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| Ashley Park |
Actress, Producer, Athlete, Model, Miss Asia USA. Is there anything Ashley Park has not done? I have the pleasure of knowing Ashley personally. I made her acquaintance in Spin Class at Gold's Gym Hollywood. She's here to speak about her current creative endeavor STAY - Do you like scary movies? Read on Minions!
MS: Hi Ashley, how did you become an independent film producer?
AP: I came to LA to pursue acting and have been fortunate to appear in TV shows like Rosewood and Days of Our Lives. It wasn’t until I became involved with a film called Surviving Theater 9 that I assumed a producer’s role. ST9 dealt with the issue of domestic gun violence and was produced with a well-known cast. That experience ultimately motivated me to produce a smaller project with the goal of learning all aspects of filmmaking. My first micro-budget film is called STAY.
MS: Why did you choose the paranormal horror genre for your first film?
AP: I wanted to produce a very contained drama with limited locations and a psychological twist. STAY is about a fashion model who pursues her dream job while taking her YouTube audience along for the ride. It’s a cautionary tale of ambition gone wrong, and it blends the terror of a film like Paranormal Activity with the allure of America’s Next Top Model.
MS: What makes fashion a fertile ground for a horror movie?
AP: There is a thin line between what is fashionable and what is horrific. The beauty business is a high stakes game that exploits certain vulnerabilities in people. That angle was our gateway to the paranormal elements in the film.
MS: You are a former Miss Asia USA, did your experience with pageants inspire the story?
AP: Being involved with pageants was a wonderful experience, but like anything presentational, there is a dark side. I’m sure on a subconscious level, I was dreaming up a story that combined beauty and horror!
MS: The cast of STAY includes Dre Davis from Pretty Little Liars. PLL is one of my favorite shows and I wonder how much you knew about the series before casting Dre as your best friend?
AP: The role of Mia was the last to be cast in the film. I was aware of Pretty Little Liars but it was Dre’s fantastic look and honest approach to the character that we liked. When you have a low-tech movie with actors crawling around in the dark, it’s important that they are visually distinguishable from each other. Nobody is going to confuse me with Dre!
MS: What can you tell us about your new company Ghost Machine Pictures?
AP: I formed Ghost Machine with my producing partner and Emmy Award-winning writer, Brandon Walker. This new enterprise focuses on the production and distribution of independent horror films with a supernatural component.
MS: What makes the company unique?
AP: We take a no-excuses approach to filmmaking. Instead of waiting for the perfect time to make a film, we consider the things we already have... a smartphone, an interesting location... and build a movie around that. Making any kind of film is hard, but making one with no budget meant doing nearly everything ourselves. On STAY, we wrote and shot the picture, then learned how to edit and do the post-production work. It was a crazy experience and we committed to fixing most problems on the fly.
MS: What can audiences expect from STAY?
AP: By tweaking the found footage style, we have presented a video diary gone very, very wrong. I hope our small movie delivers some big scares!
MS: Where can we see STAY?
AP: STAY is available with Amazon Prime and is free to stream on GOSTBOX.com.
