FAN FILMS Invade SWFF 2020!

Some of my favorite stories from independent filmmakers have been from when someone has used pre-existing property and characters and crafted a story that the original filmmakers would/could never have attempted.  These “Fan Films” have been around since the earliest films ever made.  Someone could make the case that Nosferatu (1922) is the first Fan Film!  With this, I am a little ashamed that even though we have screened fan films at previous events, we have never had an actual category for this genre.  We have fixed that for this year as Fan Films are now one of our official genre selections and I am happy to announce some of this year’s selections!

But first, I’d like to take a few moments to acknowledge why we need Fan Films and why it is so important for filmmakers to continue making these films (or if you’ve never thought about doing one, you might think about it now).  The very first film I ever worked on with Southlan-Films (the owner of which is our 2020 Lifetime Achievement award recipient Ron McLellen) is “Night of the Hungry Dead”  which took the traditions of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) and flipped them on their head.  It is the story of a serial killer whose victims come back to life and surround him in his house with a group of people who burst in on him needing haven.  The plot pretty much follows that of the Romero film except with the added story elements of the serial killer.  I played three different zombies in the film!  It was such a fun and exhilarating film to make with a group of actors and crew familiar with the Romero film.   They got the comedy and the subtext of the film.  The film was successful on the festival circuit where McLellen even made a special 3-D version!

In addition to playing a lot of film festivals and being successful online the film started a lifelong friendship between many of the people involved where some of the cast & crew returned to work with McLellen on future Fan Films.  McLellen and co-writer Dave R. Watkins pretty much were fine tuning the script as we filmed but having the added bonus of having a plot ready made for them, the script went very easy (and there were many funny suggestions from the cast & crew).    The film has a built in audience (which is why so many people have seen it) and even though there are some shortcomings, it is still a highly entertaining film as we weren’t trying to make high art but a film that the fans would enjoy (faults and all!).

The success of the film eventually led to McLellen tackling Fan Films based on his most cherished characters and franchises such as Halloween (he made the Fan Films Return of the Sandman and Revenge of the Sandman, separate stories from each other), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (he made TCM: New Blood), and for Friday the 13^th (he made The Man in the Lake, for which I have a “Story by” credit).  I worked on all these films and with the exception of McLellen playing Leatherface, we had actors clambering to be in these films especially those who wanted to play Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees.  We had some amazing makeup artists on board to help with the over the top gore and kill scenes and all the while the entire cast and crew had great fun making films that they could tell people they died in.  It is always cooler to say you died by the hands of Michael of Jason rather than by some unknown slasher or serial killer.

Fan Films can be pretty much made of anything.  Some of the most popular that I’ve seen have been from Star Wars and Star Trek (in which some filmmakers put some major money into) but there are tons of horror fan films based on not only the characters previously mentioned but the likes of Hellraiser, Child’s Play (my very first short film was inspired by this franchise), Hatchet, and many more.  A growing trend over the last decade have been superhero fan films, which we have a couple screening this year!  Also of note are those Fan Films based on literature such as Stephen King’s “Dollar Babies” (you’ll have to look this one up if you’ve never heard it) and I’ve even seen some Harry Potter ones as well! 

As filmgoers we have all been disappointed by a sequel to one of our favorite films and Fan Films have given filmmakers a means to tell more stories about the characters they love and to share them with a bigger audience.  These films are put together not because of any monetary means (as you cannot sale or make any money off a Fan Film) but simply because of the love of it and the need to continue telling stories.  Actors are given the opportunity to play characters they would probably never get the chance to (I for one played a Security Guard who gets his head twisted backwards by Michael Myers in Return of the Sandman).  I mean, one of my favorite Fan Films is “Godzilla Vs Bambi” (a really short animation) and “Droids” (a Star Wars version of COPS).

Getting into the Fan Films we are screening this year I will first mention our two Star Wars inspired films which is the Toy Story meets Star Wars film “Droid Story” from filmmaker Alexa Sheehan which shows the journey of one droid who ventures out into the real world for the first time.  It is a cute film that will appeal to a young audience.  If you want something more mature look no further than Joshua van ‘t Hoff’s “The Path of the Greys” which has some amazing visual effects and cinematography especially in terms of the fight at the end.  This is a film that will not disappoint Star Wars fans!

