We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diana Firefly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Diana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Being woman filmmakers in a male-driven industry is a challenge and a risk. The Hollywood film industry is very brutal and capricious. Popularity is a key factor, having a unique brand, a marketable product is everything. I was talking to some of my compatriots about how tough it is to succeed as an indie filmmaker because you are up against studios with millions of dollars and big stars, then when you add in the factor of you being a minority in the industry it is even more difficult to achieve success. Our studio, Scoffer Studios, goes one step further by hiring minorities, by being inclusive. We hire everyone regardless of their religious beliefs, sexual orientation, race, or culture, we support and include everyone and hire based on talent, creativity, and raw genius. Even our name, Scoffer Studios is like a rebel cry, we have come up against a lot of discrimination and jealousy in the industry because we are becoming so successful and popular by having such a general appeal and such fine products. Our writers are in-house, we are owned, operated, produced, funded, and directed by ourselves. We have managed to survive and succeed despite all these challenges and are paving the way for women in the industry and changing the film industry one film at a time. We stand out as being a studio family, all of our editors, actors, musicians, and talent are treated like family and close friends. Everyone is in it for the long hall, we are a team not unlike Jim Henson’s studio when it first began. We are loyal to our people and our people are loyal to us, and that is a very beautiful thing to see in this cutthroat business.

Diana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We have always been writers, artists, and storytellers, we came from Scottish-Irish backgrounds, our whole family history is filled with artists, poets, writers, and dreamers. Our Campbell clan is known for being a clan of fighters, so it is no big surprise that we went into this business with flags flying. We are exclusively horror genre, we only do horror, even when our projects are for young adults or children, they are still horror-based with a creepy mysterious edge. We are very proud of our many projects, some of which you can enjoy right now!

Creative works include our latest project Blood Brothers Life Harvest which is currently available as a book at Barnes and Nobel and everywhere else online, the film will be done and released in 2024. To see the film trailer, you can click on one of the links below.

About the project Blood Brothers Life Harvest,

Eighteen-year-old Enoch is trying to protect his family on their rural farm during a rabies-like zombie pandemic, but when he is bitten while trying to save his brother, Aaron, from a zombie attack, Enoch must race against time to protect his small, broken family from the military, the zombies, and even himself. Faced with things beyond his control, day by day becoming more savage, Enoch begins to wonder if the disease will change him into a monster or if brotherly love will be enough to save him.

Book Version of Blood Brothers Life Harvest: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Brothers-Harvest-Brittany-Sellers/dp/B0C2SCKXMF

Blood Brothers Life Harvest film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziv2vLto5WU&t=20s

Another book that is currently available by Diana Firefly from Scoffer Studios is Over the Hills and Far Away, which is also being made into an audio drama which will be completed in 2024.

About Over the Hills and Far Away:

Violet Bernadette Ipswich and her friend, Madeline the fawn, go looking for adventure one moonlit night and set off over the hills and far away to find it.

In a mysterious glade, they meet a group of moonstruck rabbits, who tell them about a magical place called Scarborough Fair where all of your wishes can come true. Overcome by delight at the fantastical stories, they decide to go see for themselves.

On this journey they meet a shapeshifting wizard who holds the forest under his spell, an evil troll who wants to eat young travelers, a lonely ghost boy named Peppet who only wants to find his way home, and many more odd and peculiar creatures.

Violet and Madeline must use all their wits and courage to find their way home before they become lost in this frightening dark wood forever.

available to buy in paperback and ebook and hardcopy at the link below as well as everywhere books are sold: https://www.amazon.com/Over-Hills-Away-Diana-Firefly/dp/B0BZF8KSZH

To hear a sneak peek of the audiobook Over the Hills and Far Away you can click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvhogWHk1cI

As the head team of Scoffer Studios Productions, Brit Sellers and Diana Firefly co-wrote the fantasy young adult novel Rowen and The Fell Beast together, it is now published and available now wherever books are sold!
About Rowen and The Fell Beast:

A young adult fantasy novel about hope, fear, magic, loyalty, and a young girl who wants to save her only friend, the Fell Beast.

The Fell Beast, William, is kept under a spell by the masters of the Ludas Magnus, a place of learning where the ancient arts of alchemy are taught. Rowen wants to know why. Determined to find answers to this mystery, she questions everything she has ever known and struggles to find the truth. What she discovers is a secret so miraculous and deadly that if Rowen wants to survive, she must find a way to free the Fell Beast and unite the free peoples of the world before history repeats itself and the world is once again destroyed.

