Adam Minarovich, Jon Bearr, and Kevin Woods are three of the creative minds behind Drexel Entertainment/Lorithon Productions’ WISEGUYS VS. ZOMBIES, as well as members of our beloved Indie Club. Here we profile the guys, as they share their stories about the making of an independent film, the “big” news on the distribution deal (TROMA!!), and discuss the ins-and-outs of getting a film project off the ground.

Indie Club- Tell us a little about yourselves, and the role you play in bringing your vision to the screen.

 Adam Minarovich- I’ve always admired what these filmmakers were doing, and wanted to get involved somehow. I made a film a few years ago that got a small video release (The Hearse and The Hitchhiker), and then moved on to Ankle Biters, which got an international release. It was a micro-budgeted effort, shot on Mini DV, that got lucky enough to be sought after by several distibutors. After that, I went out to L.A. to act in a film called Camp Utopia (Texas Trouble Entertainment) that was produced by Dwayne Whitaker (Pulp Fiction). It hasn’t been released yet. After I got back to South Carolina, I met up with Kevin and we began work on Wiseguys.

Kevin Woods- My name is Kevin Woods. I was born in Lexington Tennessee, and moved to South Carolina in 1991. I was always into movies, and like most budding filmmakers, made short films all through high school with friends and family members as my key cast. I met Adam Minarovich after seeing some of his work (Ankle Biters-York Entertainment, The Hearse and The Hitchhiker- Salt City), and we began talking about working together to make some movies. He had just started Drexel Entertainment, and I had just begun Lorithon Productions, so we merged together and began work on Wiseguys Vs. Zombies. I served as Producer, Director of Photography, and acted a bit.

Jon Bearr- I am from the Baltimore-Washington DC metropolitan area. I moved to South Carolina in 2001 for graduate school at Clemson University. One of my fellow graduate students used to work with Kevin Woods and introduced me to him. A year later, Kevin and I then began working on a script for a film called The Tenth Axis. Soon thereafter Kevin called me up and asked if I could help with some of the logistics on the Wiseguys vs. Zombies shoot. The concept of trying to make the perfect TROMA spoof sounded interesting and I agreed to join the crew as an Assistant Producer. I also appear for about ten seconds as a zombie extra, which is most likely not enough screen time to earn that coveted supporting actor nomination.

Indie Club- Give us a synopsis of Wiseguys Vs. Zombies. What can we expect to see?

Adam- It’s about two hitmen hired to transport some bodies and an experimental military drug from New York to Miami. They get in a bit of trouble after having their car impounded in South Carolina, and the drug causes the bodies in the trunk to re-animate. The hitmen have to face off against a plague of zombies, which quickly multiply into a horde of hillbilly zombies.

Kevin- Viewers can expect to see some over the top gore, and a lot of comedy. It’s really hard to play a situation like that straight up, so we opted to add the humor to the mix.

Jon- It is the epitome of low budget horror with our tongues planted firmly in our cheeks. We are proud that TROMA selected this ilm for distribution because to be the epitome low budget horror film . . . it has to be a TROMA film.

Indie Club- How did you finance the project?

Kevin- Adam sold his body. No, basically, it was all paid for out of pocket, using the resources we had available. We also had some help from family and friends with the catering and the such.

Jon- It would be a little silly to spend a few hundred thousand if we wanted that low budget feel, so we actually did a low budget film. No sofa cushion was left unturned. We skrimped and saved in order to eek by with the budget that we thought was necessary to make this film.

Indie Club- How did you find your actors? What kind of pay if any did you offer your actors and crew?

Adam- For one of the leads, I found a guy in North Carolina named William Palko who fit the description of the older, wiser hitman. He came down for a few days of filming, initially to knock out his scenes, but we had to call him back for two more days of pick-ups.

Jon- One of my main duties was finding extras. I just printed up a few flyers and posted them around. We got a few people in and then I had to call in some favors to fill out the roles. Apparently, most people were rather suspect of a horror film shoot with an exploding car. They probably thought it was a snuff film. We wound up with a rather eclectic mix of actors. I have to mention William Mugot who was absolutely amazing and I wish we would have had a more extensive role for him. Unfortuneately, he is back in the Phillipines making the ladies swoon.

Indie Club- What was the film shot on?

Adam- We shot on the Canon XL1.

Jon- DV is really the wave of the future. The ease of filming with this medium is amazing because it permits anyone with a good idea to make a film. In the old days, the cost of film would prohibit most people from shooting. Of course the downside of DV is that the market is flooded with films these days. Hopefully, more film festivals will spring up and allow the cream to rise.

Indie Club- How did you handle setups and coverage for the shots? Any advice or warnings you can give?

Adam- Shooting digitally, we were able to set up quickly and maximize our shots. We would shoot wide shots first, then move in for our close ups. This helped with the audio also. Advice? Shoot cut aways. They always come in handy in editing.

