How to Make Movies: Low Budget/No Budget Indie Experts Tell All

Here's a post from Brad Paulson - Dead Harvey's resident micro cinema expert...  

I was fortunate enough to be one of the filmmakers interviewed for Kevin Lindenmuth's new book: How to Make Movies: Low Budget/No Budget Indie Experts Tell All. I wrote about making movies from a micro-cinema standpoint, since that's all I've ever had the money to work with.

I did so because number one: I've always been poor and number two: I've heard countless horror stories of people who've sunk every dime they've had into their movies. They've mortgaged their houses and sacrificed nearly everything just to get their films made. Unfortunately, far more often than not, the result has very seldom resulted in a positive financial return.

The media fuels the Cinderella story. Everyone loves to hear about about the one filmmaker out of thousands that makes the next Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity. But, let's not forget. Those movies were nearly ten years apart. It's a big chunk of time before the next phenomenon comes along but every year there are thousands of truly independent films that slip through the cracks. As time goes by, they fade into obscurity. Many never even see the light of day.

What the media hides from us is what happens when an individual with a dream and extremely limited funds actually crosses the line that separates the thought of doing into actually doing. They, much like film school, fail to educate people about the brutal realities that exist when someone graduates and actually tries to make a living at this truly insane career path riddled with sharks, lies and bullshit. It's an absolute war zone. You're going to need adamantium skin and an every stronger sense of humor to survive. There's a reason Adam Sandler yells at that kid in Billy Madison and tells him to stay in school for as long as possible.

What I like so much about Lindenmuth's book is he's complied interviews from people who tell the brutal truth of just how hard it is to survive on the truly independent level. I thought I'd had some rough experiences until I read about what many of the other far more experienced filmmakers have been through. The book does a great job of illustrating how it's not about glamor. It's about doing what makes you happy. And if you're willing to go through hell to do that and live like one of L.A's many homeless and you still want to make another movie after you're done, it's a bittersweet satisfaction that no amount of fame or fortune could ever give you.

I'm happy to see that a book like this is finally available. I wish it was around when I was in film school because I had absolutely no idea what I was about to get myself into when I graduated.

You can pick up a copy here

A kindle version is also available...

My sincerest best wishes to anyone out there making movies on their own. You're fighting Han Solo odds, friends. Bless you all as you fight to keep the dream alive.

Dwarfsploitation - The next book that you're going to buy

There's more than one reason for you to pick up a copy of Brad Paulson and Chris Watson's new book, "Dwarfsploitation".  Just let me go through them...  first off, it's the FIRST quintessential book on dwarf cinema.  Secondly, chances are that you're a bit of a cinephile.  I'm thinking that this book is full of films that you've never seen and you'll want to put on your radar.  Thirdly, the authors are both indie horror filmmakers...  look 'em up.  Lastly, Brad Paulson is my partner at Dead Harvey.  Is that enough?  If not, read through their press release.  Support indie horror, buy your copy of "Dwarfsploitation"!

PRESS RELEASE: DWARFSPLOITATION

Description:
A new book from Brad Paulson and Chris Watson:

Dwarfsploitation is an entertaining and educational look into the world of dwarf cinema. From Freaks to Willow, Dwarfsploitation analyzes a wide variety of both independent and mainstream films, chronicling the number of ways in which little people are exploited. It is a must have for any fan of little people or film itself. Includes an introduction by Lloyd Kaufman.

Order your copy at Barnes and Noble: Click Here

or Amazon: Click Here

Visit the Facebook page at: Click Here

Quotes:

"Dwarfish reviews about dwarf films seems an odd basis for a book, but it's surprisingly entertaining and enlightening and respectful about the little folk. A snappy, unique guide to all films Dwarf."
- Joe R. Lansdale, author of Bubba Ho-Tep

"A salute to Little People everywhere that belongs on every film aficionado's desk."
- Joel M. Reed, director of Bloodsucking Freaks

"This book is truly a one-of-a-kind. An inspired idea, and an equally-inspired book. Chris Watson and Brad Paulson have created something special with ‘Dwarfsploitation'. In an age when there seems to be books about every aspect of cinema, these authors have discovered a niche that had yet to be explored. Kudos."
- Andrew J. Rausch, author of Turning Points in Film History

"Paulson and Watson's book is a unique perspective to say the least. We seem to have books on everything these days, so, why not something that is entertaining, informative and celebrates our little friends in cinema." - Robert Davi, actor from License to Kill

"The first time I went to the Library of Congress to do research on midgets in film, I was directed to a single tattered volume produced by the MGM publicist on "The Wizard of Oz." I was astounded. The literature was virtually non-existent. Later I had a special assignment involving dwarf-tossing, and I sought out any dwarf-tossing trade association that could possibly be of any assistance. Again, my exertions were frustrated. That's why, when I first heard that "Dwarfsploitation" was in the works, I was cautiously hopeful but still ready for a Billy Barty headbutt to the nuts. I'm happy to say that the resulting book is a resource that we've needed for 60 years, and should take up permanent residence on the Ikea children's-room book shelves of anyone shorter than 4-foot-4."
- Joe Bob Briggs, author of Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In

"Brad and Chris's book stands head and shoulders above the run of the mill cinema book types. It makes little people everywhere stand a little."
- James Bryan, director of Don't Go in the Woods

"It was a short read and I loved it. Don't overlook it!"
- Joe Estevez, actor from Soultaker

"Wow, I'm impressed! This has to be the most comprehensive guide to cinematic dwarves that you'll ever read. Meticulously researched, with hysterically funny yet genuinely fond comments by the authors, running the gamut from dwarfsploitation to 'normal' life. A must-have for any film-fan's library."
- scream queen Brinke Stevens

The authors can be reached at the contact information below.

Brad Paulson:  walkenboy@hotmail.com
Chris Watson:  chriswatson@gus.pittstate.edu

"The Frolic" Now Available Via Online Download!

The horror DVD's of the week are going to have to wait until tomorrow, as we wanted to make sure we posted this today - Jacob Cooney's fantastic short film, "The Frolic", is now available via online download. Dead Harvey had the opportunity to interview Cooney about the film and you can access that here. It's an audio interview, so just sit back, relax, and click the links to listen to the soothing sounds of Brad drinking while interviewing Jacob.

If you want to know more about the new release of "The Frolic" and hear what Cooney's been up to, here's the press release...

THE FROLIC AVAILABLE VIA ONLINE DOWNLOAD!!!

THE FROLIC, Thomas Ligotti’s iconic horror short story turned short film, is now available via online download at both FILMBABY.COM and AMAZON.COM.

Directed by Jacob Cooney and Produced by Jane Kelly Kosek (Wonder Entertainment), THE FROLIC follows the story of Dr. David Munck, a prison psychologist, who uncovers a deadly supernatural force in one of his inmate patients, which ultimately leads him to his breaking point.

Starring Maury Sterling (John Doe), Michael Reilly Burke (Dr. Munck), Jennifer Aspen (Leslie Munck) and Kailey Swanson (Colleen Munck), this short film has played in numerous film festivals including the Cannes Film Festival, Los Angeles International Short Films Festival, Dead by Dawn Film Festival, Shriekfest and Dances with Films and has frighten audiences across the world.

According to Stephen Jones (World Fantasy Award-winning author), “Jacob Cooney's film version of THE FROLIC, from a script co-written by Ligotti himself, is a masterful slice of psychological horror given a creepy supernatural twist. This is a little gem of twisted terror.”

THE FROLIC is available for download at the following locations. Hope you enjoy.

Filmbaby.com

Amazon.com

Cooney's got a lot of other great things going on as well. He describes all the cool projects he's currently juggling below. We can't wait to see them. Keep up the great work Jacob!

JC: "I recently co-wrote, directed and exec produced the television comedy pilot REHAB FOR REJECTS starring Maury Sterling (A-Team, Smokin' Aces, The Frolic), Adam Edgar (Chasing Midnight, Me and Her), April Billingsley (Andre the Butcher, Hellphone), Evan Arnold (Chasing the Clown, West Wing), and Richard Reihle (Office Space). It is about a young man who is court ordered to attend a rehab facility that specializes in odd addictions. You can check out the official pilot on funnyordie.com

Cooney's also finished the first draft of a script for State Street Pictures (Faster, Barbershop, Men of Honor) called WANT.

JC: "It is basically the re-envisioning of Indecent Proposal with more of a thriller edge."

He's also attached to direct a film titled GRASS LAKE

JC: "This film is an indie thriller about a group of four friends in their 30’s who go on a fishing trip. But when they find a package of marijuana and one hundred fifty thousand dollars cash, they discover that even lifelong friendships have their limits. We are currently going out to cast and also searching for potential investors for the project."

For more info on the film, here is the link to the film's facebook page

Cooney's also in development on a drama he co-wrote titled FAREWELL TO THE NIGHT, a werewolf horror film titled WOLF'S DEN, a horror comedy titled EXTRA DELIVERY, as well as a newly brainstormed untitled low budget psychological horror film about "a socially awkward shut-in who befriends an odd membrane/organism that's growing out of his bathtub drain. Some fantastic ideas and great things happening here. If anyone would like to invest in "Grass Lake" check out Cooney's short. He can be contacted via facebook. He's most certainly got the filmmaking chops for the job.

