More screenings! More awesome reactions and more adventures!

Greetings!  Had an amazing time in Orlando FL at the Spooky Empire Mayhem show.  Had a pretty damned good turnout for the film.  I was surprised!  There was a VIP party, a Q&A with the cast of American Horror Story: Freakshow and even a Haunted House tour going on at the same exact time and we still brought in a good crowd.  Really excited that I finally met my old friend Scott Gabbey in person.  Scott does Ultra Violent magazine and we have been friends for ages!  Also met Stephen Biro from Unearthed Films and the awesome effects master Marcus Koch.  The staff at the Spooky Empire show really made us feel welcome and treated us like royalty.  Truly a good group of people.  One of the highlights for me was also meeting Mike, the owner of Grindhouse Video.  They are gonna be our official South Florida connection!!!  Antwoine had a smile a mile wide as he signed autographs.  Hooked up with Damon Pro, Jason Fetters (my old school friend) and got to finally meet Alberto Giovannelli!  Made some great contacts and looks like we may be doing more business in Florida soon.

Drop in and catch us in Decatur!!!

Coming up next is June 12-13 the Dead In Decatur Filmfest, followed by the great Double Feature at the Drive In June 17 at the Skyline Drive In – Shelbyville, IN –  An awesome double feature with Circus of the Dead! Part of the Indie SINsations series of films! All proceeds go to support the historic Skyline Drive In Theater! Drop in and have some fun and you’ll be helping keep this awesome theater alive!!!!!!!

I am so happy with the love and support we continue to receive from Horror fans all over the world!  It has been a wild ride.  Screenings are slowing down a bit now, getting the extras finished and everything ready for the upcoming DVD/BluRay releases.  Really looking forward to that!!!

On a side note, I had mentioned a while back in this blog that there were a few rough spots in the Post Production process, and I am STILL working on the sound mix.  Many people who have seen it in a theater never notice any issues, but I am a perfectionist.  When we took it to a third party for the sound mix / Dolby 5.1 processing, it was scary as hell and even though the place where we took the film does great work and really worked hard, I have never been happy with the mix.  When we went from a Dolby Stereo to the 5.1… it just lost something.  Many of my old favorites when they put them on BluRay I notice similar issues with the new 5.1 mixes – I usually listen to the Stereo tracks.  Unless you have a proper 5.1 decoder, I feel the sound is a bit thin and “trebly” and that it takes some of the meat from the mix.  So for months I have regretted allowing any third party to touch the film.  I always said I would never allow it, and I caved in… not really by choice… I was kind of pushed into it.  And I regret it.  So I have been spending day and night remastering the sound the best I can without going WAY back to the original tracks – that was about 2 years ago and several versions of the film.  If I have to, I will do that, but so far it looks like I am going to be able to use these newer tracks and I will be able to fix them with the tools I have here.  Just goes to show that even now the film is not complete the way I heard it in my head, so I want to make sure to do the best I can to bring that version of the sound, to the DVD/BluRay.  Most theaters have the good 5.1 encoders so it plays fine…. but many home systems do not.  So I think this version is a MUST.  I want to make sure that everyone loves this film when it gets the home video release.  The documentary is finished and it is actually as long as the feature!!!!  I was surprised!!! For me, this has been a real adventure and through the ups and downs, the good and bad, the stress and anxiety and the great times, this has been my call to the world that I AM STILL ALIVE!!!!!!!!  And the Documentary really shows that.  Andrew did a great job capturing that side of things.  At first I was unsure about it, I am just seriously a NO EGO type of person… I hate it.  No delusions, no ego, no BS.  But as I saw the documentary come together, I bent a little… I realized it is an important story to tell, and my near death experience and rebirth from that was a major part of the story.  All of the extras will have impact and they will bring the viewer along on the adventure.  Also, for the BluRay, I want to include the full first uncut raw version of the film… a bit rough around the edges, it is the first draft edit, with pretty much every scene in the film.  Fans of the flick will be able to watch all of the deleted scenes in their proper place in the film, and see the changes we made.  There may even be a special commentary that I will do for that version to explain things.  We will see….

