Your new movie When
the Screaming Starts - in a few words, what is it about?
Ed: When
the Screaming Starts
is a horror-comedy mockumentary about an
aspiring serial killer and the wannabe documentary filmmaker following his
journey. It’s about ambition and the lengths people will go to pursue
that – except the ambition here is murder, so it’s not your standard
life goal!
Conor:
You’d hope not!
What
were your sources of inspiration when writing When
the Screaming Starts?
Ed:
The initial idea came when I was reviewing The Ted Bundy Tapes for the
London Horror Society. I found myself equally disgusted and fascinated by
this and I started to question what it said about me. What does it say
about society that we’re this interested in serial killers and true
crime?
Conor:
Ed approached me with the concept, followed by a rough draft. I just loved
the premise, and it immediately sparked my imagination. My personal
inspirations have been varied, everything from the mockumentaries you
might expect to the hard-hitting true crime documentaries plastered across
every streaming platform. I think the film we get compared to most is What
We Do in the Shadows, which is certainly a compliment!
Since you've co-written When
the Screaming Starts, what was the writing process like?
Ed:
It involved a lot of back and forth, Conor and Jared (who plays
Norman—the documentary filmmaker—and is one of the producers) came to
my work so we could work through scenes in between me answering phone
calls!
Conor:
I love collaborating, particularly in the writing phase. Especially with
comedy, you get this immediate feedback, can I make Ed laugh? Can he make
me laugh? Is Jared nodding his head politely or crying with laughter? It's
the first test to see if something is working or not.
Do
talk about When
the Screaming Starts' approach to horror!
Ed:
I love horror—an early draft of the script was crammed with these horror
references, including a Texas Chainsaw Massacre style voice over
introduction, but luckily Conor chipped away at the heart on the sleeve
references!
We
were really aware that if we were going to make a film about an aspiring
serial killer then we couldn’t shy away from moments of darkness—the
reality of it, but maintaining the right balance between the horror
elements and the humour.
Conor:
Yes we were always striking this balance between comedy and horror,
absurdity and realism. We made a decision early on to tonally pivot at a
certain point in the narrative. The film is lighter in tone when it’s
all a fantasy in Aidan’s head, but when the blood starts flowing, the
film gets somewhat darker to say the least!
You of
course also have to talk about When
the Screaming Starts' brand of humour for a bit!
Ed:
This was the discussion Conor and I had from the scriptwriting stage all
the way through shooting and into post-production; walking that tightrope
between humour and horror. We had to really be strict on what worked
because there were jokes and scenes that on paper felt like they worked
but didn’t translate, and as much as we might have liked those moments,
we needed to cut them.
Conor:
I love a dark comedy and my favourite jokes in the film tend to be the
darker ones! We tried to stay truthful to the characters as opposed to
cramming in one-liners for the sake of it (which is always very tempting).
I think we have created this weird blend of silliness and pitch black
humour that hopefully keeps people guessing.
Conor,
what can you tell us about your directorial approach to your story at
hand?
Conor: The
mockumentary genre has an aesthetic we’re all familiar with, the rough
and ready camera work, the quick zooms in to accentuate a joke, it can
almost become another character in the film. I always wanted to honour
this style whilst infusing it with something a bit more cinematic and
stylised. We’re certainly not the first to do this, again What
We Do in the Shadows is a great example of this. Using sound design, music,
lighting, production design etc to move away from the intentional drabness
of say The Office.
I
collaborated with our DP Adrian Musto, who is very experienced in the
documentary space, and we embodied this real run and gun style approach,
which wasn't too dissimilar from shooting a real documentary.
Ed, you play one of the leads in When
the Screaming Starts - so what can you tell us about your
character, what did you draw upon to bring him to live, and have you
written Norman with yourself in mind from the get-go?
Ed:
Yes and no! I always knew I was going to play Aidan, but while writing, I
had to sort of pretend that I was writing for someone else because it’s
so odd writing a part for yourself!
Aidan
is an aspiring serial killer, but I think he’s someone who’s a bit
lost. He’s a fan of horror films and true crime, so while I don’t
share his murderous ambitions, I have a connection to him in that regard.
What
was the collaboration between the two of you actually like when shooting When
the Screaming Starts?
Ed:
One of the things all three of us discovered (Conor, myself and Jared) was
that we he had to wear a load of different hats during the shoot. I was
having to jump between actor, producer and writer—we’d be discussing
something as producers then jump into a scene and then directly afterwards
Conor and I would need to talk about something to do with the script—so
it was great that we had each other as support.
On
set, Conor took the lead—as director—but there was definitely a
collaborative feel; figuring out solutions, experimenting with ideas.
