Nathan Wrann (Director, Writer, Producer, Editor): The road to “Hunting Season” for Nathan began a decade ago when he made the decision to leave the U.S. Army Military Police Corps to focus on writing and attending Southern Connecticut State University.
While at SCSU Nathan studied theatre and was a member of the On-Campus Theatre Organization, The Crescent Players. During this time he was afforded the opportunity to be a part of two Off-Broadway productions. The first, as an actor, was a role in “A Jimmy Stewart Kind of World” written and directed by Jim Brunt. Nathan’s second trip Off-Broadway was as director of the ambitious, dark, multi-media staging of Heiner Mueller’s “HamletMachine.”
Before finishing at SCSU with a Bachelors Degree in Video Production Nathan was also fortunate to have a short story, “Only in Death,” recognized as the Honorable Mention for the Eve Cumming Prize for Fiction and published in the On-Campus Literary Magazine “Folio.” Nathan would later adapt “Only In Death” into a full-length feature screenplay called “Fence” which still holds a warm place in his heart. He holds on to plans to produce and direct the independent drama someday.
Directly after graduating from SCSU Nathan took the next logical step to utilize his Video Production degree and get ever closer to feature film production: he opened a coffee shop, called Elm City Java, in downtown New Haven, Connecticut(!?). Running a coffee shop for up to 18 hours a day did not leave much time for writing, producing, directing or nearly anything else other than making espresso. So the filmmaking plans were on hold. Little did Nathan know, at this time, how much influence Elm City Java would have on the future production that is “Hunting Season.”
Running the shop with a bare bones crew forced Nathan to intensely learn and train in the mystical art that is Multitasking, a skill that is priceless in the independent film world. Hosting live music every Friday also ingrained Nathan in the deep, diverse musical talent pool that is the New Haven, local music scene. These connections would prove invaluable later on. Being so close to so many artists that realize their dream, simply playing their music in front of a live audience with no preconceived notions of fame or fortune, helped to keep the creative fires stoked, despite the lack of time to physically pursue them.
The two and a half years that Nathan was involved with Elm City Java are some of the happiest of his life, he met great friends, succeeded in building a community, opened people’s eyes to Fair Trade Coffee and married his wife, Kimberly Dalton. But alas those days had to come to an end.
In 2004 Nathan took a position punching a keyboard in front of a computer monitor at a cubicle farm for a health insurance company. The work was boring and mindless and nowhere near the fun that owning a coffee shop was but suddenly Nathan realized that after the 8 hours spent at he desk he had a whole hell of a lot of free time available, 16 hours to be exact.
The first project to spawn from this overload of free time was the pop-punk interviews and reviews website Hearts and Sleeves. Traveling the north east and meeting a plethora of today’s hottest rock stars, back when they were up and coming rock stars was a blast. It also began to lead to more creative stirrings within Nathan and the realization that anyone of us can do anything that we want as long as we plan it and work hard for it. At this point Nathan began writing again.
The first script finished in this renaissance of creative output, “Nice: The Chronicles of Seth Part 1” is a horror-mystery-thriller about a serial killer that follows a teenage vampire from LA to Seattle, the teen must set out to catch him to prove his own innocence. A well received script that was recognized for its potential came this [__] close to being produced with a recognizable name in the lead, but a lack of faith by others in Nathan’s own ability, and his non-existent filmmaking history, derailed the production. Never one to accept or allow that others can prevent him from realizing his goals prompted Nathan to take a few steps backward, assess his resources and soldier on. Thus, “Hunting Season” was born.
The state of the direct to video horror selection was another motivating factor in the creation of “Hunting Season.” Nathan is a student of late night cable TV independent movies from the ‘80’s. Staying up late to watch the films of Craven, Cronenberg, Lynch, Hooper and Romero as well as many less terrifying visions from other maverick filmmakers taught Nathan the ropes, long before attending a single class at college or reading a single “How to Make a Movie” book. The utter vacuum of independent horror movies of that caliber prompted and drove Nathan toward a personal goal: To create the kind of independent horror movie that he wanted to see. That is a movie that was both an “indie film” and a “horror movie.” One with a logical story and character development. One with motivation beyond “gore-nography.”
Written over a few months in the winter of ’05-’06 Nathan set out to create an ultra-low-budget horror movie utilizing the best of what minimal resources he had: A plot of wooded land, a cast of mostly first-time actors and a whole lot of dedication, frustration, creativity and motivation.
With “Hunting Season,” Nathan has achieved his personal goal. He has created a scary, brutal, unrelenting horror movie that wears its influence on its sleeve and pays homage to those that have come before. He created the kind of movie that he loved discovering as a teenager. He made the kind of movie that has been absent from the video store shelves for far too long.
“Hunting Season” marks the full-length directorial debut for Nathan.
The road to “Hunting Season” ends here but the road for Nathan Wrann continues. He is currently writing two, as yet untitled, original feature length scripts, one of which he will be producing and directing in the summer of 2007, as well as the sequel to “Hunting Season.” He is also adapting “Nice: The Chronicles of Seth, Part 1” as a novel and is working on developing both “Nice …” and “Fence” into motion pictures.
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