The Trade is a whole lot darker

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The film, written and directed by Scott Howe, was originally produced for the 2006 10x10 film filmmaker Challenge in Sacramento. The criteria for entering the film competition was simple enough: produce a 10 minute film in no more than 10 days.

Though the film was honored for "Best Story," Howe had long felt the film was missing key elements that Howe was convinced would have told a more complete story. For the original 2006 version Howe had to do away with some of the ideas he'd originally envisioned, in favor of more conventional, and ultimately less time- and technically-intensive alternatives. For instance, the original story takes place in the woods at night. Any plan of shooting at night, however, had to be thrown out due to time considerations and the logistics of producing the film under the constraints of the 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge at that time.

Two years passed, and writter/director Howe began thinking of reshooting some of the sequences of the original film. It was suggested to him that he might as well reshoot the whole thing over again.

Reshooting would mean a lot more work, but it also meant that the director could re-envision the story and improve upon it, not only in the way that it was told, but in the way that it looked. By remaking The Trade, the film could be shot in high Definition, 16x9 format and 24p (giving it a "film look." Morover, the story could take place — at night — the way it was originally intended.

"This retelling of The Trade takes the story in a profoundly different direction, one which is ultimately more satisfying," says Howe. "I've been able to lengthen the story and give it a little more room to grow and build to a final conclusion." That slower build is what Howe believes makes this new version that much more chilling, and satisfying.