31: Interview with Director L. C. Cruell

As part of the film screenings at Get Connected each month Blank Stage seeks to feature the hard working directors behind each of the projects. Enjoy the interview!

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Definitely! “31” just had its World/Festival Premiere screening on the big screen at Shriekfest in LA (which we went on to win!). But as this is an Atlanta production, filmed here, cast, and crewed here, we are really thrilled to have its East Coast Premiere here in Atlanta.

I’ve written several award-winning feature scripts, shorts, pilots, and web series, and then at some point decided to start directing as well. I directed student films at Duke and have directed short films and web series since, including “31,” which I wrote and directed. You can check out my stuff at www.cruellworld.com

It’s a suspense thriller told in 31, 31-second-long segments, that originally aired as cliffhangers for 31 straight days on YT at 3:31 each day. It was perhaps the first true daily Internet Horror Serial. Basically- She wakes up, trapped, alone, in darkness. But if she escapes, will she find out that the strange world beyond her prison is even more terrifying?

It came to me on the morning of September 17^th of last year. One of those inspired (or blessed) moments where an idea materializes nearly fully formed in your mind. I was looking forward to October (the golden month of horror) and 31 days filled with horror movies. Something about that clicked. Wouldn’t it be great to do a daily serial, 31 episodes, 31 days in a row, 31 seconds long? I had no idea at the time that nothing quite like that had been done before. The rest of the idea, the abduction, where she was taken, what would happen to her there, and that all she knew of herself was the tattoo “31,” was all there too.

Well, first, there’s the script. I had no idea how hard it would be to write episodes that were no longer than half a script page each, but still developed character, moved the plot forward, kept things creepy, and ended with a cliffhanger. Then I had to do it 30 more times and tie it all together. Mega-challenge, but definitely the kind that makes you a better writer. Find actors, locations, crew (uber key). If you have a strong script and concept that gets people excited about the project that helps. Raise a bit of money on Indie Go Go. Then, lots of prep (storyboards, shot lists, camera tests, rewrites). Film, shoot, act, and direct like your life depends on it – we filmed the whole thing in 2 ½ days and no take could be over 31 seconds – had a PA with a stop watch and everything. Then LOTS of post – where the final magic is made.

Brilliant. Every single one of them. Becky Biggs and Ben Bryant were incredible as “31” and “30.” Our DP, Steven Swigart is just a flat out genius cinematographer. Plus his mind works in ways similar to the crazy ways mine does, which helps. Hands on we couldn’t have managed the actual shoot nearly as well without Lara Stevenson and Rob Kiely (White Coat). And then our editor Mike Bruno and our audio supervisor Amy Peterson, besides having Mad Skills are the hardest working creatives I know! Short of myself, no one pulled more hours on this than they did and it would never have reached the level it did without their expertise. Hire these people for your projects. Seriously. Oh and the director/writer was great. Hire her too! And our bi-coastal, international team of producers - Tammy Good (LA), Claudia Bennett (Canada), Julian Bennett (Canada), Trevite Willis (NY), and Dawn S. Smith, Becky Biggs, and myself of Atlanta – were in on it too.

Hopefully the whole thing! The film is shown as the series of 31 episodes in the order that they were originally aired. The goal was to tell the entire story arc of a short film, in bite size Internet-attention-span-friendly pieces, with the regularity and structure of television – same length and time each day. The best of all 3 worlds. The thing fans enjoyed most were the suspense and the cliffhangers, so hopefully the GC audience will too.

We almost froze to death. It was literally so cold at the interior location that we went outside in January to get warm. If you check out the behind-the-scenes shots at our website, you’ll see that everyone but the poor actors were in parkas and full winter gear.

Also, to get the look and sound right, the actress isn’t actually alone in the crate but had both the DP and the Audio gal in there with her. Luckily, I could check the footage without being in the crate, cause that would’ve been a bit much.

Just do it. Really, get together with others who have the skills to film a project and film it. Start with a strong concept and script and make it happen. It doesn’t have to take a ton of money if there is passion, talent, and willingness to work hard there.  The more you do it, the better you’ll get, the more calling card pieces to show for your work.

Well, things went really well for the first run of “31.” We got around 25,000 views on YT alone, got really great reviews from everyone from TV Overmind to boxofficeBuzz to Planet Macabre, got 3 non-exclusive distribution deals, YT partnership, and our first film festival win 2 weeks ago. So now, we’re considering seeking out ad sponsors, investors, online channels, or what have you to fund a second run.

In the meantime, producer Trevite Willis’s award winning “Children of God” recently aired on Showtime. Ben Bryant is playing Sydney in the upcoming Zombie Musical, “They Swim.” Amy Peterson is I believe working with “Star Command” on season 2 of their web series. And I’ve just done production deals for two of my short scripts: “Through a Glass House Darkly” (ghost story) with Atlanta-based Shandra Bradford’s Kiss the Limit Productions; and “Seekers” (vampire/psychological thriller; Shriekfest winner) with H. Craig Bass (Year of the Phoenix Studios and Motion Source) and Brian Ernst (UBK Studios).