“If I’m afraid that, by actually making the film, I risk screwing up something that works great on the page, then that’s a wonderful problem to have. It means the script is worth making.”
Austin Kase
With the Season 3 Semifinalist announcements looming, we are excited to bring you this interview with Killer Shorts Alum Austin Kase. Austin was the Season 2 3rd Place Winner with his script Hide Your Crazy, a romantic horror comedy, or as Austin puts it, a ‘Hor-Rom-Com.’ Austin, along with an incredible team, plan to bring this project into production, and he offers great advice to writers who question whether they should shoot their script or not. Austin and his team launch the Indiegogo campaign TODAY, February 22nd, so consider checking out their pitch video and supporting this exciting project.
Austin finds directing your script makes you a better writer. The process of bringing your script to life is the real payoff for Austin as a writer, he says, as it makes you look at your writing in a different light. Hide Your Crazy has found an amazing team of people to bring the film to fruition. Austin has partnered with Of Substance, a non-profit organization that makes short films supporting people struggling with addiction, mental health, and trauma. With Hide Your Crazy joining Of Substance’s library of films, Austin hopes the film’s message will reach and help a whole new audience. We are very excited to see Austin do so well with his winning script.
Make sure to check out and consider donating to the Hide Your Crazy campaign, live now.
Conversations with Austin Kase
Where are you from and where do you currently reside? Do your surroundings have an impact on your writing?
I was born about five minutes from my house in Voorhees, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. My surroundings absolutely influenced my writing—my first feature script, Wish You Were Here, was set in South Jersey. I was trying to capture how small and remote it can feel, and yet, how there’s so much life and beauty everywhere if you’re present enough to notice it. And I’m not just talking about the water ice, soft pretzels, and WaWa—by the way, definitely missing all three of those here in LA.
Can you give a brief description of your winning short script HIDE YOUR CRAZY?
Hide Your Crazy is a romantic horror comedy (a “Hor-Rom-Com” if you will) about a young woman hiding a supernatural secret from her boyfriend. When he surprises her for their first anniversary, he unexpectedly discovers the skeleton in her closet, and if they don’t face it together as a couple, a breakup is going to be the least of their worries.
What was the inspiration behind HIDE YOUR CRAZY?
I was actually brainstorming a remake of the original 1942 Cat People, which is one of my all-time favorite films. It’s also about a young woman hiding a shameful supernatural secret—she transforms into a panther anytime she’s sexually aroused. As I was playing with it, though, I realized the cat part was the part I cared least about. What really drew me to this story was this tragic woman who yearns so desperately for love and affection, and yet has to push people away to keep them safe. So I used that as a starting point and had a lot of fun designing a brand new supernatural hook and making it my own.
Deciding to shoot your script can be a hard decision for a lot of writers. How did this decision come about for you? What did it look like to put together a solid team behind the film that you trusted to bring your vision to life?
Honestly, bringing the script to life is the real payoff for me, much more so than typing “The End” (although that is also pretty great). And if I’m afraid that, by actually making the film, I risk screwing up something that works great on the page, then that’s a wonderful problem to have. It means the script is worth making. Though many writers complain about their work being butchered in production, I’ve found that the production process almost always improves a script. Subjecting your story to the grindstone of reality, physics, light, sound, and time tends to hone it even further and force you to generate simple, practical solutions that might never occur to you in the realm of pure imagination.
I’ve been making narrative films seriously for over ten years now. When it came time to put the team together for this project, I already had a cadre of people I’ve worked with before who I reached out to, like our cinematographer, Chase Bowman, as well as a few people I hadn’t worked with yet but had always wanted to, like the team at Sandbox FX. But I also connected with a lot of new folks who I was introduced to by trusted friends. A good creative team should all be significantly better, smarter, and more imaginative than you, at least in their area of expertise, and that’s certainly the case on this film.
Were you first approached by a producer or was it your decision to take your film into production?
