Category Article

Oct 26 2012

A Park for Halloween Lovers

A Park for Halloween Lovers

By Rob Watts

Photo by Rob Watts.

Last October, I took a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s one of the most beautiful (and one of my favorite) cities in Europe. The architecture is breathtaking, the streets are spotless and navigation throughout the city is the easiest I’ve seen in recent memory. As Copenhagen is such a compact city, traveling on foot can be done with the greatest of ease. It’s amazing what you can stumble upon while strolling along the cobblestone streets and alleys.

I was fortunate to walk by Tivoli Gardens one day, which was a five-minute walk from my hotel. Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and pleasure garden which opened in 1843, making it the second oldest amusement park in the world. It’s home to one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the world as well as the world’s tallest carousel.

Photo by Rob Watts.

The highlight of the park, however, is the Halloween theme it puts on throughout the month of October. How pleasantly surprised I was to walk by the park and see jack o’ lanterns hanging on the side of the building. As this churned my curiosity, I decided to check the park out further and couldn’t believe that such a place existed. It definitely brings the kid out in you as you walk along the park and see 1000s of carved pumpkins, costumed characters, witches and scarecrows. They have a daily Halloween parade and many themed displays and performances throughout the park, making this an amazing Halloween universe.

This park is definitely a Halloween lover’s Disneyland. I will definitely be visiting this park again when I return to Denmark, especially as there have been many additions since last year, including an adult haunted house, where children under 12 are not permitted. Admission for adults is 95 Danish Krone (roughly $17.00 American) and the park is located at 3 Vesterbrogade in Copenhagen Center. So if you just happen to be in Denmark someday, you’ll want to add this to the top of your to-do list.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Rob Watts at Tivoli Gardens.

 

Oct 23 2012

Two Authors to Appear at Marlborough Shop this Saturday

Two Authors to Appear at Marlborough Shop this Saturday

By Jason Harris

This Saturday, authors Stacey Longo and Catherine Grant will be appearing at The Shops at the Marlborough Barn in Marlborough, which is located in Marlborough, Connecticut. They will be reading and signing from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Longo will read from her story, “Private Beach,” which is in Epitaphs, the first anthology created by the NEHW. This collection will be on sale at the event. Longo is the Co-chair of the NEHW, a former columnist for the Block Island Times and the co-owner of Books and Boos, a bookstore.

Grant will read from her story, “Three Fat Guy Soap.” Along with being a NEHW member and writing fiction, she also runs a writing critique group, Central Connecticut Writers Group.

The Shops at the Marlborough Barn is located at 45 North Main Street in Marlborough.

Oct 14 2012

Rock and Shock 2012

My Experience at Rock and Shock 2012

by Jason Harris

Another Rock and Shock has come and gone. The New England Horror Writers were there once again. We have been there for the past four years. This year saw less atttendees then last year, but last year’s guest line-up included Robert Englund, whose line went on forever and never seemed to get any shorter, and Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of KISS. This year had Heather Langenkamp, of Nightmare on Elm Street fame, Anthony Michael Hall, of televison series The Dead Zone and movies The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, and another former KISS member, Peter Criss.

Before getting to Rock and Shock, the wife and I went to fellow NEHW member Trisha Wooldridge’s house, where we were staying over the weekend. We were also going to be joined by another NEHW member Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who would be arriving later that night. It’s always a party when the NEHW members get together.

After leaving Trisha’s house, we drove to Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester to talk to the owner about her bookstore. The wife and I were picking her brain since we’re opening our own bookstore called Books and Boos in Colchester, CT. It was a very informative 40 minutes.

I was there the entire weekend and Saturday was the busiest day. Friday started off with Breakin’ into the Biz panel, which included myself, T.J. May, Matt Bechtel, and Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who ended up as moderator since there wasn’t anyone from Fangoria magazine there to do the job like there were for the other panels during the weekend. The panel went well and there were a lot of suggestions and advice given to the people in the audience.

