Documentary

Every Artist Has A Creative Monster Inside Of Them – Steven Shea

Filmcourage

Published

November 22, 2021

Steven Shea, Filmmaker [SURVIVING SUPERCON]: There’s a part in the middle of the movie where the screen goes blank and it’s like Oh no, The Tingler is loose in the theater!

Film Courage: Why do you say all creatives have a creature living inside of them?

Steven: Did I say that? It sounds like something I would say.

Film Courage: You said it was like this creature that was always Oh, we could do that! Oh I can make that! It can be a blessing and a curse. The curse is it won’t leave you alone because you’re always thinking of these new ideas and how you want to make something.

Steven: I really love this movie The Tingler [1959] that is a William Castle film starring Vincent Price where Vincent Price is a scientist that discovers that fear is a creature that lives on your spinal cord. The creature gets bigger and bigger, it feeds off your fear and the only way to shrink the creature back down is by screaming. The whole movie is about this. They get a mute girl who can’t scream and they scare her to force this creature to break out and then the creature gets loose so they can try to experiment with the creature. I’ve always enjoyed that premise because I feel that’s the same way with creativity. You have a monster living inside you that is so desperate to do things creatively. This goes back to passion versus obsession too because you go to bed sometimes like I have an idea. Oh my gosh, this is a great idea! I’ve got to write this down. I’ve got to figure out a way to do this. I’ve got to pitch it to somebody. I’ve got to see about. It’s like a madness that I feel kind of lives inside and everyone has a bit of a…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Image from Surviving Supercon by Steven Shea

BIO:

International Award-Winning, STEVEN SHEA has been working in the entertainment industry since he was 16 years old. Starting out in the local television market in the Florida Keys where he grew up, he eventually made his way to Orlando where he founded Abyssmal Entertainment in 2002. His first feature film he wrote and directed, “The Night Owl”, was distributed globally in the Summer of 2005. In 2008, “Hoodoo For Voodoo”, Steven’s 2nd feature he wrote and directed was released on DVD. Steven garnered some awards on the international festival circuit with the horrific short film “2:22” in 2009, which has been distributed through Hulu & FearNet. “Doomsday County” is a horror anthology film that he co-directed and produced that was released worldwide through Troma Inc in 2013. The comedy web series “The Interrogationists” was released in the summer of 2014 through Funny Or Die. His latest feature is the Documentary “Surviving Supercon” that was completed in 2019. Steven had directed over 25 music videos, for such artists as Kitty In A Casket, The Hellfreaks, The Dollyrots, The Attack, The Bloody Jug Band, WhiteQube and The Crazy Carls. As an award winning photographer, Steven has directed and shot such talent as Harrison Ford, Louise Fletcher, Roger Corman, Deepak Chopra, Lin Shaye, Mark McGrath, Denise Richards, Vivica A. Fox, Rick Fox, Juliana Harkavy and many more. He was a Producer on the feature films Last Shift, Rockabilly Zombie Weekend, The Unbroken, Deadly Weekend, Two Days, and Andre the Butcher. As well as Producer for the Disney Channel series Game On!

Steven’s latest film is SURVIVING SUPERCON, a zany behind the scenes look at how a rag-tag Mom & Pop organization pulls off one the biggest pop culture conventions in the United States.