Interview With Joeby Gibson: Creator/Writer of "Lethal: Death Squad Uprising"

We here at Dead Harvey love indie comics. It's a really exciting thing to see happening right now because, much like indie. movies, the indie. comic scene is booming and the internet is proving to be fertile ground for creators to get their material out there like never before. Joeby Gibson's "Lethal: Death Squad Uprising" is a not only a fantastic indie. comic, it's currently FREE. I highly recommend everyone who reads this post to go back and read on from issue #1. It's a very enjoyable throwback to all the 80s action movies we've known and loved and that Hollywood sadly isn't making anymore. Remember "Cobra", "Commando", "Lone Wolf McQuade", "Hard to Kill"? I regularly revisit these flicks not only for nostalgia purposes but because they hold up incredibly well as pulp-style, kick-ass entertainment and they're so much better than most of the movies those action stars have come out with since the eighties.

Joeby Gibson's indie comic captures the essence of the eighties' action movie spirit and more than delivers the goods with every issue. Much like those films, it has a fun spirit, doesn't take itself too seriously, but doesn't slack on the action and gore either. And the artwork is outstanding. Joeby gives us a highly informative interview and whether your thing is comics or movies, it's a must read. Here's hoping that Lethal lives long and prospers!

First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What are your influences and what got you into indie comics?

Ok, well I’m a freelance story producer for reality TV shows and have worked on shows for major networks and cable.

One day, I just got tired of working on somebody else’s project. I can’t tell you how many times a series would’ve been really entertaining had it not been dumb down by twenty executives and the network.

So finally I got off my ass and started writing Lethal. I got into the comic scene because it was cheaper to tell my stories. Instead of paying thousands of dollars to film a concept that might not sell, I can pay very little to get my idea out to the masses and hopefully gain a fanbase.

Which do you prefer and why: indie comics or indie movies?

That’s tough because both bring something very special to the table. Sometimes indie movies are great because they’re a little bit edgier than the Hollywood fanfare. My Netflix que is probably 75% Direct-to-DVD horror films. If a movie tells a great story and can hold my attention for 90 minutes, then I don’t care if it was shot on mini-dv with no name actors. The important thing is that those filmmakers made a product that some distributor thought was profitable.

But indie comics can get away with so much more. With less money involved, the artist or writer can tell a story that will hopefully trump any of the latest Hollywood blockbusters. So if I had to choose, then I’m leaning towards indie comics because there is nothing stopping you from telling the biggest blockbuster you can draw.

Who do you believe is doing the best work in indie comics today and why?

Though he’s not so much indie because he writes for Image but Robert Kirkman is simply amazing. The “Walking Dead” series is not the usual super heroes in tights but zombies and personal stories. Thankfully AMC just picked up the series and it’s going to be written by Frank Darabont. I also enjoyed Brian Wood’s “Local”. Been a fan of that for awhile and had a nerd-gasm at comic-con when I picked up the entire series, signed by Wood.

What inspired you to make "Lethal: Death Squad Uprising"?

I’ve always been a fan of those cheesy 80’s action movies. You know the one’s where the hero is always walking away from explosions, fights are always one person at a time and a car explodes no matter if the hero hits the gas tank or not. All those Steven Seagal and Van Damme movies still hold up today. Just a few nights ago I was watching Under Siege in HD… still a classic. For research I watching every action movie from “Cobra” to “Stone Cold”.

Why did you decide to set the story in 1985?

The year just came to me because that’s when all those action movies started. You had Seagal in “Above the Law”, Van Damme in “Kickboxer”, and also around that time was “Lethal Weapon”. It just seemed right that if I was going to tell a cheesy action story that it should take place in the 80’s. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be some storylines in other decades. There’s a lot of back-story to the character Lethal that I’m hoping to tell.

What separates "Lethal" from other indie comics?

I think the fact that this is entirely independent and free really sets it apart. Each month I’m putting out 16 pages of story and for free. How many big name publishers do that?

What has been the most and least fun about making your own indie comic?

The least fun would have to be the financial burden. My checkbook has definitely suffered, that’s for sure. Unless you’re a one-man DIY army, making your own comic can get very expensive. I can’t draw so I had to commission Rowel Roque, a very talented artist, to bring my script to panels.

But I will say it’s been very rewarding to work on your own material. At the end of the day, it’s my characters, scenes, and universe that’s being created. There’s no executive standing over my shoulder giving me revision notes because they need to piss all over the project. Now I’m not saying my writing is golden, but there’s a sense of accomplishment when it’s your work. I do take criticism very well. But if it’s my dime and I don’t agree, I have the right to tell you to fuck off. Now if someone were paying me to write, then that’s a different story.

What were the biggest challenges you faced in getting "Lethal" off the ground?

Mentally for many years, I was my own worst enemy. I just kept telling myself that my stories weren’t good enough or to do a comic was too difficult and people wouldn’t read it. Every month, I would talk myself out of starting a comic. Finally, I read the book “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. That was the kick in the ass I needed and I highly suggest any artist suffering from doubt to read it.

After reading the book I knew I had to at least try and get Lethal out there. Now, Lethal is not the best indie comic out there. Nor do I claim to be the next golden child of screenwriting. But at least I stopped reading comics, got off the couch and started writing. So for all those writers out there claiming they can write a better story, do it! Stop your barking and actually bite.

Physically, I can’t draw to save my life. Lethal would be stick figures if I had drawn it. The biggest thing was finding an artist that I felt could bring life to the story. Rowel’s artwork is simply amazing. I love seeing the script go from word to finished panel.

Also, I have no clue about this new fad the kids call the internets. I’ve never made a webpage. Seen lots of them, but never made one. After a quick tour of iweb, I ran out to the nearest Apple store and bought an imac. It’s been one of my best purchases to date.

How long does it take to put an indie comic together?

All together I’d say it takes about a month to produce a 16 page issue. Work schedules get in the way of my writing sometimes, but usually I can finish a script in a week. But that doesn’t mean the writing stops there. The script gets handed off to Rowel and it takes him a week to sketch 8 pages. I’ll send him notes and get the inked pages a week later. Then the process continues for the next set of 8 pages.

Once all the pages are inked, I’ll go in with Photoshop elements and do clean up. That takes a lot of time because I really want to put out the best looking comic possible. After the artwork has been cleaned, I’ll start lettering and that usually takes me about three to four days. A big part of lettering is rewriting. I’m constantly rewriting as I go. If I was on the ball, an issue could be completed within a month. But luckily I’ve spaced out issues so I wouldn’t be up against any deadlines that would conflict with my actual paying gig.

What have you learned so far from navigating the indie comics scene and what advice can you pass on others looking to get into the business?

What I’ve learned is you just have to get out there and do it. The industry is changing at a rapid pace. If you have a story to tell, then stop reading and starting writing. Anyone can say they can tell a better story, but to actually put yourself out there and write something for everyone to judge; that takes a lot of determination.

Also you are constantly rewriting. There are three stages of your script; the draft you give to your artist, the interpretation the artist comes up with and then the final draft during lettering.

What are your future plans for "Lethal"?

To be honest there are no big future plans for Lethal. The “Death Squad Uprising” storyline will wrap up at issue #9. Once that is done, I plan on taking a short hiatus and then hope to start up again with the next storyline. Right now it’s just about delivering a story and getting a fanbase.

If "Lethal" were to be made into a film, who would you see playing the main characters?

I’m a big fan of “Lost” and I would say Josh Holloway would be the perfect fit to play Lethal.

How can our readers get more information on "Lethal: Death Squad Uprising" and support your indie comic?

First off, if you haven’t already gone to the website, do it! www.AreYouLethal.com It’s free and hopefully you’ll enjoy it. Also I’m on Twitter (@joebygibson). I’m doing something very special for the fans. The first 500 followers will be listed in the graphic novel coming out later this year. How many comic book fans can say their name is in the special dedication page of a graphic novel? So I thought that’d be a nice thank you to the fans.

What upcoming projects are you working on: comics or otherwise?

Well the Death Squad storyline only has four more issues left. After that I’ll probably take a hiatus. I’ve already started outlining the next volume of Lethal and can tell you things are going to get really brutal. The last few pages to the Death Squad Uprising storyline set up the next volume and I had to tell Rowel to pull back on the artwork because it was too brutal. Hopefully people will be surprised at the end of the story and will want to know what happens next. All I can say is that there’s going to be a new villain introduced in the last pages that is just gruesome.

As for me, I’m still doing my day job as a story producer. But I do have plenty of other stories to tell and believe it or not, I may do a more family oriented comic. But then there’s always a side of me that wants to do a horror comic.

Thank you for the interview and for keeping the indie scene alive. "Lethal: Death Squad Uprising" is a blast to read and we here at Dead Harvey very much look forward to your upcoming work!

