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Us here at Ruby Tree Films are a huge fan of The Walking Dead and we couldn’t be happier for Greg and the whole cast/crew!

If you want to see how the K.N.B team created a bunch of the zombie effects in The Walking Dead then check out our documentary Nightmare Factory which utilizes Greg’s own behind the scenes footage from the set of season one.

Like everyone else at Ruby Tree, Frank put his all into designing our promotional material and we couldn’t be happier with what he came up with!

So we just wanted to show it off to the world!

If you want to see more of his fantastical creepy design work head over to www.frankforrestall.com to check it out!

Check it out and while you’re there there is also a great interview with our favorite makeup maestro Greg Nictoero

Also if you missed a chance seeing the film or just want to see it again, head over to The Movie Network to find out when it’s airing again or head over to HBO Canada to check out their listings.

It’s also going to be available On Demand starting January 31st!

http://www.liljas-library.com/showreview.php?id=289

We are pleased to announce that after a year plus of hard and dedicated work, this monster of a documentary is finally being unleashed on the world!

So tune in tonight on The Movie Network at 9PMET/10PMAtlantic time and get an insiders look at the Hollywood world and the talented makeup men who populate it with the monsters that we all love and fear!

Also head on over to The Coast, who was kind enough to sneak something into this weeks issue:

Our trip has come to an end, I can’t believe it!! I’m not quite ready yet as I feel like there was so much more to experience! But hey it was an amazing dream come true and I only have Donna to thank for that.

We eat breakfast, check out of the hotel and load up the van and hit the road. We have a hectic drive back to the airport in L.A traffic, but Dan handles it like a pro. We arrive and check our bags and everything quite easily with no real hick ups and then we are waiting for the flight. We all grab a bite to eat and I pick up a couple small gifts from a shop and then we are on board.

I watched Shaun of the Dead and Hotel Rwanda and all of a sudden we are landing again in Toronto! We go through customs and everything fairly smoothly with the exception of a brief scare of Donna almost loosing her passport! A gentleman returns it to her and everything is good to go, we board again and then take off.

This flight I find longer than the first one, I am uncomfortable and tired but unable to sleep. My back aches and I can’t get situated but I deal with it. We land in Halifax at almost 2 o’clock, gather our bags get our cabs and then I am back home by 3am. Thus coming to an end one of the most amazing experiences of my life!!

Big big day! We are off to Weekend of Horrors at the Marriott Burbank hotel, after some discussion with the people in charge we get a spot to drop our gear and we start setting up. Donna, Dan, Bob and Steve stay in the main room to film Greg on a Walking Dead panel while they get me to roam around to film the vendors and try to find interesting people to meet.

I got to see some cool vendors selling masks, and coffin guitar cases and even a company selling Zombie Beef Jerky. After capturing as much of the atmosphere as possible I start searching for people to talk to. I met Mick Garris who said he would be interested in speaking to us, sadly he disappeared before Donna and the Crew wrapped up in the main room.

Next I met Norman Reedus from Boondock Saints fame!! Who was amazingly nice and was super game to do an interview with us. We got set up in a corner of the hallway and we did an interview with Nate Yapp from classichorror.com and then we were ready for Norman; who we couldn’t find now!! I searched the venue and discovered he was in a photo op for a while. As soon as he was out I grabbed him and brought him over to our corner and got the interview underway.

As a funny personal note I decided to buy a Dawn of the Dead poster from Ken Foree, he autographed it for me and then said it was $20.00. The smallest bill I had was a fifty and gave it to him and either he didn’t realize or didn’t care and just pocketed it. After an awkward moment of me trying to decide how to ask for my change back I decided to forget it and went on chatting with him. The rest of the crew teased me that I didn’t have any money left for food, but to me it was well worth it.

We wrapped up quickly and got some food and jetted for Screamfest at the famous Mann Chinese Theater. We walk in and I am blown away by the beauty of this historic movie theater. We spoke to Rachel Belofsky who is the founder and festival director and got set up to shoot the black carpet and then the intro and Q&A that followed the short films.

I was situated in the back of the theater shooting the whole event and while the films screened I got to sit on the floor and watch the shorts! Once that was done we wrapped up our gear, thanked the Screamfest people and then followed Greg to an after party at the Roosevelt Hotel.

Donna chatted with Greg cause he was leaving the next day to head to set. He set up a couple interviews for us at KNB and then we decided we should head out. I took this opportunity to thank Greg and tell him I’m a huge fan of his work. He patted me on the shoulder as I walked away!!! I’m in my glory, can this never end?

October 14^th, 2010

Hoping the sleep would have kicked the cold’s ass, I was disappointed to wake up and realize it had gotten worse over night. Deciding it wouldn’t take over my trip I put it behind me and got excited cause we were heading to KNB Effects to meet up with Greg Nicotero! Everything was a blur until we arrived!! The anticipation was growing as we waited outside while Donna was inside discussing what we would be doing with Greg. Soon we started to quietly bring the gear in and start to assemble what we needed to begin shooting.

Next thing I knew, we were in Greg’s office as he is taking part in a phone interview. I’m feeling completely stupefied! Here I am in the office of one of my biggest heroes in the film industry, a man who’s work I have loved and respected for years and not only do I find myself in his presence, but I am working on a movie about him! What did I do to deserve this dream come true?

We shot for a few hours until KNB had to close up, so after our first day goodbyes we had sometime to ourselves! We got some food, hit up some necessary places (i.e. the Pharmacy) and then we went to a camera store to buy Greg a present!

After a full day we were back at the hotel!

Cold is hitting it’s peak, but I will keep going strong! We are at KNB again today and it’s going to be big!

Greg has setup a meeting or two that he is giving us access to tape. We arrive in the morning and start unpacking the gear at which point Greg says we can shoot his meeting with Elijah Wood! Holy crap!!! Next thing I know I am a small room with the second camera, taping Greg and Elijah taking about some future projects! This whole thing is so surreal.

Once the meeting is finished, Greg takes Elijah on a tour of the factory and we follow them around which eventually wraps up and we run out for some lunch. After rejuvenating ourselves; we arrive back at KNB where Greg is having an important discussion with Andy Schoneberg (Just to let you know, he is the genius who built the scissor hands for Johnny Depp.) We break out the cameras and Bob and I capture as much of that as possible.

Bob and I go over into the shop on our own and we shoot the KNB crew sending out some wigs and make up for a new Mickey Rourke movie!! It’s really starting to sink in what a direct connection we have to Hollywood’s A list.

We wrap up and load the gear back into the van. We give Greg his present which he seems pretty stoked on and then we head home for a rest before a busy day on Sunday.

Things are cooking in the office here at Ruby Tree Films, we are working feverishly on the edit of Nightmare Factory. We are keeping our sanity even though we are fighting through thousands of horrors of footage. So if you’re a fan of films like Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill, Sin City, Piranha, Evil Dead 2 or anything the like, than make sure you keep your eyes peeling for this doc hitting the screen this coming October!

On top of that we are putting the finishing touches on our development packages for our next project called “Fanarchists” which is a doc series that tackles the fan film world and the subculture of amateur filmmakers who are trying to put the fear in the heart of Hollywood. Keep checking back for more information about it as we enter production.

For a treat here is a link to Greg Nicotero‘s short film United Monster Talent Agency which is the perfect send up to the classic monster films.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfctri_the-united-monster-talent-agency-greg-nicotero_shortfilms