"This is not like any other TV show in the history of the medium."
That’s the rather modest claim of Mick Garris, creator of the new
Showtime series Masters of Horror, which debuts in October. The
show is unique, Garris says, because it treats its directors as the
real stars of individual episodes. In fact, they’re the selling point
of the show.
"TV is usually writer-, producer- or star-driven," Garris says. "But in
this case, we’re encouraging each of the filmmakers to speak in his own
voice as uniquely as possible, and we’re encouraging each show to be
completely different from the others. I’ve never seen a show like that
in history."
Garris sees his own function as less showrunner and more cheerleader
for the directors he’s rounded up, a roster that includes Dario Argento
(Suspiria), John Carpenter (Halloween), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), and John Landis ( An American Werewolf in London). Garris is also a director in his own right— he just finished an adaptation of Stephen King’s Desperation for ABC, which will air next May, and has wrapped his own Masters of Horror episode, titled "Chocolate."
Masters of Horror is being shot in three-perf 35mm, partly to
save money on film stock but also because it’s a good match for the
16x9 aspect ratio. It is being finished in HD, with 5.1 sound.
"We considered shooting HD, but there are so many reasons not to for
us," Garris says. "HD does really well in darkness, which is good for
us, but horror is often about contrast. And once you get the battery
and lenses on an HD camera, you can’t get into some of the spaces we
needed to shoot in. It was put to a vote by the filmmakers, and
everyone felt more comfortable working with film. But if we do another
batch of 13 episodes, we would consider it."
The show is budgeted at less than $2 million per episode, which Garris
acknowledges would be on the low side for a network series. However, Masters of Horror
has no continuing cast or writing staff to pay, and very few producers.
"It’s mostly line producers and businesspeople," Garris says. To save
money, the show contracted with effects houses to essentially be on
call for the entire series. KNB Effects Group is handling make-up
effects, and Vancouver’s Anthem Visual Effects is doing all the VFX
work.
"It’s not as generous a budget as we would like," Garris admits. "But
these are all filmmakers who, in their early days, learned how to pull
rabbits out of hats."
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