Dead Harvey Gets Interviewed By Indie Movie Masters

This really is an interesting turn of events... Dead Harvey's Brad and, yours truly, Ted, were interviewed by Stephen Zimmer of Indie Movie Masters. We've talked with many people informally and a lot of industry people have asked our opinions on things, but never before have we actually been interviewed. What I found funny was the fact that when he sent me the questions, I was down in LA... then I was super busy up here and I just couldn't find time to finish up the interview. He emailed me a few times, asking when I'd be done and, finally, I finished them off. What I find funny about that is NOW I know what it's like to be on the other side of the interviewing table. Funny, but... probably extremely frustrating for Stephen. Sorry about that.

Anyhow, I'll tell you a bit about Indie Movie Masters. Really, they're a new collection of indie films organized into genre-specific series and they distribute them themselves through DVD and emerging new media, such as video on demand. They've got a couple titles out now, but they're looking to do a lot more. They're a series designed by indie filmmakers for indie filmmakers. Gotta love that. That's enough, but wait, there's more... they ALSO run a blog where they talk with people in the indie film world and pick their brains, so to speak... and that's where the interview with us comes in.

The main link to the Indie Movie Masters blog can be found here, but the direct link to the interview with us can be found here. We don't mean to blow ourselves, but I think we give a pretty good interview... and, if you're interested in a little background on Dead Harvey and what makes Brad and I tick, you should give it a read!

Interview with Toby Wilkins, Director of "Splinter"

Ted's Note: It's not to say that Brad doesn't get excited very often. In fact, he does. However, very rarely do I see him get as excited as he did about this particular film and the subsequent fact that he had the opportunity to discuss it with the director. I will agree with him, though... this film is one of the best horror films of the year, so far. Anyhow, on to Brad...

A short while ago I rented a film called, "Splinter". After seeing it on the shelves I remembered listening to an interview Leo Quinones had with the director, Toby Wilkins. I remembered how it sounded like a pretty cool indie flick and how Leo seemed very excited about the movie as he was interviewing Wilkins.

After watching it I quickly understood why

"Splinter" is a rare indie horror that excels on every level. Not only that, the creature is amazingly well done. It's the kind of movie you want to go out and tell all your friends to rent after you watch it. And I love it when I get that feeling about a movie. I instantly told Ted how much I dug the movie, so you can imagine how thrilled I am that we were able to land an interview with Wilkins himself

I can't say enough great things about, "Splinter". It's a must see and I hope everyone that reads this that hasn't seen it will check it out and discover what I did: a renewed enthusiasm for the genre.

On a side note, Magnet Releasing is a company to watch. The last few movies I've seen from them have been fantastic: "Shuttle", "Special" and "Donkey Punch".

Dead Harvey thanks Wilkins for this fantastic interview. Keep 'em coming brother!

First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What are your influences and what got you into filmmaking?

I tend to be most influenced by directors who’s work spans many genres, like Ridley Scott, Darren Aronofsky, Danny Boyle, David Fincher. Filmmakers who manage to bring their exacting standards and individual vision to their projects regardless of the genre. As far as the inspiration for getting into filmmaking myself, I would say that it was pretty inevitable. I grew up loving movies, and took every opportunity to grab the family Super-8 camera and experiment as a child and I started really focussing on making professional short films and getting them into festivals about ten years ago.

Film school: yes or no?

No, I always hated school, got out as soon as I could.

What were the biggest challenges you had to overcome to realize your dream as a director and what steps would you recommend for those starting out?

Realize my dream? I’m definitely still on that journey, but I would pass on the same advice I got from some big name directors I had the privilege of working with early in my career in post-production: If you want to make movies, just do it. There’s nothing standing in the way of filmmakers today, you don’t need permission to pursue your dream.

What did you shoot “Splinter” on and how long was the shoot?

We shot using a pair of very high-end digital cameras from German film and camera innovators Arri and principle photography was completed in about twenty days.

Where did the idea from "Splinter" come from and how were you attached as director?

The original creature concept was something a friend and I had been toying with for several years while we tried to find the right story to bring it to life. Then, I was handed a script by one of the producers of the film, originally called “Tooth and Nail”, and it seemed like the perfect vehicle to bring the creature to the screen. I was quickly attached to the script, and after several meetings and pitches to financiers we were green lit.

Unlike many horror films, the male and female protagonists (Paulo Costanzo and Jill Wagner) seemed to genuinely care for each other and didn't have a relationship crisis to overcome. As an audience member, I instantly felt more connected to these characters (mostly because i wasn't listening to them bicker through the entire movie) and found myself rooting for them. Was this a conscious choice?

Absolutely. I think the “couple in crisis” idea is a pretty tired cliché in Hollywood films and as Kai Barry and I developed the script we worked hard to try and create something that steered clear of those tropes but had it’s own thing going on. The dynamic between these two people is quite complex, and runs a little deeper than most people expect in a horror movie I think. Jill and Paulo did an amazing job with the characters.

The origin of the creature isn't explained, which I felt added greatly to the element of suspense and fear. Was there prior version where we find out just what this creature is and where it came from and, if so, what made you decide to maintain the element of mystery?

Since the entity itself was something I was bringing to the script, there were no drafts written that explored its origins, only tiny hints, which are all in the final film. I felt that it would be more engrossing if the audience knows only as much as the characters they are watching, and any ideas put forward about how this thing behaves, or what it is, would be guesses based on exactly the same information the audience has.

I believe one of the most difficult things for a horror film to pull off is to be legitimately frightening and suspenseful. Other than a few tongue in cheek remarks from the characters, the film stayed intense from start to finish. Was there a temptation to go into an over the top camp style like so many horror films do and can you share any tricks that helped to keep the mood suspenseful throughout?

Camp is not something that comes naturally to me at all, I tend to concentrate on creating realism, even in my comedies. But there are a few scenes in “Splinter” that are really fun, and I especially enjoy watching those scenes with audiences. The scene with the running hand is one example, and that’s an homage in part to “The Beast With Five Fingers” and in part to the face-hugger chase scene in “Aliens”, but I’m not sure that sequence qualifies as camp, even taking it as far as we did.

As far as creating tension, I think the scenes where it works best have a combination of things in their favor; great performance from actors who are seeing everything the audience is seeing because we used almost all practical effects, an amazingly atmospheric score by our composer Elia Cmiral which we used quite sparingly, and months of arduous exploration and experimentation in the edit bay with myself and editor David Maurer. What I have learned is that it’s very subjective, what works for one audience member might not work for the next, but there’s no one trick to suspense as far as I have discovered, and it’s never easy or simple to achieve.

"Splinter" centers mainly on the gas station location. What were the pros and cons of filming in a one location setup? Part two of this question: what do you feel are the most important elements you utilized to keep the film captivating while dealing in one location throughout most of the film?

I knew that if I was going to ask the audience to spend most of the film, trapped in a confined space with these character that they had to be real, flawed, believable people that we would care about, and I leaned heavily on our cast to bring their characters to life in a realistic way.

On the more technical side of things, cinematographer Nelson Cragg and I worked to create subtle differences in lighting, color, and shooting style from one area of the gas station to the next. So the audience perceives a constantly changing setting for each subsequent scene, and not just more of the same. This extended into editing and sound design also, using both to create a varied sense of place within the limited confines of our single location.

It felt like there was a concentrated focus on getting great performances from the actors without losing any of the gore and action us horror fans love. This was nice to see since so many horror films out there lack in the acting department. Describe your process of selecting and directing the actors and did you allow for rehearsal time in pre-production?

On this scale of filmmaking we were lucky to get any time to rehearse at all, we would use the short break before any major scene to run through the beats and work out the tone, but we had little time for actual rehearsal. We shot almost entirely in script order, knowing that what we filmed yesterday, or before lunch that day is what had just happened to the actual characters. That made it a little simpler to keep track of mood and tone from one scene to the next. But for the most part we just had an amazing cast who really gave everything to the film. Shea Whigham (who plays Dennis) was the first to join the cast, and I think when you have someone with his charisma, and a resume like that, it really raises the bar and expands on the potential of the script.

Aside from terrific performances from all actors involved, the creature was definitely the star. Describe the process for deciding on the concept and presentation from pre to post production. Were there any tricks you used to make the creature more frightening or films that influenced its look and presentation?

As I mentioned before, the concept of an entity that attacks you from the inside was something that had been living in my head for a while. So throughout the script development process I experimented with digital animation, and artwork to show people how an infected body might move, what the creature would do to its victims. But I knew the only way to make the thing believable on screen was to do as much as possible with practical effects. So we brought in the special effects make-up and creature design experts at Quantum Creation FX to develop the final look of the thing, and figure out how to get as close as possible to what was in my head without actually breaking people’s bodies. They did an amazing job.

As for influences, we didn’t turn to existing films for the look or movement of the creature, because we were trying to create something that audiences had never seen before. But certainly the decision to do as much as possible using old-school practical techniques came from my love of movies from the ‘70s and ’80, like “Alien”, “Dawn of the Dead”, and “The Thing”.

