INTERVIEW: Sean Patrick O’Reilly
By James Aquilone
Sean Patrick O'Reilly has been one of the most prolific animation producers in recent years. As the owner and operator of Arcana Studio, which is also Canada's largest comic book company, he’s produced nine feature films – including the Howard Lovecraft trilogy (Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom, Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom & Howard Lovecraft and the Kingdom of Madness). Recently he took a break from moviemaking to return to his comic book roots and created a Christmas tale with artist David Alvarez.
Randolph the Reindeer, available now, follows an ex-hotshot reindeer who must brave a deadly snowstorm to reach Santa's workshop to replace a beloved family heirloom before a family’s Christmas is ruined forever.
I recently got to talk to Sean about the book as well as plans for other Lovecraftian stories.
JAMES AQUILONE: Why did you write Randolph the Reindeer?
SEAN PATRICK O’REILLY: I’ve always loved the stories that are kind of personal and simple. Shows like Breaking Bad and Ozark, where there are personal struggles. You’re not saving the world. There’s no Thanos to overcome. You don’t need the Infinity Gauntlet. It’s an intimate, simple story, and at Christmas it always feels like the one thing that people have is saving Christmas. So the idea of Randolph was there was Rudolph, who was obviously the winner, he saves Christmas, he’s the hero — and to every yin there’s a yang, and Randolph was not that. He’s kind of a loser. He did not make Santa’s sleigh. He’s not the winner, but years later he gets a redemption.
JA: Was there an inspiration for Randolph?
SPO: Randolph would be kind of like Chris Elliot — mid-40s, had the best years of his life behind him. He’s happy-go-lucky but at the same time he can turn on a dime and have a sad story to tell.
JA: You’ve produced a ton of animated movies. Do you have plans for a Randolph movie?
SPO: What I would love is that sometime between now and February we try to set up a Randolph live-action version for Christmas 2021. If it’s animated, it takes me two to three years, but if it’s live action we can shoot it in a month. I am thinking about it. I definitely want to do it. I already have two versions of a script based on Randolph.
JA: You’ve written, directed and produced the animated Howard Lovecraft trilogy. Are they any more Howard Lovecraft movies in the works?
SPO: I don’t have any plans for any additional Howard Lovecraft movies. However, I did do a four- to five-minute short film [for a TV series]. It’s two different scenes and it’s called Miskatonic. We played it at Comic-Con this year. We had a virtual panel. After the movies, Howard gets invited to Miskatonic University. The tagline I’ve been using is “Somewhere between Harvard and Hogwarts is Miskatonic.” Howard goes there to learn more about Lovecraftian magic. I wrote the pilot. I have the bible for the series. It’s the best animation we’ve done. It’s really high end. We’re pitching it now to studios.
JA: In your bio you say you took Arcana Studio from a one-person operation in your basement to an award-winning comic book publisher and then to an animation studio. How did you do that?
SPO: Slowly. To print a comic book, a floppy 32-page, it costs around $3500. I did Kade #1. I remember paying $3500, which was a ton of money, and I got my money back. And I was quite happy. I did issue two and I got my money. I did issue three and I got my money back. Then I did a new series called Ant. It went crazy on eBay. Copies were selling for $100. We were red hot and I realized that there was not much money in comics. At the end of the day, we put in our pocket maybe $5000. At that point the economics of it shifted our business a little bit more to film and television. Now we have 65 people working from home. Our salaries are $100,000 a week. Five grand is about the amount we spend per month on toilet paper and soap. The economics have complete changed.
All three of the HOWARD LOVECRAFT films are available on Amazon Prime Video as well as through Shout! Factory. For more about Sean and Arcana’s comic book line, go to ArcanaComics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Aquilone was raised on Saturday morning cartoons, comic books, sitcoms, and Cap'n Crunch. Amid the Cold War, he dreamed of being a jet fighter pilot but decided against the military life after realizing it would require him to wake up early. He had further illusions of being a stand-up comedian, until a traumatic experience on stage forced him to seek a college education. Brief stints as an alternative rock singer/guitarist and child model also proved unsuccessful. Today he battles a severe chess addiction while trying to write in the speculative fiction game.
His first novel, DEAD JACK AND THE PANDEMONIUM DEVICE, has been optioned for film and TV. His short fiction has been published in such places as Nature's Futures, The Best of Galaxy's Edge 2013-2014, Unidentified Funny Objects 4, and Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in Staten Island, New York, with his wonderful wife. Sign up for his newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bx5axT or visit DeadJack.com.