Kevin Sean Michaels - Documentarian, VAMP Productions

Posted by Daniel Douros

April 1, 2008

Kevin Sean Michaels It might seem strange to go from working with Lloyd Kaufman at Troma Entertainment (home of the Toxic Avenger) to becoming a festival winning documentary filmmaker, but not when the subject of your first documentary is Maila Nurmi, commonly known among fans as Vampira, the original goth girl. Long before Elvira made the undead look sexy, Vampira was vamping it up on her own show and in Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space. Nurmi, who died in January 2008, was a reclusive and reluctant subject who had avoided interviews for decades before meeting Kevin Sean Michaels.

Kevin has a knack for befriending strangers. When I first met him I found him open, honest, and possessing the dry, subtle humor of an deep thinker. Upon discovering that I was launching the web site Who Calls the Shots, Kevin volunteered to an interview before I could even think of a way to ask him. The responses he gave are inspirational, insightful, and full of advice for the burgeoning filmmaker and documentarian.

Kevin recently finished his second documentary, The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels, and is working on a on-going project about actress Ingrid Pitt. He took time out of promoting Vampira: The Movie to participate in this interview.

As a kid, you used to make movies with an 8mm camera. Did you ever shoot any documentaries?

I think the Super-8 movies I made reflected my childhood a bit, but I also romanticized about early silent filmmaking, partially because my camera had no sound. The first thing I shot starred my best friend and the video game character Pac-Man. I had a small plastic Pac-Mac and, by starting and stopping the camera, stop-motion style, we pretended that Pac-Man was chasing my friend and then finally kills him. That was the first one. I was out of step with the times because I suggested to my friends that we make a silent film with dialogue on title cards. I had a hero, a damsel in distress and a mustache-curling villain. There was no editing, so I would pan over to the title cards and then back to filming. My friends had never seen silent films, so to them I was doing something new.

After several years working in the production department at Troma, you decided to switch gears and focus on documentaries. What motivated this change of direction?

So many people who worked for Lloyd Kaufman over the years wanted to “graduate” from Tromaville and become a carbon-copy, more-commercialized version of Lloyd Kaufman. I didn’t think that I had to go out and make a Troma movie. Or be the next Lloyd Kaufman. I knew if my heart was in the right place I could make a documentary and it would set me apart from what other Troma “graduates” were doing.

In addition to your documentary work, you also work on short scripted films. Do you have a preference for one or the other?

It’s amazing how much the same it is. Alexia Anastasio and I have been been shooting experimental films together. A New York Times reporter took notice of what we were doing and told us how unique it was. I like telling stories and showing something you’d not expect to see. We did an all-female version of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé. I did a zombie morality tale called The Last Days of Rik Mortis that had male nudity in it. Very taboo. I want to bring back the organic theatrical stage feel back to movie-making. I am working on putting together a troupe that will improvise and perform, but the stage they perform on will only exist in cyberspace.

How does your production style differ when you work on scripted films compared to documentaries?

I’ve learned that in making documentaries, the person you interview must answer the same question about three times to get a decent take. This makes it sound a bit scripted, but I like it. With a scripted piece, I like when all the words are spoken exactly but sound improvised, which is the opposite feel.

Lloyd Kaufman, the man behind Troma Entertainment, is a legendary micro-budget producer and director. What is the most important lesson you learned while working with Lloyd?

“You get what you pay for.”

Vampira: The Movie features music by Ari Lehman, a former actor known to many genre fans as the original Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th, and now the leader of the band FIRSTJASON. What tipped you off that Ari would make a good composer for the project?

I got to know Ari through the convention circuit. When we were doing Poultrygeist at Troma, I suggested Ari that he come up with a couple of musical tracks. Ultimately, Troma went another direction, but I became a fan of Ari’s music, which I though would work great with Maila Nurmi’s words. We are both fans of William Burroughs and Laurie Anderson and spoken word. There are so many sides to Ari, not just the deformed one who sprung up from Crystal Lake.

The subjects in your documentaries give you an amazing amount of access to their time and personal lives. You also spend a lot of time befriending your subjects before you even begin filming. How did you gain such unprecedented access to actors such as Maila Nurmi (Vampira), who lived much of her life as a recluse and rarely granted interviews?

Yes, it takes time to do a documentary with someone and a lot of discussion. There was no question that Maila didn’t want to do a project like Vampira: The Movie when I first approached her. There are no “drive-by” interviews. Especially with someone who doesn’t grant interviews and is jaded when it comes to the press because they got burned so many times as Maila had.

Vampira: The Movie features interviews with many of the genres most notorious personalities, many of whom you met while attending various conventions. What kind of responses did you get when you first went started pitching your idea and requesting interviews?

Everyone I approached was more than happy to talk about Vampira. She is an icon. The most gracious of the people I interviewed was Cassandra Peterson aka Elvira. I wanted to give her respect by giving her three minutes to say her peace. Not everyone is happy that I did that, as I have gotten a few emails about it, but I think it was the right decision to have her in it.
Your budget for Vampira: The Movie was extremely low. How did you stretch your dollars to get the most our of your limited funds?

You find ways to economize. If you’re in a city, try to shoot as much as you can during one trip. You do favors and build up relationships with other filmmakers. You work on their movies, they work on yours. Lloyd told me to get ahead by doing “special” favors and on that I have no comment.

Documentary films aren’t traditionally thought of as strong revenue producers. When you set out to make Vampira: The Movie, did you have any financial goals in mind?

