Q&A: A Conversation with Horror Filmmaker Geroni J. Saint-Hilaire

Let’s start this off as we should – what’s your favorite horror film?

Geroni: Such a hard question but The Omen (1976) does it for me! The way the story took on a biblical theme and brought an ancient fear into the modern world was very original. Evil children with agendas of destruction always creep me out.

What attracts you to horror more than any other genre?

Geroni: I find horror to be a genre of great potential; there is always something new to make you afraid. Choose your poison: zombies, ghosts, demons, serial killers, aliens, conspiracies or cults. And then you have the directors who are daring and innovative and have the creativity to take something unexpected and make it scary and refreshing. Horror gives you a chance to make something that is deeply personal because fear impacts us all differently.

You've made both experimental and narrative films. What are the biggest differences?

Geroni: When working with a narrative storyline, there is usually a character that must ultimately reach a goal of some kind. This approach to making a film is the most common and widely used. If you are going down this route you have a formula laid out for you and it gives you limited creative freedom to express your visual ideas. There is always the three-act structure to worry about and the forced ending. An experimental approach to the craft brings together a series of ideas not too dissimilar from a narrative project but the integrity of the film relies on the auteur’s ability to hit the emotional core of the audience without having to spell anything out for them. The images and choice of sound in this case should do the work for you. And there will always be different opinions of the meaning! It is always a favorite moment when people ask me about one of my works and what it “really means” to which I like to respond with a question of my own. What did you take or learn from it? I actually learn a lot about my own work as a result.

What’s scarier – fast zombies or slow zombies?

Geroni: Slower zombies seem to be more goal-oriented. The fast ones just take a bite and move on to the next human. Slow ones take their time!

I've heard you talk about how horror affects people's emotional state, which is why you personally crave scary stories and why you believe people love them. Can you expand upon this idea?

Geroni: Since we were all young, most of us feared the ghost in the closet or the monster under the bed. There is something fascinating about the unknown. Many people I know would never dare step foot into a graveyard or an occult supply store for that reason alone. We tend to fear what we do not understand so we attach wrong or false beliefs to certain things that are considered taboo or freaky. Out of all the wholesome genres in the world, ranging from romantic comedies to heart string pulling melodramas, horror stands alone as the one that can ruin a good night’s sleep. In many ways it is the opposite of entertainment. It makes its way from the written word or the screen right into your world and into your mind. After a good reading or film viewing, you find yourself extra careful and tense in your own space. You might feel tough until you hear a strange sound coming from your hallway and if you are brave you gather enough courage to stand there and look into the dark and against all your logic you wonder for one second if there is someone or something out there, waiting for you.

Geroni on the set of Wet Paint with G&E Productions

Is there anything you think modern filmmakers have lost in terms of what horror movies used to be?

Geroni: Yes. They have lost the ability to be a generation to explore new topics for the very first time. Also patience and slow building as a form has dropped along with everyone's attention span. As a modern filmmaker, I feel that we have a huge opportunity to make innovative, shocking material. The past is there to provide us with lessons on what works and also with what doesn't. Despite this, there are still so many bad films in the genre being produced that it becomes questionable how some of these projects get green lit in the first place. On the other hand we do have some brilliant storytellers that are passing into new territory with their ideas. 

 Shock VS Tension. It’s an age-old debate. What's more important in your opinion?

Geroni: A healthy balance of both is essential. Like anything else too much of anything is not good. All shock means gory, loud, and annoying jump scares with a lack of character development. I attempted to find a decent balance of both with my short film Wet Paint. Trying to slowly build up to the finale piece by piece without showing too much or relying on jump scares was a challenge but ultimately a rewarding exercise. Too much slow building and tension and the project will come across as “boring” to many people. You have to find a way of keeping people guessing while also finding ways to give enough shock to keep them interested.

What makes something scary?

Geroni: In my opinion, something truly scary is something that can possibly happen to you. Anything beyond normal understanding and control can scare you. Zombies? No. Demons? Yes (I totally believe in demons). Slashers? Not so much. Disturbed fan that crosses boundaries and stalks you? Absolutely yes. 

What do you think most people get wrong when thinking about the process of making horror films?