I wrote Hide Your Crazy intending to make it myself—it all takes place in one location with only two characters, so that limited the production to an amount of money I could actually raise. My first partner on the project was Melody Cooper–a friend from the Stowe Story Labs– and an incredibly accomplished writer in the horror and genre space. She loved the script and wanted to come on as executive producer, but because of the many exciting projects she was already signed on to write and produce, she couldn’t be as hands on with the physical production itself. So I sent the script to a lot of producers, many of whom passed or never even read it, but the buzz generated by winning Killer Shorts (something I’ll always be grateful for!) and eventually hitting the #1 Horror Short on Coverfly, helped me connect with Mireia Vilanova, the super talented producer who ultimately took it on.
For many writers, finding funding for a short film is the daunting part. The HIDE YOUR CRAZY campaign officially launches today, can you share about the process of getting a campaign launched and what advice you might give a filmmaker who is hesitant about this step?
It’s very scary to ask people for things, especially money, and especially when that ask also involves exposing your creative baby for public judgment. Nobody wants to fail publicly. Nobody wants to be rejected. But anything worth doing carries those risks, and anyone who’s really living their life is going to fail and be rejected constantly. It might suck, but it won’t kill you, and it’s worth it because you might just get to make something really amazing, something that would never exist if not for you.
The first thing that really helped me get the ball rolling on crowdfunding was recruiting people I already loved and respected to get the word out—school friends, relatives, colleagues, or anyone who I thought would like either me or the project enough to vouch for it. I was so moved by the people who were willing to show up for me, and it really upped my confidence as well. “If these folks think this project is worthwhile, or that I am, there must be plenty of others out there who’ll think so too.”
You have partnered with Of Substance, the non-profit that produces powerful short films related to addiction and recovery. What does that mean to you to have this partnership for your film?
I met the co-founder of Of Substance, Alex Kaplan, while we were both working on a friend’s film shoot. He and I got to talking, and we quickly discovered that we shared a lot of the same values, both creatively and philosophically. Hide Your Crazy is about how we need to expose our ugliest sides to those we love, how we need to be brave enough to compassionately face the ugliest sides of our loved ones. Of Substance teaches that those in the grip of addiction, mental illness, or trauma tend to push away the very people who can help them most, whether out of shame, guilt, or fear and that letting people in is one of the most vital steps toward recovery. When the film is completed, Hide Your Crazy will become a part of Of Substance’s library of films, and I hope it will help people who are suffering confront some of their demons in an unconventional way that’s actually fun for them.
Has partnering with Of Substance helped you look at your script in a different light, or affect the way you will go into production?
Yes and no—the beauty of our partnership with Of Substance is that the film I already wanted to make is exactly the film they want to make. I’m thrilled that this collaboration will open up a whole new audience for the film, one that will appreciate it on an even deeper level. I’ve always believed I have a responsibility not to waste the audience’s time—to entertain them and give them something of value that they can take with them after the credits roll. If anything, now that I know who’s going to see the film when it’s finished, I’ll take that responsibility even more seriously.
What was the process like submitting to Killer Shorts? What advice might you give someone who is looking to submit their horror short scripts to a contest for the first time?
Couldn’t have been easier! Just a few quick clicks on FilmFreeway and my script was in your capable hands. I also really appreciate that KS doesn’t charge extortionate entry fees like so many other competitions that are all too happy to exploit up-and-coming writers hungry for a break. My main advice for any writer with a horror script is just to submit it to Killer Shorts—it’s a wonderful community to be a part of no matter where you place, and if you’re lucky enough to win, the prizes will actually mean something for your career and development.
What advice might you give a finalist or horror short writer who is thinking of shooting their script?
If you’re thinking about shooting it, shoot it. Don’t wait for someone to give you permission. Also, the actors you cast are the MOST IMPORTANT special effect. I’d much rather watch fully realized people that I care about fighting a cheap monster than seeing a blockbuster-quality creature terrorizing cardboard cutouts (although come to mention it, that does sound kinda fun on the right day…)
Were you always interested in the horror genre? Do you plan on continuing in this genre as your career progresses?
I was a total wimp as a kid. I hated horror movies, I didn’t even like Halloween (the holiday or the movie)! But it all changed when my dad insisted I watch An American Werewolf in London, and afterward, I immediately thought, “wait, is this one of my favorite movies ever now?” (I came around on Halloween shortly thereafter). Horror is more than just an adrenaline rush or a thrill ride for me—it’s about hitting raw emotional nerves and facing deep fears and dark truths without the safety of a guaranteed happy ending. It can often deal with trauma and injustice and pain so much more honestly than traditional dramas do. I’ve loved working in this genre, and I definitely have a few more horror projects in the works that I’m very excited about.
