The Scream To Screen Theme

In our second minisode, we’re joined by Scott Lyus to help answer the question: How to Crowdfund Your First Horror Film.As a reminder, each of our upcoming minisodes are based around common questions that we see getting asked by numerous indie filmmakers. We will be speaking to a 'main' guest about each topic, as well as getting extra nuggets of advice from other horror filmmakers and professionals.We know that a lot of indie horror filmmakers, ourselves included, get their films funded using crowdfunding. Whether it’s for shorts, features, or both, crowdfunding is such an accessible way to get that much-needed capital and finally get your project off the ground. But raising even a few grand is not as easy as it looks, especially on platforms that are already so saturated with projects! So for that reason we wanted to dedicate a whole minisode to this subject. And we’re so excited to be joined by Scott Lyus as our lead guest for this chat! Scott is a talented writer, director, and producer, as well as running Black Sunday film festival.His work includes shorts such as Black Mass, Echoes of the Passed, and Silently within Your Shadow, as well as his debut feature Walking Against the Rain, which premiered at FrightFest London 2022, and picked up the much-coveted “Best Overall Film” award at Nightmares Film Fest in Ohio.He co-runs Crossroad Pictures with Chris, and perhaps most importantly for this conversation, he is a crowdfunding expert, having multiple successful campaigns under his belt – for both shorts and features. We really hope you enjoy it! And if you do, we'd be supremely grateful if you could give us a 5 star rating and/or leave a comment wherever you get your podcasts, to help us on our merry way.This episode of Scream To Screen is edited by Andrew Clegg, and our music is composed by Andrew Clegg too. It's produced and distributed by The Independent Horror Society.

As we build towards a very exciting looking Season 2 (coming in 2027), we've got a very special series of minisodes for you!Each minisode is based around common questions that we see getting asked by numerous indie filmmakers. We will be speaking to a 'main' guest about each topic, as well as getting extra nuggets of advice from other horror filmmakers and professionals.And in this first minisode, we’re joined by Damon Rickard to help answer the question: What NOT to do on your first feature film set.Regulars of FrightFest (and the IHS' Indie Film Showcases!) are likely to know Damon and his work, including a number of horror shorts, like: The Package, Dissociative, Stolen, and The Tour. He was also commissioned to create a horror comedy short, Turn Off Your Bloody Phone: Séance, which played at FrightFest in 2022.And then, after a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, in 2024 Damon wrote & directed psychological horror Never Have I Ever, his debut feature. We loved chatting with Damon all about that first feature film set, and his top tips of what NOT to do if you’re about to dive into your first feature too!We really hope you enjoy it! And if you do, we'd be supremely grateful if you could give us a 5 star rating and/or leave a comment wherever you get your podcasts, to help us on our merry way.This episode of Scream To Screen is edited by Andrew Clegg, and our music is composed by Andrew Clegg too. It's produced and distributed by The Independent Horror Society.

In this episode of the Scream To Screen horror podcast, Chris and Lucy are joined by the brilliant Alexander J. Farrell.After moving to LA, Alex began his career in documentary filmmaking with REFUGEE, a ground-breaking feature length documentary exploring the perilous journey of Syrian refugees, produced by the team behind Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine. He followed this up with MAKING A KILLING, where he exposes the injustices that medical insurance companies in the US have tried to keep secret for over 45 years. Alex then co-wrote and directed his first horror feature film, THE BEAST WITHIN, a mystery horror-thriller starring Kit Harington, which won the prestigious L’Ecran Fantastique award at Fantasia 2024. That same year, he also co-wrote British teen romantic comedy film HOW TO DATE BILLY WALSH for Amazon Studios.Alex is such an exciting filmmaker to watch, and alongside the incredible CV we’ve already listed, he also has several TV and film productions in development. One of these, HIDE AND DON’T SPEAK, is currently filming now, produced by the horror legend Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, who you might know from films like INSIDIOUS, SINISTER and LONGLEGS.We hope you enjoy our chat with Alex!

In this episode of the Scream To Screen horror podcast, Chris and Lucy are joined by actor, writer and stage performer James Swanton.Horror fans will know James from a wide range of roles across stage, film and television – including recent appearances in The First Omen and Apartment 7A, as well as frequent collaborations with director Rob Savage on films like HOST and DASHCAM.Alongside his screen work, James has built a really distinctive career in theatre, particularly through one-man shows and classic Victorian ghost stories. His solo performances of Dickens and adaptations like Frankenstein’s Creature have earned huge praise, and he’s become a staple of seasonal ghost storytelling in the UK. He’s also starred in BBC horror, including Inside No.9 and Mark Gatiss’s A Ghost Story for Christmas.We talk to James about how he built a career from fringe theatre and solo shows into major horror productions, how his love of classic literature and monsters feeds into his screen work, and what it’s like to carve out a niche as a modern horror performer.We hope you enjoy our chat with James!

