An interview with Eric Stanze of Wicked Pixel Cinema

October 2003

By Gus Stevenson

Briefly introduce yourself and your company.

Eric Stanze:  I started making indie movies for the home video market in 1990, when I was 18 years old. I didn't really start to build a fan base until my movie SAVAGE HARVEST came out in the mid-90's. After HARVEST, I formed Wicked Pixel Cinema and we made ICE FROM THE SUN. I have directed/produced/edited many subsequent projects for my own company, Wicked Pixel Cinema, and for another company called Sub Rosa Extreme, a division of Ron Bonk's production and distribution company, Sub Rosa Studios. I'm addicted to coffee. I work better at night and sleep better in the daytime. I've never had a broken bone.

What do you believe is the role of the filmmaker in society? In other words, why are filmmakers important?

ES:  Filmmakers are NOT important. Doctors and firefighters and police officers are important. Teachers of all kinds are important. Anyone who makes a personal sacrifice to provide someone else with a benefit is important.

I'm lucky to have very cool people work with me all the time when I make movies. Part of why these people are cool is their lack of ego. It's hard to gather a big group of talented filmmakers together because too damn many filmmakers think they are too fucking important. You just make movies. Get over yourself.

The role of the filmmaker in our society is minimal. We express ourselves artistically... and some members of society may respond emotionally to our art. We provide entertainment. Sometimes, if we do a good enough job, we make the viewer evaluate (and usually strengthen) their beliefs, morals, or political viewpoints. We provide a vent for frustrations, anger, and the darker fantasies that lurk in everyone's brain. We provide a couple of hours of escape. The viewer can stop thinking about their asshole boss or any other dick-head in their life for a little while when they sit down to watch a movie. But that's it... it ain't like we're out there curing disease or anything.

I understand that your actors work for free. How do you find actors, and how do you work around their schedules?

ES:  Sometimes, I hold auditions to fill a cast. Sometimes I meet actors on various productions and I end up asking them to work with me. Some actors in some of my stuff just stalked and pestered me until I put them in something.

When you don't have the budget to pay actors, it is always a bitch scheduling around their jobs. I usually start those conversations by asking "What days a week do you usually have off?" and "How much vacation time are you willing to donate to this movie?"

Then, you set about designing the shooting schedule with everybody's personal schedules in mind. It's like a big puzzle. It pretty much sucks.

Before I lock the schedule, I get everyone to commit to it. I explain that if they are scheduled for a day of shooting and they don't show up, nobody is gonna care if they got called in to work or had to stay late to help the boss out. I explain that missing even a single day will leave 30 or so people standing around - who DID follow through on their commitment! And that those 30 or so cast and crew will despise and wish horrible things upon anyone who wastes their time by NOT showing up. I make people understand that if they commit to the schedule it MUST be their top priority until the shoot is wrapped.

But the other side of that is showing respect. I've been astounded at the quality of acting in my movies. When people show up for free and do that good of a job, you gotta let them know you appreciate it. Don't just say "good job" after the shoot. Do everything in your power to give the actors what they need to do their job. If they need quiet to concentrate, get the crew to shut up. If they need an extra ten minute to mentally prepare, give it to them if you can. Show the actors - and their craft - as much respect as you can.

What do you think the advantages are to being a filmmaker in St. Louis, as opposed to a place like L.A.? (Disadvantages?)

ES:  I don't really have an opinion, positive or negative, about St. Louis. I prefer to live here, so I make movies here too. If I decide to move to Canada in five years, I'll end up making movies there.

I don't feel like I make movies in St. Louis. I feel like I make movies despite St. Louis. There never has been much support for me here (aside from the people who I work with directly). There always seem to be ten times more people in St. Louis asking for my support than there are qualified people (film commissions, production houses, etc.) offering their support to me.

As far as L.A. goes, I don't think being there, or New York, or anyplace else with a more thriving film scene would benefit me. What those places offer, I'm not really looking for.

