Interview (Video): Akela Cooper and Owen Egerton
From Season 11 of the PBS series “On Story”.
In association with the Austin Film Festival and KLRU-TV, the PBS series “On Story” is a must for anybody interested in screenwriting, movies, and/or TV. This week in the 11th season of the series, a conversation with Akela Cooper (American Horror Story, Luke Cage) and Owen Egerton (Follow, Blood Fest).
This week on On Story, horror writers Akela Cooper and Owen Egerton discuss their love for the genre, setups and payoffs, emotional scares, and inspirational moments from Pumpkinhead, Night of the Living Dead, and others.
Quote: “One of the things I love about horror and comedy is that they are two genres that thrive on an uncontrolled audio response from the audience. It’s a laugh or it’s a scream, and they’re both similar. That’s why horror and comedy are so fun to watch with a crowd because we all scream or laugh at the same time. A joke is a setup of an expectation, then that expectation is subverted. A jump scare is very similar, setting up an expectation of what’s behind that door, but then James Wan grabs you by the face.”
True. Set up an expectation. Then subvert the expectation. Works for jokes and jump scares.
There are dozens of videos in the “On Story” archives which you can access here.
Twitter: @austinfilmfest, @AFFOnStory, @klru.
For hundreds of links to audio, video, and written interviews with screenwriters and filmmakers hosted at Go Into The Story, go here.
