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What can you tell us about your new streaming channel Thrilz
TV, and the philosophy behind it?
Thrilz
TV is raw indie cinema. Which means we embrace low/no-budget filmmakers,
underground/cult films, and thrilling genres such as horror, action, comedy, and
paranormal reality. We have some titles that approach
mainstream respectability—especially some great vintage movies and documentaries. But overall, we embrace an exploitation film vibe.
What inspired you to start your own streaming channel in the first
place, and has yourself being an indie filmmaker at all informed your
decision to launch Thrilz TV?
Like
many indie filmmakers, I was excited when Amazon started their Video
Direct program. It was exciting to be able to place your films directly on
their site alongside other movies on Amazon Prime Video. But when they
abruptly ejected many low-budget films—especially horror films—I
realized this wasn’t the outlet we were hoping for.
Low-budget
exploitation filmmakers don’t always get the respect they deserve.
There’s so much creativity out there. Who cares if these projects are a
little rough around the edges? If you want slick Hollywood stuff, you have
so many options. Why not create a platform that offers an alternative to
the mainstream? We want to embrace the backyard filmmakers and the
no-budget auteurs. We want to highlight unique voices regardless of
budget.
Very basic question, why indie cinema? And to you personally, what's
indie cinema's unique allure?
Even
though filmmaking is a collaborative process, indie cinema allows you to
create movies without a lot of red tape and corporate interference. It’s
often a writer-director bringing their vision to life with little money,
but lots of enthusiasm.
Low-budget
indie filmmakers usually wear many hats, which can lead to burn-out. But
you also become a great problemsolver on set. If something needs to be
done, whether it’s operating a camera, lighting the set, placing a
microphone, creating a prop, doing sfx makeup… you jump in and do it. You
find creative solutions. You are a part of the entire process.
What were the challenges of bringing Thrilz TV into being?
Financing! Even with a simple channel, there are many start-up and maintenance costs.
We just had our soft launch in March. So that was a milestone. But we’re
still growing and developing.
Some of the highlights currently on Thrilz TV?
We
currently have over 400 films on the channel. And we add new titles every
week to keep it fresh.
We have an original series called 3-Minute Thrilz. It’s an
AI-assisted radio theater program featuring short and suspenseful stories.
And it’s currently free to watch along with the 2-Bit Horror Podcast
on the channel.
My favorite highlight is our selection of documentaries featuring low budget
and indie filmmakers. I love those behind-the-scenes looks at the
moviemaking process. And I also like documentaries about punk rock, pop
culture, and about creative people and compelling personalities.
Our underground category is a great catch-all for a variety of films. It’s
where you can discover some real gems. I also like all our paranormal reality content—ghosts,
hauntings, Bigfoot, UFOs…
we have quite a few
of those titles.
I’m a sucker for a low-budget horror film, so I like our selection of those.
But there’s cool stuff in every category, whether it’s action, comedy,
thriller, or even our more risqué After Dark titles.
For indie filmmakers, how does one get one's work to be shown on
Thrilz TV, and are there any quality standards required to be met?
Currently, we’re getting most of our programming through FilmHub. We like that they
make it easy for indie filmmakers to submit their films there and make
them available to a wide variety of channels. They really seem to support
indie filmmakers, so we want to support companies like that. And we really
like their selection of movies.
As
for quality standards, we accept everything from high-definition digital
video down to shot-on-VHS. We draw the line on super bad audio. If you
have annoying background noise throughout your movie, that would be a deal
breaker. I do have a bias against underlit footage. Creating atmosphere is
one thing. But I do want to be to see what’s going on in a scene. So
throw us a bone and shine some light on your subject.
If
you don’t currently have a distributor, we might consider your film
directly. Feature length is preferred, but we also carry shorts. Send us
an email at acquisitions@thrilztv.com.
Include basic info about your film, and a link to a trailer and/or online
screener. No guarantees, but we’d be happy to take a look.
What's in the immediate future for Thrilz TV, and where do
you see the channel in, let's say, five or ten years?
We’re
subscription-based, but we’d like to add a free-with-ads option. In
the coming years, we would like to feature more exclusive content and to
produce our own original projects. And to continue to feature filmmakers
ignored by the mainstream.
Any future projects besides Thrilz TV?
I’m
personally working on a new documentary. It’s called Monster Man.
It features Kevin Glover, a guy who has worked in the entertainment
industry for 40 years. He’s done acting, writing, directing, editing,
home video distribution, and, currently, produces a line of monster-based
comicbooks. He also played one of the monsters in the 1990 film Syngenor,
so we have a lot of fun revisiting that. And Monster Man will
premiere on Thrilz TV later this year.
Your/Thrilz TV's website, social media, whatever else?
Go to https://www.thrilztv.com.
We’re also active on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And you can see
trailers for our movies on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ThrilzTV.
My
personal website is: https://grungesploitation.com.
I’ll be posting Monster Man updates there.
Anything else you're dying to mention and I've merely forgotten to
ask?
A big thank-you to you, Michael. You do so much on your site to support indie filmmakers. It’s always inspiring to visit
https://www.searchmytrash.com/
and discover new films and filmmakers. And a thank-you to
Tony, JZ, Nik, and Steve at Thrilz TV for their tireless work to help make
this all happen. It takes a village to raise a trashy no-budget movie
channel.
Thanks for the interview! |
