We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justin Cole, Billy Jack, and Kara Myers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin Cole, Billy Jack, and Kara Myers, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Sparrow Street Films, an environmental horror film company in Denver, Colorado, has chosen to be the voice of our planet from an environmental perspective. This makes for infinite non planet Earth. Thus , our stories are similar to Hollywood films in that they are captivating dramatic compositions. Yet, the voice of our stories and characters are governed by Mother Nature and the horror that can be explored inside of that space. Sparrow Street Films lives in the environmental horror genre, which we are actively growing and building as innovators toward that aim. The idea for each of our projects is that a person who watches our work sees film and thematic concepts in unique ways that hasn’t been told or seen before. We aim for original ideas that both entertain and provoke conceptual understanding of the world in which we live. We also choose daring concepts that break the mold of how typical commercial films and TV are relayed.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Sparrow Street Films, LLC from Denver, Colorado formed in 2020 under the leadership and guidance of Executive Producers Kara Lane, Billy Jack, and Justin Cole. This film studio focuses on the emerging environmental horror genre where Mother Nature takes center stage in the narrative of the horror action. “The term ‘environmental horror’ was one we had to make up on the spot to try and define the narrative space in which we were working,” states Executive Producer Justin Cole. “There are many environmental allegories and metaphors at play to tell a more subdued and subtle expression of man’s impact on the earth. What better than a genre-defining picture to get started down that road.”

The first film, Sparrow Street, is in active pursuit of a distribution deal. The second film, What We Don’t See, is in post-production and takes the genre to a new level of quality and artistic expression. The company has multiple projects in the works including television and VR. Yet, the brand across all platforms seeks to be a defining creator in the environmental horror space with unique and original storytelling coupled with bone-chilling suspense.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Sparrow Street Films started in 2020 deep in the heart of the pandemic. The first film, also subsequently named Sparrow Street, attempted to capture the despair, isolation, desolation, and hunger that persisted in society at the time. However, when we went to make the film in the summer of 2021, it was stepping into the unknown – first time filmmakers, in an emerging film market (Denver, Colorado), with a startup film and media company in a genre space not yet well know.

However, with the pandemic in full throes, we had to push against risk, fear, uncertainties, and unknowns over the course of 2 months of filming. Being a low-budget independent horror film, Sparrow Street ran the risk of significant setbacks – every role on the set from actors, crew, and producers were vital and difficult to fill. One person’s illness on set could setback filming for days and weeks including the risk of not being able to finish the film.

Yet, the crew and cast along with Lane, Jack, and Cole all doubled-down on the commitment to finishing the film on budget, on time despite what a pandemic and business shutdowns could throw their way. Through a determined resilience and the belief that “the show must go on,” Sparrow Street Films completed Sparrow Street with critical success. “We are now in the phase of hunting for a distribution deal ready to sell the film, and package our other films both in pre and post production” writes Kara Lane.

The film’s first-time director Billy Jack puts it this way. “We didn’t know where all the obstacles lay in the road ahead of us when we started filming in Summer of 2021. But we put our trust in ourselves to tell a great story and our cast and crew to show up and give a great performance.” The proof is in the pudding. Sparrow Street promises to be that genre-defining first film that hopes to put this film company from Denver Colorado on the map.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

In 2015, Kara Lane and Justin Cole worked at a middle school, Kara as a English Language Learner teacher, and Justin as Dean of Students. The secret got out that Justin, a career changer, had a past life as an actor, writer, and producer; and the school went wild with revelation. Students and teachers were excited to hear of something truly different and unique coming from one of their teachers – not typical in the education realm for teachers to have film prior film careers.

This brought Kara forward, expressing that her husband, Billy Jack, was a huge film buff and wanted to go into filmmaking as a director. From an early age, Billy wanted to make films, but he never knew how to make the needed steps to turn that dream into a reality. So the three friends came together based on their dream of making films. From that moment forward, Kara, Billy, and Justin made a pledge to make films and put the horror genre now coined as “environmental horror” on the map.

“It is easy to work with friends you trust who have the same interest,” writes Kara Lane. This came through in a shared belief in vision, possibility, and artistic determination.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sparrowstreetfilms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparrow_street_films/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=sparrow%20street%20films%20
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sparrow+street+films

Image Credits

Photos by Annaliese Stone Casey and Jeff Colebank