WETNWILDRADIO FILMS: Radio or Film?

**Rick Rock** · 21-Sep-2006

Hey hey, Gary! Kudos on the progress and positive reviews. Things seem to really be picking up for Deadlands.

But I've always wondered something. I remember you telling me about your old radio show, Wet N' Wild Radio, that you did before you really got into the indie movie realm and that it was the basis for your production company's moniker. But I have to ask: Why did you decide to leave the word "radio" in the name instead of just shortening it to "Wet N' Wild Films"?

Personally, I thought it might be a bit confusing to people considering they're different mediums, but I figured keeping it as is was intentional, perhaps in case you decided to start up your radio show again. I thought maybe you'd eventually change it to "Wet N' Wild Productions" or something, but you've stuck with it since I came onto the Deadlands projects.

Comments?

**DjfunkmasterG** · 21-Sep-2006

To those who wonder who this guy is.. Rick was the sound guy and Boom operator. He joined the production in March 2006 All the stuff with clean good sound... thank him. All the stuff with crap sound.. Hate me.

Funny you ask this...

Back in 2003 I was a huge TSO (The Sims Online) player. This game was as addictive as World of Warcraft is now. Well people started their own radio stations so they could represent whatever city they lived in, in the game. I was a massive Mt Fuji player and since no one started a station for that city I did... hence WETNWILDRADIO was born.

Well as time wore on I got tired of the game, but for over 6 months I was following news reports about the remake of DAWN of the DEAD. Suddenly they started filming the movie... So I was pissed no one was carrying info on the film. I mean after all they were remaking a classic. So I got a hold of the production companies phone # and called them up and I said "Hi, My name is Gary Franks and I am the program manager of WNWR a radio station based out of Baltimore, MD. Some of our listeners are huge horror fans and the subject of the remake of DAWn came up on a show... blah blah blah." So the lady at the production office puts me in touch with the unit publicist for the film.

I started dealing with the U.P. for a few weeks and then I was getting pictures from someone on set so I made a page on my WETNWILDRADIO.COM site and just started posting I had pics every where. I was a lurker here at HPOTD, but when i got these gems I came out of the shadows to share my fortune with the rest of the zombie fan world.

Major horror sites couldn't even get pictures so they just linked to WETNWILDRADIO.COM and it was a very popular website for getting info on the DAWN remake. Well, Universal started contacting me about how I got the pics etc etc, and I said they were sent to me by someone on the set, and they asked what kind of traffic I was getting. Well, I wasn't sure myself until I found out I was 40gb over my allowed 10gb bandwidth for one month. And within 3 months I had over 400,000 hits on the website.

As post production went on, Universal kept me updated... oh and invited me to the set while the movie was being made. During post production I was told when the first trailer would hit the big screens and I was just given tons of info to spread to the masses... essentially i was pimping a film even I had not seen, but I remained unbiased during the process.

When the film was released Universal flew me to Hollyweird, and put me up for a few nights in Beverly hills and invited me to the premiere. So basically to them WNWR was an advertising machine that only helped them.

Well wasn't long after the movie came and went, and I got bored with the online radio thing that I let the site go to hell. Then i did LOTD and said F**K this I am going to make my own zombie film. I went through a couple of monikers

TWTW Productions (That was totally Wicked Productions) A nod to The Incredibles and the little boy on the big wheel

DEADLAND productions (LOTD used this so I dropped it)

and finally I said screw it... WETNWILDRADIO Films. I looked at this as a marketing decision. If anyone remembered the DAWN remake and the coverage i did then I would have an easy time getting people to at least give the film a chance before ragging on it completely. Plus it was WETNWILDRADIO that got me on the sets of the 2 biggest zombie films of the 21st century, so why not pay the proper respect to myself and carry on the name.

Will I re-open WETNWILDRADIO... I dunno. I kind of got out of chasing down people to do radio stuff about, and DEAD CENTRAL aka Ateball kind of picked up the game and is doing a fantastic job of keeping the people informed and happy. Not too mention, DEADPIT.com, these guys are one of the reason DEADLANDS is really starting to bloom on the internet, and of course HPotD.

This site supported me through the making of this, and hell even gave me my own subforum to discuss the film. Not to mention the members whom have been drooling or at least anticipating the release of the film based on trailers and clips. So when i look at everything over the last 3 years i am glad I decide to use WNWR films as a moniker because it reminds me of all the great fun I had on this website, and with zombie films in general. Plus, there is already a porn company called WET n Wild Films. However, the majority of it is because of the memories.

Hope that sums it up for ya Rick.

BTW Welcome to the forum, oh and IMDB has updated and added you to the cast & crew page so You SOLE IMDB page is now active.

**LD-50** · 21-Sep-2006

Originally Posted by DjfunkmasterG

To those who wonder who this guy is.. Rick was the sound guy and Boom operator. He joined the production in March 2006 All the stuff with clean good sound... thank him. All the stuff with crap sound.. Hate me.

Funny you ask this...

Back in 2003 I was a huge TSO (The Sims Online) player. This game was as addictive as World of Warcraft is now. Well people started their own radio stations so they could represent whatever city they lived in, in the game. I was a massive Mt Fuji player and since no one started a station for that city I did... hence WETNWILDRADIO was born.

