James Gunn: Behind the Screams

Finale: Behind the Screams of “Scream Queens”

MOVIEMAKER TIP OF THE WEEK: Move to Los Angeles!
People around the country often ask me what one thing they should do if they want to be a successful moviemaker. My answer almost always pisses them off, because it is as follows: MOVE TO LOS ANGELES. If not L.A., New York. Yes, you can be a successful moviemaker in other cities. But you increase your odds of success by a hundredfold with this one simple act. People who really want to make money in the film industry need to commit fully—and that usually requires a move to the places where movies are made.

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December 9th, 2008 | Category: James Gunn: Behind the Screams | By James Gunn

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Episode Seven: Behind the Screams of James Gunn’s “Scream Queens”

MOVIEMAKER TIP OF THE WEEK: Wet your monsters!
Almost any prosthetic effect looks better and more realistic when it’s wet, especially if it’s a creature of some sort. Always keep your fake monters covered in Ultraslime or some other wet liquidy substance. Re-wet in-between takes!

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December 2nd, 2008 | Category: James Gunn: Behind the Screams | By James Gunn

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Episode Six: Behind the Screams of James Gunn’s “Scream Queens”

MovieMaker Tip of the Week: Make three shots lists!

When I’m directing a movie, I’m a big believer in preparation. I believe most the work on a film is done before you ever set foot on set. Being over-prepared actually allows more freedom for improv and fun on a set. And before I direct any scene I always have three shot lists.

The first shot list is my HOPEFUL LIST. This will usually have all the coverage and showy shots I would get if I actually had the time to get them. This seldom happens. But, every once in a while, a day moves more quickly than usual, and I’m able to get all my basic shots in and have a little time left over. That’s when I get into these HOPEFUL shots, that can spice up a scene.

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November 25th, 2008 | Category: James Gunn: Behind the Screams | By James Gunn

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Episode Five: Behind the Screams of James Gunn’s “Scream Queens”

MOVIEMAKER TIP OF THE WEEK
Never hesitate to fire someone! One crap cog in a production can bring the whole thing down. If a cast or crew member starts showing some problems—whether it be bad acting or the inability to put together a budget or a prosthetic FX artist whose dragons look like Kermit the Frog—those problems will likely only get larger and worse as time goes on. This is where hope can kill you on set: You hope they’ll get better and things will be okay. Sure, sometimes they do get better. But four out of five times they don’t. Statistically, you’re better off getting rid of them immediately. Sure, it’s difficult to fire someone, and even more of a pain-in-the-ass to replace them. But it’s nothing compared to the problems the poor performance of a team member can cause.

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November 18th, 2008 | Category: James Gunn: Behind the Screams | By James Gunn

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Episode Four: Behind the Screams of James Gunn’s “Scream Queens”

Slither director gives an insider's look at his VH1 reality show

This was perhaps my favorite episode of all to make I really felt like I was directing for the first time In the other directing challenges, I was giving the girls notes on their acting, but in shooting the trailer for Reform School Zombie Squad I felt like we were creating something fun and funny and stupid and cool. The girls and the whole "Scream Queens" crew were my creative partners in fulfilling this ludicrous vision, and I think all of us had a fantastic time.

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November 11th, 2008 | Category: James Gunn: Behind the Screams | By James Gunn

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Episode Three: Behind the Screams of James Gunn’s “Scream Queens”

Slither director gives an insider's look at his VH1 reality show

I’ll be honest. I went into the week hoping we were going to boot Jessica. At the first director’s challenge—the only real acting challenge we’d had thus far—three girls were far worse than the others: Jo-Anne, Kylah and Jessica. Jo-Anne and Kylah were gone. So I thought week three was going to be an easy decision.

The girls who I thought were at the front of the bus—Michelle, Sarah and Tanedra—were poor to bland in the Director’s Challenge. The girls who I thought kinda sucked—especially Jessica and Lina—kicked it up a notch. I came out of the week wondering if I was going to be able to make any sort of informed decision at all about our Scream Queen, the future star of Saw VI. Were the girls just going to be randomly better or worse from week to week? Or were some real frontrunners going to emerge?

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November 4th, 2008 | Category: James Gunn: Behind the Screams | By James Gunn

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