Monks began writing around the age of nine when his mother brought home an old typewriter. Figuring out the mechanics of the typewriter became his inspiration to start writing, and once it was figured out, he could not stop. “Once I got past just banging away on the keys and figuring out how to jump between upper case and lower case and all those other bizzaro-world characters I didn’t have a clue about, that was it; it was story time,” said Monks. “And it’s been story time ever since.”

Even in 2002 when he lost his eyesight to diabetes, he held true to his belief that he is the only person/thing that can stop himself from anything, and continued to write. That was when he finished his first work of fiction, a horror anthology titled Stuff Outta My Head. Now, Monks is busy working on a feature film project with Tom Savini called Death Island, and his very own screenplay called Visions of Sarah. His first novel, Torn to Pieces is currently being reviewed (by certain agents) and he hopes that a publisher will pick it up later this year. And, to top it all off, The Bunker, his first feature film (under his production company,  Sight Unseen Productions), is just about finished.

“When you spend so long on something and you’re that invested in it, as I was with the script of The Bunker, you become reluctant to let anyone else bring it to life,” said Monks when asked how exactly he got into directing. “Once I did the research and found out that there’d never been a blind film director before, that sealed it . . . And I felt confident that I could pull it off.”

And, in the end, he did pull it off. His brother in law and sister assisted in the assembling of sets for the film and finding locations. He had the encouragement of his parents, and Terry West (who is also the star of the film) was there from day one. Monks also credits the rest of the cast and crew to his directing success.

“The support system started with my wife, who never once blinked when I came to her with the idea,” he tells. “It would have been far easier for her to say, ‘You’re out of your mind,’ when I poked my head into her office and said, ‘I’m going to direct The Bunker myself . . . And it’s going to be a feature.’ But she didn’t. She only asked, ‘Okay, how?’ Of course, everybody who threw in, the whole cast and crew, fits that description because, well, look at it from their perspective: A guy who can’t see is directing a project that’s probably 90% visual.”

But, like with everything in life, he also came across some nay-sayers who called his directing a “publicity stunt.” One person even wrote on a forum that it was “nothing but a joke, waste of time, and stick with writing instead of making an ass out of [yourself].”

“There’s going to be doubters,” he explained. “Even Mother Theresa had her critics. What you do is set your path, make your decisions, and do what you believe you need to do.”

And, after seeing the success that Monks has had, who could argue with a motto like that?

Comments

mera13

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What a moving piece about Mr. Monks. It just shows that anything is possible. Best of luck to you!

Tuesday 04 August 2009, 08:18

Bubba

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I had the honor of working with Joe back in the 90's at Creative Force Designs (CFD). He was and still is one of the most talented and definitely one of the toughest SOB's in the writing field. He innovated and caused huge positive changes in Comics. Now it looks be that will true in other literary and cinematic areas of endevour. He is proof that the written word is mightier than anything the physical world throws us.

Tuesday 04 August 2009, 17:20

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