It’s now the 25th anniversary of “Official Denial,” a Syfy (back then, Sci-Fi Channel) original film on the topic of alien abductions. I wrote this script on spec in 1988 and eventually sold it to Syfy who developed it further, then shot it in Australia. It’s one of my favorite scripts to this day, although the production is hampered badly in the realism department by its extremely low budget.
Still, I love it in so many ways, not the least of which was that lead actor Parker Stevenson was willing to shave his head for the part. Then there was the brave 12-year-old ballerina who wore the plastic alien suit.
I learned a lot of lessons and, because of that, my next UFO/abduction piece, NBC’s Dark Skies, is so much better. But this was first, and that counts for something.
Also, the ending when you realize, well, that would be a spoiler, but to the best of my knowledge, I’m the first to float this idea in a film. And there are those who say it influenced the British Bentwaters testimony from one of the participants who began embracing this theory just months after the film aired.
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