Scott Barker is what you’d call a modern storyteller, using outlets
like magazines and film to tell his stories. Barker serves as executive
editor of Tucson Lifestyle magazine, and makes movies on the
side. His most recent film, a horror thriller called Dead on
Site, premieres at 9 p.m., Saturday, May 30, at the Loft Cinema;
3233 E. Speedway Blvd. General admission is $5; visit loftcinema.com for more information.
How did you get into making movies?
I actually started doing video production in the early ’80s here in
Tucson, and did music videos for local bands and whatnot. I had always
done things related to that side of things, and then two years ago, I
was a co-writer and co-producer on a film that was shot here. One of my
co-producers on this current project was someone who (was) involved
with that, and then the two of us decided, with some other local folks,
that we wanted to try to do the whole thing—to be the entire
creative team, more or less, behind a feature to be shot here.
Have you always done horror films?
It’s my second. … On a micro-budget film—anything (less
than), say, a million dollars—basically, your best chance for
marketability is to do horror, because it’s a genre not dependent on
who the actors are … because the audience doesn’t really care whether
or not they recognize particular names. … If you did a romantic
comedy, if you did a straight drama, you’re going to have a hard time
doing that at the kind of budget level that we had available.
What was your role in making Dead on Site?
Oh boy, a little bit of everything. I was co-producer, completion
director, screenwriter, and I have a big part in the beginning of the
movie. The actor who we picked for the role unfortunately had to drop
out at the last minute, so somebody had to step up. … Everybody
involved with the film ended up doing multiple things, and there were
so many people who were involved that made the movie work.
Tell me about the movie.
Basically, Dead on Site is a story about a group of college
students who, as their final project, have taken over a vacant home
where a year before, a family was murdered. The murder was never
solved, so what they’re trying to do is—live on the
Web—collect clues, re-enact the crime and try to figure out who
the killer might have been. Of course, what they don’t realize is that
the killer is watching them, and things do not go well.
So is the killer more of a Freddy Krueger type? Giant alien
monster? Zombie?
I can’t tell you that! That would be giving too much away. Let’s
just say that it’s within the realm of the genre. (The film) doesn’t
suddenly turn into a singing, dancing musical with, you know, Bollywood
numbers.
Where did you shoot the film, and how long did it take?
We’ve been shooting for quite a while, actually. The initial
photography took about a week, and then we shot for probably another
week off and on at various locations. We actually shot at four or five
different locations; much of it took place at a private home up in
Oracle, but we also shot out at Gammons Gulch, and we shot at another
private home down by the university, and another home up in the
foothills.
How did you find the cast?
We did casting calls in Los Angeles, which is where we found two of
our lead performers, and then we did several castings here in Tucson.
… There’s some real talent connected with this. I really expect them
to go on to much bigger things in the near future.
So you’re an editor at Tucson Lifestyle, and you
make horror movies. Quite a difference between the night and day job
…
That’s leaving out the prostitution ring that I run, too.
(Laughs.) You know, it’s all mixed in there. I am a writer first
and foremost, and I see myself as a storyteller. Every medium, whether
it’s a magazine, or whether it’s a movie, is a way of telling a story.
… The nice thing about it for me is that they’re two completely
different styles of enterprise, so I do one thing at the magazine. …
When I make a film, I can do something completely different. It’s not
like a chef who’s been trained in French cuisine, and he does that all
day long at the restaurant, and then goes home and makes that for the
family. No, I’m doing two completely different things, so I’m never
bored.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.