Se7en Questions with Filmmaker
Daniel Mark Young

Who are some of the artists or some of the works that inspired you to get started in this field? Of today’s current artists, who do you draw inspiration from?

John Carpenter is probably my biggest influence. He knew how to take a small budget and get the most production value from it, which is something we try our best to achieve on every project. I’m also influenced by a lot of French and Spanish Extreme cinema.

What have thus far been some of the negatives of being an indie artist in your field?

To be brutally honest, it’s the funding. We have lots of ideas and an incredibly talented team working at Viral Films UK, but funding those ideas has been the trickiest and most frustrating part of all, I’m sure a lot of indie filmmakers will agree.

What have thus far been the positives of being an indie artist in your field?

Meeting some amazing people who will go the extra mile to help you get your work out there, it’s incredible that someone can just get behind your ideas and take it to places you didn’t think were possible. Hearing what the horror community has to say about your work (though not always positive) is a huge deal to us too.

What have been your favorite completed projects to work on up to this point? Can you tell us a little bit about them?

We always try to have fun on set but work tirelessly, too. Every project has been great but so far shooting For Her has been my best experience to date. We got the job done but also had the time of our lives shooting that material. It was a fun movie to be involved with despite its tone and subject matter.

What projects are you currently working on or have planned for the near future?

We are currently working on a Black and White werewolf film called Werehouse. I’m a huge fan of the sub-genre and have always wanted to make a werewolf movie, so this is a bit of a dream come true. We are also working on ideas for feature films that hopefully we will get a chance to film in the coming years.

Where do you see yourself in a few years and what would it take for you to consider your career a success? 

In the next few years (2-3) I would like to think we will have a feature film shot and ready for festivals and possibly prepping a second feature. For us to achieve that we need to combat our stopping block of funding projects.

If you couldn’t do this anymore, what career path do you think you would have followed and why?

I really don’t know, hopefully, something in the film industry, I’ve worked as an Editor on a lot of other projects so maybe that.