What do you think is most beneficial, to a writer’s career, about also producing a short horror script?
Even if you don’t want to be a director, directing does make you a better writer. It forces you to think purely in terms of what we see and hear, in what order, how quickly, etc. Screenwriting is not the same as writing a novel or a poem—the words themselves are not the art. The art is how the words on the page conjure the movie in the reader’s head in real-time with the minimum possible distraction. So flexing that inner eye can only help. Working on set also makes you appreciate the practical realities of what your writing will mean for the people who eventually have to make the thing. Again, a sense of pragmatism doesn’t always limit your creativity, it often forces you to be more creative and write better.
How did you come to submit this script to the 2021 Killer Shorts Contest? Was it ready to go, or did the contest prompt you to write the script?
I had this story kicking around in the back of my skull for a while, and when the pandemic put a feature film of mine on ice, I decided to finally just sit down and write it. When I shared it with some fellow writers, I realized it seemed to be resonating with people in a unique and special way. I don’t think I’d been aware of Killer Shorts before because I never happened to have a horror short in hand like this, but I saw it promoted on FilmFreeway and figured I’d give it a chance.
How did it feel to be named 3rd place winner of the Killer Shorts Contest 2021? How would you say this experience has impacted your career or how you move forward as a writer?
I was absolutely not expecting it. I could wallpaper my bedroom five times over with the rejection letters and emails I’ve received over the years, so I’ve come to basically expect that always. But to actually win was something else. It was so deeply validating to know that my work had moved so many people, made them laugh and squirm and feel things. The win was a key factor in making me realize this script was producible, and the resources Killer Shorts connected me with helped make that possible.
As a winner of Killer Shorts, you had a notes session with the Script Butcher, what was that process like? How was that helpful to you, and the progression of HIDE YOUR CRAZY?
Jimmy’s notes were fantastic—they cut right to the heart of things (no pun intended) and laid the foundations for me getting the script to the next level. I continued to workshop the script for months, and it is so much better now than it was then, but Jimmy really pointed me in the right direction.
You had a career consultation meeting with Tom Dever, Coverfly’s Head of Development. Was this helpful to taking your next steps as a writer post win? Do you feel more prepared moving forward?
Tom was also great—really straightforward about how to present myself and my work to the public, encouraging me to use Coverfly as more of a resource than I had been. If it hadn’t been for that conversation, Hide Your Crazy wouldn’t have been the #1 horror short on Coverfly down the line.
Austin Kase on Coverfly.
What would be your dream writing job?
I’d love to write a feature adaptation of Swamp Thing or to write an HBO mini-series about the Maccabees (maybe I should just do that anyway…)
Do you have any upcoming projects you’re excited about?
Yes! I’m writing a feature which is also a Hor-Rom-Com, involving an unconventional love triangle. Stay tuned!
Final Thoughts
We hope that Austin’s journey inspires all you writers to consider going from script to screen and learning something new about yourself as a writer by going through the production process. We are so happy that this Killer Alum has taken his winning script Hide Your Crazy into production. Austin offers great advice on the process of being a writer going through production and how that can impact the way you view your writing. As someone with a long journey in horror films, Austin found his niche in tearing away at the trauma and emotional aspects of the genre. We are so excited to see what comes of Hide Your Crazy and to support Austin in his efforts.
We hope you consider supporting, and donating, to the Hide Your Crazy IndieGoGo campaign, and help this team make this film a reality. With Of Substance’s involvement, your donation to this film is fully tax-deductible!
Stay tuned for the Semifinalist announcements on February 28th, 2022.
Featured Image by Ieva Berzina.
HIDE YOUR CRAZY IndieGoGo campaign.
HIDE YOUR CRAZY on Twitter.
HIDE YOUR CRAZY on Instagram.
Austin Kase on Twitter.
Austin Kase on Instagram.
Of Substance website.
Killer Shorts on Twitter.
