We had a chance to speak with Andy Kumpon about his work in the past and his plans for the future. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

PCU: How many films have you made?

Andy: Well let’s see; all total-- over the years, including those half hour "Dead of Night" episodes, which are actually mini movies, I would say 13 or 14, two of those are features. Monstersdotcom is the main one. The "Dead of Night" movie, which are old episodes me and Wayne Spitzer worked on a few years back, will be released hopefully sometime in 2004. I just need to edit the wrap-around story, which explains the origin of the characters/series. It’s very "Doctor Who".

"Last Stop Station", and Wayne Spitzer’s "Shadows in the Garden" are our best pieces, considering the lack of a budget, and the sheer innovation of both projects. Though, we just helped Ron Ford finish his film "Snake Man" for American Film Partners International. It’s a great film. We all played major roles, and helped out with tech/production. Ron’s a great filmmaker to work with. We hope to keep that partnership alive and intact and crank out a couple more films within the next year for him/them.

PCU: What is your background?

Andy: My background is watching endless hours of "Creature Feature", "Godzilla" and "Star Trek" when I was a kid. I love movies, and I love being creative. Over the years I discovered that in my writing (poetry), I always trying to tell stories. It wasn’t till I met Wayne Spitzer back in the early 90’s that everything started to click. He was a writer, published at that, and we started hanging out, talking about our past influences and such. Then one day he brought up this idea he had for a no-budget series titled "Dead of Night", and that was that. Over the years we took it from cable access to late night infomercial channels, buying airtime dirt-cheap. The highlight was when Cable News Northwest ran a piece on us, that gave us exposure all over the northwest-- Spokane, Seattle and Portland. Though it gained a small cult following, we wanted to expand our creativity beyond the scope of "Dead of Night". So we made "Last Stop Station" and "Shadows in the Garden". "Dead of Night" was important, for it taught us how to be productive. It’s all hard work, but important for your success down the road. To me, life would be incomplete without this outlet, making films.

PCU: When you write, how do you develop your ideas?

Andy: Lots of times the best ideas come when you sit down with a collaborator, and just start hammering out a concept. Sometimes I’ll hear or see something that enlightens me. Other times, I’ll just start writing, and it develops itself. It comes from so many different inspirations. You’ll always be influenced from films of your past, but truly original ideas come from warped minds. Yes, I’m warped and proud of it. Show me one director/writer who isn’t.

PCU: How long did it take to make Last Stop Station?

Andy: From beginning to end, about a year and a half. I was working full-time, going to school taking drama classes, and I was even homeless for short bit. Life was both good and bad, but I hung in there. I helped Wayne shoot his short, "Shadows in the Garden" as well, but the equipment we were using was just inferior crap. Every video format we could afford/borrow/steal we used it. Throughout both productions, we attempted to get as much done in the time allowed, but sometimes life just bitch slaps you around a little. You face obstacles that take time to work out—mostly financial or personal, you just have to endure and keep focus on your main objective, completing what you started. Most people around you will have no clue as to why you’re doing it. It’s like—get a real job like me and live a boring apathetic existence. We say, NO! We believe in what we’re doing, and will stop at nothing to achieve it… and who knows where that may lead in the future. You have to have a lot of faith in yourself, because when you start out-- nobody else will.

PCU: How did the idea for Last Stop come about?

Andy: To this day, I’m really not sure where I was or what I was doing, but we wanted to make a couple of shorts, and this idea just developed out of sheer necessity of producing something that would require one location for the ease of production. What better set than the inside of a car, it’s easy to move, and sound quality is generally outstanding, because your not competing with all that other extraneous noise that just kills the production value of most micro budget movies. Next, I secured a house with a large garage-- basically my set. That way I controlled the lighting and fog (Smoke Bombs) and was able to give it more atmospheres. So out of need, ideas will sometime develop themselves. Do what you can do for the budget you have. Work within that realm, and the story will take on a life of its own. That is, if it’s any good.

PCU: What is next for you?

Andy: I have two screenplays I’m working on. The treatments are finished—and both came out fantastic. Very character driven, plus great marketing potential. Ones titled "Uncreated"; best way to describe it is "Identity" meets "Fear Factor" meets "Close Encounters of the third kind", a poor mans "Lord of the Rings". It’s designed with a low budget in mind, ordinary people thrust into an unusual situation, a terrifying ordeal, yet in the beginning, not really knowing Why? It’s got cult members, tree creatures and an evil deity.

The second is titled (and this may change for marketing purposes) "Ghost of Saint Helen’s. It’s about Sasquatch. As you know, we live here in the Pacific Northwest, the proverbial hotbed of Sasquatch. I guess you could say; "Bigfoot" meets "Dog Soldiers"—but there so much more to it. Strong characters, and a completely different perspective in terms of Bigfoot movies. I don’t want to get to in depth—lets face it; Hollywood is not exactly brimming with fresh new ideas these days. But when I heard that Rob Zombie is going to quite possibly make a Bigfoot movie, it’s like good for him, it’s nice to see someone taking an initiative. My film will be a complete opposite, but still a horror film with brains. Good gore, scary scenes and plenty of surprise moments that make you say, wow, now that’s interesting.

I can do all that on a very low budget if need be for locations and effects are minimal-- though I believe the story is strong enough to secure funding from investors.

PCU: Are you planning on any feature length films?

Andy: Those two are basically it both feature films. We’ll help Ron Ford produce another one this year as well. I have a zombie treatment that I want to produce in the near future titled "Cult of the… well, the title is just way to cool to give away, not just yet at least. Wayne has a great piece titled "Barren", excellent concept with a strong female character. It’s like "Rose Mary’s Baby" with a Science Fiction theme running through it, though still very rooted in horror. Very cool. He’s also developing an adaptation to Algernon Blackwood’s "The Willows", and putting a more modern spin to it. From what I’ve read, it’s outstanding. And we have lots more, believe me, this is just the beginning.

PCU: Are you planning on any other anthologies?

Andy: Probably not. Though I rule nothing out. They just don’t sell these days. Though if "Creep Show 3" ever came out, sure enough, it will be in "vogue" once again. We have plenty of great shorts we can produce, and who knows, with this new Horror channel coming in October 2004, maybe they’ll be looking to program formats with something similar in theme. We’ll just have to wait and see.

PCU: Who influenced your work?

Andy: George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Roger Corman, I grew up on all of their movies. But certainly first and foremost is John Carpenter. An amazing director, his films encompass all that is horror/Sci-Fi. My favorites: "The Fog", "Halloween", "Escape from New York" and "The Thing". And how can I leave out my good friend Wayne Spitzer. I think we learned a lot from one another over the years, my style, in essence is influenced by his style. We’ve both developed visions that adopt yet never imitates each other’s work, or the work we grew up on, and that’s a very important factor when others view you work.

PCU: What scares you?

Andy: Being trapped on the ocean surface with nothing more that a life jacket. I would just die from fear, not knowing what lurks underneath. There is a new micro-budget movie coming out titled "Open Water", about just that. And it’s going to be picked up by Lions Gate. Don’t count no-budget filmmakers out just yet! We’ve only just begun…

And thank the Celluloid Gods for that. Low and No-Budget films might not impress many people, but they do open doors and create head starts for actors, directors, writers and others. I hope everyone got something from this interview, and feel free to check out Andy’s films when you have the chance. I think you will be impressed.