DemonHuntris dying to bring diversity to the horror genre but it needs your help! Created by Tim O’Leary (Wolf Island, SGM seeks LTR in NYC), this web series will be casting a horror comedy spell with a Sabrina/Evil Dead/Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe – but now featuring LBGTQIA and people of color as lead characters! We are in a new era and representation matters. “Everyone is getting a seat the table,” says O’Leary. The crowdfunding campaign is underway raising over $12K towards their goal of $36,666. To contribute, please visit DemonHuntr.com today!
Mr. O’Leary was kind enough to answer some of my probing questions about his views on queer horror, sex, and, yes, even, theatre.
Señor Scary: I often hear that there are gay characters in almost every series now, so is targeted media like this really needed?
Tim O'Leary: There’s a world of difference between having a gay character in a show and having the leads almost exclusively be in the LGBT community, and that difference is whose story it is. When your lead is a gay man, as ours is, that means the world of the show is seen through a gay lens. We see his community, we see his relationships, we see his life in a way you wouldn’t if he were a side character. Right now, there are exactly zero shows in our genre with an LGBT lead, so I’d say Demonhuntr is absolutely needed.
Señor Scary: A year ago, Queer Horror was not something I’d heard much about. When I saw the first Horror Queers articles on Bloody-Disgusting.com I was delighted but also surprised. Why do you think Queer Horror is taking off now and how do you feel a series like this will shape its future?
Tim O'Leary: Great question! As it happens, there’s been a queerness in horror and horror fandom stretching back a very long time. The movie Gods and Monsters showcased how much gay sensitivity and humor went into Bride of Frankenstein.
The big difference now is the Internet. We’re able to find each other with an ease that is unprecedented. In the past, if you were an isolated LGBT person into horror, you’d have to ask around, talk to friends of friends, maybe try to start a group, just to see if anyone else was like you. Now you just do an Instagram search for #queerhorror.
I think the emergence of this fandom is fantastic, and my hope is we get to see a lot more inclusivity in the genre. And since the conventional wisdom in Hollywood is “write the show you’ve always wanted to see,” that’s what I’m doing!
Señor Scary: Your Instagram account led me to my favorite new artist Karl von Frankstein which included a scantily clad Jason, Michael and Freddy Krueger. Yet LGBTQIA media is often criticized for its overtly sexualized imagery. Is it that sex sells or does the queer community approach sex differently?
Tim O'Leary: I think, and this is solely my own anecdotal experience not based on anything official, that the queer community just has a little more fun with sex than our straight counterparts, and we don’t take it so seriously. And that particularly goes with sex in media and advertising. Straight men are conditioned to believe that all media is for them, and this is reinforced through most imagery we see on TV and film, particularly the exploitation of female bodies for the male gaze.
When I see things like a sexy pin-up version of Jason or Michael Myers, I’m much more likely to laugh than get turned on, because obviously there’s a joke there, but also I know that it’s most likely going to make straight men very uncomfortable... which I also enjoy. I could write a whole thesis paper about this.
Our show is frank in its sexuality – characters have sex, and we don’t shy away from that. But it’s also not exploitative or soft-porn-y either. As a writer, I’m much more interested in making people laugh than turning anyone on.
But if they do get turned on, that’s okay, too.
Señor Scary: I loved the pitch video and also read that you and several in your cast have a theater backgrounds. Will that world of spectacle, over-the-top, sing-out-Louise audacity inform the series? And more importantly, have you planned out a musical episode?
Tim O'Leary: We actually have a song-and-dance number! Well, hopefully. I wrote a very musical theater moment that actually fits easily into the plot. But song-and-dance numbers are expensive, so that’s one of our “stretch goals,” meaning if we make over the hoped-for budget, we can include that number. Which I really hope we can do.
There is a sense of grandness to the story, which probably is a bit informed by my love of musical theater, and also Shakespeare, fantasy novels, and video games. A lot of various media has informed Demonhuntr, for sure.
Señor Scary: For those who join the crowdfunding efforts, and every horror fan could for as little as $5, what is the timeline for production and debut of the web series. How many episodes are you hoping to get for the first season?
Tim O'Leary: Once we have our budget established, we’re going into pre-production and will most likely shoot in the fall. One thing you learn very quickly in Hollywood is that post-production always take twice as long and costs twice as much as you think it will going in, so I’d say we’d probably be looking at the summer of 2020 as the earliest release.
We’re hoping for seven episodes, but it all depends on the amount we make. The original slate of episodes we wrote numbered nine, and that doesn’t include outlines for even more episodes. I’m a long-form storyteller by nature so I can see this going for years. There are so many stories we want to tell, and we’re hoping we get to tell all of them!
Check out DemonHuntr on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and their YouTube channel featuring Monster Mondays, Trivia Tuesdays and Feature Friday clips!
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