Interview: Blu De Golyer

Blu De Golyer is one of today’s most talented screenwriters and producers. Some of his credits include HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL, THE CABINING, HILLBILLY HORROR SHOW, THE LYCANTHROPIST. Blu took time to speak with me for a Horrornews.net exclusive.

What inspired you to write HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL?

Blu- Well, I am an alcoholic. Basically what it is, I have seen the damage my alcoholism has caused and I wanted to show the dark aspect of it and what it does to people. How it affects people. It was therapy for me really because I don’t really want to ever give up drinking but the thing is, I need to be able to control not the drinking so much but control how you act when you drink.

You played the Deputy in the film, why did you decide to play the deputy?

Blu- I did! That was actually a last minute thing. I couldn’t get anybody else to do and when you do independent films you got to do every aspect of it whether it is be craft services or set decoration which I ended up doing and casting. Producers in Hollywood, they delegate and we don’t have that luxury when you are on an independent film set.

I love that Bo Keister is in this film as well. Why did you decide to cast Bo again? (Bo does Hillybilly Horror show and Blu writes for the show)

Blu-We conceived that show, I do the writing for that show and it just works. He’s a great pal and we are working together on a couple of other projects we got going, he is definitely a talented guy. It is always good to work with the same people because you know what to expect from them, there’s no surprises and we work well easier.

You are working on another film called FINDING WALDO, could you tell us what the film is about?

Blu- We found him! Yeah it’s a fun picture. It is a road trip movie. You have an ex-pro football player, he’s a quarterback. He got a D.U.I., he injured somebody and got sent to prison for three years, he is played by Bo Keister. He gets paroled and gets a job at an insurance agency but it’s not like any other insurance agency, it’s the Celine Dion, her vocal chords of the insurance agencies. So they have this policy on this guy named Waldo Green, he’s this famous novelist and basically he cracks on live television and he ends up in the an insane asylum. The insurance company thinks he is scamming them for an eighty million dollar policy. They send Chance Reed who works in the mail room at this place to basically go interview him under false pretense to see if he is screwing around. So he interviews him and Waldo decides to escape from this insane asylum with a hostage and the hostage is Chance Reed. He puts him in drag and they steal one of the employee’s cars. His car is a pink Mazda Miata convertible and there are clothes in the back for drag queens. Waldo basically takes him on this road trip mixed with all these crazy things. It is a mad, mad, mad world kind of thing. It is a fun right but you find out in the end that not everything is what it seems and it was all planned for a specific reason. It is about forgiveness. (He hopes to start filming FINDING WALDO this year)

What was it like working with Director David Mun?

Blu- I worked with David and I have known David for several, several years and he has always been the most loyal on his project HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Clint Howard was attached to for quite some time to direct. We looked at that from a strategic stand point. I love Clint Howard, nicest guy in the world, it’s just that he couldn’t do it for the budget we wanted, which we had. We didn’t have a big budget. He wanted a bigger budget which when you think about it, he is right in a sense because if you hand it over to his brother, it’s distributed right away to a huge distribution company. But it is what it is. We had what we had and the actual production of the film cost sixty thousand dollars. You have to do all the bells and whistles. The legal stuff, the legal paperwork, copyright, clearance, editing and it came to one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. I am proud of what we have you know the film is not for everybody, you got to have an attention span. During Thanksgiving when it came out, it was the number six most pirated film of that week. So you got to understand that there’s people who will steal the film and watch it but they will complain that it wasn’t the horror movie that they expected, they want to see blood and gore and all that. It’s more of a psychological, sad story. David Mun definitely got the essence of that and he stuck with the project. He carried around a shot list in his back pocket for five years. He stepped up and he wanted to do this so badly. He pulled every favor he could to make this work. That is dedication.

The psychological films can be scarier because they can represent real life a little more.

Blu- Right and this is a tragic love story, we’ve all been in love. It is something we all tried to obtain or hold onto and the decision that they made. It all started with one little accident to where it could have been prevented but it destroyed him.

How did you get involved in the Hillbilly Horror Show?

Blu- I just came up with it, it’s one of those situations when you produce a movie and it’s successful. Let me tell you what success is. I had a four time Emmy winning writing contact me last night and again he knows me and he said I have this Horror script and I’d like to know if you want to produce it? What? Who am I? You have four Emmy’s man. What is reminded me of is I have a lot of independent film makers contact me you know because they have done shorts. We saw HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL, would you mind taking a look at this short, we’re trying to make it into a feature, you know get it to our indiegogo page. I mean, I’m talking dozens and dozens of filmmakers who are talented. You got to understand they are growing, we are all growing as filmmakers. I’ve got so much to learn myself. There are platforms out there for short films but there is no real venue for them. So I said why don’t I just make the Hillbilly Horror Show, like Heehaw meets Tales from the Crypt. What format could I present them, how do I show the world these films? Talking to Bo and how he speaks and the look he has on his face sealed the deal.