Geroni: Most people start a script and immediately succumb to tropes and stereotypes and they force themselves into a writing device that ultimately makes a terrible film. How many times have you started a film on Netflix or Amazon just to see the same pack of arrogant teenagers going off on that last weekend get together before college starts only to see those same characters drinking, having sex, and dealing with some crazed lunatic who happens to know that they are alone and isolated all weekend. I tend to turn these off before the 10-minute mark. Many writers are scared to think outside of the box and this is what ironically leads them to make these awful throwaway projects. Everyone does their part and sometimes the image is great and the actors pull it off to the best of their abilities but the ultimate failure happened before anyone ever stepped on set in the form of a weak script. If you cannot keep people guessing what is going to happen next while cheering for someone in the story you will lose interest quickly.

If you were to remake a horror film – which would it be?

Geroni: I would love to take on The Omen! Even though this story is so cursed and infamous, something about working on a project with so much controversy and myth is very seductive. I would dive deep into the spiritual origins of Damien.

Is there a filmmaker who has never made a horror movie that you think should?

Geroni: I would love to see Darren Aronofsky try something in the paranormal or occult (I do not consider Mother! horror). He has a way of sending his characters into this terrible place mentally and physically and so it would be very interesting to see what he can do with horror. He has a very unique way of making audience members invested in characters while also destroying them at the same time. This approach would work wonders within the horror formula.

What’s the part of the creative process that you enjoy the most?

Geroni: Working with actors is probably my favorite part. Seeing how a performer will change and envelop the traits of a fictional character and mold him/her into reality is always fascinating. Actors add things into the mix that I would have never thought of and that experience is always fun. Also location scouting! The location for a film is always the most important and silent character. Think about how some of your favorite films would be impacted if they were based elsewhere!

The least?

Geroni: Writing the script is tedious work. Everyone has strengths and I feel like writing a script that really pops is a gift on its own. If you have a good writer who can help you achieve your vision, half the work is already done. 

You also paint - mostly horror related pieces. Tell us about that. 

Geroni: Yes! After wrapping up production on Wet Paint, I started to get an interest in making art in the medium of painting. I started on canvas and was inspired by Zdzislaw Beksinski and Salvador Dali's surreal paintings. It is a very freeing process because with a painting, there is no limit to what your imagination can create. There are no producers telling you, “No!” Plus, money isn’t as much of an issue. It's all about your unique vision. I was even able to get my paintings into a few small pop-up shows and galleries!

What would you like to see from the future of horror movies?

Geroni: I feel like the future is contrastingly bright for the dark world of horror films. Horror will always be something that people want to see. It will continue to survive the test of time. Scary stories have evolved from campfire gatherings and ancient urban legends to where we are now with people paying money to participate in haunted houses and extreme events. We will always revert to that primal desire to be scared, to get that adrenaline rushing, no matter what the future holds.

What would you like your mark on the genre to be?

Geroni: I want to be able to lift the veil of mystery on the occult. To be able to make solid work that does not lie or exaggerate in story. The occult has many twisted and terrifying secrets that have not yet been explored through the lens of a film camera. I want to show off the dangers of spiritual forces that cannot be seen but surely felt.

Unlimited budget – what's the next film you would like to make?

Geroni: I have one script that I have been working on slowly for some time that I will compete regardless of budget or costs. It deals with witchcraft and an old legend. Sometimes you have to dream big; the money is always possible to secure. Finishing something that seems impossible carries a big reward.

---

Geroni J. Saint-Hilaire

Film director and a native New Yorker.

Geroni J. Saint-Hilaire is a film director and a native New Yorker. His short horror film Wet Paint is currently on the festival circuit and so far has screened at The New York Short Film Festival, Scared for your LIIFE, The Russian International Film Awards, and The Videoscream International Film Festival where it is currently a finalist in competition. His other films include Black Valentine, Sex, Drugs & Art, and Side Effect, which won Most Outstanding Experimental Short at Alpha Channel at Tribeca 92Y. Geroni also enjoys making music and painting. youtube.com/blackillusionpictures

G&E In Motion does not necessarily agree with the opinions of our guest bloggers. That would be boring and counterproductive. We have simply found the author’s thoughts to be interesting, intelligent, unique, insightful, and/or important. We may not agree on the words but we surely agree on their right to express them and proudly present this platform as a means to do so.  

