Paranormal Filmmaker Gavin Webb. His Story.
Preface
The creator of “The King Opera House: A Paranormal Documentary” and series, “Haunted Arkansas”, Gavin Webb, opens up about his process, his upcoming show, and his life. This is his story.
Hello! Introducing Gavin Webb
“My name is Gavin Webb, I’m 22 years old and I’m an independent filmmaker from the River Valley of Arkansas.”
Gavin Webb is from Alma, Arkansas, and although a small town, the western area in Crawford County made him who he is today. He attended Alma High School, where he made his friends, but also began creating- creating through film.
He and his friends learned how to make the most of it, living in a smaller town, using anything they could find to create YouTube videos and entertain themselves, which ultimately bled into his later life, utilizing the resources around him for his films as he would become a small-budget filmmaker.
But his love for movies and film did not begin in his late teens, rather long before.
His Love for Film
“Filmmaking has always been a part of my life since I can remember,” Webb said.
His passion for movies and stories started at the early age of four years old, dreaming of telling stories and pursuing a career in filmmaking, with much of his love stemming from his childhood movies, including the iconic Ghostbusters.
“The reason this [Ghostbusters] is my all-time favorite is because when I was 4 years old, my dad showed me the film, and it took over my life. I watched it nonstop for years, and it got me into not just filmmaking and storytelling, but also the paranormal!”
This film is in his “Letterbox” or a popular question asked about a person’s four favorite films. Gavin’s 4 are: Ghostbusters, Hell House LLC, Mallrats, and Psycho.
Gavin explains that Hell House LLC scared him even as an adult, and Director Stephen Cognetti is an amazing indie filmmaker and has a tremendous amount of respect for him and his projects. Mallrats is Webb’s comfort movie, loving all of Kevin Smith’s work, but this particular film is one he enjoys showing to other people. And lastly, The Original Psycho is a horror film that actually got him to the horror genre. He explained how Alfred Hitchcock and this movie in particular, affected the entire horror genre, and Webb really loved the actors and how the film was styled.
Filmmaking has always been his dream- and now he is able to strive for this dream with a crew by his side in his home state…
The Series: Haunted Arkansas
The idea for this series started in many places, so far back as to his living room in 2007. Not only did he love Ghostbusters, but also Ghost Adventures: The Original Documentary, a film released in 2007 and was later followed by the very successful television series, which is now on its 30th season. The show also ran every Sunday in the Webb family house, where Gavin would watch new episodes and reruns from lunch to dinner.
Then, he began making paranormal YouTube videos while still in high school with his friends, but never took the work seriously until he later dropped out of college.
While he was attending the University of Arkansas- Fort Smith, he was writing a horror movie, which he submitted to studios, where he received disheartening responses.
“They all said the same thing, and that was either ‘We aren’t reading this’ or just saying no. It really made me sad to see how hard it was to get in the film industry,” Gavin explained.
But, fortunately, instead of throwing in the towel, he had a better idea.
“Then that night I thought to myself, ‘What if I go independent and make my own film?’”
He didn’t know exactly where to go from there, but he knew what he loved, and he knew what he wanted to do.
“So, I decided to go down a path I was interested in but never planned on making it a career,” Webb said, “Paranormal Investigating. I spent the last of my money I had saved up on some cheap equipment and made my first film, “The King Opera House: A Paranormal Documentary.”
His first documentary film, which came out in October 2023, investigated the paranormal of “One of the most haunted places in Arkansas”. IMDB explains, “Gavin Webb and Diego Lane travel to Van Buren, Arkansas, to “The King Opera House” to see if this building truly is haunted and deserves that title.” The film not only had 6 nominations in various film festivals, but won best Documentary and Director at two of these in different categories.
Now his new project is going to be released in October on Amazon Prime and iTunes, which features Gavin Webb and friends adventuring to 10 different locations in Arkansas to see if the spooky and thrilling legends and stories are truly as haunted as people believe them to be.
