I wanted the hero (Deke) to be the anti hero. We have a character who just gets out of prison on murder charges and then decides to return to his home town where nobody wants him back. After the meteor lands and starts infecting people, Deke is forced to stay and help the people who hate him.
Sarah: I wanted Sarah to be strong, independent and witty. Someone who can stand no matter what. But she also had to have the girl next door small town charm. Someone the whole town loves. We've all had that girl in our town growing up.
Sheriff: I wanted the Sheriff to be sarcastic and stern. By the books and he absolutely hates Deke.
Billy: Billy had to be everything Deke isn't. He puts on a front, acts tough, but when it's time to man up, he cowers. Desperately in love with Sarah and can't stand Deke. (noticing a theme here?)
Stooley (aka James) Stooley's nickname was given to him in high school by none other than Deke. So naturally he dislikes Deke. Stooley is madly in love with Sarah (another theme) which is the only reason he helps Deke solve the infection problem.
Jerry: Jerry is the towns father. He's the go to guy if anyone has a problem and the only one willing to give Deke a second chance.
The Deputy: The deputy is also by the books, but not so quick to cross Deke out of the picture as the Sheriff is.
The idea to make a creature feature came in June, 2008. It was me, my brother Mark, friend David Yates and our director Howard Wexler. We wanted to make a film that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, yet be interesting and entertaining to watch. We knew the story had to be strong enough to forgive the commercial elements we knew wouldn't or couldn't be there. So I came up with the title "INFECTION", I know.. original.
It took about three weeks to write the first draft. Don't ask, because I don't know either. Anyway after careful review and by review I mean harsh critique, we knew we had the backbone of the story, but elements were missing.
So on to the next draft, YAY! Now the characters had more development and arcs. I was also able to write subtle hidden meaning to life. After the completed second draft I came up with the title 9909. Not sure what inspired that. I guess fate had bigger plans for our film.
Bryan Brewer