INDIE INTERVIEWS : LIAM REGAN - DIRECTOR OF BANJO

Liam Regan is a UK born filmmaker who has recently made waves in the indie community with his low budget debut feature Banjo based on his short film Confessions of Peltzer. Since premiering last year the film has played all over globe and solidified Mr Regan's status as a up and coming filmmaker to watch. 

Inspired by filmmaking legends such as Lloyd Kaufman (Who makes an appearance in Banjo) and Frank Henenlotter, Liam Regan wears his love of genre movies on his sleeve with a style and approach that is reminiscent of the golden age of splatter cinema.

Micro Budget Massacre recently caught up with Liam about his experience making Banjo and what comes next.

Every journey starts with an origin story, How did you know you wanted to make films?

Ever since I can remember, I've always been enamoured with horror movies, some of my favourite childhood memories was when my Mum took me to my local video rental store and I would instantly be overcome with goosebumps and have a outer body experience (became dizzy) whilst browsing through the video boxes with gnarly artwork. A few of the memorable films I rented were the likes of 'Cat's Eye', 'Critters 2: The Main Course' and 'Ghoulies Go to College'. 

I quickly became a fan of creature feature flicks and with the addition of Sky Television in our household (in the early 90's) my love for the genre grew further as channels such as Sky Movies Plus and 'Bravo' showcased such milestone films in my life like 'Child's Play 2', 'Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge' and 'Basket Case 2'. 

However it wasn't until the Summer of 1996, when one of my weekly trips to Blockbuster Video resulted in a purchase (My Mum purchasing that is, I was only 11 years old at the time) an ex-rental video tape of 'The Toxic Avenger Part 2', a movie that showcase a dark mixture of horror and comedy, fused with exploitation and ultra violence, I had never seen anything quite like it before, and then when opening my Sky TV guide magazine back in September of 1996, I noticed that the channel Bravo was having a Troma season in October, and this eventually introduced and exposed me to their back-catalog of films. 

Titles such as 'Surf Nazis Must Die' and 'Rabid Grannies' made me excited for every Saturday evening to roll around, with my eyes firmly glued to the TV at 10pm in excitement. So thank you to Troma Entertainment, they corrupted my fragile little mind, to want to be a filmmaker with self masochistic tendencies. 

With more and more people choosing to just go out and shoot their own movies now, what made you take the DIY approach to making your first film?

I realised that nobody was going to give me money to make the kind of movie, that deep down in my heart, I wanted to make. Plus, I'm a nobody (still am) - Prior to Banjo, I had no track record, other than a shitty 13 minute short film titled 'Confessions of Peltzer' and numerous IMDb credits as a production assistant on independent genre movies I've worked on over the years, and why should they give me money? This is a business at the end of the day, and investors at least want to see a return, and I'm wanting to make a movie about a guy who snaps his penis (based on a true story) and summons his imaginary friend, which in turn, manipulates him to shoot up his office. 

Banjo isn't a possession movie, or a zombie movie by the numbers, so it's a gamble - and it was a gamble for yours truly also. Plus, I didn't want to compromise my vision, I wanted this to be purely my movie, with my name on it, I have always viewed filmmaking as immortality in a way, leaving art behind for generations upon generations to discover (now I have panic attacks about all physical media being destroyed and digital rights being lost in the apocalyptic wasteland, long after I die. Paranoia is a bitch!),

As we all now DIY filmmaking can be tough, what were some of the downside of going out on your own?

It's a very long, lonely and self masochistic process. You write the movie on your own, then you have like a hundred people help you during the actual film shoot, and then you're on your own yet again. It can be depressing, self deprecating, yet it's the best kind of film school I have ever experienced. You make a million mistakes, and ruin and tarnish relationships and friendships, but through the blood, sweat, semen and tears, you create your film-baby. 

On the flip side, what were the upsides?

Creative freedom and expression, I had producers, actors, you name it drop out during pre-production, due to the extremities and content of the initial drafts of the screenplay. However I felt like I managed to strike the right balance, and I was able to hire the people I wanted to work with and move forward with the project, and held the vision I always had for 'Banjo'. I remember the first draft of the screenplay having at least 12 rape scenes, I remember being heavily influenced by hardcore exploitation horror movies during that period. I cut that down to 1 rape scene, which people never mention in reviews or interviews. 'Banjo' is essentially a rape-revenge movie, but has never been branded by that genre, which has puzzled me. 

So after that hard work, your filmmaking journey is far from over, what happens when the film is done?

The film is finished and everyone thinks you're rich and a millionaire, when in reality, you're broke as you have ever been in your life, and are clutching at favours, and you'll meet a dozen people wanting to take advantage of your current desperate situation. People you would class as friends will inevitably end up on your shit list by the time the year is through. You'll make another million mistakes on trying to find a sales agent/distributor for your project, and then you'll waste a shit load of money on film festivals that don't even consider your movie, even though you have paid them an extortionate fee to at least watch the movie. I think the best way I could put it is: "Life is not a movie. Good guys lose, everybody lies, and love... does not conquer all."  

Every film is an experience and more importantly a lesson, what did you learn that you'll take with you to your next movie?

Don't write too much dialogue, create more action sequences and make a much more fucked up movie. Lloyd Kaufman (President of Troma Entertainment) is my favourite shit disturber, he dealt with "taboos" and subject matters that the Hollywood system were too afraid to conquer back in the 70's and 80's, and I'm wanting to carry on that tradition. The key is to make a movie that nobody forgets, sure they can love it, or hate it, but they'll never forget it, that's the dream. I absolutely love making films, it's what I was put on the earth for, and I don't care if I need to max out more credits cards, or take out more loans or work as many legally available hours I can at my day-job, nothing will stop me from creating, it's the best therapy out there. I want to entertain people, I consider that as one of the major importance in life, other than finding the cure to cancer. 

