There are a few film makers that are out there doing it right. Making good horror with small budgets and relying on story and scares rather than big budgets and millions of dollars in CGI effects. One of these guys is the UK's Andrew Jones who has two key films coming our way and a host of awesome projects in the fire. We caught up the other day and he was happy to answer my 13 Question Marks of Horror...
1. You’ve seem to come out of nowhere with some very exciting projects,
can you tell me a little about yourself and North Bank Entertainment?
I
worked on my first fully financed feature film in 2007 as writer and director.
It was a good creative experience but ultimately the film didn't get released
because of disputes between the numerous producers on the project. So I
realised that in order to be in control of the direction of my work I needed to
go into producing with my own production company. I gained a bit of experience
associate producing and screenwriting on other people's projects before forming
North Bank Entertainment in 2010 and making our first film in 2011. Horror has
always been my favourite genre and it's never been more mainstream than it is
right now so there's a big demand for it. So at the moment North Bank's remit
is to produce 2-4 low budget horror films per year for the Home Entertainment
markets in the UK and North America.
2.What film or experience first got you into horror?
In my hometown of
Swansea in Wales I used to go to a local Video shop with my parents when I was
a kid. I was drawn to the evocative VHS covers in the horror section so I would
try to convince my parents to let me watch the films. They finally relented and
rented out 'A Nighmare
on Elm Street' and 'Friday the 13th' for me. I watched both movies back to back
and I felt what musicians must feel when they first hear The Beatles. The films
didn't give me nightmares, they gave me dreams. My imagination was fired and although
the idea of being a filmmaker seemed like an impossible dream, the seeds were
planted and I knew that one day I would make a horror movie.
3.You started off as a one-man show with teenage wasteland in 2006. Was
film always your first love?
Definitely.
Even when I was five years old I would sit through the entire end credits of
movies to see who did each job. I loved learning about the mechanics of cinema
as well as enjoying the viewing experience. As a child, I would much prefer to
stay at home and watch movies than go out. My parents saw that I could handle
horror movies so they allowed me to watch them and my childhood was a wonderful
journey of cinematic discovery because of that. I'll never forget the feeling
of seeing the classic horror movies for the first time. The old Universal
horror films, 1970s Grindhouse flicks, zombie films, creature features, the
slasher movies and Video Nasties of the 1980s. Watching those movies as a kid
was the best lesson I could have had as a filmmaker because I experienced first
hand how movies can sometimes be significant enough to change peoples' lives.
4.Can he tell me about that first shoot?
I
look back on my first film 'Teenage Wasteland' and I cringe about the technical
naivety of it. Visually it looks like a very amateurish movie but the
experience of filming it was a great education. I learnt how to direct actors
on that movie. I also learnt from the many technical mistakes and that's what
you need to do with every film, particularly your early work. If you learn from
your mistakes then you can become a better filmmaker. I've progressed a lot
since that first shoot but I still have so much to learn. I think if someone is
the same filmmaker, and person, in five years time as they are today then they
haven't pushed themselves hard enough to evolve.
5.The main challenge for any young filmmaker is finding financing. How
do you go about securing your films financing?
I
tried to get some bigger budget projects off the ground when I first went into
producing. Budgets in the range of £1-3million. That's chicken feed for US
studios but in terms of the independent scene in the UK that's a lot of money,
particularly when you're trying to raise it without the support of high profile
production companies or producers. What I learnt from the process is that no
private investor or funding body is going to throw millions at a producer with
no track record. You have to prove you can make money for investors before you
can secure those kind of budgets.
So
I decided to streamline my budgets to the absolute essentials and pitch a low
risk investment in films that can compete in the mainstream market but at a
quarter of the cost of our competitors. On previous projects I've worked on I
noticed how inflated and wasteful the budgets often were. So my goal is to make
creatively satisfying and marketable pictures but at a budget level that gives
the best possible chance of a healthy profit margin for our investors. If you
show financiers that you understand business and they see you aren't just a
flake who doesn't give a shit about the investors once you have their money,
then you become someone they want to do business with.
If
your low budget project secures a top distribution deal and makes money then
opportunities to do bigger and better movies can become a reality. Look at the
big name directors who started out on Roger Corman's low budget exploitation
movies before hitting the big time- Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese etc.
New filmmakers should always be prepared to work with whatever they can get and
make sacrifices in the short term in order to prosper in the long term. Never
wait for someone to hand you multi million budgets because you'll be waiting a
long time. Take whatever amount of money you can get and just make movies.
Making is always better than Waiting.
6.You secure some native projects including night of the living dead,
silent night bloody night, Amityville, and Manson. What steps you take to
secure such name projects?