Directors Need to Take More Responsibility for Bad Acting

We’ve all seen what we deem to be bad acting in films and onstage. And while the measurement for good acting can be as subjective as art itself, we can often feel a blatant unbelievability or hollowness in a performance. 

Very often, we criticize the actor individually. Of course we do; that person did not bring what they should have to the table. The job of the actor is literally to effectively communicate the character they are portraying to an audience using their voice, actions, reactions, and their physical instruments. If they fail to authentically communicate a character, they did not properly do their job. Another way to say that is that they did not do their job at all. 

Now, despite common perception, giving a great performance, a believable performance, is not an easy job to do whatsoever. It takes more work and dedication than anyone outside the industry usually understands.  In all honesty, my two years in graduate school studying acting was far more demanding than the previous six years I had studying education on the undergraduate and graduate level combined.  Hands down. No comparison. 

I am an actor. A professional actor (whatever the means – I don’t know at what point one becomes professional as an actor but that’s a different discussion altogether).

I am also a director. I have directed both theatre and film and I believe these combined experiences have provided me with some interesting insights into the mechanics of how things work.

Greg teaching his "Acting like a Teacher" workshop for Education students at Pace University.

One such insight is this: directors need to take more responsibility for the bad acting in their projects. 

To me, it sounds obvious. But rarely do we hear a viewer say, “Wow. That performance was awful. I guess the director couldn’t get that actor to where they needed to be.”

I think we need to be saying this more. And here’s why:

As a director, the buck stops with you. It is your responsibility for everything that happens creatively and artistically. That is why you are hired. This obviously includes performances.  

You hire good actors so they bring the most believable performances. But that doesn’t mean your job is now necessarily a hands-off experience where you can sit back, relax, and watch the magic happen. It is still your vision. Actors must coordinate themselves to your vision. Sometimes this requires a hands-on technique. 

And it is not incidental that I use the word technique. A director who does not speak the actor’s language will find it far more difficult to get an actor where they need to be.  

This brings me to a related point. A director absolutely needs to speak the language of the actor. They need to know technique. Whether it’s Stanislavsky, Meisner, Method, etc., a director should have an approach to infiltrate a lacking performance. They should have an awareness of all of these techniques and dare I say, know what their cast is trained in. That way they can talk the lingo and engage in the process to reach each actor in a constructive manner. 

Bad directors tell actors what to do and what to feel. Good directors guide actors towards their vision of a character. Great directors manipulate actors to think they reached a revelation organically when it was the director the entire time leading them to that desired destination. What makes this director great is simple; they recognize that when actors come up with something themselves, it is far more real to them and thus easier to access and thus more believable. And that’s the name of the game. 

Directors need not be technicians. Every other crewmember on set is an artistic technician of sorts. A director needs to be focused on story, imagery, and performance. The truth of a scene.  Directors hire their crew to specifically take care of the more technical issues so that they need not worry about them. Meetings happen within the months of pre-production so that the crew understands the vision and plans are made to enforce said vision. 

This leaves time for a director to handle the most important aspects of filmmaking while actually shooting– the acting itself.  

As an actor, I found directors who were great at the mechanics of filmmaking but lacked the ability to communicate effectively with actors the worst kind of directors. I found this particularly true, unfortunately, of recent college graduates. It was as if their training program neglected to enroll them in an acting class. All directors should take an acting class. 

Not doing so is self-sabotage as far as I’m concerned. 

Being a director who takes a more hands-on approach with actors can be complicated. There are times when an actor is so prepared you just let that actor do their thing. There are times when you have the opportunity (and hopefully ability) to help them step their game up. But an audience member will never know if it’s a great performance solely because of the actor or because you stepped in and worked your magic. But, in a way, it doesn’t matter. It’s all part of the wizardry.  

Conversely, if a performance is extremely poor and you, the actor, and everyone on the planet knows it, the director needs to share in the blame, for neither the actor nor the director did their job. 

If an actor’s job is to effectively communicate the character they are portraying to an audience as mentioned before, it is one of the many jobs of the director to make sure actors effectively communicate the characters they are portraying to that audience. 