Heather Langenkamp, Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, Trisha Wooldridge, and Lisa Marie on the Women in Horror panel. Photo by Jason Harris

The audience grew a little bit for the Women in Horror panel, but that was to be expected since Langenkamp and Lisa Marie (Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!) joined NEHW members Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, and Trisha Wooldridge. This panel had Jack from Fangoria, moderating the panel. One thing surprised me was that the audience didn’t asked two many questions when that time came. Four questions were asked of people on the panel and two of those questions came from me. I asked Heather how was it working on Just the Ten of Us and if she would do another television show. She said, she would love to do another tv series. It was also nice to hear that she will be in the next Star Trek movie titled Star Trek into Darkness, but she couldn’t say what character she’s playing. It was also great talking to her and Lisa Marie when the panel was over.

Tracy Carbone, Sean Whalen, and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

On Friday, it was great talking with Sean Whalen who was in The People Under the Stairs and Twister, and many other movies. Check out his credits on the Internet Movie Database by clicking here. He gave Carbone, Longo, and myself some good ideas.

I introduced myself to Doug Bradley, who portrayed Pinhead in most of the Hellraiser movies except the last one, since I conducted a phone interview with him a few weeks ago. You can read the article here.

I was hoping to interview Hall on Sunday since that was the day his manager, John Boitano, said would be the best day since it’s the slowest of the convention. On Friday, I had the feeling it wouldn’t happen since there was a sign on Hall’s table stating he wouldn’t be at the convention until 2 p.m. on Saturday. When Saturday came, he didn’t show up at his table until 3 p.m. Later on Saturday evening, he took a break and a sign said he would be back at 5:45 p.m. He didn’t get back from his break until 6:15 p.m. Seeing those signs, physical and figuratively, told me that Hall wasn’t going to keep an interview with me on Sunday. It would have been cool to interview him, but it wasn’t disappointing. I did interview another filmmaker, Ryan Convery, on Sunday about his movie Mourning Wood, which is about “humping zombies.” There will be an article and a movie review coming in the near future.

It was great meeting Tony Todd (Candyman), Brian O’Halloran (Clerks), and Sig Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) this weekend. I won’t get autographs since I am not paying $20 or more for an autograph unless they are selling a movie or a book. I will shake their hands and tell them I love their work.

There was a Horror in the Movies panel on Sunday, which Rob Watts, Bracken Macleod, myself, and Stacey Longo were on. Longo ended up being the moderator when Jack from Fangoria couldn’t do it since he had to do something else. It was attended by a good number of people.

There will be another post with pictures tomorrow.

Oct 11 2012

Doug Bradley Talks about Pinhead, Masks, and Clive Barker

Doug Bradley Talks about Pinhead, Masks, and Clive Barker

By Jason Harris

Doug Bradley

Doug Bradley, best known for the role of Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies, doesn’t think of himself as a horror icon. He jokingly said it sounds like there was a morning where there was a letter on his doorstep stating, “Dear Mr. Bradley, you are now a fully accredited horror icon with a membership card enclosed.”

He credits his appearances at conventions for helping him become known to his fans since he isn’t recognizable with the make-up on.

“I have always said that every actor’s biggest enemy is anonymity.”

Pinhead

He is known more as Pinhead then the character of Lylesburg in Nightbreed.

There’s always an interest in Nightbreed and that interest has been raised recently with the attempt to restore it back to the movie Clive Barker intended to have released in 1990, Bradley said.

Bradley and Barker became friends in high school in Liverpool back in the 60s when they were in a play together. He describes his friend as “the most extraordinary person I’ve met.” He says he “tries not to throw the word genius around lightly,” but he does apply it in Barker’s case.

Bradley said people expect Barker “to be weird and fucked up and sacrificing virgins [and] biting the heads off live chickens. For all I know, he may do all of that,” he jokingly said.

He considers Barker, “very funny, very witty” and a person with an “extraordinary imagination to be able to produce the movies that he has, the short stories, the novels, and his artwork.” He’s “a person with a tremendous sense of the absurd and the ridiculous.”

“For all these decades, it has been a privilege to be close to that process,” Bradley said.

Barker is one of the reasons he turned down portraying Pinhead in the ninth installment of the franchise, Hellraiser: Revelations, which came out last year.

“I didn’t feel like the movie was in anyway, shape, or form a serious attempt to move the franchise forward nor reinvigorate it in any way, shape, or form. I felt it was something of an insult to the franchise, to Clive, to me, to all the people who had worked so hard on the series over the years.”