One
of the current trends in the industry is for remakes and brand name titles.
Money is tight in this economic climate, so distributors are more drawn to
films with a marketable brand because they have an in built consumer
recognition and therefore represent less risk as an investment. So I knew North
Bank's first projects needed to have some form of brand name to give us the
best possible chance of getting distribution. Robert Shaye who founded New Line
Cinema started out as a copyright lawyer and he discovered that the copyright
on Reefer Madness was in the public domain so decided to release the film.
That's how he began distributing films with New Line which of course went on to
become a prosperous Hollywood studio. Most new independent distributors often
start out by distributing public domain films because it doesn't cost anything
to secure the rights. So I applied the same principle to my production company
after discovering 'Night of the Living Dead' was in the public domain. I knew
it had a public recognition and wouldn't cost us anything to secure the rights
to the name. A lot of fans of the original movie may see that as taking
advantage of Romero and Co. But everyone involved with that original film is a
successful millionaire so we're not leaving anyone in poverty. The bottom line
is if someone who dreams of being a filmmaker is faced with the choice of being
able to produce a remake that gets your career started, or struggle on for
years unsuccessfully trying to get something "original" off the
ground then that isn't even a choice at all. Anyone with common sense would
take the remake in a heartbeat.
7.Acting as writer producer director on projects gives you an immense
amount of freedom. Would you say this is the best way to work?
As
long as you don't have an over inflated ego it most definitely is. I love being
an independent filmmaker. A big benefit of keeping budgets low is that you
retain full creative control. That's nice when I'm directing but it's most
satisfying when I work with another director and I can give them the freedom to
implement their vision without interference. If you bring in a director who
understands the material then he should be allowed to do the job without facing
the added pressure of a producer on his back questioning his creative
decisions. That has worked well in my partnership with James Plumb who directed
'Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection' and 'Silent Night, Bloody Night: The
Homecoming'. Although I'm involved creatively with the script, once that first
draft is done and we are both in agreement on what the film should be I leave
him alone to make the film his own. Then I stick to my job which is the
organisational and business side of the project. I think that's the best way to
work as a producer.
The
best part of producing for me is selling the film to distributors. Because
we're so low budget I'm sure some of the actors and crew who work on our
projects think the films will just get a screening and then disappear like so
many other low budget indie flicks. So I get a lot of satisfaction telling them
that the film they were a part of has been picked up for UK and North American
distribution, as both 'Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection' and 'Silent
Night Bloody Night: The Homecoming' have been. It makes everyone's hard work
worth it. Even more so if the films do well and help those who worked with us
to progress in their careers.
8.Can you tell me about silent night bloody night homecoming?
It's
a UK based remake of an American cult classic from 1974 which focuses on a
manor house that has a dark history involving the family of it's owner Wilfred
Butler. The original pioneered a lot of the techniques that would later become
staples of the slasher genre such as the Stalker Point of View shot and it has
a very dark, unique back story. I've always wanted to create the first UK based
slasher franchise so the ultimate plan is for 'Silent Night, Bloody Night' to
become a series of films for the Home Entertainment market. So for this first
film we wanted to reboot the original 'Silent Night, Bloody Night' origin story
and expand it so it has the potential for continuation. It's a low budget movie
that we shot in just 10 days and we only had three months for post production
so that presented big challenges for us. But I'm very proud of what we managed
to achieve despite the limitations, it's superbly directed and the practical FX
by Alex Harper are very impressive. I'm sure slasher film fans will enjoy the
brutality and creativity of each kill. The film has been picked up for
distribution in the UK by 101 Films and we'll be announcing the North American
distribution deal we've recently agreed for the film soon. We already have
original stories in mind for the next two instalments so if the sales figures
are good when it's released on DVD in the UK and North America then we'll begin
production on a sequel. It's up to the audience now whether they want to see a
continuation or not.
9. How did Adrienne King, the original heroine of Friday the 13th, come
on to the project?
I
found out Adrienne was exhibiting her artwork at the Misty Moon Gallery in
London at the same time as we were shooting the film. She's very accessible to
her fans so I got in touch directly and asked her if she would like to provide
the voice for a series of phone calls the killer makes to potential victims in
the movie. She read the script and agreed to do it. Adrienne has done a lot of
voice work before and getting the heroine of an iconic slasher film involved in
our project, which is a love letter to that slasher era, was a great thrill.
James Plumb and I are both huge fans of Adrienne and working with her was a
fantastic experience. Adrienne has a wonderful professionalism and warmth and
the support she gives to new independent filmmakers is amazing. Her position as
an icon of the horror genre is thoroughly deserved.
10.One thing that has my attention is that of the living dead
resurrection. What made you want to tackle such an iconic property?
