{"id":1162004,"date":"2023-12-16T09:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/?p=1162004"},"modified":"2024-05-02T21:54:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T04:54:42","slug":"skinamarinks-budget-kyle-edward-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/skinamarinks-budget-kyle-edward-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"Skinamarink Director Kyle Edward Ball Shot His Well-Planned Nightmare for Just $10K"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the surface, Skinamarink<\/em> looks like one of the greatest indie-film success stories. Director Kyle Edward Ball says he and his team managed to make their horror hit for the very low budget of about $10,000 by planning everything \u201clike we were going to climb Mount Everest.\u201d It went on to make $2 million at the box office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for all that planning, the Canadian production suffered wild ups and downs no one could have anticipated, and a terrible tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skinamarink<\/em> tells the story of young siblings Kevin (Lucas Paul) and Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault), who wake up one morning to find their father (Ross Paul) is missing. The only light in the house comes from their TV, because the home\u2019s doors and windows have mysteriously vanished as well. For 100 minutes, they wait for their dad to show up, or the lights to come on. Time passes in strange ways. It\u2019s a child\u2019s nightmare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real-life tragedy came to the film when assistant director Josh Bookhalter died just after filming was complete<\/a>. He also ran sound for the shoot, and the audio files were still on his computer at the time of his death. Ball took time away from the project to grieve his friend. Then, in time, he reached out to Bookhalter\u2019s family to retrieve the audio files. They agreed the film should be completed in his memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A still from Skinamarink.<\/em> Photo courtesy of Shudder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last summer, during its festival run, Skinamarink<\/em> leaked online, appearing in TikTok clips that received over 20 million views. It was obviously not the ideal way for the movie to be seen, but it became a marketing blessing in disguise. Shudder decided to release the film in theaters this past January after it became an underground sensation, and soon viewers who didn\u2019t see it in theaters could stream it on Shudder at home<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ball says the experience of almost losing Skinamarink<\/em>, several times, and then watching it become a box office hit, left him feeling like \u201cCarrie<\/em> at the prom, but, in a good way\u2026 before the blood.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rules of Skinamarink<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

He said the film\u2019s survival, and ultimate success, came down to two principles. No. 1 is simple: Be graceful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of filmmakers gave me bad advice, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but just be nice, try to be human, try to be empathetic,\u201d Ball says. \u201cBeing an asshole when you\u2019re first starting out will do us zero favors in the long run. You\u2019ll regret being an asshole.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principle No. 2: Create a set of rules for the shoot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rules that I created would make the movie different, would deliver the atmosphere I wanted, and also would keep us under budget. The rules are: We never see the character\u2019s faces and their dialogue is delivered off screen. We would only use one location and only see the four characters,\u201d says Ball. \u201cWe don\u2019t see the outside and there\u2019s no sunlight coming in before the windows and doors disappear. There\u2019s no musical soundtrack, so any music will be incidental stuff coming off the television.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n