Now, let’s be real. A director has a million-and-one jobs. We are constantly being asked questions about the production. Our heads are pretty much in a whirlwind state the entire time. But that’s the job. 

We are the last line of defense on the day. Everything is ultimately our responsibility – even when it’s out of our control. 

I once directed a play where the set to our production was in a U-Haul truck. A U-Haul truck that was stuck in a snowstorm. We ended up performing opening night with no set, as the truck didn’t arrive until the middle of the performance. Was I driving the truck? Nope. Did I control the weather? Nope. Did I plan correctly leaving hours upon hours for the truck to arrive on time? Yup. The festival had a strict load in schedule and so I couldn’t bring the set to the theatre any earlier than that afternoon.

 Yet I stood in front of my cast and I apologized. It was on me. I was in charge. And we had no set. 

I suppose part of my point is that directors need to be more vocal about accountability. Directors are leaders; sometimes it’s appropriate to take it for the team. To accept that responsibility whether or not you are directly to blame. 

To be fair, however, there are scenarios where a director is truly hogtied. Sometimes a producer forces a director to hire an actor that should not be hired. Sometimes the creative vision between a director and a producer is not aligning – if this happens seriously consider leaving the project, albeit on good terms; producers are putting up the money – it’s their movie too after all – two separate visions never end well. If you need to do it for the money, and it’s no longer about the art, execute the producer’s vision. If this makes you sick to your stomach leave amicably and respectfully due to creative differences. 

It is also worth noting that a bad editor, or bad decisions in the editing room in general, can downgrade an actor’s performance from what that actor provided during filming.

It is a cinematic leap of faith for any actor to let go of their performance and leave it in the hands of others; that, of course, is the collaborative nature of film and a reminder that making a great film is hard. All the pieces, the artistic cogs in the wheel of production, need to be firing on all cylinders. That’s two car references in one sentence. I’ve never felt so masculine. 

There are also times, unfortunately, that the actors you hire, who perhaps you know have the potential to bring it, just don’t. No matter how hard you try you just cannot get them there. Sometimes it is no ones fault; it just doesn’t happen. It’s the reason this article is worded directors need to take more responsibility and not all. Sometimes the blame is shared and that’s okay. 

But how does one avoid such a fate?

In theatre, it is obviously common practice that we rehearse for months before opening. In film, we often come to set as actors and get our lines re-written while in the makeup chair. 

That is why it is imperative, as directors, that we hold rehearsals for cinematic performances as well. This doesn’t necessarily have to be as formal and traditional as a theatrical rehearsal. Read-throughs are great but they’re not really rehearsals. Get in a space, act it out, allow actors to have a playground to experiment because once on set such exploration is limited. Call your actors on the phone – have deep discussions about their characters and their objectives, conflicts, and actions. Make sure they build a backstory and know their character inside out. Improvise scenarios. Discuss tactics and motivations. Direct them.  Rehearsing for a film should be more about an actor truly knowing their character (meaning the director has to truly know each character as well) than the specific lines that might very well change soon. This allows an actor to have a seamless transition when minor changes are made with the script. 

 Your project will flourish as a result. I promise. 

I believe this change in outlook and practice will have two effects on our industry. The obvious one being an increase in the quality of acting. The other being, I postulate, an increase in the quantity of good actors. Right now, perhaps on a subconscious level, many great actors are great because they have developed a specific skill: they can take a director’s vague and unhelpful comment and justify it. These actors understand what the director is trying to say, what the director really should be saying, and they step back, search within, do the required work, come back out and present exactly what the director sought. 

 Actors who are unable to do this often give performances that could have been better as they never truly grasped what the hazy and esoteric comments the director made meant. One such way a dedicated actor combats this is by hiring an acting coach, an interceder that has the skillset to understand what needs to be done and can translate a director’s desires for you in a way that is better understood; in other words, the coach speaks the actor’s language. 

But the reality is many actors on the verge of greatness, whose career or lack thereof is teeter tottering, can’t afford an acting coach to be on set with them constantly. And they shouldn’t have to.   

What happens to many of these actors? They never make it. Their talents are categorized as sub-par, sometimes they are deemed difficult to work with because they ask so many questions to better understand. To me, this is a tragedy. A waste of artistic talent. 

