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Your new movie Bag of Tricks
- in a few words, what is it about?
Bag
of Tricks is set on Halloween night, when a young couple find
themselves in a frightening situation after pulling a seemingly harmless
prank on a trick-or-treater in a ghost costume named Timmy.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing Bag
of Tricks? In
writing the script for Bag
of Tricks, I found great inspiration in the
original Halloween and
Trick r' Treat. A few words about Bag
of Tricks' approach to horror? With
this film, we took a more suspenseful approach. It's more about what you
don't see, much like earlier horror films of the 60s and 70s. Now how did the
project fall together in the first place, and how did you end up producer
of the film? Early
on in the early days of Horror
House Media, in August of 2018, I wrote the
script for Bag
of Tricks to be the follow up to our first film Soundbite. Ultimately, due to budgetary constraints, we were unable
to tackle the project, though we always planned to come back to it. Fast
forward to May 2020, we found ourselves ready to pick a new project for Horror
House. It was to be the first we had done since early 2019, so it
needed to be something special. Michael Coulombe [Michael
Coulombe interview - click here] and I felt that Bag
of Tricks should be the one, and we began prepping for a mid-June shoot. I
ended up co-producing this film because I was very protective of this
story. It had always been one of my favorite scripts, and I wanted to be
more hands-on to make sure that my vision made it to the screen.
What were the main challenges of bringing Bag
of Tricks to the screen from a producer's point of view? Overall,
I found the production to be rather smooth. However, if I had to mention a
challenge, I suppose making it seem like Halloween in the middle of summer
would fall into that category. Especially hunting down candy corn, which
is an element in the story. Do
talk about Bag of Tricks'
director Michael Coulombe [Michael
Coulombe interview - click here], and what was your collaboration
like? Michael
is an amazing director with great vision. He is very collaborative, open
to ideas. Most importantly for me, he appreciates what is in a script, and
he makes sure to work very closely with me, the writer. If changes are
necessary, I am heavily involved.
This isn't your first collaboration with Michael
Coulombe - so do talk about your previous movies together - and how did
the two of you first meet even? Michael
and I have now worked on five short films. Soundbite,
Stalk, Love Me Not, and
Bag
of Tricks have all been produced for Horror
House Media by Ray Mcann jr. Ezili was produced by Richardson
Chery. What can you tell us
about Bag of Tricks'
cast, and as a producer, to what extent were you involved in the casting
process? The
cast was amazing! Jenna Nolen was captivating in the role of Tiffany, and
Frank Smith [Frank
Bernard Smith jr III interview - click here] was equally as mesmerizing as her boyfriend Ryan.
Calisto
Thompson was delightfully creepy as Timmy the Ghost. They were such a
pleasure to work with. Calisto Thompson had been chosen to play Timmy two
years prior, when we were first in discussions to do Bag
of Tricks,
so we already knew he would play the part, now. Jenna Nolen and Frank
Smith were brought into the film by both Michael Coulombe and Ray Mcann jr. I was shown headshots and examples of work, and gave my input. A few words about the shoot as such, and the
on-set atmosphere? There
was so much laughter! The scarier the action was on the screen, the
funnier it was on set. While we all were having a good time, we also were
very serious about our work. We worked long hours, late into the night,
but we never let our spirits drop. It was really an amazing group of
people helping to bring this film to life. The $64-question of course, where can
Bag of Tricks be
seen? Currently, Bag
of Tricks is streaming on Horror
House Media's YouTube channel.
It is also part of a feature length anthology that will be premiering soon
on Tubi. Any future projects you'd like to share? We
are in the early stages of preproduction on the next Horror
House Media film, entitled Homebound. It is actually a prequel to our
film Stalk. What
got you into screenwriting in the first place, and did you recieve any
formal education on the subject?
Honestly,
a love for the horror genre played a big part in my desire to start
writing, but if I have to specific, it was watching Halloween: The
Curse of Michael Myers that really sealed the deal. It was my first
horror movie in a theater, and after watching it, I knew what I wanted to
do. I wanted to make movies. More specifically, I wanted to write them. I
didn't have a formal education on screenwriting. I was self taught. I
found as many scripts on the internet as I could, and I studied them. I
began writing fan fiction, refining my format with every script. When I
was 13, I wrote my first full length, 90 page script (a sequel to
Halloween 6), and by the time I was 14, I had written my own original
script.
What can you tell us
about your filmwork prior to Bag
of Tricks? Prior
to Bag
of Tricks, I have written four other short films that have been
produced. I have also worked in the art department of a feature film
entitled Dark. I have also done poster art for several short films. How would you describe yourself as a
writer, and do you have any writing routines? I
like to think that I'm very in tune with my imagination. No idea to me is
too ridiculous to explore. I also am very fast. Once an idea takes hold, I
can't stop writing until I get it out. It's like exercising a demon, I
suppose. As for routines, I like to pour me a cup of coffee, or wine
(depending on time of day), and play scary music while I write. Writers,
screenwriters, filmmakers, whoever else who inspire you? Stephen
King, Dean Koontz, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Victor Miller, Don Mancini,
Tobe Hooper, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Williamson... just to name a few.
There are so many filmmakers who inspire me, and it would be impossible to
name them all. Your
favourite movies ... and of course, films you really
deplore? My
two absolute favorite movies are (drumroll, please) Halloween
and The Wizard of Oz. They are on two completely opposite ends of the
spectrum, but I love them equally. In choosing a film that I highly
dislike, that honor is shared by both the remake of A Nightmare on Elm
Street and the remake of Poltergeist.
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https://www.facebook.com/brantley.brown.5
https://www.instagram.com/brantleyjbrown/
https://brantleyjbrown.wixsite.com/horrorhousemedia
Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? Well...
I am currently in the middle of the feature length adaptation of Bag
of Tricks for Horror
House Media's first foray into full length territory! Thanks for the
interview! Thank
you! It was my pleasure!
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