Screenwriting Aspirations

There's a pretty good reason why I haven't been posting on here regularly and I'll let you know what it is...

I'm polishing up a script that I'm going to be entering into the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards.  I've been working on this script for a while and, a few weeks ago, I saw that the late deadline for the contest was Monday, April 2nd.  So, I made that my goal.  When I say I've been working on it a while, I mean I've been working on it for a while... like, 2 years.  I wrote my first draft fast, like a month and a bit.  Then, I rewrote it a couple times, I gave it out to a few people to get their advice and feedback, then I sat on it... for about a year.  Not sure what I was doing during that time, probably just drinking and contemplating the shittyness of aspiring to be a screenwriter.  Anyhow, I picked it back up a few months ago and, well, here we are.  So, every spare minute I get, I've got that fucking thing open and I'm tweaking words, phrases and sentences.  I'm cutting lines of description and I'm really working hard to polish this turd up.  At absolute worst, I want to be done with it so I can move on to my next script, for Christ's sake.  

There's only a handful of screenwriting competitions that are worth entering, let's start with that, and PAGE is one of them.  Slamdance's early deadline is in a couple weeks, that one is also worthwhile, especially as they have a horror specific category AND they've developed some of the screenplays.  I'll be entering it, as well.  Here's a link to the PAGE Awards site, as well as Slamdance, if you're interested.  I actually know a couple people that have been judges at PAGE and I've spoken with the festival director before.  I've also spoken with the festival director at Slamdance.  Long and short, I trust them.  For horror, there's also Screamfest and Shriekfest, but I don't know when their deadlines are.  I'm going to look into that.  

The cool thing is that, for an extra $50 or so, both PAGE and Slamdance will give you feedback on your script.  This is really what I'm looking forward to.  Truth is, not that many people have read my work.  Sure, a lot of my friends in the industry have, but they're going to be bias.  Sure, a few friends outside the industry have, but they don't know a good script for a piece of shit.  Sure, my film professors and some script supervisors have read my work, but I was paying them.  This will be industry folks that don't know me at all and have nothing to gain.  I want to know where I stand with them.  Quite frankly, so should you.  If you're an industry outsider and you're an aspiring screenwriter, what kind of options do you have of getting noticed?  Well, I'll tell you what... some sort of accolade from one of these competitions is a good start and if you get the big heave-ho right away, knowing why you suck is just as important.  

Anyhow, I'll let you all know how it goes, every step of the way.  

Stay tuned...      

Interview with Drew Daywalt, director of the upcoming SyFy film, "Leprechaun's Revenge"

Sometimes you get to do a wicked interview and sometimes you get to do a WICKED interview... and, what can I say?  This interview was particularly wicked.  Why?  Because we're talking with Drew Daywalt.  Who's he?  Well, Drew Daywalt is a name you should know and, if you don't know it, get to know it.  He's truly someone that all of us indie and micro-cinema horror filmmakers should look up to and strive to be like.

He first came to our attention with his short horror films on Youtube and when he was doing that, he was one of the first.  Fast forward a few years, he's now at the helm of a big project for SyFy called "Leprechaun's Revenge".  What's next?  I can't wait to find out.  

Anyhow, let's cut to the chase here... You need to see "Leprechaun's Revenge", which premiers on SyFy this weekend, but before you do... you need to read this interview.  Trust me, you'll be glad you did.  

We’ve been following your career path for a while now, but for those who might not know, please give us a bit of a recap. Tell us a bit about yourself and some of the projects that you’ve worked on.

Thanks for talking to me Ted! I actually think you were the first person online to interview me ever, come to think of it, and I’ve always been really grateful of your support. I love Dead Harvey.

I have been a working screenwriter and director in Hollywood for 15 years. I used to do big studio action stuff. I’ve written for Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer, Brett Ratner. Lots of high octane, young male driven action and buddy stuff. But I was in that loop in the studio system where I was making a living but nothing was getting made. So when the writer’s strike happened in 2007 -2008, I decided to make a bit of a career change. I saw how horror films were getting made so readily, and they were done on these controled budgets. I also realized how much influence watching monster and horror films as a kid had influenced my going to work in Hollywood -- and I decided I would pursue my heart’s desire and try and make a go of it in horror films.

So during the WGA strike I got together with friends and we made a bunch of horror shorts, only a few minutes long each, more like skits, and we posted them online. One of the first ones I made, BEDFELLOWS, went viral and had 2 million hits in the first week, and I knew I was onto something. It was a weird thing discovering I could scare someone.

Your latest project is “Leprechaun’s Revenge”. So, what’s the quick synopsis?