While shooting outdoor scenes or scenes in wooded areas, have any of your actors experienced problems with allergies or asthma (esp. to the point where it affects their acting ability)?

ES:  Lisa Morrison caught poison ivy on SAVAGE HARVEST. And I think Jason Christ has some trouble with allergies when we shoot outside in the spring and summer.

I am EXTREMELY allergic to poison ivy. Of all our cast and crew people, I think I've been the most victimized by the great outdoors. I've had to make emergency trips to the doctor's office to get rid of poison ivy caught during shooting... the worst cases of it were on THE SCARE GAME, ICE FROM THE SUN, THE UNDERTOW, and a recent location scouting trip for our upcoming movie.

It is often said that a set that is supposed to be cold actually tends to be hot, and vice versa. In such cases, how do you keep your actors from sweating? (Shivering?)

ES:  We wing it. Mop 'em down before a take if they are sweaty in a scene that is supposed to be cold. And if it is supposed to be warm, but it's freezing out, they just have to suck it up and fake it.

Lot's of that went on during shooting for SAVAGE HARVEST. It was supposed to be summer, but the shoot went on through the winter. Actors in short sleeves and shorts were FREEZING on some of those outdoor shoots. The same thing happened ten years later on SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD. These actors that I get to work with... they are tough as nails.

When you need to use someone's house or a business as a set, how do you go about asking permission to shoot there?

ES:  We try to start with a solid contact... someone who we know and trust. We don't ask complete strangers. Complete strangers tend to not understand the complex process of making a movie, so they have a greater chance of flaking out and pulling the location one day before we shoot there. They just don't grasp how much prep work goes into a day of shooting before the actual day. They don't understand how hard it is to recover from having a location yanked at the last minute.

When we ask to use a location, we offer up some money if necessary to cover the electricity we soak up. We explain that everyone who sets foot on that location will have signed an injury release form. And we do our best to respect that person's property when we shoot there.

You recently worked on a movie that involved aliens. Are you starting to branch out into other genres, like science fiction or comedy?

ES:  I wouldn't say that I'm branching out. It's more like I've always enjoyed doing different kinds of movies. My recent avalanche of Sub Rosa Extreme movies gave me a great opportunity to venture into genre's I had not explored before... like making a hard-edge exploitation movie like I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE - I PISS ON YOUR GRAVE, and the comedy THE CHRISTMAS SEASON MASSACRE, and the sci-fi comedy you mention involving aliens, INBRED REDNECK ALIEN ABDUCTION.

I think I've always done this. THE SCARE GAME was my failed attempt at being Wes Craven. THE FINE ART was my failed attempt at being Alfred Hitchcock. SAVAGE HARVEST was my failed attempt at being Sam Raimi. ICE FROM THE SUN was an experimental dark fantasy horror film. SCRAPBOOK was a drama. I'm now in post-production on CHINA WHITE SERPENTINE, a David Lynch inspired fucked up love story. I don't like making the same movie over and over. I like to try many different things. It always astounds me when a new director finally gets his very first movie out... then he turns right around and makes the sequel! How much fun can that be, keeping yourself in that one little box?

What do you suppose are the disadvantages to using DV instead of Super-8 film?

ES:  The one big disadvantage is the look of DV. But that is improving. Our next Wicked Pixel Cinema movie will probably be shot 24p anamorphic digital video (our first ever widescreen movie). Cameras are getting better and better all the time, so shooting DV is less and less of a compromise, visually. In almost every aspect, DV is the obvious choice over Super 8 film. DV is much cheaper, you don't have to trust a lab to process it without scratches and other stuff you didn't want in there, you don't have registration problems, sync sound problems, light leak problems... DV is the big winner, except that I really still LOVE the look of Super 8 film. If I had the money, I'd shoot another movie on Super 8 film in a heartbeat.

You mentioned in a previous interview that you have no other jobs outside of filmmaking. How do you go about finding jobs in the field, and any bits of advise for people who want to become full time filmmakers?

ES:  After graduating high school, I was determined to ONLY work in the video production industry. I made that happen, probably more with tenacity than with talent.

