Deep Dark Well

This is it! The Season One finale of Deep Dark Well. After a full run of conversations with filmmakers, collaborators, and horror community builders, we’re hitting pause… but for a good reason. In this episode, the guys talk about stepping away from the podcast to focus on writing the next project: their first feature film. They get into where they are at creatively, lessons learned from this seas...

In this episode of Deep Dark Well, we sit down with Shannon Ford Thompson, the Festival Director of the Buried Alive Film Fest, President of the Atlanta Horror Society, and a filmmaker dedicated to building something real for the horror community. We talk about what it takes to run a genre festival, and why creating a genuine space for horror fans and filmmakers matters now more than ever. Shannon...

In this episode of Deep Dark Well, we’re joined by actors Brett Brooks, Erin Ownbey, and Allison Peel to talk about bringing our latest short films, PLAYBACK and MADAM, to life. Both films were shot over the course of a single, slightly unhinged three-day weekend, so naturally, we had to sit down and unpack what actually happened. It’s part behind-the-scenes breakdown, part group therapy, and part...

In this episode of DEEP DARK WELL, we sit down with actor Kyle Gazak, a longtime collaborator who has been part of the Heebie-Jeebies chaos across multiple projects, including DISEMBODIES, CHECKPOINT, DAGNABBIT!, and one lost-to-time experiment we call THE GUARDIAN. We talk about how Kyle got his start in acting, from the stage to the screen, and the personal experiences that shaped him along the...

In Part Two of our conversation with Jonathan Martin (founder of FilmQuest), we get into the part filmmakers usually don’t want to hear: Your festival strategy starts before you make your film. Listen to Jonathan break down how to actually prepare for the festival circuit, from choosing the right project and understanding your audience, to avoiding the common mistakes that can sink a film before i...

In this episode of Deep Dark Well, we sit down with Jonathan Martin, founder and festival director of FilmQuest, and a filmmaker who cut his teeth on the festival circuit just like the rest of us. This is Part One of a longer conversation, and we start at the beginning: how Jonathan got into filmmaking, what it was like navigating festivals with his own work, and how those experiences eventually l...

In Episode 10 of Deep Dark Well, the guys sit down with cinematographer Tom Festo for a convo about collaboration, craft, and the long road of filmmaking. They discuss how they first connected on the film festival circuit (thanks FilmQuest!), what it’s like building creative partnerships over time, and the challenges we’ve faced working together (pfft, there weren't any!) From shooting TAPESTR...

In Episode 9 of DEEP DARK WELL, the guys chat with David Taylor, our neighbor to the north and festival director of the Vancouver Horror Show — or if you're "cool" like these guys think you are: VHS.They discuss their experiences screening at VHS (at least the ones that got accepted...), how the festival got its start, and what actually goes into programming a horror film festival. D...

In this episode of Deep Dark Well, we sit down with musicians and composers Tessa Rose Jackson and Darius Timmer, longtime collaborators who have worked closely with Heebie-Jeebies across multiple projects. We talk about the differences between composing for indie films and writing original music, how storytelling changes the way they approach sound, and what it’s like translating a visual story i...

In this episode of Deep Dark Well, the gang sits down with one of our oldest collaborators and fellow SCAD survivor, Luke McMahon. Luke is the co-founder of Bird Mountain Media and has been in the Heebie-Jeebies trenches since the very beginning—going all the way back to our first film in 2018, Little Dreamer . We talk about the reality of work/life balance (lolz), the real struggles of freelancin...

In this episode of DEEP DARK WELL, we sit down with actress Erin Ownbey (Ozark, Marvel's Echo, The Hunting Wives), someone who has worked on nearly every Heebie-Jeebies horror and sci-fi short film, and is still somehow friends with us. Listen in as Erin talks about her journey as an actor, the real differences between working on studio projects vs indie films, and what actually keeps her comi...

It's 2026, y'all! And we're back strong with a great episode featuring writer, director, and all-around good guy Dylan Clark! If you enjoy watching horror shorts on YouTube (and if you're listening to us, then there is a very good chance that's exactly how you choose to spend your free time), then you really don't need an introduction to Dylan. But we're gonna give him...

On this episode of DEEP DARK WELL, we drag horror filmmaker and freshly crowned Screambox Director of Programming and Original Productions, Tony Wash, down into the pit with us. We talk early horror obsessions, love of physical media—all hail VHS—surviving the Tom Savini's Special Make-Up Effects Program, and how he ended up curating some of today's best horror films for one of the biggest...

Actor Brett Brooks joins us in the DEEP DARK WELL for an episode packed with friendship origin stories, film-set chaos, and the kind of wild audition stories that only happen when the universe takes a nap and lets the kids run wild. Brett Brooks is an illustrator, actor, and writer who has worked on nearly every Heebie-Jeebies Pictures project there is. Heck, Brett’s been making films with this te...

On this episode of DEEP DARK WELL, the Heebie-Jeebies crew gets a little personal. No, not that, get your head out of the gutter. The team digs into the making of their feature films — THE GREAT JOURNEY, a documentary by Joshua David Matthews, and PATIENT, a horror film written and directed by Jason Sheedy and produced by Kyle Steinike. From behind-the-scenes disasters to unexpected wins, they sha...

Well, here we are. Our very first podcast episode. We're sorry. But before we start dragging other filmmakers into the Deep Dark Well, we’re starting at the top — with us. Jason Sheedy, Joshua David Matthews, and Kyle Steinike spill the guts on how we met, fell into filmmaking, and somehow built this monster called  Heebie-Jeebies Pictures . It’s part therapy session, part trip down memory lane, a...

What's this now? The guys have a podcast?! Well, this can only go extremely well, and not at all off the rails. Tune in this Halloween (which happens to be our first anniversary, so don't forget the gift!) for the first episode of DEEP DARK WELL! They plan to be on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, but let's see if they can figure out how to use the schedule tool, so if you're seeing this, the...