A young girl picks a red four leaf clover and inadvertently releases an ancient creature that was magically imprisoned beneath the roots of an oak tree by her ancestors. The thing gets loose and terrorizes her small New England town. And now the girl and her drunk grandfather and hapless sheriff father must stop it before it kills everyone.

You worked with some great actors on this film, including Billy Zane, William Devane and Courtney Halverson. How was it working with such a talented cast?

Even I’m shocked at how good the cast is. I think that speaks to the script and the work of my team, in drawing them in on such a small budgeted project. Billy Zane and I immediately bonded and it was like going to work with your brother every day. He’s smart and intuitive and put a lot of work into his character. Every day he’d come to set with new thoughts and ideas on how to make his character and the film a sa whole, better.

I hate to call anyone an icon because it’s like short hand for “old” but damn it, William Devane is an icon. And he’s such a great guy. He’d come on the set and have everyone laughing and enjoying themselves. And he really dug in to the light spirit and fun of the piece. We took the work seriously and tried to make an entertaining film, but god forbid we ever take ourselves seriously.

Courtney Halverson is a dear friend of mine now. I first worked with her on Death Valley at MTV and we hit it off immediately. I remember reading this script and instantly thinking it had to be her. And I’m really proud of her. She carries the entire throughline of the film and does a great job of bringing real moments and real pathos to a character that could easily been another horror damsel in distress. I know everyone’s going to be impressed with Courtney’s work on this. I know I am.

You worked with Jeff Farley, one of our favorite effects guys. Talk about the effects and will the gore-hounds have something to look forward to?

Jeff saved the day on this film. It was awesome. I knew that if we went full CG on the creature in the short time we had to make this film (5 months, by the way from start to finish) then the creature would look like dogshit. There’s just no way to do good CG on this budget and this schedule, but if we went old school physical effects, and just enhanced it a little bit with CG, then we could pull it off. But even that was going to be tough. Jeff came in and made it work. He’s really a great joy and a creative force. There’s no “We can’t do that,” with Jeff Farley. He just rolls up his sleeves and makes it happen. It’s inspiring to work with him. I think gore hounds and creature fans will be more than pleased with his work, as well as the work of Ashley Walsh who supervised all of the gore while Jeff focues on the monster.

Do you have a favorite moment in the film? Tell us about it… and why?

I have a few. The thing about creature features is that we’ve seen every kind of kill you can imagine. There’s nothing knew under the sun, in that regard. I also had no money to do the kills right, so instead of going for super realistic gore, we did a stylized thing and most of the deaths are hysterical to me. But my favorite has to be one of the main characters who gets it in the end. I don’t want to spoil anything, but you’ll know it when you see it.

Do you have a favorite behind-the-scenes story? If so, what is it?

Thanksgiving fell into the middle of our shooting schedule, and we shot the film in Baton Rouge, Louisiana so a bunch of us were orphaned on location over the holiday. But I flew my wife and children out and we had a great thanksgiving dinner with the cast and crew. It was really nice. There was a great bonding that occured on this film and we felt like family. Billy was my surogate brother at the table and there was William Devane, our family patriarch watching football and enjoying the little kids. It was awesome.

You come from very indie roots and this is a pretty big project. Tell us, how did this project come about?

Oh man. This one came out of nowhere on me. It was so fast, it sent me reeling a little bit, actually. I was developing a really dark and horrific script with After Dark when they told me that Syfy had approved me to direct this other thing they had that was going right away. It was about a town caught up in it’s own dark history with a mythological creature, in this case a leprechaun. I read the script, it made me laugh and I thought, what the hell. I’ll try a creature feature. And we were off to the races.

When we first started watching your films, you were making short, indie films on low, low budgets. Since then, you’ve directed some episodes of MTV’s “Death Valley” and now “Leprechaun’s Revenge”. What are the most important skills that you acquired from your indie days?

Somehow, being able to work fast and cheap is still one of my greatest tools, much to my own damn chagrin. The thing is, the more money they give you, the more they ask for. So while my early stuff was indie short film horror, we didn’t have much, but we had time to deliver. Here I had more money, but the demands were much higher, the bar is raised, so I really felt very much the same as in my early indie stuff. The pressure was on, but in a different way.

I’m sure that a lot of our readers would aspire to follow in your career path… if you could pass on a few pieces of advice to them, what would that be?

My advice is that, with the advent of digital DSLRS and wide bandwidth to boradcast on the internet that occured last decade, you need to buy a camera, write short films, then film them and post them. It’s way easier than in the 90’s when I started and you had to save up to rent film cameras and buy film stock. It’s crazy how easy it is now to access the gear. The saying has always been “Writers write.” Well now it’s “Filmmakers film.” I really believe in just going for it and practicing your craft until people notice. I really do. I love the age we’re in.