Would you like to see Hillybilly Horror Show be on television?

Blu- We are syndicated in a lot of countries but it is one of those things where humor is a hard translation. Horror we get, horror is that inner fear of who is going to kill me? Humor can get lost in translation. We go after the Nascar aspect and people make a connection to that.

What is the most challenging role you take on and which one have you learned the most from?

Blu- Writing! Absolutely writing. The funny thing about writing is you are the first, you’re the one spawning the idea. I believe as a writer you should know every other aspect of film production. Go see every aspect of how a film is made and you will be a better writer for it because you start writing in accordance with what your production value can obtain. I write with the budget in mind. If you are not hungry enough and you are not willing to eat Ramen noodles every night before you make it, then this may not be the industry for you.

What has been your favorite genre to write?

Blu- I actually love drama, I prefer writing dramas. I write Horror but it is not my favorite genre I got to say. I love Horror, who doesn’t love Horror? I love the classics, The Shining, Amityville Horror, Poltergeist, and Rosemary’s Baby. They keep re-making things and the originality is starting to dwindle. Michael Bay is planning on doing The Birds. As a writer you got to be able to accept not letting ego get in the way. Studios look at things like a product but you should make it a brand before a product. HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL has been picked up by NBC Universal and it’s been on the Syfy channel. The best platform we have ever had is indie flicks. Indie flicks is the most film maker friendly platform and they actually nurture the filmmaker.

Why do you think they keep re-making films?

Blu- Hollywood has the propensity to want to copy something. What we are forgetting is that people still want a story.

Tell us about getting the approval of The Hitchcock Society?

Blu- HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL is one of the few films that The Hitchcock Society. They loved the script and the telling of the story. It resonated with them. You do better when you have less if that makes sense. You have to think differently, more gorilla style.

Tell us about your writing process?

Blu- You can go back to that moment when you wrote your best thing ever and you remember I was starving. My first script ever was on an old Royal typewriter. I loved the way it feels and it makes you feel like a writer. I have two kids now, one is 3 and one is 1 and my wife’s a pilot for Southwest airlines and she is flying three days a week and I’ve got the kids. It is hard to get that work done so I am up at five o’ clock in the morning to do it and I go to bed at midnight. I have better tasting Ramen noodles. I am a morning person, I get the blood circulating. On a good day if I am working on a project I can do twenty pages in a day but the thing is the next day I may do half a page. You can’t force it, it’s like making love to a woman you can’t force what feels good and what doesn’t. You got to listen and go with the flow on things on how it feels. I am an impatient person by nature but writings taught me patience.

What advice would you give to writers, producers, directors?

Blu- Get all your friends together, get your community together and work together and make a film even if it’s a short film. Get it together, get a team together and just do it. Nobody is going to do it for you. People are just going to throw money at you, I mean for some people that happens. There are people that have rich family members. Start small but do what you do well. Make a short film, make it great. You just got to do it.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Blu- I wrote a script called DEVIOUS not too long ago, last year. I always write to music. This DEVIOUS screenplay is really creepy, a scary film. It’s more mainstream. I could only think of one song over and over and the songs are always playing during the scenes. If it is a powerful scene, I got powerful music on. Each film has a unique soundtrack. The one I am doing now, I write to Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and it is FINDING WALDO. That is how I write, I write to music. Find your groove, music moves you and walk, constantly walk. Every morning just walk and talk to yourself when you walk. You have to act out each character as your walking. You have to understand what they sound like, you got to know who they are. You will see me walking down the street before I start writing, talking to myself and you think oh geez that guy lost it but I am actually doing the dialogue for each character. This is what works for me. The first draft of any screen play I ever do I will find the most busy place like a Starbucks or any coffee shop, wherever I can go and sit down at a table and its packed with people. In and out, in and out. You look at those people and you will build those characters from the people you see and you will be surprised at what you hear that you can put in your dialogue just based on the reality of how people communicate with each other. Watch them, type, type, watch, type, and don’t be stuck on the screen. Look around you and it is all there and makes it more realistic. You got to be a people watcher. I am able to read people. We all are, if we just stop and watch. Don’t talk, just watch. And sometimes saying nothing is the most powerful thing the character can do. You will become a better writer. Fifty screenplays later and I am still learning.

What are your thoughts on the re-makes?

Blu – You are degrading the value of the real thing! You are taking away from the quality with the re-made films and a copy of a copy if NOT as clear as the original you know.

What other projects are you working on after FINDING WALDO?

Blu- I was just hired on as a producer for a film called DRAMA CLUB. LYCANTHROPIST, we are trying to make that into an actual television series. We will hopefully do that back in Virginia where we shot HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL. We have a lot of things on the way. I also did a script called CASTOFF which is about a homeless vet that has terminal cancer.

https://indieflix.com/indie-films/house-of-good-and-evil-44507/

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https://www.facebook.com/HouseOfGoodAndEvilFilm?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/FindingWaldoFilm?fref=ts