A huge number of this year’s submissions were from the superhero genre of which we are screening three.  We are screening Rob Ayling’s “Living in Crime Alley” which is a Batman Fan Film that is less about Batman and more about Crime Alley which has been a fixture in the comic books and films.  Batman does make an appearance but Ayling focuses more on character which elevates the film.  Next up are two films from director Chris R. Notarile with his shorts “Domino” and “Typhoid Mary” which feature characters from the Marvel comic universe.  Notarile may be one of the most prolific Fan Film filmmakers I have ever came across as he has made short films and trailers of virtually every possible franchise and these are just two of his filmography.  The great thing about his films is that he has crafted universes with his franchises in which he continues stories from one character to the next while also uses the same actors to create continuity! 

Our final selection in the Fan Film category is the Stephen King based film “Willa” from director Corey Mayne.  I will not give anything way with this film based on a short story by King.  For those that do not know, King himself has encouraged amateur and young filmmakers to craft short films based on his work through his “Dollar Babies” program (so please look this up if you haven’t already) and therefore its well known that there are tons of King Fan Films out there.

I am very happy with the selections we have this year and look forward to having even more for next year’s event!  I want to encourage filmmakers and storytellers to continue making Fan Films and if you have never made one, to test it out.  As I end this article, I will say that it has been almost ten years since I last worked on a Fan Film and I hope to get mine finished this year for next year’s event!  I have got a Stephen King’s “It” trilogy of short films I am working on and I am looking forward to showing audiences my take on the iconic characters!

Make sure to pick up your Tickets now through Film Freeway (https://filmfreeway.com/somethingwickedfilmfestival/tickets) or Ticket Leap (https://something-wicked-film-festival.ticketleap.com/something-wicked-film-festival/)!

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – RON McLELLEN

When giving a Lifetime Achievement Award to any filmmaker we have to look at the career of an individual in regards to their effect on their community, the industry, and their career as a whole.  Sometimes the individual is still working in the industry while other times they have retired or in some cases have died.  In the case of this year’s recipient of the award we had to first look for an individual in Georgia whom we believe has had an impact on their community and then in regards to their career.

In the case of our 2020 recipient – Ron McLellen, he has a long history in the horror genre, which just so happened to be his chosen genre.  During his early military career McLellen did his film studies from abroad while serving his country.  Once out or the military he started a career that almost immediately went straight to features.  Many of his early shorts (of all genres) are now lost, but he would first make his splash on the independent scene with the feature film THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (2002).  This film utilized a huge cast of Georgia based talent in his homage to his favorite horror films Friday the 13^th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a diverse group of kids are giving the opportunity to win a lot of money if they could survive the night at a camp ground while being hunted down by a family of hillbillies dressed in clown outfits.  The film was plagued with problems as he lost half his original cast during early filming and had to re-shoot most of the film.  This actually worked in his favor as he used footage from the first attempt of filming as flashbacks in the final film as no footage was left on the cutting room floor.  The film is most notable now for being the debut film for actress AnnaLynne McCord (of Nip/Tuck and the reboot of 90210) but it is with his enduring collaboration with Georgia filmmakers Dave R. Watkins and Brent Brooks that would really help cement his relationships with Georgia filmmakers. 

McLellen would spend the next two years before his next feature collaborating with Watkins and Brooks on the competition short film “Night of the Hungry Dead” (2004), part of a competition that paid homage to zombie films and George A. Romero, and as an actor in Watkins’ debut feature STRAGGLERS (2004), which McLellen also co-produced.  With this, McLellen’s career was off and running!

He would next tackle his homage to John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) with his first Halloween themed film JACK O’LANTERN (2004), which allowed him to continue collaborating with Watkins, David Chillan, Joel Hunter, and Greg Thompson, who all worked with his in his previous films but armed with an actual budget he was able to bring in a full and diverse cast and crew on his biggest production yet!  This film found a group of friends chased down by a monster of vengeance after they accidentally kill someone and try to cover it up.  This has a lot of Halloween and Pumpkinhead (1988) in it and even a little of Final Destination (2000) in the way of all the deaths seemingly to have been caused by accidents.  This film would eventual play in several film festivals before getting picked up by Lionsgate Home Entertainment as one of their (many) Halloween releases that year.  This was also the first of McLellen’s three picture collaboration with Hayes Productions.