Bradley hasn’t seen the movie, which had a microscopic budget and a brief shooting schedule, he said. He has heard about the movie from fans and nothing of what he is hearing about it is good, he said.

When he first became Pinhead, it took him five to six hours in the make-up chair, but it was shortened to about three to four hours by the time he made the eighth movie in the franchise. The longest time he was in the make-up for was 18 hours. It all depended on what was needed of him, he said. He could be needed for one scene or for several.

These days he is enjoying just acting and doesn’t have any aspirations to direct.

“I wouldn’t shy away from the possibility of directing, but it’s not something I have a desire to do necessarily.”



Besides acting, he has written a screenplay and a book. The impetus for his book, Behind the Mask of a Horror Actor, “goes back to his relationship with Clive” and how they were always working together for ten years in the theater before Hellraiser.

“We were always using masks one way or another as part of our work. I always had a fascination for it before I came to Pinhead so I guess I just had the ideas in my head …”

When asked about writing an autobiography, he isn’t thinking about writing one because it feels to him if you write one “your life and career are over,” which he feels he is nowhere near that point yet.

“If you are writing your autobiography, you want to make yourself sound as interesting as possible. You want to make your life story as interesting as possible. I don’t know if we’re necessarily capable of telling the truth about ourselves.”

Bradley recently read Lance Henriksen’s autobiography, Not Bad for a Human.

“He has an amazing story to tell particularly in terms of his early life and his journey into the profession. I truly enjoyed reading it.”

Bradley will be attending Rock and Shock this weekend at the DCU Convention Center & The Palladium in Worcester, MA.

Oct 8 2012

My Trip to Haddonfield

My Trip to Haddonfield

By Rob Watts

As a fan of many classic movies, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a great deal of filming locations to those films. As a child I got to swim at the beach from Jaws in Martha’s Vineyard. I had the pleasure of visiting The Amityville Horror house in Toms River, New Jersey. Heck, I live within ten minutes of various movie locations in Boston where such films as The Town, The Departed, and Good Will Hunting were filmed. My absolute favorite location visited however was South Pasadena, California where the majority of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN was filmed.

Rob Watts in front of The Wallace home where Laurie’s friend babysat. Photo by Shannon Watts.

Unlike a lot of filming locations, the neighborhood of South Pasadena was used primarily “as is.” There was very little film trickery involved as the town of “Haddonfield” had (has) a charm and beauty of its own that needed very little set dressing. Aside from bags of painted leaves being thrown around within frame to establish autumn in Illinois, very little else was manipulated. Upon first visit to the now iconic neighborhood, I was shocked to see just how much of it resembled that as it was in the film, even more than thirty years later.

The hardware store (as it is today). Photo by Shannon Watts.

You don’t have to travel far around town to see most of the locations either, as much of the daytime hours scenes were all filmed within streets of each other. For instance, the street where Laurie Strode is walking to school after dropping the keys off at the Myers house (Meridian Ave), leads directly to the hardware store that was broken into later in the day. Incidentally, the actual Myers house was moved and restored directly across the street from the hardware store (now a picture framing store) and is currently a doctor’s office located at 1000 Mission Street.

Rob Watts on the steps of the Myers House. Photo by Shannon Watts.

If you walk back down Meridian Ave., you will be walking in the direction of the streets where Laurie and her friends walked home from school. You’ll want to look for Magnolia Street, Montrose Ave., and Highland Street. These are the streets which were most visible throughout the first half of the movie. Probably the most iconic location from the film, and believe me it’s still there, is the famous hedge where Michael Myers hid behind as the girls approached him. It’s a little tricky to find at first because most houses on the street have similar hedges, but if you travel down Montrose Ave, going through Oxley Street, you will stumble upon the giant hedge. Just make sure no one is standing behind it waiting for you.

The babysitting scene street . N Orange Grove Ave
The babysitting scene street. N Orange Grove Ave. Photo by Shannon Watts.

The last half of the film, where the girls were babysitting, was oddly enough filmed on the corner of Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood. Although you’d never know it from watching the film, directly behind the camera crew was a bustling nightlife. It was a bit odd for me to look in the opposite direction of the street from the film and find a KFC and Blockbuster Video (because I’m sure Laurie Strode could have run in there for help if she really needed it.) But that was the genius of John Carpenter. He had a knack for taking a side street of Los Angeles’ most happening neighborhood and have it appear as a modest suburban town in the middle of America.

