Matthew Maio Mackay
He is the man behind A Tale Of The Laundry Game Dollar Baby Film.
SKSM: Could you start with telling me a little bit about yourself? Who are you and what do you do?
Matthew Maio Mackay: My name is Matthew Maio Mackay and I’m the creator and founder of One Manner Productions, which is an Australian independent film company. Writing and directing is my main passion, however, I also produce and edit various works.
SKSM: When did you know you wanted to become a filmmaker?
Matthew Maio Mackay: From a young age, I knew that I wanted to be an author, however only in the last three years, I knew that I wanted to write and direct film.
I had been entering competitions with short stories since reception and saw an advertisement for the international short film festival, which the Capri cinema was sponsoring. This led me to create a three-minute silent film for the competition, solely by myself with the use of stop motion. The film was selected to screen in the competition, and from then onwards my passion for film making continued to grow and develop. After that, I continued with animation and worked with voice actors such as Brennan Mejia (Power Rangers & Supergirl), Cori Gonzalez-Macuer (What We Do In The Shadows’ and Brennan Murray (VGHS). After completion of that film, I began to start working on my live-action projects as well as gaining work experience on other film sets.
SKSM: When did you make A tale of the laundry game? Can you tell me a little about the production? How much did it cost? How long did it take to film it?
Matthew Maio Mackay: The first draft of the script was completed in late 2018/ early 2019 and the film started to shoot in late February and wrapped during June. Although, it wasn’t shot linear, which is common in the film industry. Overall there were only about six different shoots, which due to scheduling complications took a while to organise. From then onwards editing took about two months.
SKSM: How come you picked Big wheels: A tale of the laundry game to develop into a movie? What is it in the story that you like so much?
Matthew Maio Mackay: I chose ‘Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game’ to develop into a movie, because it had never been adapted before to my knowledge, and it was also something that I knew would be cost-efficient to make. The story was intriguing and didn’t conform to the usual confinements and tropes of horror. It was also one of his stories that would be most realistic to produce and accomplish. The story leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination, which gave us a lot more creative freedom when writing the script.
SKSM: How did you find out that King sold the movie rights to some of his stories for just $1? Was it just a wild guess or did you know it before you sent him the check?
Matthew Maio Mackay: I found out about the Dollar Baby program through a film magazine, and then found the website and did some further research before sending through my application.
SKSM: How does it feel that all the King fans out there can’t see your movie? Do you think that will change in the future? Maybe a internet/DVD release would be possible?
Matthew Maio Mackay: I’d love to share the film with all the fans but understand his decision to keep them private. Hopefully, in the future, this might change and the film will become available to a wider audience.
SKSM: What “good or bad” reviews have you received on your film?
Matthew Maio Mackay: I haven’t had many reviews, although the ones that I have received have been positive. Despite limited reviews, the film has had some good publicity and has been doing well in the festival circuit, being a finalist and receiving some awards.
SKSM: Do you plan to screen the movie at a particular festival?
Matthew Maio Mackay: The film premiered and screened at the international Monster Fest before the feature ‘Two Heads Creek’ in Australia. I’m not entirely sure about future festivals, although there will be more updates in the New Year.
SKSM: Are you a Stephen King fan? If so, which are your favorite works and adaptations?
Matthew Maio Mackay: I am not too well versed with Stephen King’s work, however, I have certainly enjoyed the work I have read and seen. My favourites include Misery, The Dark Tower, the 2013 Carrie film and the off-broadway musical adaptation of the same name.
SKSM: Do you have any plans for making more movies based on Stephen King’s stories? If you could pick -at least- one story to shoot, which one would it be and why?
Matthew Maio Mackay: I don’t have any current plans to adapt any more of his work, however, if the opportunity presented itself in the future, I would definitely be interested.
If I could choose some of his stories to adapt I’d love to do a reimagining of Christine, Misery and The Dark Tower series.
SKSM: What are you working on nowadays?
Matthew Maio Mackay: I have several projects underway at the moment, including an original musical short film titled ‘Rot n’ Roll’ as well as a slasher/thriller ‘Sweet Nothings’ staring Greg Sestero from ‘The Room’ and author of ‘The Disaster Artist’. The musical features a cameo from Eddie Perfect (Offspring, Beetlejuice the musical) and will be released publicly mid next year. Other projects I am currently working on include ‘Here lies Colin’, a cosmic horror short film and ‘Tooth 4 Tooth’ an upcoming horror/drama, which is my largest production of yet. I recently completed the final edit on a romance/drama ‘Love and Blood’ which will be released at the end of next year after a festival run.
SKSM: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Is there anything you want to say to the fans that read this interview?
Matthew Maio Mackay: Thank you for interviewing me, and thanks for taking the time to read this!
SKSM: Would you like to add anything else?
Matthew Maio Mackay: The trailer is available to view online at https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ROWsihBvH5o. If you are interested in my future work, follow me on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram @onemannerproductions.
