Horror-movie-director-turned-sitcom-star Adam Green was at Emerson’s Bright Family Screening Room Tuesday night to show students three advance episodes of his new FearNet original series, Holliston. He was joined by cast members Joe Lynch, Laura Ortiz, and Corri English.
The show, set in the small town of Holliston, Massachusetts, follows the lives of Adam and Joe, two friends chasing the dream of becoming successful horror movie filmmakers while struggling to make ends meet and dealing with life and the opposite sex in their post-college jobs at a Boston–area cable TV station.
Following the screening of the pilot episode and episodes three and four, the Holliston team invited the audience to ask questions and gave some background on their project’s history. Green, the creator, writer, director, and star of the show, told the audience “the idea for this show came over 13 years ago. I wanted to make a show a little bit about my life and growing up in Holliston…but everything in this business is timing.”
Green discussed the influence his hometown of Holliston has had on his career through the years and swapped stories with other Holliston natives in the audience. The town, he said, was the perfect setting for a show based on his life.
Green detailed his history in the business following his graduation from Hofstra University—directing a series of terrible local commercials (a job his on-screen alter ego Adam also has), breaking into the horror film scene, and eventually establishing Holliston as one of the first original programming endeavors by fledgling cable network FearNet. He said he used his connections in the horror industry to get his concept approved and ultimately chosen for the network’s first original show, in spite of its traditional, three–camera sitcom format. “It’s not a horror show,” Green continued, “but it appeals to that niche audience in a way no other show does right now.”
The Holliston screening is part of Bright Lights screening series. Bright Lights screenings are every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00 pm in the Bright Family Screening Room.