The street where Myers drove behind the girls. Photo by Shannon Watts.

The two houses where Jamie Lee Curtis’ character and her friend babysat are located at 1530 and 1537 North Orange Grove Street, off Sunset Blvd. The home where Laurie Strode babysat looks almost identical as it did in the movie. The house across the street has been updated a great deal over the years but still maintains some resemblance to how it did in the movie.

Rob Watts in front of the Doyle House (Jamie Lee’s). Photo by Shannon Watts.

So if you are ever in the West Hollywood or South Pasadena area of California and you love the original Halloweenthen it’s worth a venture around the filming locations of this incredible film. Just be respectful to the homeowners and respect their privacy. And for God sake, if you see a guy walking around in a rubber mask, RUN!

The creepy staircase in the Myers house. Photo by Shannon Watts.

Oct 6 2012

The Good and Bad of the 2012 NEIBA Fall Conference

The Good and Bad of the 2012 NEIBA Fall Conference

By Jason Harris

The New England Independent Booksellers Association 39thAnnual Conference took place from Oct. 3 through 5 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

I will start with the good first. I went to the first day of the conference on Wednesday. I was looking forward to the panel “Social Media 2.0: Beyond the Basics: Using Social Media to Drive Sales and Customer Engagement.” As the NEHW Director of Publicity and Webmaster and Marketing Director and co-owner of Books and Boos, a bookstore, I knew I could learn something from this panel. The panelists were Sarah Rettger, of Newtonville Books in Newton, MA., Mary Allen, of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, VT., Kirsten Hess, of R.J. Julia in Madison, CT, and Ann Kingman of Random House.

The panelists mentioned there are ups and downs when using social media. One downside is that you have to use it five times a day, Hess mentioned.

One thing I was surprised to hear was the fact that the panelists don’t like Hootsuite, which could help with having to be on social media five times a day. The reason is it’s not genuine and people know it from seeing where the message is from. “Voice is important” when posting in social media, Hess said.

Hess also mentioned that people should be looking at other Facebook business pages, not just look at the book business.

Allen mentioned that people love photographs and live pictures of things with authors. She wasn’t talking about pictures of authors reading from their books either. She’s talking about a picture of them making a funny face or something behind the scenes before they become professional to do their reading.

Hess said customers want to see the people who sell them their books.

If you own a bookstore or any type of business, a good word to keep in mind is “partnerships” with other businesses in your community, Allen said.

Rettger said you should do what’s best for you and not to force it.

The other panel I checked out was “It’s All About Customer Service: Strengthening the Brick and Mortar Advantage.” This one wasn’t has interesting to me as the Social Media one, but it did contain some good ideas. The panelists were Susan Mercier, of Edgartown Books in Edgartown, MA., Ann Carmichael, of Kennebunk, ME, Michael Kanter, owner of Cambridge Naturals in Cambridge, MA., and Karen Corvello, of Baker & Taylor.

Kantor said that customer is all and everything. Stores should be kept cleaned and stocked, he said.

“My goal is for customers to leave the store and say ‘wow’ that was an amazing experience,” Kantor said.

He has noticed that in many bookstores employees are indifferent.

It was mentioned that every customer should be greeted as they come into the store.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Carmichael said. She also said that customer service begins on the sidewalk before the customer even comes inside. This means that the landscaping to the windows to the building itself has to be in the best shape possible.

Now we come to the bad of NEIBA. I had a couple of assignments on Thursday, which kept me away from the conference. I was able to attend on Friday and I wish I didn’t. The main reason I was going to go on Friday was to attend the panel, “Think Tank Round Tables – New ideas for New Business.” This is how the program guide described the panel: “Whenever booksellers get together the room seems to fill with new ideas. This 45-minute ‘think tank’ is an opportunity to gather – at tables organized by small, mid and larger-sized stores – and talk with each other about what exciting things you’ve done in your store in the past year and what things you’ve learned at the Fall Conference you’re going to do. We hope this will be a useful and focused way to wrap up the educational offerings of the Conference.”