As
I mentioned earlier the idea of a brand name title that I could acquire for free
influenced the decision to make that the first project for North Bank. The
'Night of the Living Dead' name gave us the best possible chance of securing
distribution and finding an audience. But once we had that marketing hook we
were free to take the original concept of
Zombie-apocalyse-survivors-trapped-in-a-farmhouse in a new direction. The film
has new characters and new plot twists that are completely different to the
original film. With 'Silent Night, Bloody Night' we stayed close to the
original, but with 'Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection' we've gone in a
completely different direction than the Romero movie. I think James Plumb did a
fantastic job directing it, particularly as the process of shooting was very
challenging. We were in a cottage in the middle of nowhere with a tight budget
and a 12 day shooting schedule. So it's always difficult to get a film
completed under tight restrictions but it turned out very well. It amused me
that one or two of those involved in the film slagged us off because of the
difficult conditions but then the film got picked up for North American
distribution by Grindstone Entertainment Group and Lionsgate Home Entertainment
and for a UK theatrical release by 4Digital Media. Needless to say, they're now
kissing our arses. It's a fickle old business.
11.Being creative is one thing, the biggest problem young film makers
have is how to get their film out there and people interested in it. What would
you recommend?
I
think it's very important to understand the current trends of the market place
and the audience demographic you are aiming at. That's something filmmakers
should consider before they even make the film. So many first time filmmakers
struggle to get distribution because they don't consider what kind of movie
would appeal to distributors and audiences. I made that mistake myself with my
first two films, they were arthouse dramas and there's a limited commercial
appeal to those films. I'm lucky in that the genre I love the most always seems
to have a place in the market if you get the timing right.
As
well as the title, another reason why we managed to get 'Night of the Living
Dead: Resurrection' picked up for distribution is because zombies are very
popular at the moment, particularly because of the success of 'The Walking
Dead'. So distributors are obviously on
the look out for zombie films. The popular films always come in cycles and the
cycles are based on what is the most successful recent film in that genre
because everyone wants to emulate that success. So distributors will be looking
for similar films. I'd advise any first time filmmakers to look for those
trends and try to capitalise on them. There's nothing wrong with making a film
which follows what is popular at that time. After all, a filmmaker wants their
work to be seen by as many people as possible. When you've had a successful
film then you can start to worry about being an original artist who sets the
trends yourself.
When
it comes to actually selling your film the accepted route for indie filmmakers
is to travel to festivals and hob nob with distributors at Film Markets around
the world. That's fine if you can afford it but if your budget doesn't stretch
to that then you can approach distributors via phone or email. If the approach
is concise and professional and they agree with your demonstration of the sales
potential of the movie then you should be able to convince them to consider a
DVD screener. I rarely go to film markets or festivals. Not because I can't
afford it but because I don't see the point in flying half way around the world
to secure distribution when I can do it from the comfort of my living room!
12.You have a Manson film in preproduction. As a UK filmmaker, what do
you hope to bring to America's most infamous mass murderer?
The
project has had quite an extensive development process. I initially wanted to
do a bit of an epic over five decades of Manson's life with a keen focus on his
childhood. But the script was too big in scale and needed re-writing to be more
practical. Then the opportunity to do 'Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection'
and 'Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming' arose so the project was put
on the back burner. I've now brought in another writer to work on the script. I
think the Tate/LaBianca story has been depicted more than enough times on TV
and film, so we're going to portray areas of Manson's life that no other
project has covered, such as his childhood and his incarceration after the
infamous murders. I think that approach will create a fresher and more complete
portrait of Manson, rather than the one dimensional way he is currently
portrayed in movies and on TV. Being in the UK I think I am well placed to
avoid the bias of the US media's portrayal and present him in a way that allows
an audience to decide for themselves what they think of him. Once we get the
script into the right shape we'll move forward on production.
13.You have a lot of films in the oven for small production company. How
do you keep your budget slow and your marketability high?
It's all about trying to achieve a marriage
of marketability and low budget on every project. There's no point trying to make an action or
fantasy film because we can't compete with the spectacular scale and set pieces
of movies that have far bigger budgets. But Horror definitely lends itself to
the grittiness that often comes with a low budget so we'll continue to work in
that genre. We have a 4 picture deal with our backers Independent Moving
Pictures so while we're moving away from remakes next year we will continue to
make films that follow popular trends. Two of the films on our slate for 2013
are in the supernatural and found footage sub genres and we're also set to move
into sci-fi and creature features. At the end of the day, the people who buy
our films and become our fan base will be the ones who decide what kind of films North Bank Entertainment make in the
future. The audience always knows best.
This is how ya do it.
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