Adapting Weird Fiction to The Screen
How do modern filmmakers adapt the Weird to the Screen? The challenges, frustrations, and triumphs, as experienced by the filmmakers who have done it best.
Sean is a producer, actor, director and writer with the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society which he runs with his nefarious colleague, Andrew Leman. He was intimately involved in the creation of the motion pictures The Call of Cthulhu and The Whisperer in Darkness, nineteen episodes of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, and many other Lovecraftian projects. With his work at the HPLHS, he's created many other Lovecraftian entertainments. Sean also produces and directs live theatre in Los Angeles. He plays ice hockey and has four chinchillas.
Philip Gelatt is a screenwriter, filmmaker and author of comic books. His first film, THE BLEEDING HOUSE, premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film festival. He was the screenwriter on the Ray Bradbury Award nominated science-fiction film EUROPA REPORT, starring Sharlto Copley, Mikael Nyqvist, and Anna-Maria Marinca, released by Magnet Pictures in 2013.
His upcoming projects include THE SPINE OF NIGHT, a fantasy film epic starring Betty Gabriel (The Purge 3) on which he is both screenwriter and producer. And “-30-“, based on a short story by author Laird Barron, on which Gelatt is both screenwriter and director.
His comic book work ranges from the science-fiction series Pariah to the historical spy epic Petrograd.
Andrew Leman is one of the founding members of the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and has produced a number of literary, film, theatrical, music, prop and gaming projects there over the decades with his longtime friend and collaborator Sean Branney. He has written and produced more than 20 live-action Lovecraftian role-playing games. He wrote and directed the first HPLHS film, "The Testimony of Randolph Carter", directed "The Call of Cthulhu", and co-wrote and co-produced The Whisperer in Darkness. He co-wrote, produced, and appears in the "Dark Adventure Radio Theatre" series of Lovecraft adaptations. Leman earned his MFA in acting from the University of Illinois, and has been seen on professional stages in Chicago and Los Angeles. He greatly enjoys reading for The H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast and being an occasional guest host. When not pursuing any of these many other occupations, Leman is a graphic and type designer, and his typographical work has been seen in books and on movie screens, Trader Joe’s products, and billboards nationwide.