A Savannah Haunting Premiers in Pooler

A SAVANNAH HAUNTING PREMIERES IN POOLER A Q&A with the Filmmakers

ASAVANNAH HAUNTING debuts in select theaters nationwide and on all major digital platforms October 28th. The film will hold its worldwide premiere at the Royal Cinema IMAX in Pooler.

A SAVANNAH HAUNTING is a dread-filled, slow burn supernatural drama about a mother grappling with her guilt stemming from the tragic drowning of her youngest daughter. A family moves to Savannah, Ga., to try to distance themselves from the brutal memories of their daughter’s death at their Californian home. Once in their new home the mother slowly grows to believe she is being haunted by her dead daughter. The film ties in Savannah’s brutal slave history and its long connection with voodoo.

The film is based on real supernatural phenomena writer/director William Mark McCullough and his family experienced in their home near Savannah for decades. The film was shot on location at the actual haunted house. The filmmakers attempted to capture the subtle, creeping fear that afflicted the real residents of the home.

Tell us about yourselves. How did you get into the film industry?

Mark: I started as an actor in Los Angeles, and it took me a long time to figure out how to make that happen. So I was struggling and I really wanted to get into the creative side of filmmaking. I met some folks who were working in very, very low budget films, short films and student films and I just started helping out and getting involved.

That’s actually where I met Alexis Nelson, my business partner! I was helping out a friend of mine who was a student at UCLA on his student film, and Alexis volunteered to help out on the film as well. We were the “rainmakers” outside the window of this house they were shooting. And so we had a hose and sprinkler that would shoot the water onto the window to appear as if it’s raining outside.

At the end of the day, I’m a storyteller. That’s what I’ve always been drawn to. And so as an actor, I assist others in telling stories. But as an actor, you’re so limited in what you’re able to do with a story and you show up and say the lines and that’s basically it. As a filmmaker, you are responsible for everything from the creation of the story to the editing, color, music, sound, promotion and

marketing. I’m attracted to this role of filmmaker because you’re involved in all aspects of the film. Alexis: I’ve been doing film art-related content since I was in high school. I went to UCLA to study film and I did design there as well. I just loved it! And any opportunity I had, I would go and work with other filmmakers as a production assistant to try to work my way up that way. And then I moved into the visual effects and animation world as well, which I really adore. “ My background comes from post-production, but The movie is based on strange events that I just always kept being happened in the actual home my father pulled to projects working with Mark and that’s why we purchased in the 1970s here in Savannah. started our own company “ Fort Argyle Films with “A Savannah Haunting” being our first feature film.

What do you admire about your business partner?

Mark: She really is the force behind so much of what we do. She got nominated for an Emmy when she was 23 years old which is amazing. She’s tiny in stature but not in energy and drive. I just remember being so impressed by her from the time I met her at UCLA. I’ve always described her as an iron fist with a velvet glove. She can be extraordinarily forceful when she needs to be; however can be very charming and graceful as well. She’s a powerhouse. Everyone who

meets her and works with her is always very impressed by what she brings and delivers to each project.

Alexis: Because Mark went to law school, he’s great at the business end of the business. He’s great at looking through contracts because of his legal background and he works well with actors and makes sure the story makes sense. Plus, of course, he’s an excellent actor. His work can be seen in The Walking Dead, Sweet Magnolias, Hillbilly Elegy, LA’s Finest, Swamp Thing, American Made, The Gifted, The Outsider, just to name a few.

When did the idea of A Savannah Haunting come to you?

Mark: The movie is based on strange events that happened in the actual home my father purchased in the 1970s here in Savannah. There have always been murmurings about this house. I moved back to Savannah for some personal family reasons, and it was the first time I spent any real time in the house in years because I had been in Washington, D.C. in law school and in Los Angeles working. It was the first time I had been in the home for an extended amount of time. I had experienced small things here and there in this house over the years, but this time with being here nine months, the magnitude of the weird incidents terrified me.

Alexis: During this time Mark was in Savannah, I flew in for a visit. I stayed upstairs in one of the guest bedrooms and some very baffling, scary things happened. Mark had intentionally not said anything about the house to me so when I also experienced these weird occurrences, I told him he should tell this story about what’s happened to your family over the years with the house being haunted and turn it into a film.

Savannah is known for its ghost tours and such among tourists. There are so many movies shot in Savannah that are horror thrillers, but the storyline has them taking place in other cities. This is original because it’s a Savannah haunting that actually takes place here and is filmed here.

How long does it actually take to write the script for a movie?

Mark: Every script is different. I’ve worked on scripts that took me two years to write. But this one only took three weeks. This script was fairly easy because while I was writing it, I experienced really intense, scary things in the house because I wrote it on the premises. And I think by writing it in the house, it really ramped up the supernatural things that were happening here.

What’s interesting is that as I was writing I was basing the storyline on real and fictional events. There are key aspects of the story I thought I was making up, but once I got finished with the script, we brought in historians and I found out later that the things in the story I thought I made up were actually true and had occurred. When I say this story “wrote itself,” it really did!

Alexis: I’ve known writers who would spend years writing a film and never finish it. As Mark was writing the script, he finished the first draft pretty quickly and he would send chunks of it to me to read through and make sure it was going in the right direction. He’d also check in on certain parts to see if the visual effects could go smaller or larger. We do a lot of collaboration this way on the creative side to make sure you’re getting the greatest impact out of every scene.

What happens after a script is written?

Mark: Generally speaking, for independent filmmakers, a lot of energy and time goes to finding funding for the movie. You’ve got to find people who are willing to take a risk with their money in your vision, because all they’re reading is a script and they have to trust that that script is going to get turned into a film and something they can actually watch and get sold and have audiences go see it.

Alexis: Plus you have to find a director, line producer, casting director, hire the entire crew, secure locations and actor availability. It’s just a lot of planning. And of course, you have to shoot the film!

Many movies are filmed in Savannah. What’s the feedback you hear from other directors that bring their projects here to be filmed?

Mark: Obviously, the thing that attracts so many productions to Georgia is the tax incentive. Savannah also offers a lot of interesting, varied locations that showcase the historical architecture of the city and the dense woodlands nearby. Savannah has worked really hard to build a local crew base so that when these films and TV shows come here, they don’t have to bring everyone in from Atlanta or L.A. They work hard to offer deals on hotels and catering to make the process of getting a film and TV show created easier. And, I think the people in Savannah are friendly.

Alexis: Savannah has a reputation for being a really gorgeous location and you can’t beat the tax credit!

You chose Pooler to premiere the movie. Can you tell us more about this location choice?

Mark: We could have premiered this anywhere and distributors usually want to go to big cities, but we wanted this to be a love letter to Savannah. We insisted it premiere here because this is a movie about Savannah.

Alexis: We wanted a really nice theater. We want nice seats, nice screens and the Royal Cinemas in Pooler is the best theater in the greater Savannah area. It actually has the world’s tallest IMAX screen and they have been super friendly to work with and have made planning a premiere so wonderful and easy.

Where to see A Savannah Haunting and for more information:

To see A Savannah Haunting and for more information, visit itunes.apple.com Buy tickets for Royal Cinemas at www. royalcinemaspooler.com/movie/A_ Savannah_Haunting ■

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