A Peak into the Process
“The process of creating and shooting a series or documentary like this just comes from hearing legends and stories and then looking into the history of the said legend.”
He explained an example, the St. Francis Museum. He heard the stories from previous guests and researched the history of the building, but no one had ever investigated the building before. He asked the building for permission to film, and from there began the process. But, even as an independent filmmaker, he is not alone in this effort.
“I fund the film, edit it, direct, write. But when we film the documentary or show, I have 2 other people with me, Emily and Mickayla. They help me a lot with creating the series, and I couldn’t have done it without them. That’s why I say it’s kind of independent but also kind of not, since I have 2 friends with me filming.”
And their average day filming is not the average. Due to the core part of a paranormal show having any sort of paranormal activity, which typically does not tend to happen during the day.
“An average day while filming is pretty eventful since we film most of our stuff at night, so you have to stay up mostly all night, then sleep until the afternoon so you don’t fall asleep mid shoot.”
Then they travel to their next location, during the afternoon, arriving before the sunset, grabbing B-roll shots, and any interview before the night arrives.
“Then, when it does come time for the filming part of the investigation, we film from 10pm to sometimes 4 to 5 am. Then after we finish up, we pack up and go back home, and that’s our lives for a few weeks.”
A Bit More Personal
“There are a handful of major players in my life,” Webb said. “My friends have always been there when I needed them. Keegan Nye and his wife Emily Nye, Nate Bosa, Eric Sync, even people from my past I don’t talk to now, I could give credit to because without them I wouldn’t have gone down certain paths in life that ended me to this destination.”
And like everyone, Webb has needed these people during the harder times, as he discussed a low point after the King Opera.
“A real hard point in my life was having success with the King Opera, but then running out of money after filming the next project, and having to go back to working as a manager. I kind of just thought, ‘Wow, is that it?’. I would nonstop stress about if I would make the deadlines for the new series since I’m working again, or what would happen next. Did I just shoot myself in the foot? It was just really hard to process it all,” Gavin said.
“I felt alone and disappointed, but then I realized that the only person who can change where I’m at right now is myself. I can handle getting a new job and doing film as well, and make it work. If anything, the job will help raise money to make the films and shows, and that’s how we got marketing money for Haunted Arkansas is just going back to work and reminding myself the reason I am here to fulfill my dreams and get money to be able to move forward in life.”
And he is currently and constantly working toward that dream, as he creates a film series on his own, with a team comprising himself and his friends. He did all the work without a massive studio or a 30-member crew; instead, he had Emily, Mickayla, the few resources they had, and himself.
He created something he is proud of, and gets to show the world, just like he always wanted ever since he was a 4-year-old watching Ghostbusters.
His Advice
“Some advice I live by and preach to others is to not be scared to step out of your comfort zone. If I never stepped out of my comfort zone, I would have never made my first film or even made a dent in the dreams I had. Don’t be afraid to spend that money, send that email, call that person, or travel to that town. It is your life, and you can do whatever you want and be whoever you want to be if you work for it.” Gavin states, emphasizing living how you want to live, not by someone else’s standard.
“At the end of the day, you only live once and you don’t wanna be in your later ages saying, ‘I wish I took that risk’.”
Extra!
G: “The dream is to make this my full-time job. To be able to make the next series bigger and better and not have to worry if I have to go pick up another 9-5 to afford to live. In 10-20 years I hope to be able to say I had a few ghost stories under my belt and was successful in telling them. Who knows, maybe my crew and I will still be on the road filming them?”
M: What motivates you as a person? You wake up in the morning, and what is the thing that excites you or gets you out of bed in the morning?
G: “What motivates me is really the thought of releasing a film/series. I wake up everyday thinking to myself “How can I do something that makes me 1% closer to success” and that really gets me up and going. Some days it’s harder than others but you really just gotta remind yourself why you started in the first place.”
The Story of Their Life 
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