If you were a teenager in 1999, chances are you sat in a dark theater with your friends, peeking at the screen through your hands, while watching the \u201cfound footage\u201d of three student documentary filmmakers who disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Md.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Blair Witch Project,\u201d by Haxan Films, celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, after grossing more than $248 million worldwide and receiving critical acclaim, which included winning the Award of the Youth for Foreign Film at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Orange Award at the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards.<\/p>\n
The highly successful indie horror film was the creation of five UCF alumni: Michael Monello, \u201992; Robin Cowie, \u201993; Daniel Myrick, \u201993; Eduardo Sanchez, \u201994; and Gregg Hale, \u201995.<\/p>\n
We caught up with Hale, one of the movie\u2019s producers, in Portland, Ore., where he currently lives with his wife, Adrian (Steinbach), \u201900, and their two kids, Amelia, 8, and Decker, 6.<\/p>\n
Hale and Sanchez still own Haxan Films and continue to make indie movies, as well as television shows, games and comic books, and also do some creative consulting. Most recently, the pair produced a show for ABC called \u201cThe Quest,\u201d a fantasy-based reality competition, which began airing at the end of July and wrapped up in September. In addition, their Bigfoot horror film, \u201cExist,\u201d comes\u00a0out\u00a0Oct. 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cycle of developing and then producing,\u201d Hale explains. \u201cWhen we do the indie thing, we have to sell them. So, we\u2019re trying to transition more into television, which is steadier. There\u2019s more money in it now than there is in indie films, and we don\u2019t have that cycle of taking a long time to create something, then make something, then sell something. We can get in and do it and not worry about the sales aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hale and fellow \u201cBlair Witch\u201d producer and UCF alumnus, Monello, also are the the founders of Campfire, a marketing agency that shapes perceptions and enhances brand preference through social storytelling, digital content and physical experiences \u2014\u00a0just like the promotional campaign they did for \u201cBlair Witch,\u201d which had many people believing the movie was real. Hale remains with the company as an advisor, while Monello serves as its full-time chief creative officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the work that we did for Campfire,\u201d Hale says. \u201cWe did a lot of cool stuff, like the first season of \u2018True Blood\u2019 and the first season of \u2018Game of Thrones,\u2019 and we did some cool movies and a lot of video games. It\u2019s good work, but I don\u2019t get passionate about that. I\u2019ve still managed to stay somewhat passionate about TV and film. So, I just opted to do the thing that gets me going.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2013, Hale and Sanchez directed a point-of-view zombie segment called \u201cA Ride in the Park\u201d for the horror sequel \u201cV\/H\/S 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a filmmaker is the only thing I ever really wanted to do,\u201d Hale says. \u201cI\u2019ve known since I was 11 that that\u2019s what I wanted to do, when I saw \u2018Star Wars\u2019 (A New Hope). I was young enough to be totally amazed by the movie in that kid way, but old enough to realize somebody made it \u2014\u00a0there was a camera, and people behind a camera, and somebody decided what the set was going to look like and what Darth Vader looked like. When Darth Vader walks through the door at the very beginning of the movie, it blew my mind \u2014\u00a0the visuals, the music, everything. That\u2019s the moment I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a child, Hale used a Super 8 camera to make short films, stop-motion animation and zombie movies. And, in true young, male filmmaker fashion, he also blew up toy soldiers with fireworks and filmed it.<\/p>\n
Before Hale was in the spotlight for \u201cBlair Witch,\u201d he worked as a set dresser for Disney\u2019s \u201cThe All New Mickey Mouse Club\u201d and on the swing gang in the art department for the HBO miniseries \u201cFrom the Earth to the Moon,\u201d both of which were produced in Orlando.<\/p>\n
Hale grew up in Kentucky and was on his way to California to pursue his film education at UCLA or USC (\u201cbecause those are the big, famous film schools\u201d), when he got a call from a childhood friend who was working on \u201cSuperboy\u201d in Orlando. That was right before Universal Studios Orlando opened and right after Steven Spielberg told the world via \u201cThe Today Show\u201d that Central Florida would be Hollywood East. So, Hale, like all of the other film students who weren\u2019t already working in L.A., decided to head south.<\/p>\n
Before starting college, Hale served in the U.S. Army to earn money for school. He\u2019d already been working in the industry when he started taking film classes at Valencia College, where he learned\u00a0the technical skills necessary for filmmaking. When he got to UCF, he says he enjoyed the opportunity to make his own films in a structured environment, with access to resources and instructors.<\/p>\n
His advice to current UCF film students? \u201cThere\u2019s talent and intelligence and all of the other attributes that are part of being a successful filmmaker, but you need perseverance,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard business. If you allow yourself to get discouraged, you\u2019re not going to make it as a filmmaker. There have been a lot of ups and downs for me and Ed. Since \u2018Blair Witch,\u2019 we haven\u2019t had that level of success we started out with, and that can be a downer at times. Things don\u2019t always go the way you want them to go, but you have to stick with it. It\u2019s a blessing and a curse.\u201d<\/p>\n
LET’S GET REEL Q&A<\/strong><\/p>\n Q. Favorite UCF memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. Going to class. I enjoy learning. The classes I enjoyed the most were film theory and film history. They were non-production classes, where you\u2019re just learning for learning\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n Q. If money was no object and you could make any movie, what story would you choose to depict?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. We have a couple of properties that we\u2019ve been developing that are \u201cpie in the sky.\u201d So, I\u2019d like to make a big fantasy thing that my kids could go see. The TV show that was just on ABC [“The Quest”], my kids could watch, which I was super psyched about. It\u2019s the first thing I\u2019ve done that my kids could actually see.<\/p>\n Q. Most memorable work experience so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. I feel super lucky to be doing what I\u2019m doing, and to be able to have done it as long as I\u2019ve done it. When \u201cBlair Witch\u201d got into Cannes, we all went, and got to go to some big parties \u2014\u00a0these crazy, over-the-top parties. We\u2019re standing on this beach with drinks, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, and there were guys with Rottweilers on chains guarding the edges of the party. We\u2019re just standing there like, \u201cWhat in the hell are we doing here?\u201d That was all such a whirlwind.<\/p>\n Q. Last movie you watched?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. \u201cKelly & Cal\u201d<\/p>\n Q. All-time favorite movie?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. \u201cFellowship of the Ring\u201d<\/p>\n Q. If someone made a movie about you, what would the title be?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. \u201cOne Lucky Dude\u201d<\/p>\n Q. What TV show are you embarrassed to admit watching?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. \u201cNaked and Afraid\u201d<\/p>\n Q. What\u2019s the hardest thing you\u2019ve ever done?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. Staying in the film business when I wanted to get out of it<\/p>\n Q. What subject do you wish you\u2019d paid more attention to in school?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. Typing<\/p>\n Q. Favorite place to visit?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. It\u2019s a tie between Japan and New Zealand. New Zealand is one of the most spectacular visual places I\u2019ve ever been with maybe the nicest people on the planet. And, Japan is just a very foreign culture that I\u2019m really drawn to. I really like the way the Japanese people do everything.<\/p>\n Q. Something you learned in the past week?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. Salmon stay at sea three to four years before returning to spawn. I just went and watched the salmon run yesterday.<\/p>\n Q. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?<\/strong><\/p>\n A. Historian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Film alumnus continues to follow his passion for the big (and small) screen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":62514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17023,1690,202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-62513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-film","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\n