Farrands was born September 3, 1969, in Providence, Rhode Island,[2] but was raised in Santa Rosa, California, in a "strict Catholic household.
"[4] Farrands developed an interest in horror films as a child, and became enamored with John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) after seeing it air on television as an NBC "Movie of the Week.
"[4] He graduated from Santa Rosa High School in 1987 before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film.
[5] A sixth installment was not considered for production until 1995, after Miramax acquired the rights to the Halloween series, and Farrands was appointed as screenwriter.
[5] Though Farrands wrote the original screenplay, developing subplots that had been obliquely established in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), the final version of the film released to theaters was significantly altered by Miramax and much of the final act was ghostwritten without Farrands' involvement.