No time was wasted as McLellen went straight ahead with his second film for Hayes Production and one of the most ambitious in his career which is the time traveling WWII horror & sci-fi film HELL’S END (2005)!  This saw a soldier from the future go back in time to WWII to stop a crazy Nazi scientist from experimenting on soldiers in a POW camp to genetically create a monster that could help the Nazis win the war.  This required the production to convert a Boys Scout camp into a POW camp in Northern Georgia for the two weeks of filming.  The most amazing thing about this film is that this was McLellen’s first large scale production having to cast almost fifty people to play the Nazis and the POW soldiers (not to mention the over 60 extras required for the large crowd scenes and the final escape at the end of the film).  Along with the amazing cast which includes Tom Thon, Rob Elwood, Michael H. Cole, Scott Hodges, Vince Pisani, Brian Avenet-Bradley, Chris Burns, Dave R. Watkins and Jennifer Osburg (as the only female of the all-male cast), among many more!  McLellen was also the costume designer and put together authentic Nazi, British, American, and other nationalities of the POW soldiers including some amazing futuristic costumes.  Unlike McLellen’s previous films this one would more rely on characters and WWII action than on any horror tropes which made selling the final film to a distributor problematic.  This didn’t stop McLellen from pushing the film to film festivals and then embarking on his third film for Hayes Productions – CREATURES OF THE NIGHT.

Unfortunately, CREATURES OF THE NIGHT had problems from beginning to end and this film was never completed despite having an amazing cast and crew.  The film would have been McLellen’s second film to take place during WWII but heading the advice of his sales agent, this film would have had lots more monsters with its vampires verses werewolves verses Nazis!  A regiment of Nazi soldiers in Romania take residence in a castle where the family within are all werewolves who have their own race war with the local gypsies, who happen to be vampires!  About 80% of the film was complete before being shut down temporary to work only the final special fx.  With an entire cast and crew made up of Georgia talent, McLellen reused props and elements from his previous film and enhanced them for this film including the fact that the film was shot on location at an actual castle in Georgia that would masquerade as Romania!  Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, this film would never resume filming and never be completed.  McLellen’s collaboration with Hayes Production would now be at an end.

This would not stop McLellen as elements of COTN would find their way in McLellen’s  “Der Soldat” (2006), a film completely in German, and “The Spider & The Fly” (2007), which shows a glimpse of the battle between the Germans and the Gypsy vampires.  Also, while COTN was first put on hold, McLellen would craft his homage to one of his favorite films Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).  This film would be BAD LAND (2007) which would marry his love of the killer back woods family with voodoo and mad scientist culture with a group of college students during pledge week who are dropped off in the middle of nowhere and must fend for themselves.  Unbeknownst to them, they’ve been dropped off on private property of a back woods family who wll kill to keep their family secrets safe from outsiders.  This is probably the fasted McLellen ever shot a film as it was filmed almost all during the day on weekends and some nights over the course of about a month.  He shot this film while waiting to get back into production on COTN and wanted to finish this film before moving back to that film.  Not wanting to use the same cast as was in COTN, this would be one of his biggest films casting wise as it would be his first collaboration with actors he’d never worked with before.  This was his first film with actors West Cummings, Jennifer Cudnick, Beth Keener, Justin Geer, Greer Howard and many more.  His regular collaborators Cesar Aguirre, Scott Hodges, Michael H. Cole, Ondie Daniel, and Roland Force would be a few of his regular repertoire to return in this film.  Unfortunately for this film, despite being a fun and fast slasher film, Bad Land comes off as part of a trend on back woods killer films of this time.  The film enjoyed a lot of success on the festival circuit!

It would be several years before McLellen would again tackle a feature film due to the fallout of his collaboration with the Hayes Production company.  In 2011, McLellen’s next feature AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE (2011) would be a return to his roots in paying homage to holiday horror films!  Taking inspiration of Christmas stories, McLellen crafts an anthology of Christmas themed horror stories!  This would be one of his true collaborations with his repertoire of past cast and crew!  Returning to help him craft this film is Watkins, Force, Peg Thon, and many more!  This film was partially filmed on location of many of his previous films which is the property of Roland Force (who also manages to cameo or star in most all McLellen’s films).  If you look closely, you’ll recognize many of the same locations appear in most of McLellen’s films but this film is also filmed on location in many different locations to give the anthology a bigger and more expansive look.  This is probably his biggest list of different locations yet! 