You recently directed, "The Grudge 3" for Sam Raimi's horror production company, Ghost House Pictures. Tell us about the experience and how you became involved with Mr. Raimi.

In 2005 I had a short film making its way through the festivals, “Staring at the Sun”, it played at genre festival ScreamFest, which was founded in part by Stan Winston, and had many horror legends on the judging panel, including representatives of Ghost House Pictures. The film ended up winning the award for Best Horror Short that year, and Ghost House called me shortly after that to start making short films with them. Over the next few years we would collaborate on a number of projects, including shorts for the Grudge franchise, a FearNet original series “Devil’s Trade”, and most recently “The Grudge 3” which just hit DVD. Working with the team at Ghost House Pictures, and occasionally Sam Raimi himself, has been an absolute pleasure. They really care about the genre, and about making the best film possible.

Are there any plans for a sequel to, "Splinter" and, if so, what will the audience be in store for this time?

There has been a lot of interest, but there aren’t any hard plans in place for a sequel yet. If it does happen I would love to expand on the world a bit. Really show what the Splinter creature can do, and maybe cut off a few more limbs? There’s so much potential to explore the ways this parasite can manipulate its victims, it would be a shame not to revisit it.

Where can people find out more about, "Splinter" and, better yet, buy themselves a copy?

The official web site (including a store to buy the movie, and details of how to watch the film instantly) is SplinterFilm.com, my blog has all the latest news, events, and reviews at Splinter.Tumblr.com, and you can follow my Twitter feed at Twitter.com/splinterfilm. The film is working its way around the world, hitting theatres in several countries right now, but in the US and UK the film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from all major stores and rental chains.

Thank you for your time! Dead Harvey gives, "Splinter" a strong endorsement and will look forward to all your upcoming work!

Stay tuned for our upcoming interview with the film's editor: David Maurer!

Dead Harvey TV: Episode One (Day One)

I'm so f'ing lazy... I'm writing this after we've already shot the episode. But whatever, I just wanted to admit to it.

Moving on, I wasn't really sure how day one was going to pan out and I was nervous before we started. The other thing that was shitty was getting up early. I hate getting out of bed before the sun rises, but it was a necessary evil because if you don't get started by seven or eight am, the risk of finishing on time is much higher. Especially when shooting nine pages, as we had planned.

The day started out rocky, with an outside scene that we had planned to only take half an hour. We scheduled that scene at 7:30 with one of the actors and had the others arrive at 8:00. That's when Murphy's Law stepped up to the plate and started cornholing us. Every car behind the actor moved and new ones kept taking their places. A garbage truck pulled up next to us and starting dumping a large pile of s into a new construction site. A-holes kept walking through the shot and staring at the camera. The list goes on. Thank God the rest of the s we had to shoot that day was in the apartment.

Due to every a-hole on the street f'ing up our shoot, the rest of the actors arrived and had to wait until we finished an hour and a half late. That sucked because I hate making people wait and it's makes us look like unprofessional douche-bags.

Fortunately, everyone was cool and got along famously. The actors started boozing, but no one got of out control. Everyone was friendly and professional and I can honestly say that this was the best group of actors we've ever had. There were no divas. There was no bullshit. It was a comfortable environment and everyone was having fun.

Then the neighbors upstairs started making noise. Loud, irritating, banging and clanging noises. I flashed back to a couple days before, when the wife came over and introduced herself.

"Hi, we're your new neighbors from upstairs", she said. "Over the next couple weeks it may be a little loud. We're going to be doing a lot of work up there so just let us know if things get to be too much".

"Motherfucker", I thought to myself, quickly followed by, "And I bet they'll start on the day of the shoot".

They did.

Flash forward back to the day of the shoot with the loud ass neighbors. "Fuck it", we decided. We'll just write it into the script. And our fearless team kept going.

Fortunately the noise decreased after a bit and we reached the point where we could actually hear the actor's dialogue.

The last scene involved me on the toilet and, for some reason, the d.p., Joe, started laughing his ass off. The look in his eyes was one of a small child who's just discovered candy. Pure, unadulterated glee. We wrapped and he added that that was officially his favorite scene so far. I have no idea why he enjoyed filming me on the toilet so much but I was glad he was happy because it was a long day and the last memory of the day tends to stick out in your mind the most. It's like when you watch a movie and it's all shitty but the last twenty minutes is good and it kind of makes you forget about how shitty the other hour and ten minutes was.

Anyway, we finished between eight and nine pm. A good, twelve hour shoot. Long but not torturous by any means. We shot an s ton of coverage and completed everything we had scheduled that day. Then we hung out for a bit, had some beers and shot the s. You know it's a good shoot when everyone wants to stick around and hang out when the day is done.

I went to bed happy, looking forward to the next day.

Day two post to follow just as soon as I can muster off the strength to get off my lazy ass again and get some more work done. Hopefully, i'll be able to finish all the posts for this thing before the screening. Until then, take care my friends and thank you for reading.

Brian Henley: Child Actor From "Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2"

Brad - My friend Brian Henley and I usually talk about drinking whiskey. We also talk about drinking beer. One day I branched out and told him about writing for Dead Harvey. This is where I learned he was the child killer in the flashback scenes of "Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2". As soon as I discovered this, I went ape-s and asked him to write an article for Dead Harvey, which he graciously agreed to. I guess I owe my friend some whiskey now.

Before I give you Brian's column, i'd like to share an email he sent to me after he finished the piece. Truly bizarre and chilling...

"Hey Brad,

So here is the article I asked to write for your excellent website. However, the weirdest thing happened as I was writing it.

There I was, finally with enough time to write given the Christmas holiday, and I sat down at the computer and put on the TV for background noise. I hadn't even started the first sentence when the news came on, and damned if the first story wasn't about a guy who put on a Santa suit and went on a killing spree on Christmas Eve. I was poised, ready to write about my tiny part in an obscure movie featuring a Santa suit psycho rampaging on Christmas Eve, when on the news I see that it has just actually happened. Of all the tragic, weird, horrible and coincidental surreality... it's enough to drive a man to drink.

It was close to us, too. The killer lived in Montrose, the ex-wife (whose party he ruined) was in Covina. Truth is always stranger than fiction."

Sorry, didn't mean to freak anyone out. That was just too weird not to include. Real life definitely is way more f'ed up than fiction.

Okay everyone, without further ado, I give you Brian's column about his experience working on the horror classic, "Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2"...

Hello Dead Harvey devotees and indie fright film fans,

My name is Brian Henley, and if you are truly Rainman-style obsessive-compulsive about your micro-budget horror, you might remember me from my pivotal role in the watershed 1987 masterpiece entitled “Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2”. That’s right, I’m that Brian Henley.

Seriously though, two decades ago that was a fun experience. I was nine years old and I got three days off school, and there were build-your-own sandwiches on a card table in the parking lot where we were filming. It was very exciting, and I have pleasant memories about it to this day.

I was in three scenes, with a line in each, so obviously a starring role. My first scene was about twenty minutes into the movie. In the first film, my character’s older brother indulged in an axe-wielding binge on Christmas Eve, only to be brought down by a hail of police bullets. His last act is throwing the axe at my prequel counterpart’s feet. Naturally therefore, my first onscreen moment is a slow pan up from the axe, to my sneakers, then past my plaid shirt to my horrified face. Sort of a passing of the torch, the torch being a bloodstained lumberjack’s axe. Of course, being nine and not a talented actor, my face is far from convincingly horrified. In my defense, there was no bloody axe at my feet, nor was I told at the time exactly why I should have looked horrified. “Look really scared and pissed off,” I was told, and film rolled. The rest of the magic coalesced in the editing room.

My second appearance, and really my shining moments in the movie, come in a faux-home-video sequence showing me interacting with my adoptive family, happily and well-adjusted. My stellar method acting during these interludes is easily explained: I didn’t know I was being filmed. They just took me to somebody’s backyard with the rest of the cast present and in costume, had a barbeque, and secretly filmed the entire thing. I have not tracked the career of “Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2”’s director Lee Harry, but if anything he is great at directing children.

My third and final scene is unremarkable, except for how my performance was elicited. In the scene I am walking down the street with my adoptive mother when I see a pair of nuns. My character, having been raised by wicked nuns in a brutal Catholic orphanage, panics. I was having trouble panicking on an empty street, so the director asked me what I was scared of. I told him I was scared of snakes. He thought about that for a while, realized that he had no ready access to snakes, and so arranged for a muscular Black guy who had been rigging lights to walk towards me menacingly off-camera. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really scared of muscular Black guys, so he had to accept my rather lackluster performance.

So that’s my tale of a pre-teen experience in the weird world of indie horror. I have never, unsurprisingly, re-entered the movie-making scene. I still remember, however, that the movie was fun to make, and all the important adults running around actually making the movie seemed palpably inspired. In contrast, very few of the large-budget feature films I go to nowadays seem fun, or inspired. Thank you for reading this trip down memory lane, and I’m glad there’s still a horror movie underground that’s inspired and having fun.

