We recently connected with Charlie Steeds and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Charlie, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
Initially, while working day jobs, I saved up and then quit to make two self-funded films (one in 2015, the other in 2016). Thankfully they were both picked up by a sales company in LA and found distribution worldwide, so money started flowing back to me (thousands more than I had spent, so they were very profitable). By the time I was on my third (and final) self-funded film, I’d been offered funding by a distributor to make a film directly for them, it was triple the budget I could’ve saved up myself by working a day job, so from that moment on I’ve jumped from company to company ensuring I always have the next film funded (and ideally for a higher budget than I whatever I had for the film before). So steadily, the films have gone up in budget and I’ve managed to direct/produce 16 films now. When I started Met Film School (based in Ealing Studios) at age 18, they only taught us about Hollywood filmmakers and world-famous directors, but that’s the highest end of a spectrum of thousands of directors working in this industry at all levels. When I graduated I wouldn’t have imagined that I could make a full-time living from the straight-to-DVD/streaming films I make now. Film School didn’t teach us how to make a living from filmmaking but I had the impatience and a lack of self-awareness to just get started. It’s been my full time living since 2017.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Charlie Steeds and I’m a British independent horror filmmaker. My company is Dark Temple Motion Pictures and my most popular films are DEATH RANCH, GODS OF THE DEEP, CANNIBAL FARM and THE BARGE PEOPLE. My films are low budget, straight-to-DVD/streaming, but crafted with passion and attention to detail. I’ve always been inspired by low budget horror and in horror the budget feels less relevant. The gritty DIY feeling of films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre actually improves the atmosphere, and the same can be said for many of the films that made me fall in love with the genre; Phantasm, The Evil Dead, Eraserhead, Re-Animator etc. I’ve frequently built sets from the ground up, painted them and furnished them myself, so my films have a sort of handmade charm that fans of lower budgeted films can appreciate (and internet trolls can mock and compare to the lifeless CGI backgrounds of today’s blockbusters). It’s tough to balance the creative side and business side of filmmaking, especially on a low budget, where the need to spend vast amounts of money is sometimes the only thing that’ll improve the movie… The films of mine I’m most proud of are A WEREWOLF IN ENGLAND, AN ENGLISH HAUNTING, DEATH RANCH and FREEZE, so if you’re going to explore my work then those are the ones I’d suggest, and they’re all vastly different horror films.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Since Covid, film has struggled, from the very top Hollywood blockbusters all the way down to the indie film market. The companies I make films for have depended on DVD sales in supermarkets, Walmart etc, but now in the UK most supermarkets have removed all DVDs from their shelves. So where they used to make money they now have to depend on streaming (where you can earn as little as $0.01 per stream). If you come across a film or filmmaker you enjoy, especially if they’re independent, we’re only going to be able to continue working if you support us by spending money on our films, e.g. buying a physical copy for $10 rather than waiting for streaming (or even paying $1 to stream instead of waiting for it to eventually be free with Prime or on YouTube). If you stream, watch the film to the end, or else it could get removed by the streamer. Indie filmmakers can help themselves by selling their own product, for example I purchased a limited edition Blu Ray directly from the website of a filmmaker I wanted to support, that’s £20 or so in their own pocket. I’ve got the rights to distribute 5 of my own films onto limited edition Blu Rays, so that’s the next step for me, to combat the death of DVD.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
When I was a child I spent so many evenings or weekends sat in front of a little TV watching VHS tapes or DVDs of 70s/80s horror films and I was transported into worlds that were far more interesting to me than our every day mundane lives. The world really can be quite boring, and making movies is as close as you can get to the magic of watching movies. Through all my film work, and any struggles I face in this business, my aim is simply to make films that another kid can escape into, enjoy and perhaps be inspired by. So I keep that memory as my drive and focus all the time. A bigger goal is to create a great movie, a cult classic, or even a financial success, I guess that’s the goal with every movie and you start again from scratch on every single movie you make, it’s a mountain. With recent films like TERRIFIER 2, I’m reminded what can be done in indie horror; it’s reached this massive audience and unbelievable success. I strive for that with every film, but there’s always limitations. Just one great horror movie can change your career forever, and that’s the ultimate goal I have to balance with harsh limitations and business pressures that I’ve put upon myself by making this my day job as well as my art and passion.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.darktemple.co.uk
- Instagram: @Charliesteeds
- Twitter: @DarkTempleFilms
