Local Filmmakers Continue Horror Web Series

When producer John Lenihan was thinking of an actor he could count on to be on set whenever needed, the decision was easy: himself.

“The only reason I’m playing a role on screen is so I can guarantee at least one actor on set,” he said. “I always know that guy’s gonna be here.”

It’s not that the other actors don’t want to be on set of the web series Lenihan is a producer and writer for. It’s just that they mostly all have full time jobs or school. Such is life for the cast and crew of “Haywire,” a science fiction/horror web series currently filming its second season. The first season, which debuted on Halloween 2010 and aired a new episode every month until the following October, took about 14 months to complete, with filming only taking place on weekends.

“We’re weekend warriors,” said Scott Klein, the creator of the series and an accountant during the week.

Klein and his girlfriend Arlene So live in Monroe in Orange County. Before moving to Monroe, they both lived in Rockland, where they made three films together. The first, called “The Risen,” is a black-and-white zombie film made mostly in Central Nyack. The second is a dark comedy called “4 For Dinner” made mostly in Pearl River. The last is called “Cry,” and it’s about the Irish myth of the banshee, and was made primarily in Nanuet.

In 2009, Klein got the idea for “Haywire” and decided to give a go as a web series.

“With a film, it’s difficult to get distribution and so you have to go to festivals and travel around, and all that costs money,” Klein said. “With a web series, I have just have to convince people to click a button and watch.”

“Haywire” does not have a budget. Klein and the other producers spend money on food for the cast and crew out of pocket. Everything else comes from volunteers. Klein said when he was making films in Rockland, he would recruit actors from Elmwood Playhouse in Nyack, some of whom he still works with a decade later. The actors donate their time, as do the owners of shooting locations.

“I think there is a certain pay-off, though,” Klein said. “For the actors, a lot of them do plays and let’s say they do a play a few time and 300 people see it. Then that’s it. The play is gone. The series is on the internet. It’s there forever. And for the businesses, they’re getting word out about their business. Plus, we have have fun working together.”

Klein said the cast and crew really enjoy the little time they have together, and when looking to bring others into the shooting process, he wants to make sure they will “vibe” with the everyone else.

“It’s so much fun,” said Erin deWard, of Nyack, a new actor for season two. “What could possibly be more fun than this?”

deWard got involved because her husband, Yani Tsakos, acted in the first season. Not only did deWard join for season two, but so did her and Tsakos’ daughter, Thalia Tsakos, 11.

“It’s fun to be creepy,” Thalia Tsakos said.

The three all have prior acting experience, and just completed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with the Children’s Shakespeare Theater in Palisades. deWard and Thalia Tsakos also have a web series of their own called “Mombie Says,” which features deWard as a zombie mother dishing out parental orders and eating her child’s brain.

“We have more experience doing Shakespeare,” deWard said. “But I guess we like the creepy stuff too. We like the makeup.”

They aren’t the only family involved with the series. On a recent Saturday, the cast and crew worked out of the Valley Cottage home of Ken Sharp, who has acted in the series. His 11-year-old twin daughters, Rachel and Jillian, also act in the series.

Sharp got involved with the series after reconnecting with Lenihan on Facebook years after the two attended Rockland Community College together. After they started talking, they realized their wives went to high school together and Lenihan told Sharp about the upcoming web series. Sharp, a contractor, has acted for 30-plus years.

“Haywire” is set in Monroe, and mostly filmed in the area as well. The series follows life after a burst of light is seen over Monroe, leading to power outages and the complete failure of all electronic devices. Those who see the light are sent into a loop of whatever activity they were doing when the light flashed. The only time those affected stop in their loop is when someone gets in their way, and that’s when those affected tend to get violent.

The first season had 12 episodes that ran from 6-14 minutes, and all are online and available to watch for free. They can be seen on Youtube, on Koldcast.tv or on the series’ website, www.HaywireSeries.com. Klein said the second season will have eight episodes, but they’ll all be a bit more detailed and probably range from 10-15 minutes each.

The crew is mostly done with filming the second season and hopes to debut the premiere episode on Halloween again, and then on the first of each month after.

Along with Lenihan and Klein, Elizabeth and Luis Martinez are the others behind the web series. Klein met the Martinez’s because they acted in zombies in “The Risen,” and the three became friends. Luis Martinez is the cinematographer and Elizabeth Martinez does make up. Klein said the crew all work a lot of different jobs at shoots.

Klein says because the series is available to watch on so many different sites, he’s not sure how many people have watched it. He estimates in the thousands, though. The first series won “Best Drama of the Week” five times from the website Indie Intertube’s weekly podcast, which chronicles independent television and art created for the Internet.  But none of that is why Klein considers the first season a success.

“What I think made the first season successful is that when we decided to do a second season, everyone from the first season said, ‘I’m in,’” Klein said. “Everyone wanted to come back and work with us again and just have a good time making this web series.” 

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Correction: an earlier version of this story stated just Klein paid out of pocket for crew lunches; the error has been remedied.