We were lucky to catch up with Drew Wayne Roberts recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Drew Wayne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

When I started my production company, I came in wanting to bring together horror film makers and create a network from which we could all help each other to grow and succeed. I never actually expected to be making my own film. After working on a couple of my friend’s sets, I was became inspired and started writing. It was addicting. I kept thinking how cool it would be to see my imagination brought to life on screen.

I took a lot of time to write my first short, Hermit. I sent my screenplay to anyone I thought would read it and give me constructive feedback. It was terrifying for me but I wanted my first short to be something I was proud of and something others would like.

I’m currently almost finished filming Hermit which I produced, wrote, and directed myself. At this point, it is my most meaningful project. I have put countless hours into writing, making connections, finding locations, crowdfunding, ect. On top of that, rain delays have made the shoot much longer than I had originally intended. It’s been an uphill battle and very challenging but the rewards make everything worth it. Shout out to Josh McFadden, my assistant director for dealing with most of the scheduling and spending hours and hours with me to make sure this movie gets made. I think seeing it on the big screen will be a big moment for me. Hopefully for him and everyone else involved as well.

Drew Wayne, 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?

My name is Drew Wayne Roberts, and I’m a former horror movie enthusiast who now produces movies and live events. Myself, Bertknee Sharklover, and Elise Sjostedt started out hosting trivia for Halloween at Fiction Beer Company and loved it so much we turned spooky trivia into a business. Eventually, my team and I landed gigs hosting various horror themes in full costume at random bars all over Denver until we landed at The Electric Cure an Honor farm for weekly horror trivia nights. You can catch us at The Electric Cure 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 7 PM and Honor Farm 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 8 PM.

An unintended perk of hosting horror movie trivia was meeting a lot of film makers who were even more obsessed with the horror genre than myself and my team! And, to top it off, they were ready to make indie horror films. I had always wanted to help make horror films, I just never knew the right people. After many drinks and excited conversations, I had gathered a team to make a short film, Tunnels. As the story goes, Brandon Scott and I were drinking in a bar when we wrote out the screen play. Then myself and Madi Lynn got together and made it happen with Brandon directing. After the film, Madi and I got an LLC and Ghoul’s Night Productions was born. This included trivia and independent film making. Madi has moved on since to bigger projects but I could have never gotten started without her!

I think a big thing that sets us apart is that we love to combine our trivia’s with live events such as drag, burlesque, and fundraisers for local indie horror movies. We like to entertain our trivia players while helping grow the local community of film makers and entertainers. We like to put on a show and make sure everyone is having a good time.

Also, we dress up for every trivia! Each trivia has a unique theme that we match! Every day is Halloween!

I think what I am most proud of is how much we’ve seen the Denver horror community grow and how much we’ve accomplished by being a part of it. We’ve helped raise a lot of money for local horror movies recently including Elijah Ziegler’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, Ryan Mowry’s ‘There’s Something Inhuman in the Woods’, and for my short, Hermit.

I am also very proud that we’ve had the opportunity to host trivia at Fan Expo Denver twice and once at Rocky Mountain Nightmares! I never dreamed we would be able to host at a convention! We even hosted a Troma Entertainment trivia where Lloyd Kaufman shouted us out in a promo video! You can watch it on our Instagram page!

Ghoul’s Night Productions is dedicated to fostering the development of the Denver-area horror film scene and integrating as many aspiring filmmakers and performers as we can.

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

There’s no feeling like seeing your imagination come to life on screen. The process of making a movie is a communal one, so it’s wonderful to watch what you’ve written change as a result of the contributions of other artists. It’s not until you receive the final edit that you truly know what you’re getting.

Live events are also a rewarding collaborative effort. I love watching performers we work with grow alongside us!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I primarily use Instagram to promote my trivia and movies. They are linked to Facebook but Instagram has more of a reach. I started promoting our trivia on Instagram with posters to get the word out on social media then I started sharing images of us in our costumes and the winners to try and get people excited to go.

Now, every time we make a new movie I make an Instagram and Facebook page for it and make a post about every day. My advice is to make sure you are posting something new daily and try to switch between reels and photos. Instagram and Facebook HATE posters but love photos and reels of people. Familiarize yourself with the algorithms and stay on top of posting. When starting from scratch, follow as many people from related pages as you can until you’re sick of doing it. It will pay off and extend your reach!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ghoulsnightproductions.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ghoulsnightproductions, www.instagram.com/ghoulsnightouttrivia
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ghoulsnightproductions
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/ghoulsnightproductions
• Other: @ghoulsnightouttrivia on tiktok @ghoulsnightproductions on tiktok

Image Credits
Bertknee Sharklover Bailey Tapert Elise Sjostedt Brandon Blanc Asa Queen Arachnophobia the Spider Queen Hayley Ward Allie Barnum