New and upcoming director Kurtis David Harder had two films screened during the recent Horror Channel FrightFest – Incontrol, which he directed, and Still/Born, which he produced. STARBURST had the pleasure of catching up with him during the event.
STARBURST: How has social media changed the landscape of creative writing?
Kurtis David Harder: I think it has changed how we live. The idea of living out of your own skin is interesting in this film. Samantha is a character who likes the idea of living without consequence.
Incontrol returns to the well-trod world of dangerous technology. Are you a phobe or phile when you deal with it?
Definitely a technophile. I am a product of the Internet era and I had a Mac OS 9 when I was younger.
How did you select your cast?
A lot of it was found locally. One of the actors was found in London and our leads, Anja and Levi, were found via our pool of talent. A big thing was meeting the actors and finding out what their intentions were.
What was the budget and schedule?
It was very low-budget and shot in twenty-three days with pick-ups. We had fifty-plus speaking roles and twenty-plus locations.
Given a bigger budget, what sort of story could you tell?
Every creative wants a bigger budget to achieve their aims. A limited budget forces you to become more creative compared to a bigger budget. It’s a good way to solve problems
Finally, what’s your next project?
I have a couple of scripts I want to get off the ground. Since Incontrol, I have completed four films, but don’t want to disclose anything at present.