So, tell us, where can people find out more about “Leprechaun’s Revenge” and when does it air?

You can see a trailer of it here -- and it airs This Saturday night March 17th at 9pm and I think again at 11pm. So it’ll make a great St. Patrick’s Day party viewing. Just make sure to have some green beer on hand!

What’s next for you? Do you have any more projects in the works?

I’m off to do a high profile web series and after that I’m directing another feature. A ghost story. This one is incredibly dark and character driven. It’s so completely on the other end of the horror spectrum from lighthearted murderous Leprechauns.

Interview with Christopher DiNunzio, writer/director of "Her Heart Still Beats"

I always like doing interviews with filmmakers that we've talked to before.  It's great to see how they've evolved and, also, to know that they're still out there, fighting the good fight.  A true indie horror filmmaker is kinda like those cheap clown punching bags, you know?  They don't cost much, they get the shit kicked out of them and they're not widely regarded as the best toy on the market, but they keep popping back up and they're always smiling.  I don't want to say that Christopher DiNunzio is like a cheap clown punching bag, but he certainly is an indie horror filmmaker.  The last time we spoke with him, we were discussing his feature vampire gangster film, "Livestock", which is a great flick and if you'd like to go back and check out that interview, click here.  Now, DiNunzio is back with a horror short called "Her Heart Still Beats" and here's what he had to say about it...

Tell us about your film, what’s it all about?

The film is called "Her Heart Still Beats" here's the synopsis: When Ed's wife comes home early from work one day he becomes overtaken by a strange feeling when he looks into her eyes. Disturbed or possibly just paranoid, Ed becomes possessed with his wife's eyes and struggles to understand these feelings. Is she evil or is he insane? They may not have enough time to find out.

If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the film and how did you secure financing?

I don't mind you asking but I'm not telling! LOL. It was low. Very low. We own a lot of equipment so it cuts the cost down. Me and my producer Jason Miller financed the entire thing.

As of right now, what are your goals for the film and what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?

My goals are to get as many people as I can to see "Her Heart Still Beats" and use it as a show piece to get more films made. Right now I'm looking into self distribution. I really need to get on that but I just started a film festival with a few great filmmakers and friends of mine (Jason Miller and Nolan Yee) It's called The Massachusetts Independent Film Festival. You can send us Horror by the way! So I've been putting in a lot of time into that. It's been fun! As the film goes I've sent the film out to some people and the response has been great! I'm looking into streaming and hope to get that off the ground soon.

What about film festivals? Are you going to enter your film? If you have, how did it do? Tell us about your feelings around the indie film fest circuit.

I have sent "Her Heart Still Beats" out to a few festivals, I won't hear back from any until summer. I just started a film festival myself so I think they are great! But seriously they are a good way to get you and your film's name out there. Just make sure you research the festival before you submit and remember if your film gets rejected it doesn't mean it sucks. Some people have no taste and others may have to cut your film because they've gotten a ton of good films in and someone needs to get cut. No one likes cutting films.

Talk about distribution. Have you secured distribution? If so, how did you go about doing that? If not, what’s your plan?

My plans are to stream it but I still need a tech guy to help me with that. I can safely say I know nothing about this stuff so If you know someone please let me know! If a company wants to take it on I'd love to hear them out. I'm not dying to give it to a distributor who's just going to sit on it.

Where can people find out more about the film and/or get their hands on a copy?

I have a donations button on my website (CreepyKidProductions.com) If you donate and send me an email or a note though paypal I'll send you a DVD or Blu-Ray. They are burnt but they look really good. The Blu-Rays look amazing!

Talk about the production. How did it go? Tell us one good or funny story that demonstrates the trials and tribulations of being an indie filmmaker.

I don't have any funny stories because my cast and crew were great to work with and are just good people. We had fun and the set was full of positive attitudes. When you get people who know how to work hard and are willing to do so it makes it easy. I got to work with Fiore Leo and Leighsa Burgin again, and they are just so talented. I love them both. I also worked with a few new people, John Martellucci, Michael Capozzi and William Bloomfield. All three are great to work with and have a lot of talent. I really had an A list cast. No exaggeration. I also would like to mention some of my crew who worked their butts off. James Sullivan, Chris Hebert, Martin A. Begue, Justin Thibault and Scott Reardon. They all put so much into this film. Also Nicholas David Potvin gave me another great score for the film.

What about you? Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into indie horror.