Our growing list of Film Festivals!!!

That’s all for this one…. we’ll catch up again soon…. and until then, hope to meet you at one of the screenings!!!!

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Still Haunting America – the Theatrical Tour and more Festivals!

Been ages since I was able to sit down and write on the blog.  Since last I wrote, House of Forbidden Secrets has been playing all over the US in Theaters as well as Film Festivals.  So many awesome festivals!  19 to be exact!

We will be having our British premiere at the Horror On Sea Film Festival 23rd JANUARY TO 1st FEBRUARY 2015, In October and November, we just finished the Omaha premiere at the awesome SCREAM IN THE DARK Festival and we invaded Phoenix at the Fearcon!  September was insane as we screened in Los Angeles, CA and the Scare-A-Con Film Fest in Syracuse, New York!  In August we were part of the Crypticon Film Festival as well as the Bloody North Canadian Film Festival.  We have had such an amazing time… reviews are flowing in about the film as well!  Check em out here – http://www.zombiebloodbath.com/house-reviews.html – So much awesome has been going on for the film – getting closer to the DVD/BluRay and VHS releases as well.  And don’t forget that the film plays next in IOWA CITY on DEC 3 – Please join our Facebook page for faster updates http://www.facebook.com/houseofforbiddensecrets

One of the things I learned was to watch audiences close… it helps to relate to what works on screen and what doesn’t.  I am happy to say that with HOUSE, 93% of what was there worked just as I hoped, but there were some spots that I, as  Writer/Director/Producer felt were off a bit – maybe it was flow or timing, maybe it was just the vibe of a scene and what I had intended… so after a few screenings, I went in and made a “Theatrical Version” of the film.  That is the one I feel is strongest for a live screening -I will also keep the full version as well, for use on the DVD / BluRay as an extra WITH the Theatrical cut.  The VHS will just be the Theatrical version.  There is also that wonderful Documentary that Andrew shot and that will be on the DVD/BluRay as well – I am honored by it… he decided to do the documentary as basically my return to film after the long break and the heart attack and such… it was humbling and amazing to watch all that footage.  I never promote myself really and I feel funny about it and I felt a bit embarrassed too. I just didn’t want it to seem like some Vanity project thing – it was all dictated by Andrew, so I thank him. But I have been told by the few people I have shown it to that it is a good documentary and that they like what it is about and that there is no shame or harm in allowing him to tell my story.  SO I guess I will embrace it a bit more, and not feel self-conscious….



OK, gonna go for now – I’ll get back here sooner, I promise.

 

REMEMBER THE ALAMO!!!!!! Here we come Kansas City!!!!!!

After our award winning turn at the PollyGrind Film Festival, we came back to Kansas and had a screening at the awesome Boulevard Drive In Theater.  It went great and everyone truly seemed to enjoy the film.  It does me good to watch it with an audience who “gets it.”  After that screening I went back to the editing studio and made a few minor tweaks I had been wanting to make.  Things I had on my final tweak list.  Each time I would finish an edit, I would go back and watch the film a few times, making notes about things I needed to adjust to get as close as possible to my vision.  As I went along, the lists would get shorter and shorter.  My final tweak list was based on what kind of emotion or reaction I wanted from both myself and an audience while we watched the film together.  There weren’t many things, so I got it done pretty fast.

