DEATHSCRIBE 2010 Author - David Schmidt interview

We thought you would like to hear from our DEATHSCRIBE 2010 Festival selections authors. First up - David Schmidt, whose piece in the show will be The Change in Buckett County, directed by Carolyn Klein.

DAVID SCHMIDT

1) Where horror is concerned, what does radio give us that visual media cannot?

Radio give us a big and damn-dark old closet for our minds to throw our worst imaginings into, and then invites them to come crawling out.  A movie can hope to engage the audience's imagination through suggestion, but radio demands it.  In listening, you start to actively imagine the scene, and once you're imagining - you've engaged a part of yourself in the story.

2) "The Change in Buckett County" creeped us out. What is it about "The Change in Buckett County" that creeps you out?

The first thing I thought of when I wrote this script was the *setting*.  Desolate farm fields in winter.  Feet crunching through the snow at night.  Skeletal tree creaking.  Wind blowing the drifting snow.  I used to visit my Grandparents' farm as a kid, and that barren landscape seems like a really bleak place to be when something terribly wrong is happening... 

3) What's the sound cue in your piece that you're excited to hear in foley?

There's a part in the story where something is making a leathery flapping sound in the trees.  I'm really curious how they'll interpret that, and what they'll use to make that noise! 

4) What actor, from any time, has the best voice for horror? 

I love so many - Karloff, Welles, Cushing, Lee, etc.  But the best has to be Vincent Price.  He has such a rich texture, and a fun way of rolling words around.  He could make anything sound exotic and sinister.  Plus, he always seemed to take such great delight in making it good ghoulish fun.

  

5) What difficulties does a 10-minute constraint present when writing, especially where horror and/or radio are concerned? 

I don't think I'm particularly good at short stories.  I have a tendency to want to embroider things and expand them into larger arcs.  (Sometimes to my own detriment.)  But something about writing short-form for radio seems to really inspire me.  Maybe it's that dark closet door creaking open inside my head...  :D
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The DEATHSCRIBE 2010 Jury will be dining at the Morseland.