Posted by Julie Stratton on Nov 7, 2013 | 1 comment

Tary Eary, Director, Writer, Producer

I met Ms. Eary at the GenCon 2013 Film Festival after watching her series “Zombie Fairytale Theatre “. Zombie Fairytale Theatre revisits the classic Grimm Fairytales with one small twist, zombies have invaded fairytale land. As the prince goes to awaken the sleeping princess, he is surprised as the princess is already “awake” and just a tad hungry. I really enjoyed the episodes (Snow White being I think my favorite so far). I found the no dialogue, music only soundtrack a nice fit with the subject (I ended up focusing more on the acting and the setting). Ms. Eary and crew managed to keep a nice balance between horror and dark comedy as I laughed as much as I was chilled. She agreed to talk to MFM and tell us a bit about her work.

MFM: What pathway, journey, or series of happy accidents did you follow to a career in the entertainment industry?

I’ve known since I was two that I want to make movies. My parents took me to see my first film in the theater, “E.T.”, and from the moment that ship landed, I was mesmerized. And I knew that I wanted to make others feel that way – I didn’t want to be Dorothy, amazed and in wonder over OZ, but the Wizard, making the magic work.

MFM: Tell us a little about the current project(s) you are working on, and where we can connect with your projects.

“Zombie Fairytale Theater” (on Facebook: zombie-fairytale-theatre) is a precursory tale, described by some as, “…if ‘The Walking Dead’ ate ‘Once Upon A Time.’” Season one is the set-up, to show what fables and characters are involved, who got turned, and who will be eaten. If we’re lucky enough for Season two, it will be a continuation of the invasion story, and how our heroes FIGHT BACK. We’re also working on a 3 – part mini-web series, “Super Hero Poker Showdown”, the premise being our biggest superheroes, from every universe (not ONLY Marvel/DC), playing high-stakes poker for charity. Unfortunately, both egos and super powers get in the way and things get ridiculous. I’m also an avid writer, and have a number of feature-length scripts finished, and I’m also working on a “review” web show called “The Retro Perspective ”, which is more of a vlog about the movies and other entertainment that made me want to get into the industry. It’s completely set up like an online review show, only instead of merely tearing a film apart; I dissect it more to show where it stands on my timeline in how I came to be a film maker. And I’m always willing to work with other filmmakers on developing their own projects and ideas!

MFM: You mentioned during GenCon there were technical as well as narrative reasons for having no dialogue in the first episodes. Would you share how you came to develop that aspect of your series and what you hope to do in future episodes/seasons?

Finding a great sound engineer is a miracle. Finding one that works for free – no wait, that’s the miracle. And with our locations and settings, if we were to get sound, I knew it would have to be stellar. With our budget, we were not going to be able to afford a sound tech at all. So, my co-writer (executive producer Geoff Janssen) and I decided to go a little ‘artsy’ and just work around it. We wrote the scripts knowing we’d have NO sound, so there went the dialogue. It was a challenge, but a fun one. It was also exciting (as a director) to work with my actors with that challenge – we all always seemed to be on the same page almost all of the time. It’s been incredible. We’re hoping with our next campaign to raise the funds for a sound tech for our next season … should we have one.

MFM: What do you find is usually the most expensive part of production? How do you keep costs down?

Gas. We try to cover cost as much as possible, though to be honest some goes unaccounted for. People give and give to us all the time. It’s crazy and wonderful. They want to be a part of the entertainment, and they’ll give their hard-made and profitable wares just to have their names in the credits. Because it’s something they’re excited about, sometimes as much as you are.

MFM: What kind of cameras were used to film the project? Why were those cameras selected?

We used a Canon 7-D for episode one. It just felt more cinematic, like the cameras they used on Shelly DuVall’s Fairytale Theater, which I loosely based ZFT off of. For episode’s 2 and 3, we used a Panasonic GH2, which was clearer and faster, and I couldn’t tell you which I preferred, really.

Cast and Crew, Zombie Fairytale Theatre

MFM: What types of funding do you use for your projects (ie personal, crowdfunding, single investor, group of investors, government grants, etc.)? How are you planning to secure it?

ALL of the above, or any that work. We’ve used both Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, and we just want to tell anyone reading – have a SOLID PLAN, with a network of dedicated people who are excited about a long-term campaign. RESEARCH – other campaigns on their websites! It does help when you go to set up your own. Put everything you’ve got into a kickass campaign VIDEO, and even more into a greater campaign.

Don’t be afraid to actually ASK for what you need. Also, don’t set your campaign around the major money spending holiday of Christmas/New Years. Get a network of people who are willing to commit and help.

MFM: How is social media factoring into how you move into pre-production marketing and awareness cultivation? What have been the challenges with this approach?

Social media is both exciting and frustrating. There’s no excuse to just toss a video up on Youtube and cross your fingers for a hit anymore. Now you can promote yourself on Facebook and Vimeo and millions of other sites and media extensions and it’s mind boggling – every time that drop down box appears for you to enable them to post to your media hub of social choice, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. For someone who is doing a majority of their own marketing, it’s almost overwhelming. It’s exciting because you get almost instant-feedback on just about anything, as well as letting followers know about upcoming projects or events(like following us on Twitter, @ZFTheater).

MFM: What is the best way you’ve found to reach fans in regards to your projects? Are you pursuing community building in association with it and, if so, how are you doing so far?

One evening, my executive producer and I spent four hours posting flyers that read, “Have You Seen This Webseries?”, with detachable pieces with series info on them. We got about 50 – 75 local viewers from that one night alone. I was strong on the Twitter feed during our crowdfunding campaigns, but I have to admit, I’m not very good at checking in on a more regular basis. My hope was to be on it daily. That doesn’t always happen. Community building has been, I’ll admit, our biggest problem. That, and stamina. Getting people to come back. When you don’t have more than a few episodes to offer people, and when it takes a few months in between each episode, you have to do SOMETHING to keep them coming. That’s why I also do a blog about my experiences as a film maker, which is on the Zombie Fairytale Theater tumblr site. I also do short blogs about recent films I’ve watched that I would recommend, found under #WYSBW (“What You Should Be Watching”).

Zombie Fairytale Theatre

MFM: What’s the number one film you recommend that other filmmakers should check out? What makes it so special to you?

It’s cliché, but I don’t care. “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Stanley Kubric. It broke film barriers for me. Helped me get over what I had always thought were finite boundaries of the genres. It helped me to find love and awe in film again (I was 13 the first time I saw it).

MFM What three pieces of advice would you give a person just starting out in filmmaking?

A – don’t give up; 2 – don’t be afraid; and finally – be kind (it will take you far).

MFM: If you had to sum up your philosophy of how to make a film, in a tagline, what would it be?

It’s not mine, but it would have to be, “Just Do It”. Beg, borrow, do what it takes (within the parameters of not getting arrested. ‘cuz you can’t make a film in jail).

Thank you Tara for taking time to share thoughts about your projects and your film journey. 

You can take a look at Zombie Fairytale Theater at ZFT YouTube Page , ZFT Tumblr  , ZFT YouTube

Julie Stratton

Julie Stratton trains young minds in multimedia design in New Jersey and researches alternate reality gaming.