Darabont became involved in filmmaking by becoming a production assistant on such films as "Hell Night", "The Seduction" and "Trancers". The first film he wrote and directed was a short adaptation of Stephen King's "The Woman in the Room", which was one of the first "Dollar Babies" and made the semi-finalist list for Academy Award consideration in 1983. Although Darabont was not happy with how the short turned out, it led to a close association with King, who granted him the "handshake deal" rights to another one of his shorter works, "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" from the collection "Different Seasons".