HorrorNewsNetwork.net reporter Stephanie Shamblin Gray caught up with creator, actor, writer, and producer, Nathan Reid, to talk about his creation, Prey.
Horror News Network: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Nathan. Can you start off by telling us a little about Prey?
Nathan Reid: Absolutely. Prey was a character I created back in 2006 and then in 2008 came out with the first issue of the comic to introduce the character to the world. Many favors were definitely called in as artist Joel Crawford, one of Dreamworks top storyboard artists, worked with writer Curtis A. Clark, who’s worked on Frand Beddor’s “The Looking Glass Wars”, to create the story and panels of the first issue.
Horror News Network: I was really excited to get a copy of the comic at the recent Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles. It was there that you let me know that this story was to be made into a film. Can you tell us more about the comic and how people can get their hands on it?
Nathan: I am definitely fan-driven when it comes to comics and so this first issue, which we did a 10,000 issue print of, was only available at this year’s New York Comic Con and Stan Lee’s 2013 Comikaze. The good news, Orsa Comics, which is owned by my company Reinventing Films, will be doing subsequent issues in early 2014 to continue this great story of this character and his vast world.
Horror News Network: You were also very excited about the cast of the upcoming film. Can you tell our readers who has been cast and where you are in the film-making process right now?
Nathan: The film Prey: The Light in the Dark turned out to be a first-choice dream of mine. I had made of list of my top choices for each character: “Prey” – Tyler Mane (X-Men, Troy, Halloween), “Righteous” – Oded Fehr (The Mummy Returns, Resident Evil: Afterlife), “Honor” – Masashi Odate (The Last Samurai) and “Jax” – Mykel Shannon Jenkins (Grudge Match, Undisputed III.) It was like rolling the dice in Vegas and getting snake eyes every time, I landed every first choice of mine. We are now in post-production on Prey: The Light in the Dark, which is a pitch-film to show studios in order to have them buy the franchise. The film will be completed in January of 2014. You can watch the two-scene teaser Reinventing Films was able to showcase at New York Comic Con here: http://vimeo.com/76790226
Horror News Network: Tell us about your experience with crowd-funding.
Nathan: I’ve joked about this many times, but crowd-funding is about sheer determination, and a slight case of stalking every single friend of yours, and friends of theirs. With my Reinventing Films co-founder & producing partner, Jodie Bentley, we developed a mathematical strategy to determine the percentage of actual support you can expect from your group and how many people you’ll actually have to reach out to in order to hit your goal. After multiple successful campaigns, we realized we had unintentionally written a book with all of the processes and data and information we created during those campaigns. So we decided to share our experience and proven processes in Reinventing Crowdfunding a “how to guide” for crowd-funders. You can check it out at www.ReinventingCrowdfunding.com. A purchaser of our book, Johnny Greenlaw, is producing a feature film Mommy’s Box and currently has a Kickstarter.com crowd-funding campaign and did $17,000 in his first 6 days using our techniques, and then raised his full $25,000 for his film! It is awesome to view his success!
Horror News Network: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about Prey?
Nathan: Prey: The Light in the Dark has a very personal, dark origin from my life. I think it’s this fact that makes individuals relate so well to him. It wasn’t about creating a cool character with interesting powers or mythology; I was simply harnessing the darkest parts of my life and putting them into art— creating something positive out of a negative.
Horror News Network: Any other horror projects you have coming up?
Nathan: We do. We purchased the story rights to a new horror franchise called The Jokesters, which is somewhat like Blair Witch meets Jackass. We are telling the origins story of America’s next serial killer.
Horror News Network: Where can our readers go for more information about Prey?
Nathan: Our company’s website: www.ReinventingFilms.com. You can also search Reinventing Films on Facebook and “Like” our page to stay up to date with all things Prey: The Light in the Dark, and The Jokesters. You can follow us on Twitter, too. Vimeo is where we release all of our teasers and trailers, so if you really want to be the first to view our trailer and teaser film footage, definitely follow Reinventing Films on Vimeo!
Horror News Network: Thank you, Nathan, and good luck with Prey!
Nathan: Thank you, Stephanie! It was my pleasure!
