DEVIL IN MY RIDE

Grip Joey Richardson (left) with director Gary Michael Schultz on the set of Devil in My Ride. | Photo: Erin Breen

In September, Variety.com announced Red Band Films’ acquisition of former Columbia College Chicago staff member Gary Michael Schultz’s (BA '01) feature film debut, Devil in My Ride.

Schultz began his career at Columbia as a student of Film & Video in 1996. Upon graduation in 2001, he took over as the facility coordinator of the Film & Video Department’s Screenwriting and Producing Center, a position he held until this past summer when he relocated to Los Angeles.

During his tenure as facility coordinator, Schultz directed six short films, produced four others, and served on numerous projects in various capacities ranging from special effects artist to cast member. He also co-wrote, produced, and directed his first feature, Devil in My Ride, with the participation of over a half dozen Columbia College students and alumni. This horror-comedy, co-starring cult film icon Sid Haig, follows two men on a desperate, cross-country road trip to Las Vegas in search of an exorcist for “Devil Bride” Doreen.

Earlier this year, the film was acquired by Unified Pictures’ genre label, Red Band Films, which has also optioned Schultz’s next script, Vincent-N-Roxxy, a revisionist Bonnie & Clyde set in the Midwest. Schultz sees his relationship with Red Band as an opportunity to further pursue his goal of making “character-based genre films, with rich characters that audiences will care about.” His passions for genre filmmaking lie not just in horror and comedy. “I’m interested in making genre films in general, anything outside the mainstream,” he says. “But I do love to scare people and I love to make them laugh!”

The release of Devil in My Ride and production on Vincent-N-Roxxy are both slated for 2013. In the meantime, Schultz is serving as associate producer on writer/director Clark Gregg’s Trust Me, starring Sam Rockwell alongside Gregg.