I got in to Horror from watching Dario Argento. He showed me Horror is an Art. Then I found Mario Bava, who came before Argento but just as cool. Filmmaking gives me so much pride. I love to create something and have people feel something cause of it and Horror lets you use so many emotions. To go back to Dario I just love his work he seems so free with his filmmaking. He makes the films he wants to see and that's what I try to do. I make films I want to see and hope people dig them and if they do I love them for it! Really all the people who have given me support over the last few years I thank you!!!

Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?

The indie horror scene is cool. It's a lot of people that want to see new stuff and share with each other. That's always a great thing. As far as it's future is concerned... Horror will never die!

Do you have any more projects in the works? What’s next for you?

I do. Myself and another friend of mine, Pedro Alvarado, are writing a feature. It's a crime/drama about the tough decisions people need to make in order to stay alive or to keep feeling alive. It's going to be a dark neo-noir film. We got our inspiration from all those great old Noir films from the 30's and 40's. I can't say too much more about it right now but we hope to start shooting this Spring/Summer. Keep a look out for it!

Interview with Douglas A. Plomitallo, the writer, producer and director of the web based anthology, "Scared Stiff"

I think we're all well aware of the fact that the online world is the future of distribution for us indie horror filmmakers.  It sounds stupid to say that, actually.  I mean, we all know it to be true and people have been saying it for years, but... it hasn't really happened yet.  The technology is all there, it's all possible, yet, for some reason, we're just not there.  Having said that, there's a few guys out there that are blazing the trail and Douglas A Plomitallo is one of those guys.  Check out this great interview about his web based project, "Scared Stiff". 

Tell us about your project, what’s it all about?

“Scared Stiff” is an anthology series of short horror films. The show features a variety of stories featuring an assortment of zombies, ghosts, vampires, serial killers and other fun creatures.

If you don’t mind us asking, what’s your budget for each episode and how do you secure financing?

The show is completely self-financed. Our talented cast and crew graciously volunteer their time to help make the show the best it can be. Over the course of the past three and a half years, I have been slowly purchasing higher-end equipment to help achieve the high production value that we strive for. As far as budget for each episode goes, not counting the cost of the equipment purchases, the cost of each show is actually quite minimal. It is actually rare for the cost of each production to go over 100 dollars. On some of our productions, the only cost will be food and refreshments for the cast and crew.

As of right now, what are your goals for the project and what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?

As the show goes on we aim to continue to raise the production values and to reach a much larger audience. On top of investing money in new gear, we’ve continued to gel as a team and strengthen our talents to help improve the product. We’ve been trying to do some new stuff with the show and add different kinds of content to attract different audiences. We try to give a little something for everyone on the show and I’m confident that with our high quality entertainment and original stories, fans are bound to come across “Scared Stiff” at one point and share with other horror fans. On top of that, we’ve been more active in the social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to try to spread the news of our product.

You’ve chosen to distribute your project online in webisodes. How’s that going and what are your goals now that it’s out there?

On top of creating new content, our goal is to introduce as many people as possible to our existing episodes. “Scared Stiff” is available to watch for free on many sites including YouTube, Vimeo, and Blip and can be downloaded for free on our own website, ScaredStiff.tv. We are confident that by allowing the viewers free access to the content, they will like what they see and want to watch more. We hope to grow our fan base to the point where we can show investors that we have a big enough following where they can help fund our future films with little gamble.

Where can people find out more about the project and watch it?

People can watch and download our shows for free on our website, www.ScaredStiff.tv or they can watch the shows in high-definition on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/scaredstifftv.

Talk about the production. How did it go? Tell us one good or funny story that demonstrates the trials and tribulations of being an indie filmmaker.

Well one story from last summer I won’t forget anytime soon. We were shooting in an old girl scout camp in Kent, CT that had been abandoned for the last 20 years. (The camp is less than a mile way from the location used as Camp Crystal Lake from Friday the 13th Part 2!) To avoid any possible interference, I always kept the gate to the camp locked whether we were in there or not. One afternoon, I was coming back to the camp from lunch and there was a state trooper’s car blocking the gate. I got out of my car and slowly walked up to the patrol car to find out what the deal was. As I approached the car, a trooper immediately jumped out, pointed his gun at me, and yelled “Hold it right there”! He questioned who I was and why I was there. He wouldn’t tell me what was going on but told me to open the gate so he and another trooper could check the premises. The whole time I had no idea what was going on and thought that the production was going to be shut down! To make a long story short, there had been two guys who had been pool hopping around Kent and decided to go skinny-dipping in one of the pools. Little did they know that they had jumped into former speaker of the house Henry Kissinger’s pool and it had now become national security! One thing I am glad I did was before the Patrolman left to go into the camp I warned him that we had a prop gun on set and that one of the actors might have it on him. It turns out that at the time we were driving down to the set, they were testing out the prop gun. The thing looks and sounds like a real gun. I could only imagine what would have happened if the patrolman happened to arrive on set as that gun went off without warning!

