About 10 years ago I moved back to America, Idaho to be precise, at the urging of my son and his wife…they had a growing family, wouldn’t it be nice for me to a bit closer and watch them growing up. I agreed, any time spent with grandchildren is good times. Acting work in the UK was slow, work diminishes in proportion to growing age. I had sold the family business which I had run for over ten years and then sold…whew…sigh of relief. It had been an interesting experience and had given me a solid understanding of business, the secret of which is healthy cash flow, more coming in than going out! One day I will write more about the whole experience.
So there I was with time to spare – a luxury after the last few years and I started making short films. We were well into the digital age, filming costs were suddenly much more manageable and there was talent in Boise, all hungry to work their craft.
Boise- the City was giving grants at the time to film making, in the interest of tourism, which was useful. However there were no State or Government tax incentives for film Investors, unlike the State of Georgia, Canada, the UK, Ireland. Grants are fine, but tax incentives are the real gold.
I decided to make short films, shorts which could be tied in as one, as an Anthology film, they had to have a common theme. What sells? Horror sells. What else sells? Classic stories sell. And so we ended up with the feature film NEW CHILLING TALES- THE ANTHOLOGY. In hindsight, I think maybe it should have been OLD CHILLING TALES, or just CHILLING TALES.
We made four short films, from four great horror stories, from four great writers and voila we had a feature film. Making short films is much easier than making a full length feature. You don’t need the money all at once, you don’t need all the actors, the locations, the sets all at the same time. And you don’t need all the money at the same time. You just need to know your target audience and how and where you are going to sell your production. The stories are written, they just need a faithful adaptation, no messing around, trying to be clever, cutesy, just tell them they way the writers intended.
NEW CHILLING TALES – THE ANTHOLOGY was picked up by a good sales/distribution company based in LA and since 2019 has been visible on the market. Marketing by social media has helped, it is our main source of advertising and the appeal of the stories and their famous writers has helped- “Beware of What you Wish For” ( aka The Monkey’s Paw) by WW Jacobs, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman Perkins and “The Damned Thing” by Ambrose Bierce are a success.
And that’s the story – friends. Now to make NEW CHILLING TALES, part 2. In the US or the UK…I split my time now – work suddenly re-appearing in England again, not to mention my full length feature I am making here – ANDY, with more new, young talent.. As I said – shorts are easier. You can see the film on Amazon and YouTube.
Till next time
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