The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

It turns out starting The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast set a lot of things in motion and opened a lot of damned doors. The most exciting of those newly opened doors is the opportunity to tell some mind-blowing stories in this medium that I have truly come to love. So, I started a little podcasting company. Costard & Touchstone Productions. The first C&T original production is a podcast called “The Donor: A DNA Horror Story“. I really and truly hope that you’ll check it out. If you’re a fan of Tales From The Crypt – or horror […]

How to write like a genius… sounds easy enough! And the way our guest CHARLES FLEISCHER writes, he makes writing like a genius seem easy. Spoiler alert: it’s not. You probably know Charlie as the voice of ROGER RABBIT. He’s also in the TALES FROM THE CRYPT feature film DEMON KNIGHT and a kajillion other movies and TV shows. Or, you may know Charlie as a stand up. Or an artist. or from his scientific work (he’s published actual scientific papers and done extensive research on MOLEEDS). But, you probably don’t know Charlie as a writer of short stories. Charlie […]

Here’s a stone cold fact: it is really, really, REALLY hard to create an iconic character like Tales From The Crypt’s iconic Crypt Keeper.

For one thing, you can’t set out to create a character that will become iconic. That’s because it’s not up to the character’s creators, it’s up to you – the audience.

It’s your embrace – how warm it is – how long it lasts – that determines whether a character can even enter the “iconic” conversation.

With the Crypt Keeper, we ticked off all the boxes.

We created a character that a wide and widening audience still embraces – thirty some odd years after its creation.

But, HOW do characters like the Crypt Keeper GET created? Don’t they just spring fully formed – more or less – from one person’s fertile imagination?

Well, not really…

Every horror icon’s creation is complicated in its own way. And more than one person played a significant part.

Take The Frankenstein Monster.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly – Frankenstein’s author –

and her husband – the Romantic poet Percy Bysse Shelly –

were traveling with friends through Germany down the Rhine River in 1816.

At night, the travel party told each other ghost stories. Mary and her friends were all intrigued by the latest science: using electricity to spark dead limbs to life.

And, as they traveled down the Rhine through Germany, they heard local stories about a crazy local alchemist named Johann Konrad Dippel.

Dippel robbed graves and experimented on corpses at a very real place called Frankenstein Castle.

And then Mary Shelley – all of 21 – filled in the blanks – and published her book anonymously. She put her name on the second edition though.

In time, Mary Shelley’s character found a literary audience. But then a guy named James Whale directed the movie version of the book in 1931. And whatever the character had been on the page became the character in the movie.

And that’s the Frankenstein monster most people think of when they hear the name “Frankenstein”.

Remove any of those elements from the Frankenstein equation and there is no equation.

As you’ll hear – if you haven’t already heard this episode – it took puppeteer Kevin Yagher to create the Crypt Keeper puppet plus John Kassir to create the Crypt Keeper’s voice plus me to create the Crypt Keeper’s inner life plus Gil Adler – who directed and produced the Crypt Keeper segments.

Take any of us out of the Crypt Keeper equation – and this equation isn’t happening either.

When Kevin and John and Gil and I got together for that very first time, we  had never had this conversation before – about the Crypt Keeper’s creation story.

None of us knew the whole story ourselves – until we shared...

Alan & Jason visit CreepI.E.Con

Welcome to a special, bonus episode of the How Not To Make A Movie Podcast: Alan & Jason visit the CreepIE-Con horror convention!

This past weekend was the Creepie-con horror convention in Ontario just outside Los Angeles. It’s not one of the big horror conventions, but being as it’s here in Southern California, it still attracts a fair amount of on-screen talent for signings and photos because “proximity”.

Now, I really hadn’t been to a horror convention before. That seems strange considering all the horror I’ve done. I went to Comic Con once – the year they first started releasing “Tales From The Crypt” DVDs. We did a panel about the show to a very packed room. It was a blast.

It was a while ago, too.

And, as Gil and I are about to unleash a streaming horror series upon the marketplace – and then, hopefully, the world – it seemed like a good time to get into the horror convention flow. So, I called Jason Stein – my other partner in crime on this enterprise. And, together, on Saturday, we headed east – to the Ontario Convention Center. And CreepIE-con.

Among the talent lineup: some of the cast of Scream, Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy, Alex Winter, Lee Waddell, Lauren Lavera, Eliot Fulham, Felissa Rose (one of Jason’s favorites) and Damien Leone from “The Terrifier” (another of Jason’s favorites).

Also in the house – our friends Chelsea Rebecca and James Janisse, hosts of the spectacular “Dead Meat Podcast” and YouTube channel.

The most striking about the horror community – and the horror community already knows this about themselves – they are some of the sweetest people on the planet. And it is downright fun watching them have fun.