When I got to the convention center, I found out that the trade show exhibit room was already shut down and packed up. It only went on one day this year and that day was Thursday. I didn’t realize this would happen from the program guide. I figured it would go on the entire conference. This was the first year they only had it for one day I was told. NEIBA was trying something new this year. Hopefully, they will go back to having it open all three days next year.

After being disappointed about the trade show, I went to the room where my panel was going to be held. I was about twenty minutes early so I waited outside the room. As it started getting closer to the 11 a.m. start time I wanted to the door. Once it got to 10:55 a.m., I was leaning against the doorway and started to worry. When I heard Steve Fischer, of NEIBA tell Neil Strandberg of the American Booksellers Association to continue talking and that he had plenty of time and it was around 11:10 a.m., I started getting upset. Later on, Fischer said that Strandberg could continue until 11:30 a.m. The last twenty minutes of the supposed panel I went to see was used to continue the discussion of the Kobo e-reading program, which was the subject of the previous panel. I had made a two hour and fifty minute round trip from Connecticut for nothing and I wasn’t happy about this. If NEIBA wasn’t going to have the panel they promoted in its program then they should have gotten the word out. Instead of still promoting it, by having the panel’s name and description listed on the wall outside the convention center’s conference room.

Oct 5 2012

Actor Talks about the role of Michael Myers in the Original ‘Halloween’

Actor Talks about the role of Michael Myers in the Original Halloween

By Jason Harris

Actor Tony Moran portrayed the 23-year-old Michael Myers in the original Halloween (1978).

He had a great time on the movie and compares John Carpenter to a computer because of the way he had every shot planned out.

“We never shot more than three shots for every scene,” Moran said. “He was pretty amazing.”

He considers Jamie Lee Curtis, his Halloween co-star, “really cool and really good.”

“[She] was a down to Earth chick.”

When asked if there were any scenes filmed that didn’t make it into the movie, Moran didn’t know of any.

Moran was asked to be in the sequel, but turned it down.

“I didn’t want to wear a mask,” Moran said about his reason for turning down the sequel.

The mask was uncomfortable and “really hot,” he said.

“You couldn’t breathe through it. The only holes through it were for the eyes.”

When asked how long he was in the mask on a typical day, he replied. “It seemed like forever.”

Moran received credit in the sequel since footage from the original was used in it, he said.

He doesn’t plan on seeing Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake.

“It’s a remake of me so I won’t watch it.”

Moran is proud to have portrayed the character of Michael Myers

Tony Moran

and wouldn’t want to be known for Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees, two other horror icons from Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th fame, respectively. He states “Halloween started it all …”

Moran has added producer to his resume when he took on that job when a guy messaged him on Myspace and sent him a script for Beg, a short film. It’s now a full-length movie starring his friend Tony Todd, P.J. Soles, and Michael Berryman, who he got to be in the movie. Debbie Rochon is also in Beg.

He would love to work with director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro.

“They are brilliant.”

Moran will be appearing at The Nightmare Factory, located at 2 Museum Place Mall in Salem, MA. from Friday through Sunday.

Sep 27 2012

Massachusetts Native Talks about Writing and Hollywood

Massachusetts Native Talks about Writing and Hollywood

by Jason Harris

J.P. Ouellette

J.P. Ouellette has worked on a number of films in Boston such as The Box and The Fighter. Working in the city allowed him to “learn filmmaking from some of the best crews around” while being at home.

“The mix of local and Hollywood talent brought my knowledge of film to the next level,” Ouellette said. Being an assistant to great storytellers like Richard Kelly was better than grad school.”

Kelly was the writer and director of such movies as The Box and Donnie Darko.

Ouellette started working in Hollywood after taking a risk in order to pursue his writing career. He states that “Los Angeles is the best place to be for an emerging writer.”

“The whole city is dedicated to the film business, and there are endless opportunities here to build your resume.”

His latest film, Captured, which he produced, wrapped in June and is scheduled for release in October of 2013, which is “a perfect time” to release it, Ouellette said. It’s about a rock band that goes off to shoot a music video where an escaped convict becomes obsessed with them.

“It is a classic slasher flick with a lot of psychological twists. It blends genres, and is made for the true horror fan who is tired of the same old thing.”

Ouellette became involved with Captured when writer and director Joe Arias hired him to write new drafts of the script.

“It took us (a lucky) 13 drafts to get the shooting script ready. It was the hardest writing sessions either one of us has been apart of, but it was worth it, this story will blow your mind!”