A year later McLellen would set his sights on his biggest and most expansive and ambitious film ALL HALLOWS EVIL: LORD OF THE HARVEST (2012).  This film paid homage to TRICK ‘R TREAT (2007), as the film is an anthology film that follows a lot of different characters and stories that interconnect culminating in a third act that brings everything together.  The story follows a misunderstood student who summons an Evil Force and lets lose all manner of demons and monsters on Halloween!  There are ghosts, werewolves, witches, and all other manner of ghouls and goblins that plague the small town cursed on this Halloween night.  The director’s cut runs almost 3 hours but there is a shorter festival cut of the film as well.  This is McLellen’s most successful festival film as both versions played numerous festivals for years despite the film never having found an official distributor.

Although ALL HALLOWS EVIL would currently be his last feature as director the time in between features would mark a new era for McLellen as he decided to make several films for horror fans with his fan films “Return of the Sandman” [Halloween, 2009], “Revenge of the Sandman” [Halloween, 2012], “The Man in the Lake” [Friday the 13^th], and “TCM: New Blood” [Texas Chain Saw Massacre, 2013] among a lot of various other shorts.  It’s also important to note that in addition to his early shorts before MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, there are a lot of “lost” films which includes his sci-fi/horror film “From Above” and his first anthology feature THE SAYER. 

This doesn’t even include all the other films and projects he did outside his own career which includes starring in Watkins’ comedy web series “The Lumber Baron of Jasper County” and feature film RETURN OF THE JACKALOPE (2006).  He also helped in the areas of editing, producing, and cinematography with such films as HOUSE OF SECRETS (2015), “Primal” (2013), “The Vail” (2009), THE SYSTEM (2016), TEARS OF BANKERS (2012), just to name a few.  McLellen has used working with other films as a means to work on all other genres when not working on his own horror films.

During all these years McLellen also managed to run his own film festival Fright Fest Film Festival in in 2003 which then became the Cine-Macabre Film Festival in 2004 (due to some naming rights issues with Six Flags Over Georgia’s similarly named Halloween event).  McLellen’s film festival originated in Gainesville where he makes his home and where many of his films were shot.

Over the last several years McLellen has turned towards his second passion which is music!  Having scored the music for all his films as well as other film-makes’ productions, McLellen’s love of music led him to collaborating with several different bands which continues to this day as he finds a new outlet to indulge his creative and artistic tendencies. 

Throughout McLellen’s career, he has managed to influence and effect not only the creative arts in various cities but have also had tremendous support from those same cities such as Gainesville (the place he calls home and was influential with his film festival as well as productions such as Bad Land and Jack O’Lantern), Rome (on All Hallows Evil, Tears of Bankers, The System) and many more.  He’s managed to cultivate a huge repertoire of cast and crew that repeatedly returned on various films.  Even though he has not directed a film in several years his influence can still be felt within the indie film industry where his films continue to be available through various streaming and online services.

 For this reason, SWFF is presenting McLellen with our 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award!  In honor of this occasion we will be screening the 15 Year Anniversary of his film HELL’S END and his final fan film “Revenge of the Sandman.”  We hope that you join us this August 7-9 for our Online Festival Event!  Tickets on sale now through Film Freeway (https://filmfreeway.com/somethingwickedfilmfestival/tickets) and Ticket Leap (https://something-wicked-film-festival.ticketleap.com/something-wicked-film-festival/) and for more info about SWFF visit us at www.somethingwickedfilmfestival.com

*Not all of McLellen’s films are mentioned in this article and there are even more lost to time but you can find more info on his through Facebook and You Tube!

Meet the 2018 SWFF Jury!

