project going. I was writing and producing, he was directing.
We were finally getting some movement on it last year when Jamie had some health issues that put everything on pause.
The other (bigger) producer wondered if we should move on. I said nope. We are waiting for Jamie. We’ve waited 27 years to make a movie together; we can wait another year.
I found out this morning that will never happen. My brother Lance texted me the news.
I am devastated. I will never hear Jamie call me “brother” again in that accent of his. I will never get another overly long email signed off with “big hugs” again.
We will never make that movie together.
His loss will leave a huge gap of love and enthusiasm for all of us who knew him.
But as much as Jamie loved horror and movies, he loved his family so much more.
I am just so sorry for Simone and Oliver. Jamie was way too young. The loss they will feel will never go away.
Goodbye, brother. Big hugs.