Captured took three weeks to film, but it was in the works for two years since Arias came up with the film’s concept, Ouellette said. He is in the process of working on the sound editing, special effects, and the score now.

“It’s been quite a labor of love. It’s all very exciting to see something you help create come together.”

Along with finishing up Captured, he is producing another horror movie, Do Not Watch.

“Due to the high-concept of this project, the synopsis is being kept under wraps.”

Not only has Ouellette worked on more than 20 movies in his career, you can take a look at his Internet Movie Database profile, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1965594/ to see everything that he has worked on, but he has also found the time to write a novel, 2501. His writing and this story’s style was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke and George Orwell. Its “hard science-fiction blended with political overtones is something everyone can get behind.” The e-book can be purchase on Amazon by clicking here.

It originally started out as a script idea, but “it was way too involved for the screen at that time.”

“I really had to dig into the characters and the science in order to find my story. Funny enough, the book now represents the outline for the proposed film version.”

He is still looking for the right Hollywood screenwriter to adapt 2501. He could adapt it himself, but he wants to step back and let someone else take care of it.

“The projected budget for this Blockbuster is over $50 million, and that is not in my price range … yet.”

He “would love Steven Spielberg to direct [2501] because of the Stanley Kubrick feel of the story.” If that happens he would love to be on-set, which he would consider “a dream project for sure.”

He does have an outline for another book, but his screenwriting schedule is keeping him from working on it.

“With 2501, I had to isolate myself while traveling in Mexico, writing the first draft freehand while sitting on the steps of the Mayan Ruins. It is the only way to get a novel done in this distracting day and age.”

Ouellette has a number of directors such as John Carpenter, J.J. Abrams, Duncan Jones, and Kelly, who has influenced him. He says that Kelly’s film, Donnie Darko, is the reason he went to film school, he said.

He has worked with many directors and actors, and wants to work with many more.

“They all have their own style to this art, and I love learning from them.”

He doesn’t have a dream project. All he wants to do is “to keep making great movies, and create opportunities to make more of them.”

Sep 13 2012

‘A Good Turnout’ for ‘Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye’ Reading

‘A Good Turnout’ for Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye Reading

by Barry Dejasu

Author Paul Tremblay reading from Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye. Photo by Barry Dejasu.

About 15 people attended author and NEHW member Paul Tremblay’s reading of his newest book, Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye, at the Brown University Bookstore Wednesday evening.

Tremblay mentioned to his listeners that his book’s title came from a song by Neutral Milk. While writing Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye, he didn’t limit himself to any particular direction for the book, but rather let the story unfold on its own.

During the Q & A, there were a number of questions about his craft, both for his current novel and for his writing in general. Two of the questions asked of him if he intentionally took inspiration for certain characters and plot devices from works by Pynchon and Flannery O’Connor, which he hadn’t.

At one point, Tremblay talked about how he is drawn to creating empathetic characters, rather than sympathetic ones, which incited a projected conversation with some would-be naysayers.

“I didn’t like that book, because I didn’t like the main character, ” one naysayer said before ending their statement with an expletive.

There were several other authors in attendance including Paul DiFilippo, Jack Haringa, and John Harvey to support Tremblay.

A number of his books sold including No Sleep ‘Till Wonderland.

Sep 1 2012

The man behind the ‘Guy Who Kills People’ talks about what inspired his screenplay

The Man Behind the ‘Guy Who Kills People’ Talks about What Inspired His Screenplay

by Jason Harris

Screenwriter Ryan A. Levin’s script for Some Guy Who Kill Peoplewas inspired by his short film, “The Fifth.” His short film only came about because he had written it for fun and wanted to avoid it becoming just another file on his computer, he said.

“I wanted to see it come to life.  I had no aspirations to be a director, and still don’t, but I ended up writing, producing and directing the short film.”

Some Guy Who Kills People

As he traveled around the festival circuit and saw the positive reactions, he started thinking about an everyday guy who happens to be a serial killer and wondered if he could expand the main character’s world. Through brainstorming, he slowly developed his character’s background, family life, friends, and motives for killing. By developing his short into a movie, his character changed and it allowed him to let go of the character from the short film.

