Hello and welcome to this week’s Welcome to the Insta-hood! This week I interviewed fellow IGer: @madshelleyfilms
- Tell me a little about yourself.
“I’m an Emmy® Award-Winning Writer-Filmmaker who serves as the President of the nationally recognized educational film company, OutreachArts, Inc. and its award-winning, sister company, Mad Shelley Films (‘Under the Flowers’, ‘The Halloween Girl’). In recent years I’ve stepped away from my company, OutreachArts to focus on our Mad Shelley Films work.
However, I’m incredibly proud of our OutreachArts’ Emmy® Award-Winning teen drama series, ‘Maple Ave’ which aired on public television – and was even featured on IFC! These days, I’m probably better known for our spooky web series, ‘Under the Flowers’.”
2. Can you talk about your company: Mad Shelley Films?
“Well, on our web site it says that Mad Shelley Films was born of my ‘love for classic ghost stories’ but, really, the catalyst was losing both my parents within six months of each another and deciding to make, a one-off film, ‘The Halloween Girl’ to deal with my grief. In the end, the film did help me through a very difficult time and I’m happy to say it was also very well received; we had some Hollywood screenings, awards and great reviews. But, little did I know, the Halloween Girl would demand a resurrection in what became our supernatural web series, ‘Under the Flowers’! It was as if all these characters and their stories had been patiently waiting for me to finish up with OutreachArts and then, boom!, this sudden explosion of Hammer Films, Twin Peaks, Mario Bava, Dark Shadows, 70’s horror comics and Neil Gaiman-influenced stuff was spilling out everywhere! Sounds like a mess – and it was – a great, big, beautiful, spooky mess!”
3. How did you come up with the concept of your company?
“When I decided to start up the company, I instantly thought of a blurb I’d read in High School about the poet, Percy Shelley and how he got the nicknamed ‘Mad Shelley’ at school because of his passionate, eccentric behavior. Well, right away, I felt I had discovered a kindred spirit (and a favorite poet)! So we had a name – and then I thought of Rod Serling and my love of the supernatural and our tagline, ‘Supernatural Dramas – with a Twist!’ was born. Really though, I consider our work ‘bubblegum art films’ because they’re rooted in both my love of dark, classic literature, art films and retro horror (particularly 60’s & 70’s stuff). So, I’m afraid, we’re always going to be more ‘The Innocents’ (1961) and ‘Let’s Scare Jessica to Death’ (1971) than the latest jump scare rehash! ”
4. What has been your favorite project that you have worked on and why?
“Well, my favorite project is always the most recent so that would have to be ‘Under the Flowers: Waking the Witch’ (our third season). Though I was pretty sick during filming, our amazing cast and crew pulled me over the finish line – they truly are the best and really share a special spot in my heart.
Anyway, I enjoyed this ‘Under the Flowers’ chapter the most because there was a real joy in making it (much like ‘The Halloween Girl’). We had arduous shoots the first two seasons and I was determined to reverse that trend while digging deeper into the characters with a more adventurous storyline. And, I’m happy to say, it’s been the most well-received ‘Under the Flowers’ season to date!”
5. Do you have any exciting news or any future projects you would like to share?
“Yes! I recently finished the script for the last episode of Book 1 of ‘Under the Flowers’; it’s called ‘Catch Your Death’ and we hope to shoot it in the Spring of 2020. In this one Charlotte gets her wish to return to her old life for a redo – but quickly learns witches shouldn’t play with dead things! Also, I’m in the process of adapting the ‘Under the Flowers’ series and ‘The Halloween Girl’ as a graphic novel series – and having a blast! So, come on 2020!”
If you like more information about Mad Shelley Films the following contact information is below:
Their Instagram account:
ladycultblog 