Rowen and the Fell Beast written by Scoffer Studios’ Brit Sellers and Diana Firefly is available at the link below and everywhere that books are sold: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rowen-and-the-fell-beast-brittany-sellers/1143509582

Scoffer Studios Productions is also nearly finished with their animated horror film Dagon Troll World Chronicles which stars legendary actors Tim Curry and Doug Bradley among an all star cast, and the film is set to be released in 2025! Dagon Troll World Chronicles is a slick, dark, elegant, artistic horror fantasy that is sure to thrill you. Dagon Troll World Chronicles features an all star cast including legendary actor Tim Curry from Rocky Horror Picture Show, It, and Home Alone 2, Doug Bradley from Hellraiser, Bryce Papenbrook from Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online, Mark Silverman from Disney, Emily O’Brien award-winning actress from The Young and The Restless, and Kurtis Stacey from Emmerdale to name a few! Scoffer Studios Presents, Dagon Troll World Chronicles…

Plot:

On the troll world of Goth, Dagon, a professional murder for hire demon slayer, is the best that money can buy. He works for a sleazy syndicate crime boss named Kundilla. After accepting his final job, Dagon finds out he has just stolen the ambassador of earth’s daughter and has been hired to transport her to Kundilla, who will in turn give the child to the buyer, a depraved sinister corrupt official named Houngan, who intends to start a war with earth by killing and eating the human child. Dagon panics, and decides to go rogue, finding himself on the run from demons and gangsters alike, together with his two friends Jaqualin and Maxine, he must find a way to save the human child…

Hiring Tim Curry:

Scoffer Studios Felt that Necrofer the Demon, one of the main villains in our film, was deserving of a voice of legendary caliber. We chose Tim Curry for this role, because of his magnificent dynamic voice acting abilities, his iconic presence he brought to each character he played, and because we just loved him in general.

Tim loved the script, he recorded his lines and in the words of his agent Marcia, he “Knocked it out of the park!” We at Scoffer Studios are so excited to have him in our animated film.

Hiring Doug Bradley:

Doug Bradley was very excited to play the role of Goayre Heddagh or the Creature that Doesn’t Exist in the film, his character is a terrifying demon of the forest, and Doug’s chilling voice really brought the character to life.

Hiring Bryce Papenbrook:

In 2019, Bryce Papenbrook joined our cast to play the role of Gallows in Scoffer Studios Productions animated film Dagon: Troll World Chronicles. His voice gave our character a dark and seductive edge, making him one of many interesting and odd personalities to be found in our film…

Emily Roya O’Brien (born 28 May 1985) is an English three-time Daytime Emmy-nominated actress who is known for her five-year series role of Jana Hawkes Fisher on The Young and the Restless from 2006–2011. She portrayed Julia in the 2014 film Pernicious and provided the voices of Camille and Samira in League Of Legends, and Y’shtola in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. In 2018, she became part of the main cast of the animated film by Scoffer Studios Productions Dagon Troll World Chronicles as Ruth the wife to the Ambassador of Earth.

For full cast see IMDB
Dagon Troll World Chronicles info:

Dagon Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/DagonTrollworld

Commercial for film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4JdyKMt8So&t=113s

Official Film Website: https://magnusgov.wixsite.com/home

Imdb For Dagon Troll World Chronicles: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6941976/

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Our goal and mission is to change the creative industry so that it will be more of a level playing field and more inclusive for females, minorities, and new talent.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Having a voice and a vision that is well received by a global audience is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist and a creative. As is seeing the impact we have in the trailblazing of a new path for minority film makers and creatives in this industry. Having young people approach us and tell us that we are inspirational to them as well as having well established people in the industry saying “That is what I wished I had done when I first started out in this business” is also very rewarding. It takes bravery and courage to do what we are doing, and that bravery and courage lies in every creative, you just have to awaken it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://magnusgov.wixsite.com/mysite-2
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diana.firefly.9
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC36j_wMb5EdD8wNln-19tww
• Other: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144077968-blood-brothers https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blood-brothers-brittany-sellers/1143414973 https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Brothers-Harvest-Brittany-Sellers/dp/B0C2RRQG59?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER Trailer for film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziv2vLto5WU&t=1s Trailer teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofMxree6dIo&t=17s