I
love working with Conor and we’ve worked together for such a long time
on various projects that it all felt natural.
Conor:
Yes there’s certainly a short-hand and a trust there between us which we
relied upon heavily, especially in the intense shooting schedule! We
always had to be open and honest and leave any ego at the door. The best
ideas wins, whether that comes from me, Ed, Jared or one of the cast or
crew. Thankfully we were all on the same page for the most part. When
myself and Ed disagreed on a scene or a joke we’d normally fight it out
before unearthing a third idea that was better than either of our previous
ideas.
When
the Screaming Starts isn't the first movie you've made together -
so what can you tell us about your previous collaborations? And how did
the two of you first meet even?
Ed:
We met over a decade ago when we were both training at ArtsEd drama
school—which is where we met a lot of the cast from When
the Screaming Starts. We’ve worked together a lot since then, from short films to
Shakespeare tours in Germany.
The
first short we made after drama school was one Conor was directing, and he
had me eating out of a bin and Jared running (multiple times) into the sea
(in winter), so I knew what I was getting into when we decided to make a
feature together!
Conor:
I would add to the above that Ed was going through his Daniel Day-Lewis
phase and felt it necessary to eat out of a bin to become fully invested
in his character! I did make Jared run in the sea though (in winter), but
hey, cold water swimming is all the rage now though, so it probably did him
good!
As
Ed said we’ve worked together for a long time, and hopefully that will
continue for many more years to come. I promise food will be eaten from
plates in future productions!
Back to When
the Screaming Starts: Do talk about the rest of your movie's cast,
and why exactly these people?
Ed:
Most of the actors in When
the Screaming Starts trained with Conor, Jared
and me at ArtsEd. They’re actors we know really well and to a certain
extent we could write with people in mind.
When
we had our premiere at FrightFest, Ian (one of the organisers) said that a
stumbling block for a lot of low budget indie films is the acting quality
because people end up casting their friends, but we’re really lucky that
our friends are extremely talented actors.
Conor:
Yes, I think half of our year at drama school makes some sort of
appearance in the film! Shout out to ArtsEd!
A few words about the
shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Ed:
It was exciting, getting to make our first film together and with people
we’ve known and worked with for years was just brilliant. We had two
blocks of filming, one just before COVID and one that fell between
lockdowns—so that second block was different; fewer people on set, lots
of masks, but again it was exciting because we were all getting to work
again after months when work had been put on hold.
Conor:
We were spinning a lot of plates, particularly Ed, Jared and I. In an
ideal world we would have been acting or directing only on set. However,
we were also the lead producers, in charge of logistics, costumes, props,
the list goes on! Thankfully we had an amazing team around us who would
jump in and support us in so many ways. Big shout out to Alan Rae who
literally was the MVP on set, a Swiss Army man of sorts. Also Dom Lenoir,
who joined a little later down the line and helped ease some of the
strain. We also had a brilliant cast and crew who all believed in and
supported the film from the ground up.
The
$64-question of course, where can When
the Screaming Starts be seen?
Ed:
It’s currently streaming on Screambox before a wider digital release
later this autumn—we’ve really enjoyed our experience working with the
people at Screambox, they’ve understood and supported the film since we
first started talking to them, so we feel like we’ve got a good home
there.
Conor:
Signature Entertainment are releasing in the UK. It is out now and
available on Amazon, Sky Store, Apple, YouTube, Google Play, Rakuten and
more!
Anything you can
tell us about audience and critical reception of When
the Screaming Starts?
Ed:
It’s been positive so far—which is a relief! For me, as a horror fan,
having people like Phil Nobile jr from Fangoria and Mary Beth McAndrews
from Dread Central being really positive about our films feels so surreal
(in a really great way!).
Conor:
The response has been great so far. The festival run was fantastic - to
come through Covid and be back watching it in a packed out cinema was such
a joy. The critics/reviews have been very positive so far but the real
test begins now it is out in the world!
Any future projects you'd
like to share?
Ed:
We’ve got some scripts in the pipeline—some comedy, some horror—and
I’m currently making the finishing touches to a collaborative horror
novel which is going to be published next year.
Conor:
Yes, Ed and I are chopping away at some exciting film and TV projects
(we’ve somehow managed to avoid killing each other over the past three
years despite speaking most days!). I’ve also just produced another
film, Good Intentions, starring Micheal Ward and Charithra Chandran,
directed by Yasen Atour.
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Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else? Ed:
We’re @WhenScreaming on Twitter and @whenthescreamingstarts on
Instagram. Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? Ed:
Make sure you watch When
the Screaming Starts! Thanks for the
interview!
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