Thank's for sharing your story with us Brian. If anyone else would like to share their experience either making or working on a horror film with us, please send it our way! Believe me, we need the material! Besides, Ted's been working too hard lately and it's been cutting into his drinking time.

Ted - Testify brother, testify...

Dead Harvey TV Post 2: Preproduction

Brad wrote up a small post last week on how we're shooting a pilot episode for "Dead Harvey TV" and if you missed it, click here. Anyhow, we thought it would be cool to document the whole process and share what's going on with you, our dedicated reader. Much like everything else on this site, maybe others can learn from our mistakes. Before I send this over to Brad, I would like to duly note the three legends on set there! From left to right, you've got Brad Paulson himself, then Chris Watson and, finally, Aaron Burk. What you can't see is the hoards of screaming fans outside that window who kept disrupting the set... now, on to Brad.

This time it was really easy. Unlike the previous movies (The Bloodstained Bride, The Van, Evil Ever After) we wisely decided not to have multiple locations and actors. No-budget filmmaking is a bitch enough as it is without making things worse. Instead, we followed the five people, one location formula of the last short we did, "Reservoir Drunks".

The first episode of Dead Harvey TV has roughly five characters and takes place 80% in one set: our apartment, which we decorated to look like a public access style TV set. Our DP kept telling us to put the emphasis on production design. This is something we seriously neglected on previous projects and I had no idea just how important that was until we did this one. Since we were spending out of pocket on this one (and have no money to begin with) we resisted this but were convinced by several people it would make a big difference.

It made so much of a difference I felt like a complete asshole for neglecting it so much on the other movies. For a couple hundred bucks we were able to coat the apartment in production design and when you see how filled the screen is in all the shots it takes your mind off the fact you're watching something micro, and you're more prone to get caught up in the atmosphere and the world the characters live in.

The other elements fell into place as well. We didn't audition anyone, instead picked the people we knew would work the best and haven't screwed us over.

We spent one night introducing everyone, having some beers and doing a readthrough/blocking session. That helped tremendously in getting everyone comfortable with one another and building a comraderie. So much so that, when we got around to filmmaking it felt like we were in summer camp together.

Another important aspect was also covered: we scouted the two locations outside of the main one before we shot there. This turned out to be very important because the bar were were going to shoot in had a skylight which we wouldn't have known unless we scouted it before. This allowed us to change our shooting times in advance.

It's amazing that we let such simple things that make so much of a difference to the wayside on the other projects. We spent so much time concentrating on other aspects that we forgot to take care of the most important ones first.

Lastly, we got ourselves a great dp. We spent so much work on the other projects getting everything into place and ready for the shots, but we're not dp's... so it failed. You can spend a million dollars, but if the shot isn't exposed properly it will end up looking twenty times more unprofessional. Why did it take us so make movies to learn these few simple things? I have no idea. I'll just blame it on the excessive drinking for now.

The next post will cover day one of production. See you then!

Dead Harvey TV Intro

As some of you may or may not know, we here at www.deadharvey.com have been working on a spec. pilot for a Dead Harvey TV show. The basic premise is it's about a bunch of drunken micro-cinema filmmakers who host a talk show from their shitty apartment. They interview underground indie. horror filmmakers and it's shot in a reality show style ala "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Antics ensue around a sitcom format. There is cursing (which will be bleeped), boobs (which will be titled), and a big guy in a monkey man outfit branding a machete (who you don't want to f with).

Through the next series of blogs, I'll do my best to document the making of the first episode. Hopefully, if the show continues, there will be many more to follow.

The first episode starts with a courier who can't believe he's delivering a package to a bunch of assholes who host a TV show in their apartment. The apartment is a shrine to micro-cinema and drinking with strong, surrounding Hawaiian themes. The apartment is filled with a bitter cameraman who looks like John Goodman in "The Big Lebowski", a stoned sound man, a drunken secretary and a man in an adult baby outfit. No one can figure out how to work the equipment right.

The host pisses off the adult baby and waits for his headline guest to appear: legendary micro-cinema filmmaker Chris Watson (Zombiegeddon, Slaughter Party). He's so slow he doesn't realize that neither his co-host or main guest haven't arrived. The rest of the episode includes the kidnapping of Chris Watson, his statements about the state of independent filmmaking and the struggle to keep a show which no one's even getting paid for on the air on a porn channel at 3am somewhere between, "Star Tramps" and "Robosluts".

The way we've designed it, each episode there will be ongoing storylines with the main characters centered around a new underground horror filmmaker as a guest star.

The next blog will document pre-production. Then, we'll move onto day one. I've got to go now because my computer broke and my friend is about to kick me out of his house. I'm cutting into their internet porn time.

See you on the next one.

Tales From the Micro-CinemaTrenches: Eric Gosselin on Making, "Psycho Sleepover"

A few weeks ago I was treated to an underground screening of Eric Gosselin and Adam Deyoe's, "Psycho Sleepover". The event was in a downtown L.A. loft that looked like one of those huge apartments you see in the movies. It was also packed with booze which I certainly appreciated. More so, though, I was thoroughly impressed at just how entertaining and well cast this micro film was.

For what their budget was these guys did a stellar job with the production value, gore effects and coaxing great performances out of their actors. They also did something I appreciated even more: they kept the pacing snappy. Now, that's something that's really rare for micro. They knew exactly what kind of movie they wanted to make and scored a home run, proving that money is not the answer to making a great movie.

After watching the movie, I told Eric and Adam how impressed I was and asked if they could do a behind the scenes article on making a micro film, what kind of challenges they overcame to get it in the can, etc. Hopefully, there will be many more to follow. If you're an indie filmmaker and would like to send us an article about the making of your film please send it our way and we'll post it. Better yet, you'll become a part of dead harvey's film school archives and save people an s-ton on college tuition!

Thank's for the article, Eric! Readers, be on the lookout for Eric and Adam's upcoming work and check out their previous flicks: "Yeti: A Love Story" and "Street Team Massacre"!

BEHIND THE SCENES ON "PSYCHO SLEEPOVER"

By Eric Gosselin

Making no-budget movies is probably one of the strangest things you can do. One minute you’re mixing fake blood, the next you’re making quesadillas for the cast and whatever crew you can scrap together, the next you’re trying to convince an actor to drop his drawers and pretend to masturbate on camera (true story).

If you’re really serious about making movies and you have almost no money, be prepared to wear many hats. I’m not taking cool Samuel L. Jackson-style Kangol hats, or even a tasteful fedora. I’m taking that stupid beanie with a propeller on the top. Sorry. I’m getting a little carried away with my metaphor here. What I mean to say is you may be credited as “Writer/Director” on your movie but when you’re working for no budget that really means “Writer/Director/Craft Service/Production Designer/Production Assistant/Coffee Maker/Pizza Orderer/Punching Bag/Insomniac.”

So far my filmmaker partner Adam Deyoe and myself have made 3 features together: YETI: A LOVE STORY, released by Troma Entertainment, STREET TEAM MASSACRE, and PSYCHO SLEEPOVER. All three of our movies are no-budget horror comedies. We chose to make silly horror movies for two reasons: we love schlock cinema, and when you have no money horror is way to go. Horror always has a built in audience who are usually very forgiving of budgetary restraints.

Think about it: if someone said to you “Hey, check out this drama I made for $2,000 with all of my friends” you would probably nod politely to them and say “Sure, I’d love to watch that,” but unless their friends are Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John Malkovich, you would probably really be thinking “Oh please God, make me have a stroke so that I don’t have to suffer through the next 90 minutes of my life.”

Now what if someone (me) said to you “Check out this ridiculous horror comedy I made for $2,000. It has lots of blood and boobs in it”. You’d probably be thinking “Sign me up, handsome stranger.”

Our newest movie, PSYCHO SLEEPOVER, came about when we were finishing up the as-of-yet-unreleased STREET TEAM MASSACRE (any buyers?). We enlisted the help of friend/sexual deviant Kurt Kroeber to write up some of the ideas we were tossing around. There were many, many script revisions—probably upwards of 50. Maybe more. We all know that your script is your baby—your precious, precious baby. Well, always be thinking of ways to cut little pieces off of your baby so that your baby isn’t bloated and boring. Werner Herzog once said to me (well, he said it to a theater full of us, but it sounds cooler if I pretend he was addressing me alone) “If you bore your audience for 4 seconds you have lost everything you have built up to that point.” Nothing could be truer. You should always be revising, even well into shooting. One example of this is when part of the way into shooting our main location fell through. The people who lived in the house gave us two more days to shoot about 60 pages of script. That simply would not work. We went back to the drawing board and not only rewrote scenes to take place in different rooms that we could use other locations for, but we also added a bunch of new jokes and even an entire subplot. I guess the point of what I’m saying is: Always think on your feet and be open to changes. Nothing goes as planned.

Adam and I work very quickly (a necessity we’ve come to enjoy). We don’t storyboard, and hardly ever block scenes out before hand. Usually we come onto set, one of us works with the camera people (unless we are the camera person ourselves, which happens frequently) the other works the scene through with the actors and blocks everything out. We shoot a master, figure out our coverage and move on. Our actors and us would love to have millions of dollars (hell, even hundreds of thousands) at our disposal so that we could have a bunch of rehearsals, and shoot less pages a day, but we take what we can get.