We would like to introduce you to the amazing men and women who made up this year’s Jury Members.  At the head of this year’s event sat Kevin L. Powers as the Festival Judge and underneath him was a group of dedicated film-makers and film lovers who judged all the submissions and helped decide what was to be screened this year and what films deserved to be nominated for awards.  They had a hard task to dwindle down the huge list of amazing shorts and features from all over the world from animation to fantasy, from horror to science fiction, and experimental to non-fiction.  It was a monumental task for which we at Something Wicked FF are entirely grateful.

Anne McCarthy

ANNE McCARTHY

A writer/producer/director of short films whose films Movie Night and Monster in the Wash (both 2014) screened at Something Wicked Film Festival from previous years.  Although now living in California she is originally from Georgia and got her start in live theater before moving and focusing on film work.

Dave R. Watkins

DAVE R. WATKINS

Dave R. Watkins is a Georgia based Director, Producer, Writer & Actor. He directs and starts in the Comedy Web Series "Lumber Baron of Jasper County" and he is producing and directing a new Psychological Thriller series called "Herman Jones". He also directed the feature length movies "Stragglers" and the "Return of the Jackalope" and starred in the Lions Gate release of Jack O'Lantern. 

http://lumberbarontheseries.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HermanJonesTheSeries/

David Young

DAVID YOUNG

David Young first discovered his passion for film while he attended high school in a small town in Virginia. Devouring classics by Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott and many more, he decided to enroll in the New York Film Academy's filmmaking program upon graduation in 2005. There, he received a crash course in everything from directing to screenwriting to editing and even acting, all of which he put to use when co-founding a filmmakers' club in college. With an eventual BS in Computer Science and an additional formal training in audio recording and engineering, David moved to Atlanta to pursue a career in the entertainment industry in 2011. Since then, he has been working as a professional live sound engineer at multiple venues around the metro area. He has lent his services as a production sound mixer to recently-released feature film "Go Mad and Mark" which debuted at the Plaza Theater, and he continues to moonlight as a boom mic operator and sound editor/mixer as projects arise. 

Nate Hill

NATE HILL

Nate Hill lives in the Atlanta area and reads more horror novels and comics than could be considered healthy. He’s also the writer of the graphic novel “Giant Robot Warrior Maintenance Crew,” and the co-writer of the forthcoming online series “Herman Jones.” 

Chris Simoes

CHRIS SIMOES

Simoes is a film-maker based out of Georgia.  He is the writer/producer/director of the feature films Bigfoot: The Curse of Blood Mountain (2015), which screened at SWFF in a previous year, and most recently Halfway to Hell: The Movie (2018) which had a special World Festival Premiere this year.

Heather Place

HEATHER PLACE

Heather Place is a Charlotte-based, award winning Actor/Producer, member of SAG-AFTRA, Founding Member of Falling Tree Films, and Managing Partner of Four Leaf Features, LLC. Heather has worked as a professional actress for over 25 years in theatre, film, television and as a voice-over artist.

Some of Place's credits include, the cult favorite "Basketcase 3" and several independent films which have won awards on the festival circuit.  Some of her award winning "indies" include:  "Searching for Signals", "Winter's Tale", "Muted" and "We Three Kings". Heather also produced and acted in the short film, "Second Wind Storms McKenzie Farms", which won the award for "Best Short or Web Series" at the Georgia Entertainment Awards. She is currently in pre-production on two feature films: "Forgotten Word", a religious thriller, and “Alive and Kicking”, a Southern ensemble comedy set in an Assisted Living Center. Heather is part of the producing team for both projects and will play roles in both films.

Here's the link to Heather’s IMDb page:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1239849/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 

Regina PArtee

REGINA PARTEE

Regina Partee is a graduate of Full Sail University with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing, of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film, and a graduate of The New York Film Academy director’s certificate program.

Regina has written, produced and directed several short films, a documentary, musical stage plays and a sketch comedy television show that ran for two seasons on a local station in Atlanta. She has also written multiple short films, feature films and television shows for multiple independent production companies.

Most recently, Regina developed the characters for the upcoming production “Coming of Age.” She has also added author to her title with her book, Bold Obedience, and is currently working a musical stage production.

Regina’s related work experience includes an internship at Rainforest Films as a script consultant, a script supervisor on a short film for Blank Stage Productions, and a screenwriting instructor for the Independent Black Film Festival in Atlanta.

