Stephen King has a longstanding policy about his short fiction as it relates to aspiring filmmakers: if you haven’t yet made a feature film, and you’d like to obtain the rights to one of his short stories upon which to base a short film, he’d be glad to oblige–for the non-negotiable fee of one U.S. dollar.

Naturally, when I heard about this, I went out and bought the first collection of short fiction by Stephen King that I could find. Hungrily, I read through the stories, looking for something that would be perfect to adapt to low-budget film. This one had too many characters, that one needed too many special effects. Here was a setting that I couldn’t do justice, there was a story with a monster I couldn’t replicate.

Then I saw it. The perfect story for a creative, low-budget filmmaker: 1408.

It’s the story of a skeptical man set to spend a night in room 1408 of an historic hotel–rumored to be deeply disturbing, having claimed over 50 lives. It was a deeply psychological story, and had only one essential character–the man in the room. Perfect for the creepy low-budget experience; perfect for making an intensely personal horror film.

Three years later, the film is released on a bloated budget, starring A-listers John Cusack and, in a throwaway role, Samuel L. Jackson.

Heartbroken as I was to see this development, I was glad to have nothing to do with the finished project.

Special effects were heavy, creepiness an afterthought. I’m not what you’d call a dedicated filmmaker, but this month I mourned the loss of a great story with huge indie potential to the big-budget summer season.

Still, I’m pretty sure this means someone needs to hire me as their head of development.

If You Hated This, You Will Also Totally Hate:

• Trapped in Paradise
• A Christmas Story
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Top Ten Movies Based on Books
• John Carpenter’s The Fog