And finally, what is next?

I'm currently writing a rape revenge/black comedy titled 'Parents Evening' which if you put the following movies: 'Heathers', 'Jawbreaker', 'Detention', 'Class of 1984' and 'I Spit On Your Grave' in a blender, you would have the 'Parents Evening' protein shake ... full of bodily fluids. I hope to shoot that in 2018, and if anyone wants to give me money for 'Banjo 2: Make Room for Daddy' I would be more than happy to bring those characters back, but it all depends on the success of the home video/on demand release of 'Banjo' which is due out on Amazon and iTunes by late 2016. 

For more information, feel free to add me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/refuseliam or follow me on Twitter @refuseliam

For more information on 'Banjo' please like the page at http://www.facebook.com/banjofilm or follow us on Twitter @banjomovie

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INDIE INTERVIEWS : FILMMAKER JASON IMPEY

Jason Impey has had quite a prolific career as a filmmaker. The UK based filmmaker with titles like 'Tortured', 'Home Made' and 'Fluid Boy' under his belt has almost 100 director credits to his name on IMDB and wears his love of exploitation cinema on his sleeve. 

MicroBudget Massacre talked to Jason about his approach to DIY filmmaking and the pit falls of taking on the daunting task of making feature length movies with very little money. 

Every journey starts with an origin story, How did you know you wanted to make films?
My story starts way back when I was just 5 years old and loved sitting at home watching good old VHS’s and TV. I was a bit crafty and watched a few horror videos at a young age I sneakily got my hands on and have been hooked ever since. I really enjoyed viewing all this stuff - but it went further in my head. I was interested in how and why a film was made, why shoot it that way, why use those shots, and was very intrigued as to how it was all put together and ended up being in my hands on this tape. 

This lead to only one thing, I armed myself with my fathers family home movie camera and went out shooting amateur shorts at the age of 10 getting my dad to edit them together on the VCR. Eventually this hobby led me to college to study media and filmmaking and I have never looked back since. It makes me happy, is a way of life and I honestly could not imagine doing anything else! 

With more and more people choosing to just go out and shoot their own movies now, what made you take the DIY approach to making movies?

As I was so young and inexperienced when I started making films it was the only real way to go about it, but I am so glad I did as I learned so much by just going out and giving it a go, and if anything it just fuelled my curiosity in to the world of film and allowed me to discover a real passion I have. I grew a better appreciation of independent filmmaking and discovered I actually really like raw DIY movies and it pleases me to contribute to this society.


As we all now DIY filmmaking can be tough, what were some of the downside of going out on your own?

Finance is always going to be a downside for me unfortunately. Its sad but true that DIY filmmaking can cost a fair bit of your money and extremely hard to make money from, but don’t get me wrong, it can be very rewarding and in some ways wouldn’t change it for the world, but living as a full time freelance indie filmmaker I’ve had the odd tight month and a few scary weeks here and there not knowing where the hell my next pay cheque is coming from.


Another sort of downside I would say is restrictions on your production. Its not always possible to get on camera what you hope for if your doing it all yourself, however there is an up side to this as it makes you think outside the box and can sometimes make the process more creative, it certainly keeps you on your toes!


Time is one of my biggest enemies. Theres never enough of it to get everything done, mainly on the actual filming days and this leads to a major downside for me - stress! I can get really down and a bit depressed when everything starts falling apart like running out of time, not being able to get a location, not finding enough cast members, when it goes wrong it can go wrong bad and be very upsetting and get right on top of you, however you have to try and remain strong and keep trying as when you do get through it you hopefully have a movie there that you can take some pride in and be proud that you made it.

On the flip side, what were the upsides?

Through making films in a DIY manner I’ve met some great people that share the same passion and interests as I have and become good friends. I have had fun times, and being on a indie film set is really one of my main ways of socialising. A real upside is when everything is complete and you realised you actually made a film, that is your special piece of art that will last and can be seen again & again, it feels like a real achievement when you get through it and you have something to show for it, and at the end of the day I’m doing something I love doing so I can’t really complain that much!


You've Produced and Directed nearly 100 films now including shorts over the last 20 years, what is your process for making so much stuff so quickly?

My main way of achieving such a prolific track record of films was just literally go out and make stuff. I managed to get a few good people together and had a bit of equipment as I freelance in the world of film anyway which allowed me to have access to the odd thing I needed, so luckily I was able to phone up who I thought I needed, grab my camera and go out guerrilla style and just shoot stuff. 

I would even sometimes just map the rough idea out back in the day and ad-lib the film and just shoot the coverage I thought I needed to tell the story in a location that was quiet that I thought we would not get bothered at! A bit naughty I know but did the trick, and some of my best work was made this way! As I did most of the jobs on the production myself I really only needed a simple idea I could play with, a few people in front of camera and a place to shoot, once that was sorted the rest was just fun playing about and being creative.


Apart from 'Just make movies' what advice would you give people starting out making their own films?

I would say if you want to make a film don’t run before you can walk. Start with a short, find your own style and way you like to work. Experiment and play about a bit before you get too stuck in and choose who you work with very wisely, it only takes one bad seed to ruin a production.

And finally, what is next for Jason Impey?

Well, I am a lot slower at making films than I used to be. I have become a lot more fanatical how I like stuff over the years and become more OCD with everything. I also take on a lot more freelancing work to get by as a filmmaker, but there are new productions on the way, including shorts and a feature in which I am returning to my roots - the horror genre!

You can check out more of Jason's work at his official site : http://jasonimpey.co.uk

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