Mike Vosburg’s cover art for the Crypt episode “On A Dead Man’s Chest”, directed by William Friedkin: Drawn to the dark side

If you’ve ever seen an episode of Tales From The Crypt, you’ve enjoyed the work of artist and comic book creator Mike Vosburg. When you sit and talk to Mike – aka Voz – you can’t help thinking “Wow, what a terrific person!” And then you look at his comic book art and you can’t help thinking “Wow, and he’s so drawn to the dark side.” I mean that in the nicest way possible of course!

Gil and I first met artist Mike Vosburg when we went aboard “Tales From The Crypt” at the start of its third season. Each Crypt episode began with a comic book cover depicting the episode’s most horrific moment. Mike drew the covers. Though Mike had been working in the comic book business for a long time by then, the Crypt gig suited him. He was already “drawn to the dark side”.

Comics Are Mike’s Life

Mike’s love of the comic book form began early. As a teen, he produced and edited the fanzine Masquerader. In time, his passion for comics took him to New York City where he worked for Marvel, DC and Charlton Comics among others. He worked with Stan Lee (as did Gil and I!) Before he headed west, he’d put his imprimatur on series like Thor, She-Hulk, Starfire and GIJoe.

Arriving in Hollywood, Mike got work drawing storyboards for feature films and TV shows. Storyboards help directors articulate their vision. That work eventually led him to Tales From The Crypt. We’ll talk comic books and working at Marvel. Penciling vs inking. John Frankenheimer, Ninja Turtles and film noir among other things. And, did I mention that Mike won an Emmy for directing episodes of Spawn on HBO? And, of course, we’ll talk a whole lot of Tales From The Crypt.

Charlie Fleischer: Still in ‘toon’ with the universe.

If you don’t know Charlie Flesicher’s name, you know his voice. He’s the voice of Roger Rabbit. He’s appeared – in human form – on TV and in movies since the 70’s. We worked with Charlie on “Demon Knight” – the first “Tales From The Crypt” branded horror movie. He plays Wally Enfield. It’s been a while since either Gil or I have spoken to Charlie. In this conversation, we all get to catch up! The headline: “Charlie Fleischer’s Still In Toon With The Universe”!

The Crypt Family

Now, as we’ve said here a bunch of times, one of the really great benefits of working on film and TV sets is that you work with – and hang with – some really fascinating people. Like Charlie Fleischer. Charlie was “family”. He’d worked a couple of times for Bob Zemeckis already (in addition to casting Charlie as Roger Rabbit, Bob also cast Charlie in “Back to The Future 2”). When casting suggested his name for that role, there never was another suggestion.

Even then, Charlie was way more than just Roger Rabbit. He was a regular on “Welcome Back Kotter” and “Laverne & Shirley”. He appeared on “Laugh-In” and “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson”. The second time Charlie did the Carson show, he did panel. Sitting beside Johnny was the point of the exercise. Charlie had – and has – a solid body of acting work to his name and credit.

But, Charlie Fleischer is way more than just an actor. He’s a creative Renaissance Person. He paints. He creates music. And he writes scientific papers. In this interview, we’ll hit the Charlie Fleischer you might know already – the super talented stand up comedian who voices an iconic animated character. And then we spend considerable time with the Charlie you might not know yet.

That Charlie Fleischer will surprise you again and again. He really is in “toon” with the universe.

Here are the art pieces we reference in the podcast –

The Rhythmic Shimmer Of Glimmer Waves Museum Of Self Reflection Monroe Boat Zappa’s Zircon Zipper Picasso What Jade Racoons Frighten Cotton Mice

Charlie’s TED Talk about Gamma Ray Bursts and Moleeds –

Nobody should ever die on a film or TV set. No one should ever get injured either but physical things happen (stunts, for instance). Injuries should should be rare. Death should be a complete stranger. With hundreds of hours of produced film and TV content under our belts, Gil Adler and I had the exact same reaction when the news dropped from the set of the movie “Rust”. It made our heads explode. How could that have happened?

On Oct. 21, 2021, actor/producer Alec Baldwin – on the set of “Rust” outside Albuquerque, New Mexico – discharged a prop firearm that had a live round in it. The bullet killed the film’s director of photography Halyna Hutchins and wounded its director Joel Souza. On the one hand, this was a tragic accident. On the other, it didn’t happen in a vacuum. People made this happen via a combination of carelessness, incompetence and ineptitude.

New Mexico Makes A Move

Yesterday, New Mexico added the potential for criminal behavior to the mix. They announced that they intend to prosecute Alec Baldwin and the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed. Uncharged: the movie’s 1st assistant director, Dave Halls. He, apparently, reached a plea deal.

Gil and I aren’t the only ones scratching our heads over the latest developments. Most everyone in the business is perturbed by it. To help us get our heads around it, we’ve invited two guests. We just sat down with our good friend Tony Adler in S2E18 – Who’s The Boss. Tony is an accomplished 1st AD with a long, illustrious bio. Leigh Webb also had a long, illustrious career as a 1st AD. He worked for us on Tales From The Crypt (and shows like “Moonlighting”). Both Tony and Leigh have dealt with guns on their sets more times than they can count.