How do we keep budgets so low? We do everything we can to get everything we can for free. In college we “borrowed” cameras from the equipment house. Now we “borrow” from friends and places of employment. None of the actors are paid (except for those who contributed nudity). We even got some people you may recognize in the movie (SLEEPAWAY CAMP’s Felissa Rose, Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS’ Paul Rust, and rap-star CHINGY), and they all did it out of the goodness of their generous, beautiful hearts. One necessary item is food. You have to get food for the cast and crew who are putting in long hours for your movie for no money. Our actors are all very talented individuals, and we would love to pay them, but we simply cannot afford to. Instead of money, we pay them in pizza and Cheez-its. At the end of the day none of our movies wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of everyone involved, so we try to make it as comfortable for them as possible.

Our special effects are a bit rudimentary, sure, but they get the job done. Most of it is accomplished by running fake blood through plastic tubing hooked up to syringes for all the various blood splatters and squirts. One piece we’re particularly proud of is a cheap and safe alternative to squibs: an insecticide pump that you can buy for about $15 at Home Depot and some tubing. You take the tip off of the sprayer that controls how much liquid comes out (this way everything comes out in one blast), pump it about 40 times, attach the plastic tube to it, fill the tube with blood, press the button and voila! A giant spray of blood that can be taped under someone’s shirt, or behind their head for a nice headshot. It’s not like we’re making SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Our violence doesn’t need to be completely realistic. In fact it adds the comedy and schlockiness if it looks a little stupid.

So to summarize: It IS possible to make a movie for little to no money. Don’t take yourself too seriously; be willing to roll with the punches and make changes. And most importantly of all, DON’T MAKE A BORING MOVIE!

Exclusive Interview with Jason Murphy, director of "Zombies Zombies Zombies Strippers vs. Zombies

I think it's safe to say that between Brad and myself, we see more indie-horror than your average filmgoer... granted, I've talked to a few film festival directors who may have us beat, but (and I quote Nic Cage from "Leaving Las Vegas") they do it because they HAVE to, I do it because I WANT to. Nothing like comparing a raging alcoholic and indie-horror, but I digress... Either way, having watched a lot of them, plus getting to talk to a lot of the filmmakers, you start to learn what you like, what the general fan may like and how the films may do on the market. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but I find that a good amount of gore, a bunch of nudity and a sense of humor never hurts an indie-horror film.

That brings us to "Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! Strippers vs. Zombies" from Jason Murphy. Not only does it skillfully combine all the above mentioned elements that I love about indie-horror, it, plain and simple, kicked ass at it. If you're looking for a good time in an indie-horror film, it's a film for you. Brad had the chance to discuss the film with him and, as usual, you get a lot of insight into how he got the film made.

Tell us about your background and what made you decide to get into film making.

Well. I have pretty much wanted to make movies my whole life. I never wanted to be a firefighter or police officer or anything like that...it was always something in movies. In high school, my friends and I always made little movies and were in the "video club", and all that geeky stuff. As for what made me want to get into it...I'm not really sure. I do remember watching tons of horror movies with my Dad when I was young, and I was always fascinated by the special effects. I think that may have had something to do with it.

Film school. Yes or no?

Yes, I did go to film school, right after high school. That was more than a few years ago though. I learned a lot, and had a great time.

What are the film/directors that have had the most influence on you?

As with many aspiring filmmakers in this genre, Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson were my favorite directors back in the day. I think it is funny that these 2 horror directors have now moved up to become some of the biggest directors in Hollywood. I'm a big fan of the comedy-horror genre, and those guys always did it exceptionally well.

"Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!: Strippers VS Zombies." F'ing awesome! Where did you come up with it?

My partner Tony G. had been trying to come up with a zombie movie idea for us to make, and he and our friend Zack came up with the title "Crack Whore Zombies"...about a group of crack whores who get turned into zombies by tainted crack, and attack the local strip club. I thought that the crack whore part may turn off alot of people who we needed to help us, like the city film commission, etc..so as a temporary title, we used "Zombies Zombies Zombies" while filming. Plus, we had really pushed the script to focus on the strippers more than the crack whores anyway.

After a while, it just stuck. Plus, our distributors told us that most stores wouldn't carry the movie with "crack whore" in the title.

There's a little movie coming out starring Jenna Jameson called, "Stripper Zombies". Is there any connection?

Nope...no connection. We actually shot our movie a few months before we found out that they started shooting. We were pretty bummed actually, because once they came along, our movie lost a lot of it's hype. We are just a couple of guys who used our credit cards to make a movie...we can't compete with them...they had about 10 times as much money, bigger stars, and a huge marketing campaign budget from Sony. We just had a myspace page and maxed out credit cards.

What elements, do you feel best combine to make a great movie?

there are no elements that are definite when trying to make a great movie..."great" is a very subjective thing. What one person may love, another will hate. In general, you need a good story and characters that people either like, or hate. I just try to make a movie that is enjoyable for me, and the fans it is made for. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There are tons of things I want to do in future movies that I wasn't able to do in my first movie.

Describe your approach to directing.

Well, on this movie my approach was a little different than normal. We shot the entire movie in 9 days, so my approach was pretty much "what do we need tot make this work and move on to the next scene?"

In general though, I think it is very important for everyone to have a good time. Everyone on the crew is important, and everyone should be having fun...otherwise, everyone will be miserable, and I think that sometimes shows in the final product.

There are some really well done gore effects in the movie. Which are you most proud of and how were they accomplished?

Most of the fx were done practical, with dummy heads and bags of blood, etc...but due to budget, we had to do some digital fx as well. Actually, "I" had to do some digital fx is more like it. I'm not sure which I would say I am most proud of...but I can say that I enjoyed getting to remove my brothers face with a weed whacker quite a bit.

What challenges were you faced with in making the film and how did you overcome them?

We had tons of challenges, mostly due to the $30,000 budget. The biggest challenge was probably dealing with all the things that happen at the last minute. We had locations drop out the day before shooting was scheduled to begin...fx that didn't work as planned...extras who didn't show up...the power got turned off a few hours before shooting one day.

When you are making a movie for this kind of budget, and on this type of schedule, you just have to be able to roll with the punches and keep the train moving. We just had to do whatever we could to make things work...which usually involved changing the script to work with what we had.

How has the distribution been going? Any tips you can give to people looking to get their movie out there?

Distribution is HARD! When I think about it....making the movie was pretty easy compared to getting distribution. Most of the big distributors turned us down due to the low-budget and the fact that Sony had such a similar themed project. We were able to sell a lot of the foreign territories ourselves though, and got our money back pretty quickly through that. For US though, it has been a struggle to get stores to put it on the shelf. Everyone seems to think that the zombie market is too saturated, so they won't take a risk picking up a low-budget zombie movie right now. We hope that when they see how well we are doing, that they will change their mind and give us a chance...but who knows. We are doing really well with online sales, and are available online with most of the big retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City, Borders, Netflix, and Blockbuster.com.

Where can people find out more about, "Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!: Strippers VS Zombies" and, better yet, buy themselves a copy?

Our website would be the best place to get the latest info, and we even have a newsletter you can sign up for. The site is ZombiesZombiesZombies.com To buy a copy, you can get it off our website (with some cool bonus items)...or you can get it from Amazon.com or other online retailers.

Tales From the Micro-Cinema Crypt: "The Clown Incident"

Ted has been doing all the work on the site for at least the past month while I've been out drinking, chasing midgets and acting all around irresponsible. So, I figured it was time for a new post before he gets too pissed off and actually sticks the pins in that voodoo doll he made of me.

Before I go any further, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite any indie filmmakers out there to share their stories with us. In the indie/micro world all kinds of crazy shit happens and I know people have some awesome stories, so please share them with us and we'll post it on the site. Besides, the more stories Ted and I get, the more we can catch up on our dvr recordings, drinking and bootlegged donkey show porn.

I mean, the more we can pursue actual film making.

Alright, enough f'ing around. Here's a little tale of something that happened to me awhile back. I figured it was appropriate for Halloween time since it involves a clown suit.

The micro film world revolves around favors. Meaning, you have to somehow convince everyone to work for free while your already broke-ass spends money you don't even have so you can get your movie in the can. Needless to say, when someone works on your movie for free, it's more or less an unwritten rule that you return the favor. The favors can range anywhere from donating equipment to an unpaid crew position to far more bizarre territory.

In this instance, a friend of mine was making a mockumentary about a hit man's last days on the job before his retirement. The hit man was played by my friend that required the favor: a roughly 300 pound cat who's forte is frighteningly deliverence-esque redneck roles. The first scene I was in involved me playing one of the many thugs who meets their fate at the hands of said hit man's gun.