Now things are really rolling, with another awesome screening scheduled for DEC 6th, 2013 at 7 PM at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Kansas City.  I truly want this event to be a success so we can also do a similar screening in Austin, TX.  If we show them that people will come and see the film, and the buzz gets big enough, they will certainly let us unleash the movie in Texas!  Chase and Ryan have been great and very supportive about the film.  They gave us a prime slot on a busy day, proving they believe in the movie.  We will be showing a couple of special surprises before the actual film, a couple of short subjects, and then it’s on to the HOUSE OF FORBIDDEN SECRETS.  There will be a Q&A with the cast, including George Hardy and Allan Kayser – autographed prizes will be given away and much more!  This is going to be a great time for sure!  The film is finally ready to live on it’s own – everything is done except I am STILL waiting for visual effects from this company that Bryan David has hired – they had an OCT 1st deadline and here it is NOV 1st and still nothing.  It is ridiculous and very unprofessional.  Guess I have nothing better to do but wait for the effects.  I don’t want or need to do a final render or anything.  LOL.  Other than that setback, and a few loose ends that are causing me some undue stress, all is great.  The buzz is starting to build again.  It seems like it took so long to get the edit done, people were moving one…. not losing hope, but getting into other projects and such.  Most big budget films and many low budget ones may take a year or two, sometimes even three to see release… so in that regard, I think we are not too far off of target.

I have to say that in so many ways, this has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.  Sure, there were things that really didn’t need to happen – some stressful politics going on and some ridiculous arguments, things that threw a dark cloud over things at times – but now, being at this point and looking back, those few dark spots are washed over by the good things.  I really want to say how the main cast, the “up and coming” stars of tomorrow – Nicole, Brad, Millie, Paxton and of course Antwoine (but he and I go back 18 years of working together) – all brought these characters to life that lived inside my head for so damned long.  You all exceeded my expectations and really deserve the recognition here.  It is your passion that really jumps at people and brings them into the film.  It is you whom the audience has to identify with in order to make our story real, and you do that.  And our supporting team of genre icons, the great support from our extras and cameos in the brothel… everyone brought their “A Game” and I really appreciate it!!!

We formed a family together to make this movie happen – to make my words on paper jump to life… but the adventure is just beginning – now we gotta get it into theaters and on video and TV so the world can join us in celebrating this movie!  Anyone who can help us get the word out – street team stuff, online promotion, anything you can do to help – please contact us through our official website at http://www.HouseOfForbiddenSecrets.com – you can also contact and join us on Facebook and take 2 minutes and give us a “LIKE” at http://www.facebook.com/houseofforbiddensecrets.  We all worked so hard and spent so much of our lives on this – I know for me – almost every single day for a year I have been working on it – please help us by giving a few minutes to the film!  Thank you!

The Long and Winding Road – That leads to SUCCESS!

Finally finished all of my editing on the film around August 2nd.  Then I had to begin looking around for a third party to help us on our final Dolby 5.1 sound mix.  After some false starts and dead ends, I decided to go with my old friends at Chapman Recording.  I have known Chuck for years and I trust him and his company to treat my baby the way I would treat it…. Got Evan the files right before I left town last week for some film related business in Florida.  I got back Saturday morning, did the always awesome Crypticon Horror Convention all weekend and then got together today with Evan and he showed me what he had so far…. blew my mind.  It its really coming along.  Seems like an eternity in some ways, but also seems like it was only yesterday that I was just starting the editing process.

The Crypticon was a major success for Chazz and the gang as well as for Extreme Entertainment.  Every year it seems we get more solid connections, plus we were able to hang with old friend like Lew Temple and Allan Kayser who starred in House of Forbidden Secrets, but also with some old friends like BIll Moseley, Sid Haig, Doug Jones and others,  We had a blast and I look forward to next year!!!  A big thanks goes out to the whole Extreme core crew who really stepped up and held things together while I was in Florida.

Looks like we will be moving forward soon on a new feature, Dreaming Purple Neon – so it is very important to make sure that “House” is finished to the best of our ability – film festivals are knocking on our door and I am very excited about the film finally being unleashed this Fall.  Our first film festival looks like it may be in Las Vegas – we have been accepted to the PollyGrind Film Fest and it should be a blast!  With Dyanne Thorne and Howard Maurer being so close to Vegas, my hope is to bring them to the fest for a Q&A before or after the screening.