Some of Regina’s accomplishments are: Best Sci-Fi Short (Goodnight Princess), Women in Film Atlanta Short Film Showcase 2015; Honorable mention (A Latte’ Love Story), Short Film Showcase 2013 for Women in Film Atlanta; Quarter-finalist, Creative Screenwriting Cyberspace Open Competition in 2009; Full Sail Course Director Award in Editing for Film, Games and Animation for Outstanding Script Coverage; Full Sail Course Director Award in Creative Writing Portfolio II for Outstanding Writing; and graduated with a 4.0 from Full Sail University. 

Regina is a member of Women in Film and Television Atlanta and Women in Film and Television International.

http://ginapartee.wix.com/reginapartee

Joshua Haire

JOSHUA HAIRE

Joshua Haire has been acting in Atlanta for 8 years and has appeared in This Old Machine (2017), Murder Comes To Town (2018), Full Count (2018), 3am Live (2018), All Hallows Evil: Lord of the Harvest (2012), and most recently Herman Jones (which was the Opening Night film for this year’s festival), among many other titles. His love for the arts and craft of acting drive his passion for film and he is excited to be a judge this year!

Evan Avers

EVAN AVERS

Evan Avers is a graduate of Kennesaw State University with a BA in English. Evan is twenty-three years old and is a native of Gwinnett County. He works as a high school teacher and has a love for film of every sort. Evan is very excited for the opportunity to get to share in the art of so many wonderful filmmakers, and he hopes you'll find his feedback valuable.

Philip Wray

PHILIP WRAY

Philip Wray (Judge)- This is the first time Philip has been a part of the Something Wicked Film Festival but he is no stranger to film festivals. Philip served as a volunteer and volunteer chair for the Milledgeville Film Festival in 2014 and 2015. He also worked as a production assistant for the film, “Side Harm” that was submitted to the Atlanta Film Festival in 2015. He has also worked as an extra, production assistant, and assistant director for a couple of other short films and television pilots. When Philip isn’t judging, he mostly works as a freelance theater lighting designer and technician.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7180104/

SAM WILSON

[No Bio at This Time.]

Dave Watkins: The Man Behind HERMAN JONES!

HERMAN JONES is the latest production from Georgia film-maker Dave R. Watkins and the feature length version will be making its way to film festivals across the country!  If you haven’t already heard about this maverick film-maker then you just haven’t seen the various short films and features he’s produced, written, directed, or starred in for almost twenty years. Watkins got his start as an actor in suck low budget films as The Middle of Nowhere (2002) and Jack O’Lantern (2004) before writing and producing his first web series Witch Hunters Extraordinaire, a quirky comedy and fantasy series.  Following this, Watkins worked in front and behind the scenes on several short films before directing his first feature Stragglers (2004), which he also starred and provided the screenplay for.  This led to his participation in the feature Return of the Jackalope (2006).  Return of the Jackalope was slow to film an audience so Watkins continued to hone his craft as an actor, writer, producer, or director in a string of short films from the zombie films Dead Vengeance (2009) and Zombieween (2009) but also in other genres such as Garbage Day (2008), Have Me For Dinner (2008), and Second Chances (2009).  In this time, he also managed to be a part of a few notable films (but varying degrees of importance) such as Dance of the De  It was with this experience on these bigger productions that Watkins would use his talents to create his most popular and enduring characters The Lumber Baron in the web series The Lumber Baron of Jasper County (2011-Present).

ad (2008), Bad Land (2007), The Other Side (2006) and Hell’s End (2005).

The Lumber Baron web series and spin-off short films was created by Watkins and frequent collaborator Michael D. Friedman and tells the misadventures of a cast of colorful characters in a lumber yard.  The series is funny, and you never know what’s going to happen next.  The series stars Watkins and Friedman but also a “who’s who” of Georgia talent such as Candace Mabry, Grant Garlinghouse, J.R. Francis, Brandy Goins, Ashlee Heath, Chris Burns, Jacki Flynn, and many, many more.  Even though the initial web series has run its course, this long running series continues to keep on going through various holiday themed specials and other shorts.

