Musings on The Devil’s Share

Having started in the theater before moving to film, my directing experience has always involved the visual medium. Even my prior experiences with the Tales series was onstage at film festivals, when Glenn or Larry needed an extra voice for a role.  So when they asked if I’d be interested in writing or directing on this new season, I was eager to have the opportunity (and the challenge!) of creating a horror tale that was completely audio-based.

I remember watching horror movies in the theater as a kid and knowing to hide when the subs hit your chest and the strings kicked in. Working in the horror genre, sound design and score has always been my favorite part of the process – the moment when everything you’ve done up until that point starts to really come together and the elements of fear are built. I’ve worked with my sound designer Owen Granich-Young and composers The Gifted on almost every single project I’ve ever done, they’re definitely my ride-or-dies and always down to experiment and dig in creatively.  I tried to think of an idea for a tale that would lean into sound as the entity of evil for them to play around with – and also thought of how we consume tales these days.

I come from a very rural rustbelt town, where tales told about the town itself down through the generations is a common occurrence – a shared communal history.  The sound of where I grew up – that Appalachia feel – is also something I really wanted to bring out in the story – growing up in that area it has a very distinct audio element in my mind – creaking trees, work boots on wooden floorboards, cicadas and a suffocating humidity – and that small town been-here-for-generations-everybody-knows-everybody closeness that can also be suffocating in its own right. That got me thinking – what if that small town ‘putting down roots’ charm wasn’t about not wanting to leave – but not being able to?  Being stuck in generational patterns and shared history.  Hence were the seeds of ‘The Devil’s Share’ born.

I’m lucky to work with so many talented folks who genuinely enjoy what they do. What I love about Zach Gilford is all you have to say is I got this idea or role I’m thinking you’d be good for and he immediately responds with ‘I’m down’ before you even tell him what it is. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s one my favorite actors both to watch and to work with.  I also have my own roots in the comedy community here in LA outside of the horror community – we’ve all ended up working on each other’s projects in different roles over the years -hence why so many comedy folks end up popping up in my work.  You’ll hear some of my ‘regulars’ like Susan Burke, Jonah Ray and Matt Peters along with comedian and Fallout Fake Talk Show host Jon Daly, and a newcomer (for me!) whose work I’ve long admired  – Liana Liberato – who is absolutely phenomenal as Taylor and has the best cackle you’ve ever heard.

And of course, writer/directors are not spared their turn at the mic – Kate Freund, Evan Katz as ‘Drunk Hank’ and the imitable Larry himself join the cast.  I could go on at length about how much we all enjoyed this process (and the ability to just do as many takes as we want and try new things without the ‘burden’ of physical production) but I feel I’ve rambled on enough and I could go on singing all the cast and crew’s praises for pages –I’ll just leave you with I hope you enjoy listening to The Devil’s Share as much as all of us enjoyed making it together. All photos probably by Jen Yamato at Monkeyland Audio.