What about you? Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into indie horror.

I had always been a big horror fan and always wanted to make horror films since I was a kid. A few years ago, I was working a job that regularly had me there for 60 to 70 hours a week. As a creative outlet, I decided to start writing a book of short horror stories to keep myself sane during the demanding schedule. Always being more of a film guy, I couldn’t help but visualize them as movies. I had always being a fan of anthology horror shows such as “Tales from the Darkside” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” so I was excited about the idea of actually shooting these stories. I wouldn’t have time to shoot full-length television episodes, and at the time there were no other horror shows on the web so I figured short mini-horror movies would be a novel idea.

Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?

There are so many different options for distribution now than there were just 5 or 6 years ago. The Internet has completely changed the game. Now with YouTube, Vimeo and other video sharing sites, people can share their work all over the world. It is now possible for even low budget indie films to get a distribution deal with Netflix and Hulu. And with niche market message boards and with the influx of social media sites, it is much easier to introduce your film to an audience. Although the other side to it is, with so much material out there, it is easier to have your films get lost in the shuffle so filmmakers need to use that as motivation to try harder to make their films stand out.

Do you have any more projects in the works? What’s next for you?

In addition to “Scared Stiff”, I am constantly working on new projects. Last summer, I produced a feature length zombie film that we hope to have in film festivals this summer. I am also currently editing “The Housesitter” which is the first in a planned trilogy of horror films. Also, very recently I started shooting a documentary that will be released next year. When I am not making movies, I run a production company, D2 Media, which produces television commercials and corporate videos. On top of my film work, I also have several web projects I am working on and am currently writing a book that I hope to have out next year.

Interview with James Plumb, director of "Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection"

Zombie films are, and always have been, one of my favorite horror genres.  The problem is, I used to like ALL zombie films, but lately, with the mass explosion of zombies (I salivate at the thought of those words being written into an action line in a zombie script), there's been a lot of shit on the market.  So, I'm really excited to check this one out, "Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection" because it looks pretty damned good. 

It's a remake, sort of, of the 1968 Romero classic, "Night of the Living Dead". What's interesting (and what a lot of people might not know) is that it's completely legal to rip off the original movie, as it's in the public domain due to a mistake made by the original distributor. Because of that, we've seen a few notable re-imaginings, including last year's "Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated", which was very different and very entertaining. 

Now I'm excited to check this one out. James Plumb, the director, offers us up a great interview here, but before we get to it... he'd like to duly credit Victoria Rodway for all the stills that you see here.

Tell us about your film, what’s it all about?

Well, our Producer hesitates to call "Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection" a remake, preferring the phrase "companion piece", but essentially it's a remake of the 1968 Romero classic, set in the UK. However unlike a number of the studio-driven remakes of the past few years, NOTLDR is not a straight, shot for shot remake. Instead it looks at the core concept that made the original NOTLD so powerful, and then goes in its own direction.

For examples of how to do a remake well, I looked to John Carpenter's version of The Thing and Cronenberg's The Fly. Beyond the central idea, these films keep very little of their originals.

If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the film and how did you secure financing?

We're not at a stage when we can throw that figure around yet. But like the original, NOTLDR is a low budget, independent film. Shot in the style of our low budget, independent predecessors. We secured financing through private investors that our producer had worked with in the past.

As of right now, what are your goals for the film and what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?

Well the first goal was to make a feature film! It's my feature film debut and it was a hell of an opportunity. I also wanted to make a real effort to try and redeem remakes. Most of us groan at the thought of another remake, but really we're just not looking forward to a BAD film. My main goal for the film was to make a horror film that was a straightforward horror film. Sounds simple, right? But there are so many action films out there with horror genre set dressing, masquerading as horror films. A girl, two guns and a thousand zombies/vampires/werewolves to be shot at. That's not a horror film.

With NOTLDR we went back to basics, we had characters that the audience could empathise with, so that when horrible things did happen to them (spoilers!) the audience would care and get upset.

What about film festivals? Are you going to enter your film? If you have, how did it do? Tell us about your feelings around the indie film fest circuit.

What's odd is that, in the UK at least, the majority of horror film fests are around Halloween time. By that time I imagine, due to the interest so far, our film will have been released already. Which is a shame because in the UK we have some great horror fests including my personal favourite Abertoir, Wales' only horror fest, run by the wondrous Gaz Bailey. Usually five or six days long, it's a great place for horror fans and filmmakers to get together, drink and watch horror films for 15-16 hours a day. A great atmosphere, I'd definitely recommend it to fans and filmmakers alike.

