FATAL PICTURES is a Toronto, Canada based film production company consisting of Writer/Director Richard Powell & Producer Zach Green, co-founded by the pair in 2007, focusing on the creation of original & challenging independent genre films. To date, the company has produced three critically acclaimed, award winning short films entitled Consumption (2008), Worm (2010), Familiar (2012) & their fourth film entitled HEIR is currently in post production & exceeded the funding target via Kickstarter. Starring the hardest working man in horror, Emmy Winner Bill Oberst Jr. & Robert Nolan.

LEGLESSCORPSE: You currently have four shorts produced under FATAL PICTURES, Consumption, Worm, Familiar, and the up-coming Heir. Again, all are short films, and the one’s we’ve had the pleasure to watch are incredible! Normally short films are made to get your talents out there to move on to features; though your shorts are all feature quality, you guys still continue to produce shorts. What’s the strategy there?

RICHARD POWELL: Early on the strategy was just to simply use our shorts to get a feature film made, but as we continued to produce the films the desire to make what we wanted started to factor in. The films we make are more what we wanted to do rather than a calling cards for a career in film. That said, we are after that career in film, but we have decided to keep true to the stories and characters we want to see and haven’t really taken any short cuts to a career. If we simply made a five minute FX Showcase Reel kind of short I’m sure we would have been directing some straight to video remake sequel right now. Our films may not be the best, the most proficient or successful, but they represent our sensibilities and our work ethic, which I feel is more important. They also represent our growth and continued path towards some kind of mastery down the road. Every film is an opportunity to get better, meet great people, and plan for that eventual feature film debut which thanks to the shorts will be a GOOD film, not just a film.

LC: Familiar has some awesome practical effects that I was just in awe over. You don’t see that type of stuff normally in short films. The shorts that you guys have produced have all been on the macabre side of the spectrum; is that something you guys consciously try to create or does it just come naturally?

RP: We do have an affinity for the darker side of life in our films. I think that is just a natural outlet for us to explore ideas, concerns, characters and questions we perhaps don’t have a chance to or don’t want to explore in real life. So to answer your question, it does come naturally but there are other ideas we are interested in as well. As dark as these stories may be, HEIR being the darkest by a long stretch, they each have heart and are optimistic rather than cynical. There is a hopefulness in our films which can be spotted if you look past some of the cruel, violent or bizarre window dressing. If our films just suggested we are doomed and that’s it, there wouldn’t be much of a story. We suggest that perhaps we are on the road to that doom but maybe if we think about who we are and what we are doing as individuals and as a society we can step off that road our at least delay our arrival at that final destination.

LC: Your next release will be Heir. Tell us a little about the project and when you guys will have it in festivals.

RP: HEIR is a very different project for Fatal Pictures. The whole approach to the film was growth; let’s make a shorter film, a stylistically different film…let’s work with new people (Co-Producers RED SNEAKERS MEDIA)…let’s make a film with a known actor like Bill Oberst Jr, and let’s try our hand at crowd funding. We thought if we can arrange all of these pieces we would move forward. Over time the pieces started to come together and culminated in a successful HEIR Kickstarter campaign and we made the film. So just making the film was half of the objective, to force ourselves to grow. The second motivation was to tell a story nobody else could. Thematically the film is pitch black, I still have no idea how it will be received but I’m happy with however it turns out. I know nothing like this exists and when people see it they will have reactions, good and bad, and I look forward to all of it. The film should be done by late spring and in Festivals by the summer and fall.

LC: After that one’s said and done, are you guys already looking at the next project?

RP: The time for a feature is probably now, we feel ready for it and if not now, when? That’s really the next goal, a feature film. We have a screenplay we want to make, and I’m busy writing a new feature screenplay and developing many others. Several short ideas are still in my head and if funding was possible I’d love to do those as we wait to get the feature financed. Either way, we have a back log of ideas and are just waiting for the means to get them produced. So look out for HEIR soon, and then hopefully either feature versions of WORM or FAMILIAR depending on what happens with either project.

LC: What is your overall goal and intent for Fatal Pictures?

RP: With the release of HEIR, the goal is to ramp up our productivity. We need to get our feature made and I also need to write, write, and write some more, because without scripts you have nothing; so while HEIR does the festivals, we will be pushing to get WORM made and I’ll be becoming a much more prolific writer. That’s the goal anyways!

LC: Your company FATAL PICTURES started up in 2007 with your first short film Consumption. Was the company formed before, during, or after that film?  How did the company come about?  Who’s all involved?

ZACH GREEN: FATAL PICTURES was first founded in 2007 before Richard and I set out to produce our first film under the company, which was a short film based on true events, entitled Consumption (2008). FATAL PICTURES consist of myself, Zach Green (producer) and Richard Powell (writer/director). Richard and I met back in film school in Toronto in 2003, where I ended up being the editor on a short film Richard had pitched to the school and had gotten produced. In the editing suite is really where Richard and I built our very strong and loyal bond. After graduating, Richard and I worked on many films together throughout the years learning the craft better. We both have very strong work ethics, and didn’t really care about anything else but film and/or our film.

LC: I know Richard Powell has directed all four projects, so I’m assuming that he is an integral part of FATAL PICTURES. Robert Nolan came aboard and was in Worm in 2010, and he has been in all the ones following that. Is he a part of the company/team as well, or just a badass actor you want to work with? Because if it were me he’d be in all my flicks too. So besides Richard and you, who else makes up the company?

ZG: FATAL PICTURES consist of Richard and I, but we would like to think of Robert Nolan almost like an unofficial part of the team. The first time working with Robert was on our last film, I met him through an actress I had worked with before. Once I told her about the part, she had told me about Robert. Robert is one of the most talented, professional actors I have had the pleasure of working with thus far in my short career. He also was the phenomenal lead of our next film, which is entitled FAMILIAR (2012).

LC: Tell us a little about your last film FAMILIAR and what it’s done, and where it can be scene now?

ZG: FAMILIAR is essentially the story of a family man who has these negative thoughts and impulses plaguing his mind may not be his own. That is all I really can say without getting in too deep and spoiling anything for those who have not yet seen this award winning, critically acclaimed short film. The film is a physiological thriller more than a horror film; some would say body horror. The script is very dark and brilliantly written. The scariest part is these character’s that Richard create, people just like them with the same thoughts and intentions actually live amongst us. Familiar has played roughly 50 film festivals worldwide taking home about 7 awards and has over 200 reviews. The film can also be seen now for a limited time on Film Shortage.

LC: Is there anything else you would like to mention or announce?

ZG: I would like to let everyone know that for a limited time the great people @ Film Shortage will be streaming Familiar on their website. I would like to encourage everyone to do yourself a favor and check out the film! The link is below!

Familiar on Film Shortage

www.filmshortage.com/dailyshortpicks/familiar

Also, Fatal Pictures last and final short film will be released later this year, entitled HEIR. Please check out www.fatalpictures.com and if you’re on Twitter

I would like to take the time now and thank you very, very much on behalf of Richard and I for giving us the opportunity to talk about our films.