Stay tuned, I’ll be posting more updates soon – as well as a “Look Back” retrospective on the entire shoot… I am so excited that this creation is about to fly into the world!

Todd Sheets

Director/Producer

Days of Future Past…. Remembering the long cold Winter

It seems like yesterday in some ways, while at other times it seems like years ago that we were on set filming House of Forbidden Secrets.  We crammed so many hours into those long weekends…. cast and crew gave their all in the insane temperatures to make this film a reality.  It was the best of times,  and sometimes it was the most frustrating of times… but mostly, it was an amazing experience.  For me, after the quadruple bypass, being on set again was a vindication.  Not sure everyone quite understood it…. but this was like being alive again for me – standing there on set, I felt like I was back home.  In my element.  With great friends surrounding me, and awesome talent all working toward the goal of creating something new….

Creation by its very nature is to create something from nothing. That is to bring into existence something not seen and not previously experienced. Where nothing existed before something is created. Whether we realize it or not we routinely create something from nothing. However most are unaware they do it let alone how they do it.  But we were not only aware, we were pouring our hearts and souls into it.  This was a labor of love for me – a dream come true – and even now, with the insane amount of hours I have in this project, including the super long hours editing, it still feels fresh and vital and alive.

Before we all came together and stepped onto that set, there was the script I wrote – coming from ideas and thoughts and images in my head.  I had started it in 2011.  We even began to shoot some scenes of the film – test shots – to try out some new lighting techniques and ideas I had, and to check sound and video on some new gear.  The resulting scene was pretty darn good for a few hours of shooting.  At that point the script had been started, but rested mostly in my head and on a few scraps of paper where I had started an outline of events and ideas.  IN the hospital, I honestly thought I was going to die.  That I would never make it out of there.  I had two surgeries.  Laying in that place for over a month wears you down.  You try and stay positive.  I had my awesome friends bring my computer and I started writing again on the script.  Revising and throwing away things.  Many of my original ideas had been in other movies by this point – great minds thinking alike I suppose.  SO those parts were trashed.  Soon I had finished another draft.

When I got out of that hospital finally, it to0ok me a while to get my life back on track.  Having a tragedy like this befall you without planning is really devastating to your life.  Everything was on hold.  The whole world felt like the Twilight Zone.  I had so much to do – and in the middle of this, there were some business shake ups going on at the radio station and our studio.  SO all of that had to be dealt with.  And then I got back to working on what would become the final draft of the script.  This was phase one of creation….

Phase two began when I started putting together a crew and some gear and actually talking to locations.  I met Bryan David through a mutual friend and he agreed to Executive Produce the film as he had wanted to learn more and gain more credit himself in the film industry.  Once we had a budget in place, we started getting casting together, holding two auditions to find just the right people.  During this time, some of my industry friends heard about the film and asked to be involved.  We had Lew Temple on Nightwatch and Lew asked where hi part was – I thought he was just joking as Lew and I had become friends over the last few years.  But Lew was serious, he wanted a part and I had the perfect one for him.  George Hardy was a dear friend, and after loving him in Troll 2, I knew he had to be part – and Dyanne Thorne and Howard Maurer were heroes to me – icons of the best in cinema – the Drive In era!!!!  Stars of the infamous ILSA films!!!  I asked them to be involved, and thanks to our friendship, they agreed.  I had one major part left and I had written in with one guy in mind – Allan Keyser.  Allan had played Brad in the NIGHT OF THE CREEPS…. And I basically had imagined what had become of Brad – where did he end up?  So this is where he ended up – of course if he hadn’t become a zombie whose head splits open and leeches burst out…LOL.  Allan and I have also become friends – I admire him and think the world of him – and he said YES!!!!  The rest of the cast was rounded out by amazing local Kansas City area actors, some whom I knew and some who were new to me.  No one could ask for a better cast!  I have written much about them here – so I won’t retread – but they blew my mind every day we shot.