When you are young and just starting out, you should try to get a job doing ANYTHING in the industry. Even if you feel you are overqualified, and even if the pay is shit. Don't expect to be handed a job producing, directing, or editing right away. You should get a job running master control in a TV station, or working in a dub room, or shooting and editing weddings... anything that will keep your foot in the door of the industry. This way, you can A) work your way up to better jobs with better pay in the video industry. And B) you can rape and pillage your place of employment for lights, cameras, grip equipment, editing, etc.

For six years, I worked a crappy job running a VHS duplication system at a St. Louis production company. I actually turned down better jobs to continue running this dub room because I could always get away for two weeks here and there to make a movie. And I had access to free cameras and lights. I also worked deals for insanely cheap editing. While working there, I made SAVAGE HARVEST, ICE FROM THE SUN, and SCRAPBOOK. All movies were made using the resources of this production company. I got everything cheap or free because I worked there.

Later, after I quit and went full-time-making-movies, I continued doing freelance jobs... running camera, Avid editing, operating a boom mic, AD, PA... whatever I could get to supplement the meager income of the independent filmmaker. But I made sure not to stray from the industry. All it takes is six months working retail or throwing boxes for UPS and suddenly you find yourself "out" for life. You gotta hang in there and keep doing what you can do to make money in your field... and you gotta keep making (and marketing, and selling, and raising more money for) movies.

Now I co-own an Avid editing and DVD authoring company. Still, no big bucks in my pocket, but I use my own Avid and authoring systems for my movies.

Any hints about future projects, and are you interested in finding new actors/crew for said projects?

ES:  We were pursuing financing to produce a screenplay I wrote called TEMPEST OF THE DAWN. We actually came close to getting a proper budget for this. We had our foot in the door at Elite Entertainment, Lion's Gate Films, and a company called Heuris that was interested in helping us get TEMPEST shot in HD. Gunnar Hansen was involved, Reggie Bannister was involved, John Carl Buechler was involved... but after fighting to get the right deal for over a year, we realized that it just was not gonna happen... yet. So, we backburnered TEMPEST OF THE DAWN and started pre-production on a smaller movie... one we could raise the budget for with fund raisers, donations, and through private investors in our area.

TEMPEST OF THE DAWN was epic post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror. This new movie that we are working on now is more story, atmosphere, and character driven. And much more pure "horror movie" ...it takes it's inspiration from old Mario Bava films, as well as other, genuinely creepy stuff like THE CHANGELING and BLACK CHRISTMAS. It will be very dark, very atmospheric, and as scary as I can make it. Also, this project is designed to help us raise the funds for TEMPEST a few years from now. As of now, this upcoming project is untitled.

As for bringing new actors and crew on board, I am ALWAYS interested in new faces on my set. I'd love to add more folks to the team! ...IF they can show up willing to work long, grueling hours in sweltering heat or bitter cold, with no pay, and without whining! To join us, one must have a team attitude, no ego, and must be willing to start off by being a lowly PA, running coffee, cleaning up blood, and lugging equipment around. Sounds fun, eh?

We get people contacting us all the time, wanting to work on our sets. We only invite a fraction of them to participate, because we are looking for a specific kind of enthusiasm and level of endurance. And then, of the people we invite on set, only about half of them ever come back! The work is just that unpleasant sometimes.

You will suffer more making movies with us for free than you ever will at a paid job. But we genuinely appreciate and respect those who have the balls to stick around. You'll quickly rise above the PA duties and be given more responsibility and opportunity. Those who remain devoted become part of the family. Sticking around and taking on more and more to prove yourself earns you the respect of the team around you. And, in my opinion, it builds the highest quality of character.

(Thank you very much to Eric Stanze and Wicked Pixel Cinema.  Also thanks to my writer back home, Gus Stevenson ,for conducting this interview; and hopefully many more to come.  Click here to visit Gus's official website.  For more information on Eric, or Wicked Pixel, please visit their official site at http://www.wickedpixel.com.

-Aine)