It was with the success of this web series that Herman Jones was born.  A horror-thriller completely removed from the world of the Lumber Baron (although it stars many of the actors from that series), Herman Jones started off as a nine-episode web series before being fine tuned into the feature film it currently is.  I don’t want to give away too much or spoil anything, but Joshua Haire stars a Herman Jones, a recluse who lives in his sister Jennifer’s (Amber Erwin) basement and suffers from delusions of a Mr. Murk (Watkins) and others that talk to him with only some pills to keep them at bay.  As his relationship with his girlfriend Christy (Krissy Notes) depends his world starts to unravel allowing Mr. Murk to have an influence which leads to some harrowing revelations that Herman may not be ready to handle yet.

I was able to sit down and talk with Watkins about his new film right after it’s World Festival Premiere at Something Wicked Film Festival (www.somethingwickedfilmfestival.com).

SOMETHING WICKED: What was the inspiration for HERMAN JONES?

DAVE WATKINS: Several years back, co-writer Nate Hill sent me an outline for a story called “Herman Jones Cannibal Slayer” and the name "Herman Jones" called to me.  We ended up not using much of the original outline except for the Herman character and the idea of a Cannibal Cult.

SW: How was the writing process for this production as opposed to any of your previous ones?

DW: It was similar in that after thinking about it for some time I sat down and started typing out the episodes, and as I did the story and the characters started coming together and after a few weeks I had rough drafts for the episodes.   Most of the structure stayed the same after that but I would go back and forth with Nate on the drafts and we would continue to tweak the dialogue and flesh out some of the ideas and the characters.  Eventually Nate brought in Michael Van Cleve to look over the episode scripts and he had some terrific and honest notes that helped fix a few plot holes and character beats.

SW: What was one of the most difficult aspects of this production?

DW: Scheduling the shoots and finding the time to do them.  It ended up taking a lot longer to shoot than I had anticipated, I was used to shooting fast with the comedy web series "Lumber Baron of Jasper County", but this was a different animal.

SW: Why did you originally choose to make it a web series?

DW: I like the format from a writing standpoint.  There’s something about the structure of the episodes that makes sense to me, it lends a little creative freedom that a rigid structured movie script doesn't.  I used to watch a lot of movies but now I mostly watch television and writing a web series is like writing a TV show.

SW: Will there be a Season 2?

DW: I would love to do more, but I’m not sure at this point.  I have some ideas about where the story and characters would go next, but don’t have a strong grasp on it yet.  Season One was a huge time commitment and I hesitate to jump back into it, but on the other hand I am invested in these characters.

SW: Tell me a little about the casting for HERMAN JONES.

DW: After we had all the scripts in a good place, I reached out to Joshua Haire to play Herman.  After he took the role, with Josh's help we built the rest of the cast from people we've worked with before and/or wanted to work with.  We didn’t audition anyone and I took a few leaps of faith on casting some actors I'd never worked with before, luckily it all worked out well.  

SW: Do you prefer to use actors that you’ve worked with before?  Why?

DW: I do often cast people I've worked with before, but I also enjoy pulling new people into the mix.  It depends on the character, it's nice to have the peace of mind knowing that the actor is going to pull it off and be reliable.   Also, I must say, this cast was terrific.  Everyone clicked together, and they were invested in their characters and they were all right for the parts that they played, and they were also understanding of the conditions we had to shoot in.  It makes a directors' job a lot easier when you have that.  There's a lot of chemistry between the cast members and some of that has come from the ease of working with the same people before.

SW: Why did you decide to also star in the show? 

DW: I don't play Herman Jones so I'm not the star, but the character I play, Mr. Murk, is in it a significant amount.  Sometimes it helps me connect better with the story and the other actors, but in this case it was also about not having to schedule another actor for almost every shoot for a character who often only looms in the background.

SW: Tell me a little about the character you play in HERMON JONES.

DW: There's eventually more to it than this, but it's a shadowy figure that follows Herman around and only Herman can see and hear it.  Like an imaginary friend that has manifested itself into reality.

SW:  One final question, what’s next for you?

DW: I’m working on producing some more “Lumber Baron” comedy content and considering doing some horror shorts.

***

You can look for HERMAN JONES to come to film festivals everywhere and to learn more about this and other productions from Dave Watkins go to IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1482625/ or http://lumberbarontheseries.com/