“Ultimately, while the short and the feature bear little to no resemblance to each other, there would be no Some Guy Who Kills People without “The Fifth.”  Fortunately, our distributor, Anchor Bay, was cool enough to include “The Fifth” on the Some Guy Who Kills People DVD.”

The movie contains bullying, which came about because of “creative need.”

“Ken, the killer in Some Guy Who Kills People, needed a reason to kill his victims.  In early drafts, he was just a serial killer who chose victims at random.”

The script shifted to Ken focusing on victims who treated others poorly, and then, ultimately, he began killing people who had done him wrong, Levin said.

“News about childhood bullying and suicides just started popping up on the news as we were in pre-production on this film, so while it was not intentional, I knew I hadn’t gone too far in scripting the often sad ramifications of bullying.”

Levin wrote the screenplay between 2007 and the end of 2009. It took about two and a half years to write the script, but it wasn’t a constant writing effort. There were many breaks “as other things came up” which caused him not to look at the script for six months or more.

“Ultimately, this worked to my benefit, as it allowed me to come to the script with fresh eyes each time.”

The movie stars Kevin Corrigan, Barry Bostwick, and Karen Black.

“It was, and continues to be, surreal,” Levin said about Corrigan, Bostwick, and Black being in the movie. “Kevin was someone we approached immediately for the lead role, and we just crossed our fingers he would find something in the script he liked enough to say ‘yes.’  He knew he would essentially be working for free, not to mention working in LA, away from his family in NYC. I imagine it’s a lot easier to take those few weeks off and live elsewhere when you’re making real money, but he wasn’t getting that from us. ”

Levin never pictured Bostwick and Black in their roles and was shocked that they auditioned for the movie considering “their credits and experience.”

“It was perfectly clear to Jack Perez (the director), Lisa Essary (casting director) and myself that we wanted them, and that if we did indeed land them, our movie was headed in the right direction.”

These actors took their characters and elevated them to levels beyond anything that was on the page, he said.

“They are three fearless actors who gave everything they had to this movie, and I can’t thank them enough.”

He was living in New York City when he decided to wanted to write for television and knew he had to get a production assistant job to be able to do that. These “jobs are actually quite hard to come by, as they are essentially the jobs that get you in the door on a production.”

“I sent resumes to every single show imaginable, super-eager to work for any of them. Through sheer good fortune, I ended up knowing someone who knew someone who got me an interview to be a PA on Scrubs, my favorite show at the time.”

When he got the production assistant job, he thought he had “made it” even though he considers “being a PA sucks.”

“I was on the show, I was writing in my free time, but I just wanted to move up the ladder as quickly as I could.  I became the writers’ PA, then writers’ assistant then script coordinator. I knew the show runner would never promote me to a full-time writer because of a policy he had against doing so.  But I also knew that if I could prove to him I was a capable writer, I could write an episode.  Fortunately, that’s what happened.  I wrote one episode in season 5, and was told I could return as script coordinator the following season to write another one.”

He didn’t return to work on the sixth season of Scrubs instead he went out looking for a full-time writing position.

“It took a couple of years of close-calls, of working on web series and pitching ideas, but, ultimately, I got a job on a Disney show called I’m In The Band, which ran for two years, and was far better, funnier and more creative than a lot of shows on network TV, which I’m allowed to say because I didn’t create the show.”

The writing staff for The Simpsons, seasons three through seven, and the playwright/screenwriter Martin McDonagh are writers that have inspired Levin. He loves McDonagh’s film, In Bruges.

“I’ve always been drawn to the darker content – always loved horror films and dark comedies, Fargo and Better Off Dead – and I was blown away by how [McDonagh] took these seemingly morbid stories and injected them with some of the funniest characters, situations and dialogue I’d ever heard.  McDonagh’s ability to find the comedy in such dark material through characters with very specific points-of-views and his ability to seamlessly blend such different tones is what I can only dream of being able to accomplish.”

Levin is working on another Disney show and developing several features.

“The features are in various stages – from third drafts to basic outlines – and I keep moving back and forth between them.  The great thing is I have several ideas about which I’m very excited; however, I really need to just focus on one of them, see it to completion, and then move on.  If I don’t, none of them will ever get completed.”

The Some Guy Who Kills People DVD can be purchased through Amazon, click here.