Kevin- This was the first time I served as DP on a movie, so I utilized what I had learned from watching Adam, and then took the initiative to experiment a bit. So thats what I would suggest to anyone shooting digitally. It’s okay to experiment, because tape is cheap!

Jon- For day shoots . . . if you are catering the actors, do not serve victuals that have mayo, eggs, or anything else that might go bad under the hot sun. Also, you cannot have enough water. One thing a beginner often forgets is that a shoot can take a long time, costumes can be extremely uncomfortable, and the crew really needs to be able to support the actors so the best performance can be given.

Indie Club- What was your approximate shooting ratio?

Adam- 3:1.

Indie Club- What were the obstacles you encountered while shooting? Any Advice?

Adam- The weather was a big obstacle. The main action in the film takes place in the course of a day, and it was important that the shots matched up, so when the weather didn’t cooperate, we couldn’t shoot.

Kevin- Also, getting the actors together and on the same page became an issue. It seemed that we just couldn’t get things together when we needed it. But in the end, we were happy with what we got. We just wish we had more time in pre-production and didn’t have to rush everything.

Jon- When you go low budget, supplies are in short demand. Costumes have to last the whole time. When you blow up a car, you better get the shot right because another car will not be purchased. But the great thing about making low budget films is that Murphey's Law will always hold true, and creatively finding alternatives is what is really fun.

Indie Club- What other equipment did you find useful on your shoot? Is there anything you wish you would of had and didn't?

Adam- A stabilizer was the saving grace. I would have loved to have had a jib arm.

Kevin- The wheelchair dolly worked like a charm..

Jon- Running tap water near the set. Driving miles to find a faucet was not always pleasant. It may sound silly, but these are the sort of mundane logistics that keep these things moving.

Indie Club- How did you edit the film? What kind of editing system are you using?

Adam- Drexel Mirabel edited my last picture, Ankle Biters, so I brought him in to edit Wiseguys. He used Adobe Premier. He’s now directing a horror movie for my company, Drexel Entertainment.

Indie Club- What are the main suggestions you would give other filmmakers, based on your experiences on this film? In planning, in post

production, in scoring, in editing, in pre production, etc.?

Adam- Always do plenty of pre production, expect the worst because it will probably happen. With a micro budgeted production, be prepared to make some changes to the shooting script. And get plenty of coverage shots.

Jon- Keep things light . . . problems occur and you really need to be able to weather those and still be genteel to your crew and actors. Adam is a great actors director and gave us a great deal of room for adlibbing. Adam brings out the best in his talent. I would love to see what he will do with a larger budget.

Indie Club- What kind of problems (if any) did you have finding distribution?

Kevin- We set out to make a film that would catch Troma’s eye. We (Adam and I) were both fans of Troma, and would make our actors watch Troma films while we prepared for the day’s shoot. We’d tell them, "THIS is what we are shooting for. THIS is what we want!" So with Troma in mind, we shot the film over to them first.

Adam- We sent it out to a couple of other companies, but Troma was what we were waiting on. It didn’t take too long before we were hearing back from some companies, but we wanted to hear what Troma had to say.

Indie Club- So how did you manage to get hooked up with Troma?

Kevin- We became friends with Troma alumni Trent Haaga, and I feel that he bent Lloyd’s ear about it, and got him to take a look at the movie.

Adam- That, and I had contacted Lloyd about it after writing to him about his book "Make Your Own Damn Movie". That book was probably the biggest inspiration for making Wiseguys. The acquisitions guy at Troma, Ron, sifted through all the submitted films until he found ours, and they took a look at it. They contacted me, and we were in.

Indie Club- What do you have in the works after this film?

Adam- Well, I wrote a script called BACKWASH that was just optioned by Tom Savini, so I’m hoping to hear some good news on it. And I’m always writing, coming up with ideas, so I’m sure we’ll be announcing our next picture soon.

Kevin- I’ve recently been producing and acting in Sticks and Stones for director Drexel Mirabel, who edited Wiseguys and Ankle Biters for Adam. Then I plan on getting THE TENTH AXIS off and running. It’s a film that I’ll be directing, and sharing writing credits with Jon. A little horror film with some religious overtones. It’ll be a blast.

Jon- Kevin mentioned The Tenth Axis, which is a marvelous script and we are looking for investors on that one (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). It is about redemption and the perception of truth. I am also working on a script for a film entitled Selfless with the wonderful Martha Tudor. That movie is about a woman who after being sexually assaulted manages to fall in love. Anyway, the plan right now is to funnel this through Lorithon Productions.

Check out Drexel Entertainment/Lorithon Productions at www.lorithon-productions.com. And look for WISEGUYS VS. ZOMBIES from Troma Entertainment later this year.

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