Interview: Showrunner Nick Antosca Discusses CHANNEL ZERO: BUTCHER’S BLOCK

How do you top the creepiness of the Tooth Child and the horrors of the No-End House? That's the question I had before digging into the first episode of Channel Zero: Butcher's Block. But thanks to the horrors teased within the first 10 minutes, I had my answer, and boy, is it ever the stuff of nightmares. With the third season of Channel Zero premiering tonight on SYFY, I once again had the pleasure of catching up with showrunner Nick Antosca to talk about the hearty helpings of horror that are in store for viewers this time around on the creepypasta-based anthology series.

Each season of Channel Zero I wonder how you're going to make it creepier than the previous season, but when I watched the first episode of Butcher's Block, it was the most freaked out I've been from anything you have done yet, so congratulations on that.

Nick Antosca: That's great, thank you. We try to change it up every season to do a new nightmare.

Each season you adapt a creepypasta story for the screen, and this season you're adapting Kerry Hammond’s "Search and Rescue Woods." What was it about that story in particular that made you want to adapt it for the screen this season?

Nick Antosca: It was the staircases, it's that simple. The idea of mysterious staircases showing up where they shouldn't connected to disappearances, it just opens up a world. You bring that idea into a horror writers' room and people are inspired. Kerry Hammond's story was always on our list of creepypastas to adapt. And the Butcher's Block, that story has a wide range of influences that flower into something new. It's a season inspired by Argento, Bernard Rose, Nicolas Roeg, and Alice in Wonderland.

Yeah, it comes across as this dark fairy tale set against this backdrop of poverty in a run-down neighborhood. We don't always see horror stories told in those settings. How important was it for you to set this season against a poverty-stricken backdrop, especially going from the suburbs of season 2?

Nick Antosca: We wanted it to be a different environment from the first two seasons. And while the Kerry Hammond story is set in the woods, when we started asking questions about what the stairs are for, who uses the stairs and where do they go, it led us to this world of predators and prey, which felt like a story that was best told in the inner city. I've read stories about urban decay in various cities in the US, and I'm from New Orleans, and going back to New Orleans, there would always be parts of the city that were literally open ground.

When we started talking about using the city as a setting, I was able to write for Winnipeg, which is a city I'm very familiar with and I've fallen in love with. There's this decaying grandeur to parts of the city, so were able to write specifically for that. I love being there. The crews are amazing, the community is great. It's been a highly rewarding experience, and we go back in two weeks for season 4.

Something you've done since the first season is give up-and-coming filmmakers the chance to direct all episodes for each season. This season you have Arkasha Stevenson directing Butcher's Block. What was it about her work that made you excited to showcase her talents on Channel Zero?

Nick Antosca: As you're saying, every season we like to showcase a different voice, and when I saw Arkasha's film Pineapple, it's actually a pilot that went to Sundance. I saw that she had an extremely distinctive voice, the kind of strengths that I admired in all of the directors I've worked with for Channel Zero. She also had a really dark, interesting, colorful sense of humor, and a really confident style that was unique to her, and her storytelling in that short film was perfect for Channel Zero. She hadn't directed a feature before, unlike the other directors of the previous seasons, but when she made the pitch to the studio and the network, everybody thought she was amazing. I think she's going to have an amazing career.

You have an amazing cast this season, including Rutger Hauer and Krisha Fairchild. Did you write any of the roles with specific actors in mind?

Nick Antosca: The role of Louise was written specifically for Krisha, because I had seen the movie Krisha a while ago and had wanted to work with her ever since. Then for Joseph Peach, in the writers' room, we made a list of who would be dream casting for this character. We knew we needed someone really distinctive and iconic to bring something extra to the role. We went to Hauer first and I didn't expect him to say "yes," but he read the script and it was like, "Oh my God, Rutger Hauer's going to do it." He brings something extra to it in every sense with his legend and charisma, but he also brings a really intense, creative energy. He's a very active, creative, smart, interesting collaborator. Arkasha would spend hours with him talking about the script, the world, the ideas behind it, and also just hearing amazing stories from him.

Holland, Olivia [Luccardi], and Brandon [Scott] all came in and auditioned and were obviously the right people for the roles. I had written for Holland [Roden] on Teen Wolf years ago, but I never met her. She had a great reputation from the show. Olivia I had seen in It Follows and Brandon I had seen in Blair Witch. He brought such a humanity and likability to this cop character. We got really lucky with the cast.

Olivia and Holland actually seem like sisters in real life.

Nick Antosca: They look like sisters and their voices are similar, too. There were lots of times I'd be on set and I'd hear one of them talking behind me and I wouldn't know who it was, because in real life their voices are very similar, it's kind of uncanny.

I definitely got some Hellraiser vibes in the first episode, and I love that is has a Candyman feeling, too, with the urban, industrial setting.

Nick Antosca: Absolutely. The Channel Zero writers' room went on a field trip to see a double feature of Candyman and Don't Look Now early in the writers' room process. We came into the writers' room talking about those two movies, and then there was a theatrical double feature of them playing, completely randomly, a couple of weeks later.

In addition to Channel Zero, congratulations on having your short story "Antlers" being adapted into a feature film by Scott Cooper, who is one of the more interesting voices in filmmaking in recent years. What can you tell us about that project and what was it like to help adapt your work for the screen?

Nick Antosca: I co-wrote the script with a writer named Henry Chaisson, who's a filmmaker. It's based on a short story I wrote inspired by my mom's experiences as an elementary school teacher with a horror element added. Henry and I adapted the short story, gave it to David Goyer, who gave it to Guillermo [del Toro], who gave it to Fox Searchlight. I'm really excited to see what happens with it. I wrote a short story hoping to turn it into the kind of psychological, character-based films that I love.

The story hasn't been published yet, it will probably be published this year, but it's under wraps at the moment. The story will be published before the movie comes out, but the screenplay definitely takes it further than the short story does. It goes some places that the short story doesn't.