Well as time wore on I got tired of the game, but for over 6 months I was following news reports about the remake of DAWN of the DEAD. Suddenly they started filming the movie... So I was pissed no one was carrying info on the film. I mean after all they were remaking a classic. So I got a hold of the production companies phone # and called them up and I said "Hi, My name is Gary Franks and I am the program manager of WNWR a radio station based out of Baltimore, MD. Some of our listeners are huge horror fans and the subject of the remake of DAWn came up on a show... blah blah blah." So the lady at the production office puts me in touch with the unit publicist for the film.

I started dealing with the U.P. for a few weeks and then I was getting pictures from someone on set so I made a page on my WETNWILDRADIO.COM site and just started posting I had pics every where. I was a lurker here at HPOTD, but when i got these gems I came out of the shadows to share my fortune with the rest of the zombie fan world.

Major horror sites couldn't even get pictures so they just linked to WETNWILDRADIO.COM and it was a very popular website for getting info on the DAWN remake. Well, Universal started contacting me about how I got the pics etc etc, and I said they were sent to me by someone on the set, and they asked what kind of traffic I was getting. Well, I wasn't sure myself until I found out I was 40gb over my allowed 10gb bandwidth for one month. And within 3 months I had over 400,000 hits on the website.

As post production went on, Universal kept me updated... oh and invited me to the set while the movie was being made. During post production I was told when the first trailer would hit the big screens and I was just given tons of info to spread to the masses... essentially i was pimping a film even I had not seen, but I remained unbiased during the process.

When the film was released Universal flew me to Hollyweird, and put me up for a few nights in Beverly hills and invited me to the premiere. So basically to them WNWR was an advertising machine that only helped them.

Well wasn't long after the movie came and went, and I got bored with the online radio thing that I let the site go to hell. Then i did LOTD and said F**K this I am going to make my own zombie film. I went through a couple of monikers

TWTW Productions (That was totally Wicked Productions) A nod to The Incredibles and the little boy on the big wheel

DEADLAND productions (LOTD used this so I dropped it)

and finally I said screw it... WETNWILDRADIO Films. I looked at this as a marketing decision. If anyone remembered the DAWN remake and the coverage i did then I would have an easy time getting people to at least give the film a chance before ragging on it completely. Plus it was WETNWILDRADIO that got me on the sets of the 2 biggest zombie films of the 21st century, so why not pay the proper respect to myself and carry on the name.

Will I re-open WETNWILDRADIO... I dunno. I kind of got out of chasing down people to do radio stuff about, and DEAD CENTRAL aka Ateball kind of picked up the game and is doing a fantastic job of keeping the people informed and happy. Not too mention, DEADPIT.com, these guys are one of the reason DEADLANDS is really starting to bloom on the internet, and of course HPotD.

This site supported me through the making of this, and hell even gave me my own subforum to discuss the film. Not to mention the members whom have been drooling or at least anticipating the release of the film based on trailers and clips. So when i look at everything over the last 3 years i am glad I decide to use WNWR films as a moniker because it reminds me of all the great fun I had on this website, and with zombie films in general. Plus, there is already a porn company called WET n Wild Films. However, the majority of it is because of the memories.

Hope that sums it up for ya Rick.

BTW Welcome to the forum, oh and IMDB has updated and added you to the cast & crew page so You SOLE IMDB page is now active.

Whats up with Gary Franks ?

**Rick Rock** · 21-Sep-2006

Haha...I remember the Gary Franks story. But yeah, that WNWR Films deal clears it up for me and it's a good story on its own.

Also, COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!! I always wanted to be on IMDB just for ****s and giggles since I haven't done any "official" works of my own, so THANK YOU GARY for hooking me up!

Now if I could only get added to the Crew page on Playingwithdeadthing.coms...

**DjfunkmasterG** · 21-Sep-2006

Originally Posted by LD-50

Whats up with Gary Franks ?

Ok, I will explain that. In my Dj Days It was easier to go under the name DJ Gary Franks, then it was to do DJ Gary Ugarek. How I got Gary Franks is my first name of course, and I remixed my middle name, which is Francis, to Franks.

Hence Gary Franks was born

DjfunkmasterG was my 2nd Internet screen name. My First being "O Positive" I got tired of the "Is it O positive or HIV Positive" Jokes regarding that screen name.

So DjfunkmasterG was born October 1997.

Originally Posted by Rick Rock

Haha...I remember the Gary Franks story. But yeah, that WNWR Films deal clears it up for me and it's a good story on its own.

Also, COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!! I always wanted to be on IMDB just for ****s and giggles since I haven't done any "official" works of my own, so THANK YOU GARY for hooking me up!

Now if I could only get added to the Crew page on Playingwithdeadthing.coms...

Will be done. I do have you covered on the press kit though.

**Fulcifan91** · 22-Sep-2006

Hey Rick! Welcome to the forums (this is scott)

**LouCipherr** · 22-Sep-2006

Rick Rock! The crazy soundman himself.

How it goes, man? (Brian here...)
Yeah, trying to keep track of Dj's alter egos isn't simple. His schizophrenia has caused his mind to split into at least three different personalities. Ya never know which one you're talking too until he either responds nicely or bites you on the ankle...

...and yeah, we need to get Rick on the website - maybe link to that kickass webpage he has.

Oh, did I say that out loud?

LC