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Brian: What first drew you to horror
films - the sensitive triumph of 'Halloween's'
Laurie, the gruesome forbidden - ness of the
genre's bloody disembowelments and amputations,
the hunky antics of the 'Friday the 13th'
victims - all of the above, something else?
Sean:
Good question. I blame my parents! Even when I
was a really little kid, they took me to horror
movies at the drive-in all the time. I distinctly
remember seeing 'Deathrace 2000'
, 'Food of the Gods' and 'Empire
of the Ants' among others. The parental
units had no qualms about me seeing violence.
Strangely, they made me cover my eyes during the
sexual moments. Maybe that's why I'm the big gay
that I am now.... Over time I found that for a
horror flick to really keep my interest, I had to
identify with the characters on some level other
than "Man, I'd hate to have an axe in my
face, too!" So Laurie Strode, the 'Dawn
of the Dead', Mike from 'Phantasm'
- movies with these kinds of characters are the
films I like the most, and aspire to make. That
being said, I have a very guilty soft spot for
films like the 'Guinea Pig' series,
or zero budget, direct to video stuff. I like to
watch pretty much everything, but the character
driven stuff stays with me.
Brian:
With your stage adaptation of the cult classic
'The Corpse Grinders' you got some
attention from Fangoria magazine. What was that
moment like for you? Did you think that you had
finally arrived?
Sean:
When Fango did the 'Monster Invasion'
article on the play (and the original movie), I
was so incredibly excited, I could barely stand
it! Having my name in Fangoria in an article, not
just in the letters column (that had already
happened) was pretty much the biggest thrill in
my life. Sadly, the play really REALLY sucked,
and didn't vault me to the heights of stardom to
which I aspired. Ah well. Now, years later, I've
been in Fangoria a couple more times, and it's
just as thrilling as it ever was.
Brian:
Did your theater work provide you the entrance
into writing for the animated series that you've
written for?
Sean:
In a way, yes. Almost all the plays that I wrote
were basically TV and film styles translated to
stage - 'Attack of the Killer B's' was B-movies,
for instance. 'Santa Claus Conquers the
Martians the Musical', 'Reefer
Madness', 'Corpse Grinders' -
all movie adaptations. That kind of theater was
really big in Chicago at the time. So my writing
was always somewhat focused on the screen even
though it was being produced on stage. From my
theater work I got a gig on the 'You
Don't Know Jack' cd-rom series, which in
turn lead me to my agent who convinced me to move
to LA. A 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer'
spec got me work on 'So Weird' ,
which then lead to the animated stuff like 'Sabrina'
and 'Digimon' . So, a long way
to say - my pop culture sensibility for my
theater work definitely informed my animation
writing.
Brian:
When writing for shows like 'Sabrina'
or 'Men in Black' did you find
you were able to use a lot of your own
imagination or were they more corporate gigs and
you had certain outlines that you had to rigidly
follow?
Sean:
'Sabrina, the Animated Series' (yes, the
official, way-too-on-the-nose title) was a little
bit of both. For shows like that there is a
combination of pitching ideas for episodes, and
being assigned ideas that are already
percolating. So I pitched two different episodes
that they eventually went with - "Hex-Change
Students" and "Boogie Shoes" - and
they assigned me one - "Witchmas
Carol". 'Men in Black: Alien Attack' is actually not the animated series. It's the
ride based on the movie down in Universal Studios
Florida. I co wrote all the video segments that
you see while you're in line for the ride, the
audio announcements you hear, as well as the
stuff with Rip Torn during the "training
video" before you get on. That was a trip.
My co writer and I (Tracy Berna, a big time
animation writer) were given quite a bit of
freedom to brainstorm ideas for the segments,
then that material was put thru the corporate
mill and came out relatively unscathed.
Brian:
Can you tell us a little about 'Butcher
House' and your roles as production
manager and actor?
Sean:
That was a really tough production. I was
actually the line producer and production
manager. I was hired to help a production company
bring a movie in at 50k with 6 shooting days.
Super low budget. We shot in this giant warehouse
in downtown LA that's owned by a guy named Crazy
Gideon - a local legend in the cheap electronics
business. We had to compete with various porn
shoots shooting at the same time, and a boxing
gym downstairs that didn't give a rat's ass about
film production. Thank God for our amazing cast
and crew who worked their asses off under really
stressful conditions.
I actually have a
pretty small part in the film, but I get killed
with a butcher knife quite horribly, so that's
awesome! Ever since I was a kid I wanted to die
in a horror film, and finally I got the chance!
One thing I didn't realize - to make the blood
come out of the costumes on low low budget sets,
they frequently add dish detergent to the mix.
Getting that in my mouth and eyes - yuck!
Brian:
'The Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror'
sounds like an absolute hoot and a half. Can you
give us any background on that project?