So with everything in place, we began phase three – gathering last minute gear, scheduling and then finally starting the shoot.  Actual production time! But even as we worked our butts off all night every weekend from dark until the Sun came up…  It was still nothing more than a concept. But every minute we worked on it brought it to life, pouring energy from ourselves into it…. creating new energy from seemingly out of nothingness.  We have created ways to explain it and use it but we cannot hold energy in our hands. It is something well beyond our range to fully understand. Yet we are energy manifested and energy animates our life. We are energy beings who can create new energy and new creations. 

“A Great Relationship Happens When People Who Truly Understand Each Other and Love Each Other for Who They Are Come Together and Create Something Stronger Than Any of Them Could Ever Create on Their Own.”

We set a goal to make a film that will entertain people, that will give back a little of what we have all received from movies all our lives.  When I had a crappy day, or when my parents split up, or when my friend died at age 9 – movies helped to make things better – if only for 90 minutes or 2 hours at a time… movies changed my life, maybe even saved my life…. my film is richer thanks to my film heroes – the Universal Monsters, the Hammer years, Chris Lee, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Lon Cahney Jr, Boris Karloss, Bela Lugosi, the Creature when he rose from that Black Lagoon.  All my childhood friends.  And as I grew up with my superheroes and monsters, I learned of the others – Lucio Fulci, Joe Dante, John Landis, HG Lewis, Dario Argento, Jess Franco, Roger Corman, The Shaw Brothers, Japanese Samurai Cinema, Mario and Lamberto Bava, Joe D’Amato, Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Jack Hill, Rudy Ray Moore, Pam Grier, Russ Meyer, Jackie Chan, Stallone, Seagal, Eastwood – the greats – movies like Phantasm, Humanoids From The Deep and Slithis filled my Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.  My first crushes were Linda Blair, Sybil Danning and Dyanne Thorne!!!  And I know for me – making movies is my way of trying to give back – just a little….

More to come – Thank you for reading and we’ll catch up again soon – back to editing!

Todd Sheets

Director / Writer / Producer

Editing Hell continues in the House of Forbidden Secrets

It has honestly never taken me as long to edit a film – usually I shot for 4-8 weeks, and it takes 6-8 weeks to edit, and then I do final mix that takes a few days…. but this is my big comeback film… it has a talented cast, a wonderful story and some genuine original ideas – I want to make sure I do it right.  It is beginning to take it’s toll on my life a bit, but I am very proud of the film and of all the people who worked so hard to make my vsion become a reality.  We pulled together and created something truly special from out of the air – hehe.  It was hard work, cold nights, long hours, and longer hours in editing – the sound design has been tougher than I thought.  ON set we had a few tech issues with sound that took me forever to isolate and fix – and it about made me crazy – but I am getting SO darn close now – it has taken me a while to update the blog here, but I’ll be back more often now…. updating everyone on screenings and releases and such.  Soon everyone will be able to see my baby – cannot wait!

Todd Sheets

A Villain you will LOVE to HATE!

They say a movie like ours is only as good as the villain… Star Wars of course had Darth Vader, probably the 2nd best screen villain ever, right after the many faces of The Joker we have seen…. Batman has an incredible rogues gallery full of amazing villains…. and all the better!  We all love to watch a great villain chew scenery and trash the good guys!  Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Meyers, the sadistic and powerful Pinhead – all superb villains – and NOW… add to that list FATHER ELIAS SOLOMON!  As portrayed by the multi-talented actor Lew Temple, Father Elias is both charming and evil – a lethal combination, and one that works very well for the film.  As Russel Crowe said:  “I like villains because there’s something so attractive about a committed person – they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They’re motivated.”

I truly strive, as the writer and director, to make my villain in House of Forbidden Secrets a real, yet still fictitious, person, based on a real time in history and connected to actual events and people,  that you can truly relate to. When you find out who he is, even when he grows dark and shows his true evil inside, I think you almost like the person, which is not easy to do.  But Lew makes that happen.  He brought the words on those pages to life and truly BECAME the character.  It is a shining moment for me – and one I will cherish my whole life.  Thanks Lew!  His performance is simply stunning – and wait until you hear about Dyanne Thorne and Howard Maurer – I’ll be writing about them in the next few days!  Stay Tuned!  Both Extreme Entertainment and BD Productions are very honored to have worked with EVERYONE involved on House of Forbidden Secrets!  Thank you!

Catch you all soon!

Todd

Director

The never ending Blog post from beyond time and space…

Or welcome to my awesome personal Hell! Locked away in an editing room on HOTH.

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. As I have said here, I really wanted more people to be involved in the online blog so it could act as a online diary of sorts for the film. People are so busy it has been tough to get many participants. It was a good idea at least. I have been working on the edit for House of Forbidden Secrets night and day for a few weeks now and the rough cut edit is done. One word: Incredible! Even without the final effects and music mix, it is just entertaining as hell. They say if a film plays this well with no final mixes, it is going to blow away audiences when it is finally finished! No music yet, as we are still working with Fabio Frizzi, Italian Maestro who worked with so many amazing directors including Maestro Fulci – and with the pride of the Horror underground Toshiyuki Hiraoka.  There will be an official soundtrack by BEAT Records from Italy, executive produced by BD Productions, that will see release worldwide with both Mastro Frizzi AND Toshi’s music included!  But as I was writing, the rough cut is finished. I then took a break from editing for a few days to film and edit our new short film “The Request.” It is part of the Horror Anthology “HI-8” and I was blessed by the producers Brad Sykes and Tim Ritter, both amazing Horror icons in their own right, to be asked to be part of the project. Of course I jumped at this opportunity as it really shows brotherhood and support among those of us in the Horror underground. Just finished the full edit on that film and it’s around 10 or 11 minutes long. Came out great and there are many connections to House of Forbidden Secrets in it, including Shadowview Manor itself! And of course Brad Westmar, Nicole Santorella and Antwoine Steel all were in it. Same crew as well. It was a pretty great experience. Now back to work on the fantastic “House of Forbidden Secrets” – doing my final edits, tightening it up and making the “polish” edit complete!!!!

The weekend we shot the short was also a busy weekend for my radio show NIGHTWATCH. The crew of the show were at Planet Comicon as Nightwatch is a sponsor each year for Chris Jackson and he once again put on a great show. But it was also in a bigger new venue and we had a lot of work to do for the con. Got to meet and connect with Adam Baldwin too!!!! We hit it off pretty good and we have some plans to do a few things together so watch for that! In addition to that we released our first two official teasers for “House of Forbidden Secrets.” It’s about a minute long and I decided to do it in the old “Grindhouse” style of film trailers. I am not jumping on any trend here. I truly love that genre. It’s pretty much the same as Drive In Movies, only it was indoors. I used to call the old Empire Theater the “indoor Drive In” when I was a kid… only when I got older did I truly learn about 42nd Street and the Grindhouses that peppered this country in every city in the 60’s 70s and 80’s. Thanks to 42nd Street Pete for that info… I was a regular Grindhouse patron and never knew it! So I do embrace the genre, the style and the world. And this film is truly, in it’s dark heart, a Grindhouse style film. The cast includes such Drive In Icons as Dyanne Thorne and Howard Maurer, George Hardy, Allan Kayser, Ari Lehman, Lloyd Kaufman and Lew Temple, who is a star of more modern Drive In fare. The way the film was written was in direct homage to the films I grew up loving from such directors as Lucio Fulci, David DeCoteau, Fred Olen Ray, Jim Wynorski, Roger Corman, Dario Argento, a bit of HG Lewis and Troma. This is meant to be a fun and entertaining film, not one that is pretentious, “arthouse” and highbrow. Those movies are boring! So in regards to all of that, I wanted the first teaser to reflect that underground connection. To show where my heart and alliances are. I think it works perfectly. I was so happy! I was on cloud 9! I was having a huge party in my heart! We also have a 2nd version of the teaser that was cut for a more “General Audience” tone, supervised by Executive Producer Bryan David – you can find both of them below.