There’s a protocol. All one has to do is follow it. And yet…

Rust Makes Our Heads Explode!

Accidents on film sets make us angry. They should never happen though they do. What happened on the set of Rust makes our heads explode.

Film sets are a fascinating place to work. They definitely reflect the nature of the people working on them – especially at the top. But who’s really in charge of any set? Who’s the boss?

Most sets are like bee hives. And, while everyone thinks the director is queen bee, on the set itself, it’s really the first assistant director – the first AD – who’s running the joint. Now, they’re not the boss – they work FOR the boss. If it’s a feature film, the boss is the director. If it’s a TV show however, the bosses are the writer-producers. The first works for them.

They will see to it that the day’s work comes in on time and on budget.

That means when shit goes awry, the first person the shit’s gonna hit is the first. It’s a hard job and it requires a special kind of person.

Like our very good friend Tony Adler – no relation to Gil.

Personal History

Now – as you’ll hear, Tony and I go back a long, long way – to the Vassar College Drama Department. Boy, do we have stories.

Tony’s had a long, amazing career. He’s got some huge features in his bio: “Ragtime” and “American Beauty”. He’s worked on TV series like “Grace and Frankie”, “Heroes”, “Empire” and “Halo”. And, he’s worked with pretty much everyone in Hollywood from Milos Foreman to Steven Spielberg to Dustin Hoffman to Sam Mendes to David Hemmings.

Want some great stories from the sets of movies and shows you love? Tune out the world for an hour and enjoy a little movie making madness. Some of the best stories coming from any movie set happen ON the set.

And the first AD – our good friend Tony –  knows them. Where this episode’s concerned, if you want to know “who’s the boss?” It’s Tony!

Photo 36125862 / Director © Kts | Dreamstime.com

The movie biz attracts all kinds. The horror biz attracts the most unusual among the movie biz. And those who succeed in the horror biz? They’re a truly special breed.

The House On Haunted Hill… The Tingler… 13 Ghosts… These were all competently made horror movies. What made them noteworthy and keeps them noteworthy is the man who made them: William Castle. A master showman, Castle understood one thing above all else: he knew how to sell tickets. It isn’t necessarily about how good or bad your play or movie is (Castle succeeded in the theater before he succeeded in the movies), it’s how good you are at promoting it. And, when it came to promoting his movies, no one could match Castle for panache, imagination or sheer chutzpah.

There’s A Gimmick!

If you’ve never encountered Castle before, you’re in for a treat!

Standing in for the maestro is his daughter Terry Castle (alas, William Castle died in 1977). Terry and Gil worked together when Gil produced a couple of Castle remakes (“House On Haunted Hill” and “13 Ghosts”) for Dark Castle Productions – the production company Joel Silver and Bob Zemeckis started specifically to remake Castle. Boy, does Terry Castle have a story to tell!

Despite being orphaned at 11, Castle rode life’s vicissitudes with remarkable improvisational skill. He quitting school at 15 to work for Bela Lugosi, got additional career help from Orson Welles (who became a lifelong friend) and ended up in Hollywood where he was one of the few people Columbia Pictures’ notoriously bad boss Harry Cohn actually liked. Castle directed dozens of B pictures before leaving Columbia for life as an independent producer.

As always, his flair for the dramatic guided him. His last big project (he produced it because the studio wouldn’t let him direct it): Rosemary’s Baby. That’s a lot of great movie-making over the course of one life. What’s crystal clear from our chat with Terry Castle is that her dad was a genuinely nice man who loved what he did for a living.

Car Ride To Hell

Welcome to our first new episode of 2023! We’re dropping a Joel Silver story we’ve been threatening to tell since we started this podcast last year. The Car Ride To Hell!

How do we know it ended up in Hell? Well, for starters, Donald Trump makes an appearance – two actually!

Here’s the setting. As you probably recall from Season One, Gil and I took over running “Tales From The Crypt” at the start of its third season – supposedly it’s last season. But, Gil and I turned around the franchise. We reinvigorated the storytelling and turned the Crypt Keeper into a franchise player. Gil and I began prepping Crypt’s season 4 (our second season running it). This often meant heading to Joel’s office at Warner Brothers in Burbank to consult; Joel was very hands on at times.

Now, one of the things that Gil and I learned quickly was that going to a meeting at Joel’s could easily eat up a whole day. Though the meeting itself might last minutes, one invariably waited for Joel. And waited, and waited… One needed to maintain very cool heels to work for Joel.

On the day in question, Gil and I cooled our heels outside Joel’s office for hours before he kidnapped us and took us on “The Car Ride To Hell”. Gil and I really were trapped with Joel. However crazy you think this experience is going to be, double your estimate. Then double it again. This is that crazy!

Hell Photo 109649322 © Ig0rzh | Dreamstime.com