Girt by Fear is a six-part comedy horror web series about the strange and supernatural terrors lurking in the suburbs of Sydney. We follow a group of twenty-somethings on their way to a Halloween party they’ll never forget. Each episode plays on a different horror trope as our protagonists confront their darkest fears. This is a horror anthology for the twenty-first century, deeply rooted in Australian youth culture and genre filmmaking. Welcome to Australia’s wildest Halloween party. One night. One city. Young and free. Girt by fear.
“Australians are perhaps the most fearful people on the planet. We are terrified of the ‘other’ in every possible way. Horror films bring these fears to the surface” – Producer, Joel Perlgut.
Girt by Fear highlights a range of issues within Australian culture including immigration, toxic masculinity and our relationship to technology but it comes from a place of love for the genre, that’s not didactic.
The series is also nominated for Best Australian Comedy and Best Visual/ Special effects at this year’s webfest.
How did you create such an impressive series on a limited budget?
There are so many factors that made it possible for us to achieve the level of production we did. We worked with really talented people, who gave us their time for free or at an extreme discount. They came on board because liked the sound of the project, because they were our mates or because they were young and hungry and were willing to forgive our catering team’s reliance on ALDI snacks. We asked a lot of our cast and crew and pretty much they’re the reason we could make this series. Plus we did all the normal indie filmmaking things and pulled a lot of favors for gear, location hire, catering and design elements.
As Australians, do you believe that our society is ‘Girt by Fear’ of other cultures/stereotypes?
Australians are perhaps the most fearful people on the planet. We are terrified of the ‘other’ in every possible way. Horror films bring these fears to the surface. They make them tangible and ridiculous and they no longer hold this strange power over us. The series deals with stuff about immigration, toxic masculinity and our relationship to technology but it comes from a place of love for the genre, that’s not didactic.
What was your target audience and how did you build a relationship with them? How did you approach the marketing of your series?
We had a social media presence going throughout the series. It helped that we had a crowd funding campaign going around 9 months in, this gave us a bit of a boost in terms of our profile. We threw a couple parties, one for the crowdfunding campaign, one for the launch. For the final launch we went out to press with an EPK and contacted all of our friends who were journalists to get the word out.
We spent a lot of time on our promo materials and always made sure we had a stills photographer on set. A couple of the core team had worked in promos, so they made sure our trailers stood out.
How long did it take to produce and shoot the series?
From development through release, the series took 18 months to make. (Writers note: this is the second longest romantic relationship I’ve been in.)
What did you want to achieve in creating this series?
We wanted to make something that was funny, scary and spoke to our experience as a group of young Australians. If we did one and a-half of those things, we reckon it’s a success.
How did you choose the platform you released the series on?
We went with YouTube because it seemed flexible and unpretentious. Everyone watches YouTube videos and by our logic, everyone should watch our series.
What advice would you give to emerging creators?
Get a team. Find some people who are like you and buddy up. Lean on them in the hard times and inspire them when you can. We are perpetually sold myths about the ‘lone entrepreneur’ or ‘the auteur’ and they are just this, myths. Filmmaking is a team sport, so get a team
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