Have you ever been in a situation where you don’t know what hit you? Well, that’s personified the last 3 months for me. The worst part about it all is that I sort of dug my own grave…pun intended! As a creator, the only option is to at least give a valiant effort to keep topping yourself. Take some of your favorite bands for example, they can release 16 albums in their career, but how many of them are literal classics that are widely accepted as monumental and influential to music? There may be only one or 2 in the band’s entire catalog that are looked at in that light. While I’m not saying that this year’s Halloween Special is monumental OR influential, I’m saying that there’s no point in creating stuff if they don’t emerge different or offer some kind of varying degree of goodness than previous works. Where am I going with this? Read on!
The previous 3 Halloween Specials we’ve made are like little mini-movies that are fueled by my insane passion for Halloween. They’re chock full of horror movie references and Halloween masks. Capturing the essence of the Halloween season and putting it to video is my jam, but the key here is that it’s pretty much how my entire Halloween season goes. From the point the season officially begins on Dinosaur Dracula, to the point where I collapse from all the hell I’ve put myself through making the Halloween Special and creating some ridiculously obscure costume to wear to a masquerade, it’s non-stop chaos. Truly chaos.
Being late for family parties, arguing with loved ones, and extreme lack of sleep all factor into this chaos. Hell, I couldn’t even do the production blogs that I planned on like I did last year because this thing was so time consuming. My Halloween seasons are rarely pumpkin spice and everything nice, even though that’s the way it seems. It’s work, work, work. At times I even had to make a lot of executive decisions that pissed a lot of people off, but it’s all in the name of Halloween. I wouldn’t have it any other way though. I put this all on my own shoulders.
Yes, I put it all on myself, but in a way, I only do it for myself – let me elaborate. For the first 2 specials at least, having tons of people watch them wasn’t even on my radar. I just wanted to follow my passion and incorporate my love for movie making and my lust for Halloween into one thing that I could enjoy creating. When I saw how last year’s Halloween Special got so much great feedback, then it made me realize that I should continue making them, but how would I top last years? Personally I still love 2013’s so much, but damn, last year was special to me. Basically, I never thought I’d have more than a few hundred people watching these, and that is the honest truth. But, now that I do have so many cool friends and people I know from social media digging these, then it makes it that much more exciting for me to debut this. The fact that you care enough to take a chunk of your time to watch it means everything to me.
Looking back over the last few months, from the second I sat down to write the script, to today, it’s been a long haul. This year, the entire production was bigger and more intricate than anything I’ve ever done. I’ve been making mini movies since I was 8 years old, and the reason why this is the most ambitious thing I ever created is due to a few reasons. Here they are:
1. IT’S AN ANTHOLOGY! – That means 3 stories in ONE, plus a wraparound story. More bang for your buck, but this is actually free so that doesn’t apply!
2. Bigger cast – mostly due to the addition of 2 characters. Both of these characters have been part of the earliest scripts that I’ve ever written for The Sexy Armpit show
2. More locations – Rather than just be stuck in my condo (Sexy Armpit HQ) for most of the show, we venture out to a few places
Sure, I put everyone through a lot of shit, and even though it’s a pain, there’s really no denying that it’s kind of fun to do. The personal satisfaction of hearing that someone enjoyed one of these silly productions I made, outweighs all the stress I put myself through. It’s not fun when I’m demanding 40 takes for the delivery of a 3 word line from someone, but if I can speak on behalf of everyone in it, it’s fun to be a part of. Watching the final product will be a lot more fun for our small cast and our cameo actors because they have no idea how it will come together. There are 3 or 4 people who have seen the script so it’s almost as tightly covered up as The Force Awakens! Only this one is a lot sillier and has several F-bombs.
Before I wrap this up, let me throw some thanks and appreciation. First, Miss Sexy Armpit, who is just as difficult to deal with as I am, did an amazing job pulling off at least 3 jobs. She is the voice and puppeteer of Sludgey, and she lent her kickass hair and makeup skills as well, oh and there’s another little surprise she’ve involved with as well! Thanks to Mike Wirth and his wife Lauren both are tremendous help and are very patient with me knowing how I can get when we are filming. We also have a new addition to the Halloween Special this year, and it’s very awesome for me to be able to thank friend and actress Holly Knapp for being in my special this year. Not many people would agree to do this after reading the lines that I had for this role. From many years back seeing her at a spooky dinner theater all the way to the present where she puts some literal magic on the screen in my special. She’s presently acting in a production of Ragtime in New Jersey. She’s definitely one of the highlights of the special this year and she was the exact person I needed to add that special ingredient. Special thanks to Ghostbusters NJ and The Sugar + Sunshine Bakery in Plainsboro, NJ, and last but not least, all of our surprise cameos! You know who you are! Don’t want to spoil anything just yet!
I’ve only watched this in chunks as I edited it for the last couple of months, but, tonight, I’ll watch it for the first time on the big TV with Miss Sexy Armpit. Time to break open the Gran Patron Platinum for this special occasion! I hope you enjoy The Sexy Armpit’s Halloween Special 2015 and let us know if you’re watching it via social media! You can find all of our accounts on the top right of this page. Watching it via your big screen TV is my recommendation and be sure to get inebriated. Try to take a screen shot of your TV if you can! Thanks for reading and watching and Happy Halloween!
