Consider creating your first feature-length movie. With a first-time feature director. In a global pandemic. During the middle of the ice storm of the century. And then debuting it in one of the premiere horror festivals in the world! Happy to say, you nailed it! Listen in to our interview with the cast and crew of The Summoned for their take on the great adventure that is movie-making.

Sometimes when you get the opportunity to do press interviews for a film release, you’ll get a director. Or a director and an actor. In this case, we got the bulk of the team to show up, and it was a real treat to chat with them. The Scariest Things got the privilege of being the first press to interview the team from the Summoned, and they were still giddy and perhaps a little dazed from the previous day’s world premiere screening at The Overlook Film Festival.

On this podcast you will hear from:

• Director and actor Mark Meir
• Actress Angela Gulner
• Writer Yuri Baranovsky
• Cinematographer Justin Morrison
• Editor Dashiell Reinhardt

This was a collaborative effort between Meir and Gulner’s company, Wicked Myth Films, which has a slate of films in development that are centered around/use Greek Myths as a jumping-off point, and Happy Little Guillotine, a production company that built its reputation on award-winning national advertising campaigns and short films. For both production companies, this is their first feature film, and all of our guests share production credits. Sometimes stepping into the big leagues means putting your own skin on the line. It’s Sweat equity, cinema style.

And as any good movie-making tale would go, this production was full of drama, with all means of external forces looming to ruin their efforts. But, they persevered and came out with an exciting and snappy independent film that punches above its weight class. All that experience of producing ads for the likes of Trojan, Netflix, Arby’s, and MTV prepared them well to handle what was to come.

For any of our listeners who are aspiring filmmakers, this is an essential listen to get the behind-the-scenes scoop. There is a particularly infectious energy for first-time producers, who justifiably were beaming with pride in their creation. No jaded been-there-done-that of worn down Hollywood veterans here. It makes it so much easier to do the interview when everyone in the room has ear-to-ear grins and is eager to talk about their “baby”.

To get our full impressions of the film, you can read it here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS