We caught up with filmmaker Alon Young to find out about his upcoming short film Patron, co-directed by Emily Haigh, which is currently crowdfunding on Indiegogo.

STARBURST: What was the inspiration behind Patron?

Alon Young: Honestly, I was just appalled when news of the Weinstein scandal first broke. Then, as the extent of his crimes were revealed and as the whole thing broadened and it became apparent this was a widespread culture – not just within Hollywood but other industries as well – I felt I really needed to address it somehow in my work.

I’m a genre writer but I always have an underlying social theme running through my stories, as those are the types of sci-fi/fantasy/horror films I gravitate towards – in the same way, X-Men is really about racism or Dawn of the Dead was about consumerism.

I find that this approach is very effective – taking a social issue and putting it in a different context – it makes you look at the problem with new eyes and it also sticks in your head longer than a typical drama that covers the same themes. That can only be a good thing.

So, in a nutshell… Patron is a social horror with a surreal twist. Think Get Out meets Twin Peaks!

You’re co-directing with Emily Haigh, what brought about that collaboration?

Given the subject matter and that I chose a female protagonist for this story, I felt it was important that I brought a female perspective on board to shape the script and the production as a whole. Emily has a track record of bringing strong female characters to the screen so she was the obvious choice. I sent her the script, she loved it and the rest is history.

You’ve promised a very artistic look to the film, what do you mean by that?

We don’t want Patron to look like anything already out there, so we’ve picked a really distinctive colour palette and lighting style. We’re also aiming for a digital manipulation of the main character, we want to do something fresh and new and not fall back on typical horror tropes, so we’ve taken inspiration from surrealist paintings. The tests have come through and they look great, when you see how the VFX play out in the story you will be on the edge of your seat!

What can you tell us about the cast and crew you’re assembling?

This is a real showcase for an actress’ talents, so we needed somebody who could play the whole range – bubbly, vulnerable, stern and threatening… When we met Devora Wilde, it was clear she could do it all.

Jamie Lee-Hill has brought a really interesting take to his character, he’s got that energy and menace we were after and really developed the role into his own, bringing a sense of entitlement to the villain and many more layers to the character than what was originally on the page.

We are also keen for Patron to look as polished as possible, so we have brought on board a BAFTA crew DoP Beatriz Delgado Mena and other crew members that have worked on high profile features to ensure Patron looks and sounds far better than your average short. Emily has been instrumental in bringing on a predominantly female crew, which we thought was really important for a production of this nature.

What sort of incentives are on offer for people wanting to contribute?

So many perks! The big ones range from getting an Executive Producer credit (so your name will appear at the start of the film and on IMDb), to getting a signed poster, or a Skype session with me, or a digital download of the film. The smaller perks range from getting exclusive behind the scenes photos, a PDF copy of the locked script, down to getting a good old social media shout-out.

This short is going to the start of a trilogy, what can you tell us about that?

They’re all going to tackle a relevant social theme and will utilise innovative VFX and sound design. Kubrick and Lynch are big influences, I’m an obsessive so expect to find lots of extra little details in every aspect of these productions – they’ll definitely warrant a lot of repeat viewings!

Get involved with making Patron happen by heading over to Indiegogo and pledging some money!