Of course this is not the only teaser/trailer I plan on releasing. I have always had the plan to maybe do 4 trailers, maybe 5, for theatrical and TV ads and such, and each one would have it’s own “look” and feel. There would be no real watered down or dumbed down version though. I know that some audiences just will not understand this film, and I am OK with that. You cannot please everyone they say – and I feel that this is true. But I truly want to please myself, the cast and crew and fans of these types of movies. My goal as the director and producer is to first and foremost match, to the best of my ability within my resources, what was in my head while writing the film. I had the whole film done in my mind. Every shot, every edit, the music, the look and the characters – all in my head – I had seen this film already in there. It had screened nonstop in the Drive In of my mind. The hard part is to work hard on set to try and match what was in there. Most of the time I was able to make it happen. Sometimes a location’s logistics may have changed it a little, or maybe an actor who was helping me bring a character to life had an idea or two. I was fine with that and welcome it, as long as it doesn’t go too far and change the character or who I wanted them to be.  After all I had been through this year, it really was important for me to not waste another minute of my life doing things I don’t want to do, or working on anything I do not 100% believe in.  So you know for sure that I believe in this film 100%!  Our whole cast and crew are exactly the same!  We have all poured our 100% into this project!!!

As I mentioned earlier, this film was already done and screened in my head. I sat down to my computer with a blank screen and when I was done, something new was brought into this world. It was my job as director and producer to now sit down and try and put together a team of talented people to bring the words to life. It took me almost a year after the hospital and all that went down, things finally fell into place! My friend Lew Temple, an amazing actor and super nice human being, introduced me to a guy he knew named Bryan David. Bryan was a Green Engineer who was also involved in entertainment and he had done a short film called The Price and was really looking to get into Executive Production more. I met with Bryan about the radio show and some other business and told him about my film. We hit it off and decided to move forward with the project. I am eternally grateful and thankful to Bryan David and his company BD Productions for stepping in and helping to make the film a reality, moving into production very quickly. VERY quickly.  I had already contacted A/V Concepts, my old investors / Executive Producers and they were interested in the project as well. I was finishing the final draft of the script at the time and Vinnie was out of town on business for 6 weeks, so we had not made a final agreement. BD Productions came in, based on the treatment and story outline and we made our first agreement.  I am truly excited and pleased with the results!  This film kicks ass!  This has been a wild and crazy ride!  I had decided to get back into what I loved the most after the heart attack and I really missed making movies. My early films were troubled, but even then, as a kid, I loved it. And I had gotten pretty good at it right when I stopped. I had learned much and I was winning some awards at film festivals and such.  Now it was time to take those parts of me back – laying there with the thought that I was never going to leave that hospital…. I knew then and there that if I was able to leave that place, I would bring back those parts of me that I had given up – parts of me that I missed very much.

The thing that really strikes me about the film is that from how it starts, there is no way a person could predict where it is going to end. It’s a wild ride, and one I am so proud of. And I love this ride! I love it with every bit of my heart and soul. Thanks to every single person who helped me bring those words real life. Before we all got together, this film never existed. We truly brought new life into the world together. Truly. It stands as proof that people can share a vision and a passion and create something from nothing in this world. All I want is to be 100% true and honest to myself and the people who worked so hard to make it – and to every single person who will watch the film. They will know it is all real, all honest and all from the heart.  Friendships were formed, family created and a brotherhood was forged.  I just cannot wait to bring this baby to the world!

Sincerely,
Todd Sheets
Director/Producer/Writer/Editor
House of Forbidden Secrets

House of Positive Vibes???