It is often said that great actors can take a script and upgrade it one letter grade by giving a believable performance. So they take a C script and make it seem like a B script. 

Russell Crowe famously told screenwriter William Nicholson on the set of Gladiator,

"Your lines are garbage, but I'm the greatest actor in the world, and I can make even garbage sound good".

Harsh much?

This idea also works conversely, although perhaps with a more steep decline – bad acting can take an A script all the way down to, well, an F. 

I think something akin can happen between directors and actors. A great director should be able to take a B actor and raise their game one letter to an A performance. And of course, this too works conversely as bad direction can and will lower the grade of a performance. 

Let’s work on raising the grades. 

By taking on more responsibility for bad acting, directors will be, by nature, more inclined to push and push the boundaries of a performance. They will be more than auteurs. They will be creative educators that help usher in the next great generation of actors and portrayals.  

I think it a worthwhile endeavor. 

Onwards and Upwards, Always - G

Hi! We Exist!

Welcome to G&E in Motion, the very first blog post from you guessed it – G&E Productions – where we are choosing to stand at the very peak of the artistic mountaintop and shout to all those who will listen - Hi! We exist!

As this is the initial entry, we think it only makes sense for this to act as an introductory post. Who are we? What are we all about? What can you expect moving forward? 

On the set of Transit

Let’s begin, as any good origin story should, with our formation. A few years back we got our hands on a rare edition of Shakespeare’s First Folio. We very carefully syphoned the ink from the brittle pages, converted it into its former liquid form, and injected that shit directly into our eyeballs. The result was more catastrophic than we could have possibly imagined– we became artists.

G&E Productions officially launched in 2017. Created by co-founders Gregory Cioffi (the G) and Emily Dinova (the E), it took nearly two years, a lot of work, and much research to finally realize the importance of the already outdated blog format.  Artists, am I right? 

 Let’s get on with it then shall we?

What ARE we?

We are a Cinematic and Theatrical Production House.

But more than that…

We are Renaissance Artists. 

To put it simply, we belong in no box. 

We are actors. 

We are writers. 

We are directors. 

We are producers.  

We are what we believe the 21st century needs – a revitalization of professionals who are immersed in all mediums and forms of art. 

We are also thieves as all this information came directly from our website – like verbatim (we know you didn’t visit it – but maybe now you will). 

We are not interested in creating more of the same. Instead, we welcome the ever-changing craft of artistry and the new movements of expression that are created when diverse art forms influence and merge with one another.  

G&E Productions is founded on creating edgy, intelligent, unique new works. We embrace collaboration and are constantly pushing boundaries. We embrace the differences between individuals and their distinct perspectives. And most of all we embrace the truth that art, in any form, is a vehicle for social understanding and change. And change is what we plan to produce. 

WOO! That’s exciting. I dig it. I’m on board.  

G & E on the set of Wet Paint

But what have you actually ACHIEVED?

Our company officially begun alongside the inception of a film entitled The Museum of Lost Things. The film was completed in 2018 and went on to win awards at the Long Island International Film Expo (Best Story), The Madrid International Film Festival (Best Supporting Actor), and The Global Shorts Film Festival (Honorable Mention), all the while being accepted into other festivals around the country. Gregory Cioffi, who directed the piece, received a Certificate of Recognition for exceptional talent by The Town of Hempstead, N.Y.

Last year, G&E’s three-minute film A Foot in the Door won the Reel13 Film Challenge and, in May of 2018, aired on THIRTEEN, the flagship public television station of the New York City tri-state area and the most-watched public television channel in the nation. 

Wet Paint, a short horror film about the strange correlation between those who suffer and greatness, is currently on the festival circuit, already having been accepted into The New York Short Film Festival, The Scared for Your LIIFE Festival, and The Russian International Horror Film Awards. 

Most recently G&E completed production on Transit: A NYC Fairytale, a film that was 187% funded through crowd sourcing (you read that right) starring Pooya Mohseni, the newly chosen actor to head the Pantene campaign created for their new partnership with GLAAD. The film is slated to be released in 2020 (that’s this year guys!).

