Filmmakers Break New Ground with an Interactive Film-Production Diary Podcast

The hosts of the popular horror movie review show, The Cutting Room, are making podcasting history with the launch of a brand new show called Experiments in Podcasting. The show will be an interactive, behind-the-scenes chronicle of the making of a feature-length horror film, entitled Experiments in Killing. The bi-weekly episodes will consist of recorded production meetings and reports of developments while the film is being made, while engaging with listeners. The first episode debuts on July 26^th on the #1 horror podcast network on the web, BillChete’s HorrorPalace.com.

On June 21, 2012 filmmaker Joseph Christiana and writer Thomas Dettloff launched the project with an announcement on their show, The Cutting Room, asking listeners to weigh in on which of two projects they’d like to hear, and ultimately see, get produced. A poll was featured on HorrorPalace.com, allowing their listeners to cast their votes. The fans spoke and Experiments edged out Atavus Falls (a campground stalker-type film) by a mere fifty votes, or three percent of the total. 

“This is the type of engagement and interaction that will be one of the show’s hallmarks,” says Dettloff. In fact, Christiana and Dettloff, along with cinematographer and visual effects artist Willam Bourassa Jr., had already, perhaps presumptively, been in active pre-production on Atavus Falls. “We were certain that our listeners would go for our take on an old school killer-in-the-woods picture,” continues Dettloff. In effect, the listeners have, from the word ‘go,’ changed the course of the project’s development. “The experiment is working already.” commented Christiana.

The choice of the project is purportedly the first of a host of audience/filmmaker interactions the team has in store. They plan to involve the audience in many aspects of the film’s production, from concept artwork and funding to location scouting and even casting.

Christiana, an award-winning director of underground cinema, acknowledges the danger in such an undertaking. To paraphrase: If the film works and the team is successful listeners will hear it as it happens --which can be exciting-- but if they fail and the production doesn’t get off the ground, which is always a possibility with a film production, they’ll hear that too. Failure can make for interesting ‘radio’ as well, though it would certainly make things considerably less comfortable for the filmmakers. “But that’s what makes this worthwhile,” says Christiana. “Any good artistic endeavor requires some level of risk and danger. With Experiments in Killing we have it in both the film and its production.”

Experiments in Podcasting will be the tenth audio podcast to be featured on Bill Chete’s Horror Palace Network, but the only one to date that will veer from the horror movie review format. Says Chete: “The Cutting Room is one of the premier podcasts on the network and I love this new idea of theirs. I can’t wait to hear what happens.”