Sean:
I produced that film, which was written and
directed by Jaymes Thompson. It's a really funny
movie, political in a great way. The basic plot
revolves around a group of gay and lesbian
couples staying in this lodge in the middle of
nowhere. The proprietor is actually a rabid
conservative who lures gays to their death in the
lodge. It's a lot more twisted than that - there
is also cannibalism, larvae creatures, folk
singing. Tons of gore and sex. We shot for two
weeks in this completely isolated lodge in the
middle of Arizona in February. Boiling during the
day, freezing at night. There have been several
murders there over the years, including one by
the current owner who is in prison. We lived and
shot in the place, and let me tell you, it was
100 percent haunted.
Brian:
What was your initial inspiration for
'Socket'?
Sean:
I'm a gigantic Cronenberg fan. I love his
biological horror movies. So about ten years ago
I was trying to come up with an idea along those
lines, something that incorporated your body
rebelling against you with the added extra bonus
of sexualizing something that wasn't normally
sexual. I also wanted to do a gay film that was
uncompromising in the sexuality of the
characters, but didn't rely on their sexual
identity for the plot. And from there I found my
way to 'Socket' . The outline
sat around for a few years, then I hit a rough
patch with my writing career - I got a few really
not-so-nice rejections of my work. So I said,
"Fuck it" and sat down and wrote the
script. I gave it to my agent who wouldn't send
it out because of the gay characters. (He's no
longer my agent). Finally, after years of doing
stuff for other companies, I decided, once again,
"Fuck it" and went into production.
Brian:
You have an extensive background
directing in theater and as a producer and
obviously knew exactly what you wanted to achieve
with 'Socket' - still, was it
nerve racking as a first time film director or
did it feel like old home week?
Sean:
Both! It was nerve wracking because now, after
everything else I'd done in film and TV, I was in
charge. I was terrified up until we rolled for
the first time. On the other hand, it was old
home week for a couple reasons. First, 'Gay
Bed and Breakfast of Terror's'
writer/director was also one of the leads in the
movie. Suddenly onset I found myself directing
the scenes that Jaymes appeared in. So when it
came to direct 'Socket' I
actually had some time behind the camera and felt
comfortable dealing with actors and the crew.
Secondly, almost all the cast members of 'Socket'
are actors I've worked with before, either in
theater I directed in Chicago, or from the casts
of 'Butcher House' and 'Gay
Bed and Breakfast of Terror.' The crew
was all people I'd worked with on those movies
and 'Rope Burn' , a short I
wrote a couple years ago. And my producing
partners were a couple I met as extras on the
first feature I produced, 'Nine Lives'.
So lots of supportive, familiar faces. I love the
idea of a rep company for film. Hopefully I'll be
able to use all these people over and over again.
Brian:
'Socket' is now entering the festival
going stage. Just to give folks an idea - from
initial idea to investors to filming to editing
to showings - how long has the whole process
taken? And - what has been the best and worst
part of the whole deal?
Sean:
Not counting the time that 'Socket'
sat around as a script in a drawer, the whole
process has taken about 18 months. Preproduction
started in January 2006, we shot in June, edited
thru September, did sound for another couple
months, and now are looking for distribution
which will probably take another couple months to
sort out. In the meantime, we're entering the
film in festivals and will have our simultaneous
world premiere in July at both the Philadelphia
International Gay and Lesbian Film Fest and
Outfest here in LA. - The worst part was probably
once again learning that you get what you pay
for. 'Socket' is a low budget
film, which meant we didn't have the money to pay
people what they were worth. Ninety-nine percent
of the folks didn't let that deter them and did a
spectacular job. However there was one department
that just didn't come thru and now we have
someone else doing their job over again. - The
best part was, and continues to be, working with
such a great group of people, and making
something we're all proud of.
Brian:
Lastly, any future plans or words of wisdom (IE:
Don't jog naked with cellophane rods in
electrical storms) that you'd like to leave us
with - and, thanks! It's been a blast!
Sean: Well,
words of wisdom would probably start with - Just
make your film! The only reason I have a finished
feature film is because I just decided to do it,
set a date, and crossed my fingers and hoped that
it would all work out. And it did! Second,
probably - Don't cast yourself in your first film
as a director! At the end of the day I'm happy
I'm in my film, but it was nerve wracking during
filming. - Future plans include a bunch of stuff
I can't mention by name yet! Mainly developing a
horror project for my company, Dark Blue Films,
and my producing partners, Velvet Candy
Entertainment. We want to continue to do horror
films that have gay characters whose sexuality
have nothing to do with the plot. I have a few
horror scripts that are in development at other
companies as well. And I'm always looking for
other fun horror flicks to produce. I'm just as
happy producing as I am writing and directing, so
if you need your horror movie done on a budget,
give me a call! -You can check out www.darkbluefilms.com , www.myspace.com/darkbluefilms , and www.myspace.com/socketthemovie for more info. - Thanks!
It was fun! |
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