Talk about distribution. Have you secured distribution? If so, how did you go about doing that? If not, what’s your plan?

It's still early days, at this exact moment we just sent off the picture lock to the Sound Designer, but already we've had some confirmed deals in some territories and plenty of interest from the big names in horror distribution. For the most part, that was on the strength of four things, a "brand" name, a great poster, an intriguing teaser trailer and the hard work of our producer Andrew Jones.

Where can people find out more about the film and/or get their hands on a copy?

Everything's moving so quickly at the moment, but interested parties can find us on twitter: @madsciencefilms and @northbankentertainment. Or at our websites: madsciencefilms.com and northbankentertainment.com. But the teaser trailer is available to view:



Talk about the production. How did it go? Tell us one good or funny story that demonstrates the trials and tribulations of being an indie filmmaker.

Low budget film shoots are really just an endurance test. Its not the money directly that can put pressure on a low budget film, its the time restriction. That being said, surviving on one semi-decent meal a day and a maximum of four hours sleep for ten days was still one of the best experiences of my life.

On day one when we had some practical SFX set and ready to go, and I was surrounded by a hardworking crew made up of true horror fans, it was great to peer through the viewfinder and watch our film come together. For most of the shoot we were at nice secluded locations, so we had plenty of privacy, although we definitely felt the isolation for those ten days. During the course of the shoot I, and most of the cast and crew for that matter, managed to get fake blood all over my clothes. So on the drive back to civilisation, we stopped off to top up on petrol and for the life of me I coudn't figure out why I was getting so many odd looks. It wasn't until I got back in the car that I realised that, in the real world, its not normal for a guy to walk round covered in dried blood. It took me a couple of days to make that mental shift, and to do all my laundry.

What about you? Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into indie horror.

I'm a child of the 80s, raised by the VCR and used to spend hours in my local video shop, just staring at the VHS covers of horror films. When I was very little, that was the closest I'd get to these films, staring at them like works of art in a gallery. When I finally got to see the films, often those with the best covers were the worst films! I always wished that the films would live up to the promise of the posters. But when the films were good, horror films achieved something spectacular. They were able to tackle weighty issues, but make them more "palatable" with the genre set dressings. As a lifelong horror fan, I couldn't wait to develop my own horror projects. The chance to tell a story, convey a message and play with all the toys of film making. I was hooked.

Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?

In the UK, and in South Wales in particular, there seems to be a real horror/exploitation revival going on. Dave Beynon is working on a fascinating documentary called "Industry My Arse!" which looks at the independent British exploitation scene at the height of the VHS boom. SJ Evans and David Melkevik have another great slasher project on the go "New Year's Evil". For me, its a very exciting time as both a fan and a filmmaker.

Do you have any more projects in the works? What’s next for you?

I'm working on a feature film version of my love letter to slasher films "Final Girl" (handy link here: http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/film/1647/final-girl) which I'm going to fund through the crowdfunding route. I also have another top secret project at the moment, which I'm not allowed to announce just yet.

Interview with Darrell Smith about the indie film, "Rage"

Tell us about your film, what’s it all about?

The title of my film is "Rage". Rage, tells the story of Dennis Twist, a suburban 30-something whom unintentionally provokes the wrath of a homicidal motorcycle rider.

If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the film and how did you secure financing?

Let's just say that the budget was less than craft services on a Hollywood production. Way under 1 million! All of the financing was secured by individual investors.

As of right now, what are your goals for the film and what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?

Our goals are to get worldwide distribution through all channels: theatrical, VOD, DVD, etc. Currently we are doing heavy social media promotion, as well as reaching out to as many reviewers as possible. In addition to any print or online magazines.

What about film festivals?  Are you going to enter your film?  If you have, how did it do?  Tell us about your feelings around the indie film fest circuit.

Rage has been in over 20 festivals across the globe. It has won multiple awards, including Best Horror Feature (Int Horror & Sci-fi Film Fest, Great Lakes Int Film Fest, Hollywood Independent Film Fest, Worldfest-Houston Int Film Fest and the Horror Quest Film Festival). Lead actress Audrey Walker also picked up the best actress award at Horror Quest.  I loved traveling to the film festivals and meeting great people! I do believe that the festivals need to do a better job at filling the seats however! I also hate the politics! Sometimes, if you have a larger budget, known talent, or just are friends with the director, you just may receive an award that you may not deserve!

Talk about distribution.  Have you secured distribution?  If so, how did you go about doing that?  If not, what’s your plan?

We have not secured distribution as of yet. Our plan is to continue to promote and market the film. Hopefully, that will attract the attention of distributors.

