Its terrifying, but I was more in awe of the writing, he says.
It was a coming-of-age story but then you had this terror happening within this town.
It was just an awesome experience.
Michael Tran/FilmMagic
After a year-and-half I felt like a could finally exhale, says Dauberman of his reaction to the news.
His opinion is really the only one that matters to me.
Its a moment I wont forget.
When it comes to crafting scares, Dauberman really is Hollywoods current It Boy.
In addition to adapting Kings novel, he also wroteConjuringspin-off moviesAnnabelleand this summersAnnabelle: Creation.
It was a fantastic experience, says Dauberman of the shoot.
Youre like, F, alright!
The production value, with the castles, and the mountains its so beautiful and grand.
He had endless ideas.
It was another great working experience, within theConjuringuniverse.
Dauberman was raised outside of Philadelphia, which helped inspire his interest in the macabre.
I was around a lot of history, he says.
That helped feed my hunger for the darker stories, more spooky stuff.
I remember watchingCujowith my Mom as a kid.Halloween, of course.
There wasNightmare on Elm Street, the whole series.
[But] Stephen King was probably a bigger influence on me than any other movie.
You know, you have Christopher Pike, you have R.L.
Stine, and then you graduate to Stephen King.
Hes like the gateway drug in terms of the adult horror world.
So, I quit everything.
What I loved about working for SYFY was, everythings happening so quickly, he says.
We need one in like a week.
Can you give us one?
And Im like, Yeah, sure.
It honed my skills on how to write quickly and deliver on what was needed.
It taught me a lot.
I had done some stuff for New Line, says the writer.
I wrote some additional footage for some of their movies and I sold a pitch there.
They knew I was a fan of James.
They had an early cut that they were bringing some people in to see.
Wan was soon tapping Dauberman to writeAnnabelle, which was released just over a year afterThe Conjuringhit theaters.
It was very much like going back to the days when I worked for SYFY, says Dauberman.
So, those days working at SYFY paid off when I worked onAnnabelle.
James always comes into the room with a point of view, says the writer.
And, with his blessing, you go off, and write a script.
They knew how much of a fan I am of Stephen King, he says.
Obviously, they used the book as their foundation for the script.
So, it was not like, Lets throw that out and start over.
We wanted something very atmospheric, very moody and setting it in Romania certainly accomplishes that.
So, is Dauberman happy to continue scaring audiences for the foreseeable?
Or does he have some Nancy Meyers-esque romantic-comedy script in his back pocket he is dying to get made?
No, no, no, he laughs.
I love those movies, but Im not itching to write any yet.
This is what I set out to do.
I always wanted to be within this world.
Im living out what I dreamed, back when I was readingIt.
I couldnt be happier.
Watch the trailer forIt, above.