We are several weeks into filming and I must say, this has been an amazing work of art. When we watch a film in theaters and on television we do not take the time to think about what goes into the production. We just do not stop and think about all the little details,  the smallest things you can think of. What did it take to pull that scene off? Did the director film it on a set created from nothing or did they use a location? For this film, House of Forbidden Secrets, we have done both. Imagine while you are watching the next film what it would be like to create a set out of nothing and create it into a working environment for a world that did not even exist before. Imagine every take in that scene was the vision of someones mind. Imagine how many people behind the scenes it took to pull off that 30 seconds of greatness in your favorite film. I never knew! Now I do and I really think I am a better person for it. Yes I am going there!

Why would I be a better person having worked on the set of House of Forbidden Secrets? It is simple, I have for once in my life learned and watched the definition of teamwork.  With this film, we have a dozen people working on the same thing. I have never seen anything like it! The set is a very positive place to be. Everyone leaves the outside world behind them and immerses themselves in the project. No one has played the ego card or complained about anything at all. No one is trying to better than anyone else and the most amazing thing to me, everyone is getting along! It has really become a huge family. The thing I noticed, and I hope the readers and followers of this movie will notice as well, is the pictures we take of people laughing and having a good time are real. Everyone has become so close. In fact, when they are killed off they do not want to stay away from the set. Even when they know there is nothing for them to do, they come back and hang out. The crew members and the cast on this film are just amazing people. Everything I have heard about filming movies has been opposite. Everything I have ever done that involved more than three people has always turned out to be a very negative experience. Ego’s flying around and bad attitudes ruling the atmosphere. It has always been like a pissing contest. One person has an idea, another thinks they can do it better, then next thing you know you have 3 people running in circles accomplishing nothing while thinking they are the best.  Now back to the point at hand, why am I a better person? Because now that I have tasted of this positive infectious potion on the set of HOFS, I want to apply it to every project I work on. I strive to build these kinds of lasting relationships with everyone I work with. This project has given me new hope in people, in the human race. To allot of people in the world who have not experienced anything like this, I am sure they are saying, “Oh come on, this is just a stupid fun movie. What are you going on about?” It is not. It is something people from all over, every walk of life are working together on and believing in. People whom I would have never met. Good people that have enriched my life for the better. These people have put their hands on this film, their finger prints. They are the detailers, the planners, the think of every-thingers to make this film everything it can be. They laugh, they learn, they work and lose sleep, they freeze, and they love it. I love working on this film and I adore everyone who is part of it so far. It is my wish everyone in the world gets to experience something great like this at least once.

Holy Cripes! Hospitality!

A few years ago if you would have told me I would be making a movie with George Hardy or Allan Kayser, I would have said, “Yeah, on what planet?” I mean meeting people at a con is different….

I remember watching Troll a long long time ago. I think I was like 16? I would watch it over and over, in fact every time it was on and I even rented it a few times on VHS. I would go rent like 2 or 3 awesome cheesy movies on Wednesday nights and watch them all! I just loved it! Now, I didn’t watch Troll 2 until much much later. When I did watch it I was in awe. It was indeed the Best Worst Movie EVER! The scenes that did it for me what of course the now famous, “You can’t piss on hospitality!” being shouted while daddy Michael is taking off his belt. The kid never even got his butt beat for pissing on the table! I was like, “OH MY GOD! Did I just freaking hear that!” Such a great historic line! My other favorite scene was when Creedence was seducing that poor kid and the whole trailer filled up with popped popcorn.. Guest it was a bit too hot? (that was a joke, was it funny?). Anyways, back to what I was talking about, George Hardy. I knew George was a nice guy from having him on the show Nightwatch, but I had no idea what a great man he is. I have to say, if anyone reading this ever gets a chance to meet George Hardy, you MUST do it! His southern hospitality accent draws you in when you are speaking with him. His attitude is very positive and complimentary. He was so excited to be in Kansas City and see everything he could while he was here. George was genuine in every word he spoke and with that man you can certainly tell it. It was a true honor to meet him and I will never forget it. I hope he gets to come back to town very soon and work with us again on something in the future! So, those reading this are going to do what? Watch Troll 2 if you have not done it and go to facebook and LIKE George Hardy!