Where can people find out more about the film and/or get their hands on a copy?

People can find out about "Rage" by checking out the website at www.ragethemovie.net or
by following us on twitter at http://twitter.com/ragethemovie.

Talk about the production.  How did it go?  Tell us one good or funny story that demonstrates the trials and tribulations of being an indie filmmaker.

The production went pretty well!. I do have one story to tell. A day before shooting began, we found out that several big Hollywood productions were shooting in the area. They ended up taking some of the locations that we had planned to use! Not only that, but they took up most of the radio bans for walkie talkies. We did some guerilla filmmaking, so we had to be careful not to interfere with their productions and get shut down! One of the Hollywood productions was starring a major actor. So one day we hear on our walkie talkies, "Please bring Mr. so and so to the set".  So, we are all scrambling to change the channel, thinking that we were on the radio band for his movie. Eventually, one of the crew members comes in and when we told him what just occured, he starts laughing and says that it was him just fooling around!

What about you?  Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into indie horror.

I have been a horror fan since the 70's. Yes, I am that old!...lol. As a kid Ioved horror movies. My favorites were the old British Dracula movies, produced by Hammer Films. I loved Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Those horse drawn carriages and old castles; wow! I met fellow horror movie fan and "Rage" director Christopher R. Witherspoon in the 90's, when he was looking for investors for a movie. When I saw a poster of the movie "The Reanimator",a film he had worked on, and another personal favorite of mine, I knew I had to work with him.

Talk about the indie horror scene.  Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?

The indie horror scene is where you are going to see original material. Hollywood only seems to want to recycle hit films from the past. The only concern I have is that some filmmakers think that every film has to have buckets of blood and a whole myriad of ways to kill someone! Sometimes simple psychological terror is just as, if not more effective!

Do you have any more projects in the works?  What’s next for you?

The next project I plan on working on is a horror anthology titled, "The Twilight Hotel". It can best be described as "The Twilight Zone" meets Alfred Hitchcock. I will once again be teaming with Christopher R. Witherspoon for the film. After that, who knows! I hope to have a long and successful career!

New York City Horror Film Festival has officially announced its call for entries!

If you've got a finished film and you're looking for a good festival enter, look no further than the New York City Horror Film Festival!  Back after a one year hiatus, they are NOW accepting submissions.  Just click HERE to go to their site...   here's the note that was sent to me:

2012 CALL FOR ENTRIES!

We are now accepting submissions from around the globe for the 2012 New York City Horror Film Festival. 2012 marks our ten year anniversary and to celebrate we are planning an horror event of epic proportions!! See the "submissions" section for details on how to submit features, and shorts.

Press Release on Geno McGahee's "Scary Tales"

We received this press release from Geno McGahee about his latest film, a horror anthology called "Scary Tales".  I figured that I would just share the whole thing, so you can check out how he put it all together and, of course, read all about the film.  I would like to mention that if any of you other filmmakers have press releases or want to talk about your upcoming projects, please let us know!

SCARY TALES – New Horror Anthology in the Vein of CREEPSHOW is Set to Release in 2012

On behalf of X Posse Productions, we are excited to announce that the Official Facebook page for their upcoming horror thriller SCARY TALES. 

SCARY TALES is a unique horror anthology featuring five tales. When four friends reunite at a remote cabin, they share some campfire stories, but the line between fantasy and reality soon gets blurred and the unexplainable begins to occur.  There is something for every horror fan.  SCARY TALES features zombies, werewolves, demons, and the devil himself.  The twists and surprises that were seen in FAMILY SECRET, the last X Posse Production, are also in good supply in this new anthology. 

Written and Directed by Geno McGahee, SCARY TALES is a throwback to the 1970’s character driven horror films.  

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SCARY TALES - Releasing in 2012

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Become a fan of film on Facebook: Click here

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Starring: Leeann Aubuchon, Josh Tienson, Jaki Valensi-Lauper, Forris Day, JR., Tim Pieciak, Kate Lago, Charlotte Lewis, Brent Northup, Savanah Lee Gauthier

Directed by: Geno McGahee

Written by: Geno McGahee

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Any interview requests or any questions or comments can be sent to genobambino69@gmail.com

Interview with Xu Razer, co-director and co-star of HOUSE OF MIRRORS.

      Here's an interview with Xu Razer, the co-director and co-star of the upcoming indie horror, "House of Mirrors".  If you'd like more information on the film, you can check out it's IMDB page here.  Otherwise, Xu offers up a great interview!  


      Tell us about your film, what’s it all about?