I was slain in the basement of an apartment building which we completely guerrilla-styled. Meaning, we ran around chasing each other with toy guns and air pistols that were painted to look like real firearms. My friend is a helluva guy and the shoot was a blast, but I was nervous as s because most of the neighbors had no idea what was going on. If the cops would have been called we most likely would have had a snuff film on our hands.

My friend approached me after the shoot and our conversation went something like this:

HIT MAN: Hey man, you did a great job getting shot and falling straight back into the cement. That was bad-ass!

ME: Thank's, man! It was fun.

HIT MAN: You didn't f yourself up or anything, right? We don't have insurance.

This I completely understood. We never have insurance on our movies either.

ME: No, it's cool man. The adrenaline counterbalanced any potential damage.

HIT MAN: Cool. How would you like to help me out with another scene?

ME: Sure, what you got going on?

HIT MAN: First off, let me just say there's going to be a porn chick involved.

ME (suddenly more interested): Really?

HIT MAN: Yeah, man. Are you still in possession of that clown suit?

The clown suit in question is one my low-budget ass has used for Halloween and a few micro movies for about three years in a row. It was most recently featured in, "Psycho Sleepover", which I'll add is a fantastic new micro film we'll be featuring in an upcoming article.

ME: Uh... yeah, I've still got it.

At this point things we're starting to sound a little strange. Why the f do I always get myself involved in situations like this?

HIT MAN: You're going to wear the clown suit and f the porn chick.

ME: Uh... say what?

Instantly I pictured myself home for Christmas while one of my cousins finds the tape amidst a slew of Disney classics. The entire family watches in sheer horror, having no idea four years of film school would result in a starring role in the new discovered Clown Porn genre.

HIT MAN: Let me clarify. You're going to have just gotten done f'ing the porn chick. I'll bust through the door and find you two post coituous in a seedy hotel room. She'll be topless, wearing a clown nose and rainbow colored wig. Since I've had a past relationship with this young lady, I'll naturally want to slay you.

ME: Naturally.

HIT MAN: I'll point a gun at your face and you'll say, "Be nice to Bobo!" Then, I'll shoot you in the face and you'll land on the bed where you'll pretend you're dead and watch me f the porno chick in front of you.

ME: Uh... say what?

About a week later, there I was dressed in my clown suit and my friend's creepy ass clown mask. Why the f people think clowns are funny and get paid to entertain children is besides me.

My friend and I waited on pins and needles for the porno chick to arrive. In these situations you have no idea what's going to happen once the camera rolls. My friend, however, was as cool as the high school nerd who'd just scored a date to the prom with the hottest girl in school. I'd never seen the guy so happy before.

HIT MAN: (nearly jumping up and down in excitement) Oh, man, this is gonna' be awesome! Alright, I've got about twenty minutes before she arrives. I'm going to go take a shower and prepare.

ME: Given the nature of the scene you're about to do, you should probably scrub your undercarriage.

HIT MAN: Why do you think I'm taking the shower? I even got a special soap just for the area in question. I might come out of that shower smelling like a bag of s but my crotch is going to come out like a rose garden.

ME: Good luck to you then.

My friend entered the shower and kept his word, spending a good twenty minutes on the area in question. When he exited the shower, the only thing he had on was his underwear. He held a rubber mat in front of his crotch.

ME: What the hell is that?

HIT MAN: I figured I'd be a gentleman and put it between our crotches. The inspiration comes from the groin thongs Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas wore when they boned down in, "Basic Instinct".

ME: That's not your car mat is it?

HIT MAN: Dude, have some class. This is totally different.

Next thing I knew I was pretending to act dead on the sleazy hotel bed and looking out the two eye holes of the clown mask in what can best be described as a Michael Myers POV before he kills his sister in the first ten minutes of, "Halloween".

There are many tests of a man's friendship. These can range anywhere from lending your car, to helping move, to helping bury a body in the desert. Then, there's playing dead in a clown suit and watching your friend f from a Michael Myers POV. This, I had never known existed before.

In the world of micro-cinema, all things are possible.

Dead Harvey Interviews Nick Thiel and C.J. Johnson: Director and Writer of, "Creepers"

Nick Thiel and C.J. Johnson have their own take on the alien invasion movie. In their short film, "Creepers" they do an excellent job of conveying L.A. in chaos (isn't it always?) and then shifting that focus to a more internal direction: two people who have to trust each other to survive become increasingly paranoid of one another. The film is reminiscent of one of my personal favorites: "John Cartenter's The Thing". What Thiel has done really well here is use a low-budget to his advantage by focusing on the paranoia we as a society never seem to be able to get rid of. The film has done really well on the festival circuit and continues to gain kudos. Great job, guys! For more information, check out the, "Creepers" myspace site at: myspace.com/beparanoid or check out this link to watch the trailer.

Congrats on the film, Nick and C.J. and thank you for the interview!

DH: Tell us about yourselves. What's your background and what got you into making movies?

NICK: I was inspired by James Cameron's "Terminator 2" to get into film making. At 14, I got my first video camera and starting making short movies with my friends. In the following years, I studied acting at the highly respected South Coast Repertory for two years, excelling in its acting program. Once I decided to take it to the next level I attended the Art Institute of California – Los Angeles. Every few weeks we would be required to shoot a 5 – 10 minute project. I would usually make a horror or action short, which usually the teachers didn’t want to do. But, when I showed them to people the reaction was amazing and we always stood out from the crowed because 80 percent of the classes were making dramas. At one of the film festivals I ended up winning the top three awards for my horror short “The Last of the Zombies”. Since then I have made and worked on a ton of productions that have brought me a lot of success in film making.

CJ: Nick and I both attended the Art Institute of California - Los Angeles, majoring in film & TV production. We kept making horror and action shorts even though our professors repeatedly asked us not too. Everyone else made dramas and comedies but we had no real interest in being like everyone else or creating a bunch of ambiguous drama shorts. Although, our teachers didn't like us making shorts filled with cheap scares and fake guns, our peers seemed to enjoy it and we repeatedly kept receiving awards at festivals for it. We just wanted to understand how to make horror movies and we wanted to focus on what we wanted to do later in life. I think Nick posted a bunch of our old student projects on you tube (just type in "movieman11" and "kingcj316").

Growing up, there were three movies that blew me away and jump started my dream to go into film making. They were: "Big Trouble in Little China", "Jurassic Park" and "Aliens". Even as a kid I said to myself, "I have to be in the movie business".

DH: Film school: yes or no?

NICK: I’d have to say “yes”, I attended the Art Institute of California – Los Angeles where I met up with a lot of talented young filmmakers. CJ and I started taking classes together and formed a great friendship and film making relationship. I feel what I learned in school showed me the workings of a real set and the fast pace “always on the ball” nature of it.

CJ: I'd say "yes". Nick and I went to film school and it helped us narrow down our style of film making and gave us room for error. It's always good to be surrounded by like-minded people who share the same goals as you. One important element of attending film school is that you're able to create a network of friends and work associates that you can work with after school. Also, Nick and I learned how to shoot quickly, cost effectively, and develop a shooting style. We walked away from school with numerous projects and experience under our belts, not including what we were learning on film sets outside of school. At the same token, there are plenty of success stories of people who didn't attend film school. There are no absolutes to anything. It's what you make of your experiences.

DH: Where did the idea for, "Creepers" come from?

NICK: Creepers was an idea I had for years but never got around to doing it until CJ asked me if I wanted to work on another movie with him. I pitched him the idea and he liked it. Within a week he had written a great rough draft. CJ had taken my ideas about aliens using flesh to hide and blend in with us and made it more about two characters and how they deal with the possibility of one of them being one of these things.

CJ: Nick and I throw ideas out to each other all the time. For "Creepers", I told him I wanted to do a project that he directed and I'd write. He pitched me the idea of aliens with skin falling off their flesh. It's an idea he had years ago, that I remember he talked a lot about. I liked it. So, when writing the script, I wanted to make a more personal story with epic proportions in short film. This idea of an alien attack happening without any clear knowledge of what triggered it or why they're doing it... its happening and chaos ensues really got me going. "Creepers" is a bit of a mystery story. I wanted to have a man and woman who were physically and socially opposite of each other who were forced together under extreme circumstances. They slowly learn what's happening and it causes even more tension between them.

DH: What film and/or films have most inspired you as actor and director and why?

NICK: My main influence for “Creepers” was John Carpenter’s “The Thing”. With “Creepers”, we really tried to play up the fact that the end of the world is here and you can’t do a thing about it. “The Thing” really captured that dread like no movie ever has. The pacing and tension in that movie is so intense. “Creepers” pays a lot of homage to it and brings some new elements to it.

CJ: I often get inspired by John Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China". I'm not sure why but, it gets me pumped. I think it's John Carpenter's music score and just this whole "Fish out of water" element with a lot of action and Chinese mystique that's very appealing to me. The beginning of that movie always gets me hooked in no matter how many times I've seen it. As an actor I try to draw from my own imagination to make things a bit more unique and original. I do look a lot at what Denzel Washington, Will Smith, and Brad Pitt do. They have a wide range of performances that always draw people in whether they're quiet or speaking. With "Creepers", I watched Gerard Butler's performance in "300" and Matthew Fox in ABC's "Lost".