Pooya Mohseni on the set of Transit

And that’s just the film stuff! We aim to produce one piece of theatre every year! We urge you to look up Capture, Emily Dinova’s raw and visceral story of a woman’s fight against domestic violence. It was the recipient of the 2015 Fresher Writing Prize in the United Kingdom (Best Stage Play) and was also published later that year by the Fresher Publishing Company. Capture was part of The Venus and Adonis Festival in NYC and received staggering praise. In June of 2016, it had a production in Bournemouth, UK at the Shelley Theatre and subsequently in 2017, a production at the Seven Angels Theatre in Connecticut. 

Looking for something a little lighter? We got you. Emily’s next play, Cold Porridge, was a satire on all things murder mystery that received attention from The Huffington Post, Local Theatre New York, Stage Biz, and HMag during Winterfest 2018 at the Hudson Guild Theatre. #Range

Okay, okay. You’ve done some stuff. We get it. But WHO are G&E exactly?

The G 

Gregory Cioffi (SAG-AFTRA, AEA) is a published writer, professional actor, and director. His works have been published in The Feral Press, Mystery Weekly Magazine, Queen Mobs Tea House, Little Old Lady (LOL) Comedy, Blood Moon Rising Magazine, Fleas on the Dog, The Five-Two, Aphelion, and Allegory Ridge. Six of these stories have been archived in Yale Univeristy’s Beinecke Collection (Rare Books and Manuscript Library). 

Greg portrays Fat Ricky in the television show The Godfather of Harlem. He was featured in Martin Scorsese's film The Irishman, and played notorious gangster Tommy Lucchese in AMC's mini-series The Making of the Mob. Greg continuously plays Tony in various national and international tours of Tony n Tina's Wedding. 

Greg received his Bachelors of Arts and Masters of Science in English Education with a concentration in English Writing and was further awarded the Writing Across the Curriculum Award in recognition of writing intensive studies. He then earned his Master of Arts in Theatre Acting. 

Last year Greg was granted the Hemera Contemplative Fellowship for Artists and went off to the Zen Mountain Monastery to study Zen Art, allowing him to expand his knowledge and perspective regarding his craft. 

Greg has proudly served on the SAG Awards Nominating Committee.

He currently teaches two courses at Nassau Community College (an acting class and a creative writing course). 

The E

Emily Dinova (AEA, SAG-AFTRA Eligible) is a writer, actor, director and producer living in Hoboken, New Jersey. She has an MA in Stage and Screen Writing from Regent’s University (London, UK), a Bachelors in English with a Theatre concentration (Writing, Directing, Acting & Film) from Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY) and studied Opera at the Instituto Lorenzo de’Medici (Florence, Italy). 

She has appeared Off-Broadway in several shows including My Big Gay Italian Wedding, My Big Gay Italian Funeral, Gay-Porn-Mafia, and the upcoming play Reel Wood. She tours regularly, both nationally and internationally, as Tina in Tony n Tina’s Wedding. Emily just finished filming Ghost Guidos, a parody television pilot currently looking for a network to call home!

The above-mentioned Cold Porridge was her fifth play to hit the New York Theatre scene in a little over two years. Others include: The Locals [wrote/acted in] at The Jewel Box Theatre, Copse, [wrote/directed] for the Midtown International Theatre Festival, and Ruptured [wrote/acted in] for Manhattan Rep.

Most recently, Emily directed the film Transit: A NYC Fairytale. The fundraising video stirred up debates and discussions on social media regarding its subject matter with one post alone reaching 10,000 people. Emily headed a promotional campaign for the film at the 2019 Pride Parade in NYC. The film is currently in post-production. 

Emily is an avid traveler, constantly looking to explore new places, cultures and people, which serve as the inspiration for a lot of her work. She’s completed two novels, Bode and The Veil of Seduction, which she hopes to publish soon! 

And that’s pretty much who we are and what we do! 

We hope to publish at least one blog post a month! At times they may be articles, other times press releases, and sometimes just exciting updates!

The point is - we hope you follow us and find this blog interesting or helpful or inspirational or hilarious. We’ll take any of those.

Thank you for reading the inaugural post of G&E in Motion.

As long as we’re moving, we’re grooving - and hopefully - improving.

Onwards and Upwards, Always - G&E