A previous guest in several of my Women in Horror Month celebrations, I'm pleased to welcome back filmmaker/Horror Hostess Reyna Young to discuss her latest writing work and film projects!
Me: Hello and thank you for returning! Since last we spoke, among the projects you’ve started is the ‘Scream in the Night’ anthology series. How did the concept come about? What were your intentions towards starting the collection?
Reyna Young: I submitted a short story of mine to an anthology and it was accepted but the editor went in and changed my story completely without consulting me first and said they reworked it. I read it and found it was no longer my story and declined to be in their anthology book. They apologized and from there I proposed the idea for an all-female horror anthology to my publisher at Black Bed Sheet Books and he immediately said yes. I began to ask women I know in the industry and from there; A Scream in the Night was born. Right now I am working on book 3. I wanted to give women another outlet to publish their work.
Me: How have you gone about selecting the other authors to join the new edition?
RY: I usually message them and let them know what I’m doing and see if they want to join in on the fun. So far it’s been a very positive experience and all of the women I have worked with have been fantastic! Plus I have women contacting me all the time to be part of the series, which is pretty cool.
Me: When it came to your own written stories, how do you stay focused on writing? What is your writing process?
RY: Oh boy, I write for at least four hours a day, sometimes I’ll take a break and go back to it at night when the family is asleep. Between doing my television show and movies and other projects it can get hard for me to focus on my writing but I try to delegate as much as possible to get everything I need in a day done. I’m not an outline type of girl so I just sit and write, I never outline and I have to have a clear mindset when I write because I can get distracted easily with all my other projects.
Me: With plans in place for the third installment in the series coming soon, what can we expect from the latest edition coming out?
RY: More scary stories to freak you out. We have some women returning and some new voices and I cannot wait for you all to read the brand-new stories that will keep you up at night.
Me: In addition to writing, you’ve also taken to filming shorts with your latest being “Candy Monster.” How did this come about? Where did the inspiration for it come from?
RY: My four-year-old inspired me, plus coming out of a pandemic, I wanted to get my feet wet again. We’ve been editing our fifth feature film and I had missed being on set so we decided to shoot a short film and I wrote Candy Monster for my son to star in. We all had so much fun and throwing in the mix was our friend and actor Jimmy Olea who played his uncle and our friend and my Publisher Nicholas Grabowsky who handed out candy. And the monster was played by my niece, Zoey Agustin. The kids had so much fun they keep begging to do another film. I may just have to conjure something up soon for them.
Me: Was there any special significance to making the characters partake in Halloween festivities with a slight twist?
RY: Halloween is my and my son’s favorite holiday so why not film it taking place on Halloween plus I always like to watch films that take place on the holiday it’s just so much more fun. Plus I own so much Halloween stuff that props were easy to come by.
Me: Given the family-friendly nature of the short, was that a conscious approach to take with the material you were filming?
RY: Yes, I wanted it to be something kids can watch and get a kick out of, plus having it family-friendly was a different type of writing and directing style for me as well and I found it just as fun as if I was filming blood and guts. LOL
Me: Do you recall having any odd or funny on-set stories about yourself or any of the other cast/crew members while shooting the film?
RY: We were having such a great time and the way I do things I have stick figure pictures for the scenes that I need to shoot and I can’t draw at all so having everyone laugh about that was fun. Plus my Publisher Nicholas was hilarious when he answered the door to hand out candy, I told him to have fun with it and he did such a great job, we were laughing so hard every time.
Me: Having also been active on the convention circuit, have you seen that grow the audience for you and your Miss Misery horror hostess career?
RY: Being Miss Misery is something I will be doing until the day I die, I don’t doubt it. I’m always shocked at how much fan base I have. My career as a horror host has grown through the years and keeps growing, as I enter into season 9 of my show I can tell you I have no plans of retiring anytime soon.
Me: What else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers?
RY: I am working on the next three Monsters books of my kid's series, I am working on Miss Misery’s Movie Guide, finishing up editing on my fifth feature film, getting ready to shoot season 9 of Movie Massacre, and a few other projects I cannot name at this time.
Me: Lastly, being that this is our Women in Horror Movement, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
RY: I have to say, don’t give up. There are outlets out there to help, there are other women out there who do support other women and the only person who is going to believe in you is yourself. Don’t give up, keep going and you’ll get there.
This interview ran as part of our 2023 Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out the rest of our month-long celebrations including various reviews and interviews:
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