DH: Describe your particular take on the alien invasion movie.

NICK: Ours is different because its not the aliens coming down in spaceships, it’s about aliens taking over us. I love the character development that can come out of not knowing if the person sitting next to you is one of aliens unless they “creep” out on you.

CJ: In alien invasion movies you either see it two ways: one, it's from the point of view from various main characters in different places that unite to face an alien threat. The second is you're stuck with a small group of people, again facing an alien threat. With "Creepers" we wanted to create a more personal story that presented the question of "What would you do if aliens invaded earth?" No seriously...what would you do? When facing frightening situations, human instincts either present the worst or the best in you. That's what we wanted to show in "Creepers". You only see things from the perspectives of two characters throughout the whole story. What happens when the cell phones go dead? The radios are cut off? Your TV doesn't work and everywhere you look people are killing each other. The world is a frightening place when you don't have all the answers. Humans are unique species. Humans have emotions, feelings, and certain aspects that separate us from other life forms. We're a complicated, difficult species to understand...even to the "Creepers".

DH: Describe your directing/acting styles.

CJ: As far as our directing styles go, Nick and I tend to use more hand-held techniques, more so Nick than I. I tend to use more fluid moving shots juxtaposed with hand-held techniques. We also like to shoot more projects in digital video to give audiences a sense of realism combined with a "film look".

In acting, I usually draw from my imagination. I ask a lot of questions like "where is this character from?" and "where is he going?" I also ask myself "what makes this character unique?" In "Creepers", I tried to show an evolution of body language throughout the whole piece. I start out as a man with quick reflexes, to very still and quiet, and finally to an emotionally unstable person.

DH: "Creepers" moved from a spectacle opening to a two person one room style story, which I thought was f'ing awesome by the way. Explain to us the reason for this decision.

NICK: We started the movie that way to show the destruction that has happened in the world around the main characters. Once the characters move into the house I like the fact that it feels like their locked in and there’s no where to go or they will die. By opening the movie that way you set up the fear and tension of why they can’t leave the house.

CJ: I love to give people a catchy opening and when Nick and I talked about it, I said, "we should just have an insane opening where the audience is right smack in the middle of things". We knew we would be working with a low budget and that we wouldn't have a lot set pieces. But, this is an epic story, there needs to be some sort of action piece that separates our short film from others. From a story telling standpoint, we wanted to show audiences why two strangers would be extremely motivated to trap themselves in a house. Our opening sets up the stakes and what type of characters we're dealing with. All hell's breaking loose and if these two strangers get into it, it looks like it could be a pretty one-sided fight.

DH: How is "Creepers" different from anything you've both done before?

CJ: I think as filmmakers, as you go along with different projects your skills sharpen and you tend to push yourselves more on a creative level. With "Creepers" this was the next step for Nick and I. It showcases his visual style and my writing and acting style. Usually in the projects we've done together he usually writes and directs his own projects and I do the same. Now this time, he focused more on the directing aspect and I focused on more of the writing and acting portion.

DH: What were the biggest challenges you faced when making, "Creepers"?

NICK: Making a movie is like going to war. But, the crew did a really good job and kept really excited and pumped about making it. A big part of the crew were people who we had gone to film school with and they all knew the difficulty in making short movies on a little budget. Every movie I have ever made has things that go wrong but its at that moment when you and the crew have to be on your feet ready to switch things and make it through the problems that lay in front of you. I believe every one on set stood up to challenges that were put before us.

CJ: In the entertainment there are always challenges. We actually had a make up artist who quit on us the day before our first day of shooting so, Nick, true to form, said, "F** it, I can do it." So, sure enough, Nick did the make up for the grocery store scene. Then I found two friends who did the make up for the other days of shooting and they did a fantastic job. For the most part, production went smooth but post-production was a hassle because of the time and energy involved. Like, I said, there are always challenges but it's what brings out the best of you. In the entertainment business, no one cares about excuses or problems. Everyone just cares about the end result. We're happy with the end result.

DH: What did you shoot on and how long of a shoot was it?

NICK: The movie was shot on digital video because of the amazing look you can get. The main production was filmed in an apartment and a city block in Los Angeles California. We shot there for two days, with neighbors and people driving by giving us weird looks because half the cast were bloody and even some with faces torn off. The other day we shot at night at Pacific Ranch Market in Orange County California. The Market closed at 9 PM so we got the rest of the night to shoot the remarkable “News Report” scene.

CJ: We shot on digital video to give our story a sense of realism and it's our style of filmmaking. Specifically, we used a Sony HD-Camera, and (2) Panasonic DVX cameras. Filming went underway for three days in three different locations (Los Angeles, California-House Residence, Orange County, California-Pacific Ranch Market, and Los Angeles California-street block). The Pacific Ranch Market in Orange County provided a critical scene that has a suspenseful newscast filled with chaos. The crew for was able to shoot uninterrupted, for hours in the market for free because Nick worked as a manager at the market as a teen.

DH: What personal sacrifices were made to get the movie in the can?

NICK: Making a movie takes a lot of your time and money. So when you make one and it’s out of your pocket you have to sacrifice a lot. The Budget was very small. It only cost a couple of thousand dollars, which came out of CJ’s and my pocket. The budget went to food, blood and make up effects, visual effects, and postproduction costs.

CJ: Well, the budget for "Creepers" came out of our own pockets. So, for a while there, Nick and I were working all the time to make up for the money we invested into "Creepers". Also, time and energy were sacrificed. That's an element of filmmaking that never changes. There are always long hours and a lot of energy invested into one project at a time. Nick and I both edit for our main source of income and I write all the time, so, believe me when I say I was sick of being in front of a computer. Even now, I can't stick in front of a computer for too long like I used to. Imagine us working 9-10 hour days editing at our jobs. Then driving home and have to stick be stuck in front of a computer for an additional three hours doing the same thing you just did all day. But hey, like the man said, "No sacrifice, no glory."

DH: Will "Creepers" have a sequel and/if so, what can audiences expect to see?

NICK: Well, hopefully if the response is good we can get more work off this movie. CJ & I have talked about turning “Creepers” into a feature and have some really fresh ideas for it. But only time will tell what’s in store for “Creepers”.

CJ: One of our main goals with "Creepers" was to explore it as a feature franchise. I'm currently writing the first draft of "Creepers" the feature. When Nick and I first came up with the idea for "Creepers” we said, the story is pretty epic, so, a feature would do the world we created some justice. With a feature I’m able to give our story and characters more exposition and really polish what I thought didn’t work for us in the short film. I think now, horror films have lost it's meaning. "Horror" used to be something that will scare the living hell out of you and because it scared you so much you can't help but love it. Now, we're loaded with gore, cheap scares, and a predictable ending...I hope with a feature version of "Creepers" we can really do what "Jaws" or "The Shinning" did for audiences. The "Creepers" feature will be a lot scarier on a visual sense and "Bridget" and "Thompson" will be joined by two other main characters. The story is really flowing right now and the feature version of "Creepers" will hopefully be made the way we always dreamed of and deliver big scares unlike anything you’ve seen before.

DH: How was your experience on the festival circuit?

NICK: The festival circuit has been really great. The reactions have been amazing and it’s so nice to watch the movie with an audience to see their reaction. So far we have gained a lot of attention and the response have been great.

CJ: Thus far, it's been very cool. With horror there's a market to show your film everywhere, so, it's nice to get a chance to show your film to people who can not only enjoy it but, see the "Easter eggs" you placed in your work. Horror has a great fan base and is great beginning for up-and coming filmmakers. From film festivals, small to large, I always enjoy speaking with true fans of filmmaking and horror.

DH: Tell us about distribution. What's your experience been in that arena and what steps do you recommend aspiring filmmakers take to get their movies out there?

CJ: We had a specific marketing strategy for "Creepers" and we wanted to begin revealing the world of "Creepers" online. The Internet is an easy outlet for independent filmmakers, especially those like Nick and I who are a part of the "myspace/youtube" generation. We're also looking at different avenues at what would work best for us as far as showing or film in other ways besides film festivals. I'd recommend for aspiring filmmakers to create a solid game plan of marketing and distribution. Sometimes that can get lost in translation because you're usually focused on the whole "creating a movie" task. For us, we presented a two-minute clip and teaser trailers online and circulated them that way to spread word of mouth and to gain interest from people. Now, you can post clips on you tube, myspace, etc. and send your films to different avenues. We sent our film-to-film festivals and different places for film review that we thought would best suit us. Now, you can even sell your movie through Amazon or itunes. It's all about how you want to present your film.

DH: What's next for Nick Thiel and CJ Johnson?

NICK: CJ and I have talked about making more movies. I have also been working on ideas for other movies in the horror genre. I’m always working and still deciding at this point what to make next.

CJ: Right now, we're still promoting "Creepers" and riding the film festival circuit. I’m also writing the first draft of the feature version. Besides that, Nick has been brainstorming about some new ideas. I've been busy writing several projects and developing a promo for a new web series I created.