In this episode of the Scream To Screen horror podcast, Chris and Lucy are joined by the wildly talented writer and producer Gemma Hurley.Some horror fans might already know Gemma as the co-writer of Zoom found footage horror HOST, which was made with incredible speed in order to be released in July of 2020, just four months after the UK entered lockdown.She collaborated with this same team – co-writer Jed Shepherd and director Rob Savage – as exec producer on the action- and horror-packed DASHCAM, produced by Blumhouse and premiering at TIFF and LFF in 2021.Since then, Gemma has branched out into TV, where she was part of the writers room and wrote an episode for tech horror RED ROSE in 2022, and she has further TV projects in development, including a YA folk horror with Working Title Productions!Gemma started her career like Lucy did, in theatre, and you'll hear about her journey from stage to screen, the big difference between TV and film projects, what it’s like to be part of a writers’ room, and, of course, what it was like bringing HOST to life!We hope you enjoy our chat with Gemma!

In this episode of the Scream To Screen horror podcast, Chris and Lucy are joined by Toby Poser and John Adams!Toby and John partners both in life and in filmmaking, who alongside their daughters Zelda and Lulu make up the Adams family (no, not that Adams family). Following careers that spanned acting, modelling, music, and even reality TV, in their 40s with two young children, Toby and John decided to shoot their first film, Rumblestrips, which won Best No Budget Feature Film Award at the Berlin Independent Film Festival.That was in 2013, and in the 13 years since (unlucky for some – but definitely not for them!) The Adams Family have continued to prove that they are masters in independent filmmaking. It was their fifth film, The Hatred, a Civil War set ghost story starring their daughter Zelda, which was their first horror feature, and since then they haven’t looked back.Under their production company Wonder Wheel Productions, their subsequent horror features: The Deeper You Dig, Hellbender, Where the Devil Roams, Hell Hole, and Mother of Flies have featured at incredible festivals including FrightFest, Fantastic Fest, Fantasia, and released on platforms like Shudder. Alongside their impressive film roster, Toby and John are also incredibly generous artists: attending festivals, talking to fellow indie filmmakers, encouraging others to follow their path.We really hope you enjoy our chat with Toby and John! And if you do, we'd be supremely grateful if you could give us a 5 star rating and/or leave a comment wherever you get your podcasts, to help us on our merry way.Scream To Screen is hosted by Lucy Foster and Chris Nials. It's edited by Elsie Watkinson, our music is composed by Andrew Clegg, and it's produced and distributed by The Independent Horror Society.

In this episode of the Scream To Screen horror filmmaking podcast, Lucy and Chris are joined by Axelle Carolyn, who has an incredible CV as actor, horror journalist, writer, producer, and director!As a film writer, she contributed to platforms like Fangoria and IGN, and has even published her own horror books such as It Lives Again! Horror Movies in the New Millennium.Now, she is best known for her work behind the camera. Her feature debut as writer and director was with the horror movie Soulmate in 2013.Since then, Axelle’s career has thrived in both film and TV. She’s written for shows like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and directed on multiple TV shows including Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Midnight Club, as well as horror series Them and American Horror Story.If you’re listening to this episode on release date, then today, March 26th, a new horror TV series that Axelle directed on, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, has just been released on Netflix. This has been exec produced by the Duffer Brothers, right off the back of their massive success with Stranger Things.We really hope you enjoy our chat with Axelle! And if you do, we'd be supremely grateful if you could give us a 5 star rating and/or leave a comment wherever you get your podcasts, to help us on our merry way.Scream To Screen is hosted by Lucy Foster and Chris Nials. It's edited by Elsie Watkinson, our music is composed by Andrew Clegg, and it's produced and distributed by The Independent Horror Society.

In this episode of the Scream To Screen horror filmmaking podcast, Lucy and Chris chat to actor, writer, producer and director Craig Conway!Fans will likely know Craig from his roles in horror films like Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Doomsday, and a wide range of cult and independent genre projects across the last two decades.Alongside his acting career, Craig has increasingly moved into producing and now Directing his own horror movie projects — including films like Broken, No Way Home and the upcoming Red Riding. He’s built a career that spans big studio productions and the more indie side of filmmaking.We talk about Craig’s rise from early UK screen work into genre cinema, how he transitioned into creating his own films, what it takes to sustain a long-term career in film, and how he defines success in a creative industry.We really hope you enjoy it! And if you do, we'd be supremely grateful if you could give us a 5 star rating and/or leave a comment wherever you get your podcasts, to help us on our merry way.Scream To Screen is hosted by Lucy Foster and Chris Nials. It's edited by Elsie Watkinson, our music is composed by Andrew Clegg, and it's produced and distributed by The Independent Horror Society.

In the very first episode of Scream To Screen, our new horror filmmaking podcast featuring interviews with horror creators, we introduce your hosts, Lucy Foster and Chris Nials!Lucy and Chris share their backgrounds in film and storytelling, how they first became passionate about horror movies, and the journeys that led them into horror filmmaking.They also talk about how the idea for the Scream To Screen horror podcast came together, what “success” means to them as creators, and what listeners can expect from future episodes, including interviews with horror filmmakers, actors, writers, and directors working across film, television and theatre.If you love horror films, horror filmmaking, and behind-the-scenes conversations with the people who create them, this podcast is hopefully for you.We really hope you enjoy it! And if you do, we'd be supremely grateful if you could give us a 5 star rating and/or leave a comment wherever you get your podcasts, to help us on our merry way.Scream To Screen is edited by Elsie Watkinson, and our music is composed by Andrew Clegg. It's produced and distributed by The Independent Horror Society.

The Scream To Screen Theme! Lovingly composed by the brilliant Andrew Clegg