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An Interview with Thrilz TV's Kelly Hughes

by Mike Haberfelner

April 2023

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What can you tell us about your new streaming channel Thrilz TV, and the philosophy behind it?

 

Thrilz TV is raw indie cinema. Which means we embrace low/no-budget filmmakers, underground/cult films, and thrilling genres such as horror, action, comedy, and paranormal reality. We have some titles that approach mainstream respectability—especially some great vintage movies and documentaries. But overall, we embrace an exploitation film vibe.

 

What inspired you to start your own streaming channel in the first place, and has yourself being an indie filmmaker at all informed your decision to launch Thrilz TV?

 

Like many indie filmmakers, I was excited when Amazon started their Video Direct program. It was exciting to be able to place your films directly on their site alongside other movies on Amazon Prime Video. But when they abruptly ejected many low-budget films—especially horror films—I realized this wasn’t the outlet we were hoping for.

 

Low-budget exploitation filmmakers don’t always get the respect they deserve. There’s so much creativity out there. Who cares if these projects are a little rough around the edges? If you want slick Hollywood stuff, you have so many options. Why not create a platform that offers an alternative to the mainstream? We want to embrace the backyard filmmakers and the no-budget auteurs. We want to highlight unique voices regardless of budget.

 

Very basic question, why indie cinema? And to you personally, what's indie cinema's unique allure?

 

Even though filmmaking is a collaborative process, indie cinema allows you to create movies without a lot of red tape and corporate interference. It’s often a writer-director bringing their vision to life with little money, but lots of enthusiasm.

 

Low-budget indie filmmakers usually wear many hats, which can lead to burn-out. But you also become a great problemsolver on set. If something needs to be done, whether it’s operating a camera, lighting the set, placing a microphone, creating a prop, doing sfx makeup… you jump in and do it. You find creative solutions. You are a part of the entire process.

 

What were the challenges of bringing Thrilz TV into being?

 

Financing! Even with a simple channel, there are many start-up and maintenance costs. We just had our soft launch in March. So that was a milestone. But we’re still growing and developing.

 

Some of the highlights currently on Thrilz TV?

 

We currently have over 400 films on the channel. And we add new titles every week to keep it fresh.

 

We have an original series called 3-Minute Thrilz. It’s an AI-assisted radio theater program featuring short and suspenseful stories. And it’s currently free to watch along with the 2-Bit Horror Podcast on the channel.

 

My favorite highlight is our selection of documentaries featuring low budget and indie filmmakers. I love those behind-the-scenes looks at the moviemaking process. And I also like documentaries about punk rock, pop culture, and about creative people and compelling personalities.

 

Our underground category is a great catch-all for a variety of films. It’s where you can discover some real gems. I also like all our paranormal reality content—ghosts, hauntings, Bigfoot, UFOs… we have quite a few of those titles.

 

I’m a sucker for a low-budget horror film, so I like our selection of those. But there’s cool stuff in every category, whether it’s action, comedy, thriller, or even our more risqué After Dark titles.

 

For indie filmmakers, how does one get one's work to be shown on Thrilz TV, and are there any quality standards required to be met?

 

Currently, we’re getting most of our programming through FilmHub. We like that they make it easy for indie filmmakers to submit their films there and make them available to a wide variety of channels. They really seem to support indie filmmakers, so we want to support companies like that. And we really like their selection of movies.

 

As for quality standards, we accept everything from high-definition digital video down to shot-on-VHS. We draw the line on super bad audio. If you have annoying background noise throughout your movie, that would be a deal breaker. I do have a bias against underlit footage. Creating atmosphere is one thing. But I do want to be to see what’s going on in a scene. So throw us a bone and shine some light on your subject.

 

If you don’t currently have a distributor, we might consider your film directly. Feature length is preferred, but we also carry shorts. Send us an email at acquisitions@thrilztv.com. Include basic info about your film, and a link to a trailer and/or online screener. No guarantees, but we’d be happy to take a look.

 

What's in the immediate future for Thrilz TV, and where do you see the channel in, let's say, five or ten years?

 

We’re subscription-based, but we’d like to add a free-with-ads option. In the coming years, we would like to feature more exclusive content and to produce our own original projects. And to continue to feature filmmakers ignored by the mainstream.

 

Any future projects besides Thrilz TV?

 

I’m personally working on a new documentary. It’s called Monster Man. It features Kevin Glover, a guy who has worked in the entertainment industry for 40 years. He’s done acting, writing, directing, editing, home video distribution, and, currently, produces a line of monster-based comicbooks. He also played one of the monsters in the 1990 film Syngenor, so we have a lot of fun revisiting that. And Monster Man will premiere on Thrilz TV later this year.

 

Your/Thrilz TV's website, social media, whatever else?

 

Go to https://www.thrilztv.com. We’re also active on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And you can see trailers for our movies on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ThrilzTV.

My personal website is: https://grungesploitation.com. I’ll be posting Monster Man updates there.

 

Anything else you're dying to mention and I've merely forgotten to ask?

 

A big thank-you to you, Michael. You do so much on your site to support indie filmmakers. It’s always inspiring to visit https://www.searchmytrash.com/ and discover new films and filmmakers. And a thank-you to Tony, JZ, Nik, and Steve at Thrilz TV for their tireless work to help make this all happen. It takes a village to raise a trashy no-budget movie channel.

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


Legal note: (re)Search my Trash cannot
and shall not be held responsible for
content of sites from a third party.




Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!

 

 

 

On the same day
a Burglar wants to kill you
and your Ex wants
to make up ...
... and for the life of it,
you can't decide
WHICH IS WORSE!!!

 

A Killer Conversation

produced by and starring
Melanie Denholme
directed by
David V.G. Davies
written by
Michael Haberfelner
starring
Ryan Hunter and
Rudy Barrow

out now on DVD