      HOUSE OF MIRRORS is about a rich music executive who wakes up amnesiac the morning after a party and receives a phone call that he murdered someone the night before.  He has no memory of the event and is not sure if he did it.  The caller gives him only 48 hours to comply with his bizarre riddles before giving the police info about the murder.

1    If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the film and how did you secure financing?

All we can say about the budget at this time is that it was less than Superman Returns and 2012.

1    As of right now, what are your goals for the film and what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?

Our goals for the film is that it reach as wide an audience as possible- we would like everyone who likes mind bending horror/thriller to get a chance to enjoy it!

1    What about film festivals?  Are you going to enter your film?  If you have, how did it do?  Tell us about your feelings around the indie film fest circuit.

We have submitted our film to a few festivals.  One festival told us he would waive the fee on Withoutabox if we agreed to world premier it at his fest.  We also have a distributor of one of our previous films who requested a copy for a possible festival screening in April.

1    Talk about distribution.  Have you secured distribution?  If so, how did you go about doing that?  If not, what’s your plan?  

We’ve sent out some copies to distributors.  Bloody Disgusting requested a copy after we sent a press release to their site, and told me by e-mail that they partner with Vivendi-Universal to distribute successful horror movies from the film fest circuit.  We haven’t gotten an offer from them, but it was flattering that they requested a copy nonetheless.

1    Where can people find out more about the film and/or get their hands on a copy?

Copies will be available in the next few months when we sign a contract with a distributor.

1    Talk about the production.  How did it go?  Tell us one good or funny story that demonstrates the trials and tribulations of being an indie filmmaker.

One of the cast members got extremely drunk. You’ll see who when you watch the movie.  I had to take the bottle out of his hand and pour it down the sink.  He was a good sport about it.

1    What about you?  Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into indie horror.

we like interesting off-beat stories.  Some big studio horror movie are so formulaic they are painful to watch.  I want to not be able to guess what’s coming next when I watch a movie.

1    Talk about the indie horror scene.  Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?

We see it exploding onto the mainstream with movies like Blair Witch and Paranormal activity.  People are getting tired of the same old stories and want to be shocked with novelty.  Studios are trying to figure out how to make their movie look grainy and bounce the camera so it looks indie.

1    Do you have any more projects in the works?  What’s next for you?

Yep, we are shooting next weekend!

News Out of CES that you should care about...

Do any of you guys give a shit about CES?  If you don't, you really should...  and if you don't know what it is, it's the Consumer Electronics Show and it was in Las Vegas last week. Lots of celebrities hit it up and all the major technology and media companies make big announcements there.  For example, Tom Hanks was there announcing that he's partnered with Yahoo for his next creative venture, "Electric City".  He even went on to say that while feature films are "supposedly the top of the pyramid", the ecosystem is changing.  Since then, Hulu has announced that it's developing a series for online distribution, Netflix is already in the game with it's "Arrested Development" reboot and other big time online projects are popping up.  Online, as a distribution network, is just heating up... and I'm going to do a post on that soon.  Until then, there was some other news out of CES that I found interesting and it has to do with Ultra Violet and Blu-ray.

Everyone knows that the disc format is dying, right?  It's VHS, Beta and 8 tracks all over again, isn't it?  Well, apparently, Blu-ray boosted Hollywood's home video business in 2011, growing 20% and topping $2billion in sales.  That's pretty big news, considering that everyone keeps saying that the home entertainment business is in the dumper.  Sure, overall spending was down, but only slightly... 2%.  That's a far cry from what the studios would have you believe.  So, is home entertainment dead or is it just changing? This is interesting for us indie filmmakers because the theatrical market isn't an option for us... Online isn't going to be a viable option for at least a few years and with the DVD and home entertainment market dying, where are we supposed to turn?  Here's the thing...  I'd argue that a lot of Americans still put a disc into a player to watch movies and aren't going to stop soon... way more than you think, and that's good news for us.  Variety did an article on all the numbers, you can find that here.

The other thing that I found interesting, which they talked a lot about at CES, is Ultra Violet.  Have you heard of this?  Basically, there's a consortium of 70 businesses, called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, that back and are connected to Ultra Violet.  What is it?  Basically, the idea is, content (films, shows, whatever) is stored in the cloud and once you buy that piece of content, you get access to it on any device that you'd want... forever.  Read this article on CNET to read more about how it works.  What I like about this... and any online distribution format, is that, technically, if it catches on, the barriers for indie filmmakers to distribute their content should lessen.  Imagine being able to upload your film, make up a profile page and then it's up to you to market it.  You just collect on all the people who access it.  Think about what it would mean for the indie film festival market, too...  the future could be very bright.

We've got a few interviews with filmmakers to post this week, so stay tuned for that!