All financial goals are out the window from Day One, because you have no idea what you’ll eventually spend to get the movie finished, if it will be finished, or if it’ll ever get distribution or get onto screens. Whatever you budgeted you can triple and whatever you make back may be 10% of that. In the long term, maybe you’ll see a profit. But that not limited to this business. What’s encouraging is that with digital, it’s possible that you can get a movie made on $10,000. But it’s really the goal of getting your art out there for people to see that’s gratifying.

As you sought investment capital for the movie, did you find that people were looking for a traditional revenue return, or did people simply get involved for the love of the project?

You have to say to any potential investor that they acknowledge that they will lose every cent. I worked for a stockbroker for one week. He had a gimmick to illustrate this. He would ask his client to take out his checkbook and write a check for $20,000 to the firm. The client would play along and write the check. The stockbroker would then take the check and tear it up and throw it away. He’d ask, “How does it feel to lose $20,000 in 30 seconds?” If the client showed a great amount of dismay, the stockbroker would tell him that he doesn’t have the stomach to invest in the stock market. Same goes for the movie business. But if anyone wants to write me a check, I promise I won’t tear it up.

How is your collaboration with Alpha New Cinema, your distributor, working out? How much involvement do you have in the distribution process?

Quite a bit. Alpha has been great to me and I speak with my rep on a regular basis of how best to market the movie. The DVD retail business is in a strange place right now. They are asking themselves whether there will be any DVDs sold at all five years from now. What happens when everything is available to download for free?

Vampira: The Movie is Alpha New Cinema’s fastest-selling DVD. What have you done differently that has forced your film to stand out among all the others?

Well the Alpha New Cinema division is fairly new. Alpha has hundreds of classic movies and have built their reputation on that. They are taking steps now to broaden their horizons with new and exclusive content. There are some really good movies out in 2008 from Alpha.

Like many movies, the DVD release of Vampira: The Movie was delayed by a month. What causes the ubiquitous delays that always seem to accompany a DVD release?

In this case we had a mastering issue. They threw about 1,000 copies away. They keep a tight ship when it comes to quality-control.

You spend a lot of time promoting your films, hosting panels, and showing your films at dozens of genre conventions. What affect do you think this has this had on the documentary’s success?

I used to think that the grassroots approach was silly, but it works. It really is like a political campaign. You have to shake a lot of babies and kiss a lot of hands. You have to be known as a filmmaker within your local community, then nationally, then internationally. You can’t skip steps. You need to go out and screen your film to different audiences and get their feedback. You need to know your topic thoroughly and be able to give a 30 minute lecture if you’re called upon to do so. I like to let the fans know that I am accessible and that there is no separation between them and me. I stand behind my product, being my work. It’s important that filmmakers are not confused with computers.

Vampira: The Movie has been shown in such distant places as Finland, South America, and Germany. How difficult was it to orchestrate showings so far from home?

It was very tricky. You can see some of the screenings covered on the extras section of the Vampira: The Movie DVD. When we went to Germany I spoke for ten minutes not realizing that the crowd didn’t speak English. Can you imagine? But the film festivals have been very good with embracing us and inviting us.

Vampira: The Movie recently won a Rondo Award. Did you notice an increase in sales after winning this award?

I am very honored about the award especially being in the company of so many great people and movies that have won it. I guess awards have an impact on sales, but for me I was really excited that the movie got so much support.

The documentary has generated a lot of press in print magazines—especially for a documentary. Was this part of a larger plan or did it come about more organically?

I don’t think you can be Machiavellian when it comes to these things. I certainly never expected to land on the cover of Rue Morgue, nor did I think we’d get international press. I did try to make sure that any package I sent out came with a follow-up phone call or email. Making personal appearances helped us as far as getting us in trade publications and event reviews.

Your comic book tie-in to Vampira: The Movie was completed just before its publisher, Fangoria Comics, closed shop. Had it been published on time, how would the comic have fit into the marketing plan for the movie?

We had an idea to do it as a running serial across a series of Fangoria-branded comics, tieing into the initial DVD release on Alpha. I thought it would be a fun thing like Stan Lee might do. Like when I was growing up, a movie always had a comic book adaptation to go with it. I want to go exciting things that will get fans interested that otherwise we’d never reach.

Your recently completed documentary, The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels, is being released right around the time that Alpha New Cinema is re-releasing Mikels’s films on DVD. Was the timing of your documentary always intended to coincide with the catalog re-release?

No. It’s something we are still discussing. We may have to do a round of film festivals before we release The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels on DVD. Ted’s box set is doing really well for Alpha and they are going to be releasing five or six more of Ted’s movies. Hopefully we can make another box set something special.

You once mentioned that you were filming scenes for a documentary about Ingrid Pitt. What happened to that project?

We are still working on the project. It’s taking some time because I am looking at animators to work on it. I want certain segments have a look and feel of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, but with documentary footage. Ingrid is a Holocaust survivor who went into making horror movies and became a huge sex symbol. It’s an amazing life story, but not something that is easily told. It will get done once we have the right funding in place because animation is very expensive.

You’ve recently shot a few scenes from the other side of the camera as an actor. How does working as an actor compare to your “day job” as a documentary filmmaker?

I’d like to do more roles. I haven’t really been pursuing it, but it’s something that is really fun to do. In Ramzi Abed’s movie In a Spiral State, I play a guy who goes on a date, gets drugged and later gets his organs stolen. I got cast because Ramzi wanted to have other filmmakers play roles. In another movie, I play a paramedic. It’s weird that I never played a zombie as I have been asked several times. Documentaries are completely different, but I think eventually I go the Michael Moore route and be on-screen in my documentaries.

Kevin maintains extensive and frequently updated web sites for each of his projects. Follow the links for more information:

http://www.vampirathemovie.com

http://www.thewildworldoftedvmikels.com

http://www.salomefilm.com

Interviews With Producers