“Emma Dark is an award-winning filmmaker, actress and model, specializing in the horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres. She started modeling in 2008 and quickly made a name for herself working with highly respected independent boutique designers and creative photographers on the alternative scene in London and beyond.
In 2010 she modeled for the incredibly popular Hell Bunny and Spin Doctor labels, and in 2011 went on to be published in Natasha Scharf’s book Worldwide Gothic: A Chronicle of a Tribe. In 2012 she featured as Miss April and July in Jason Juta‘s annual fantasy calendar and won World Goth Day’s Best Model, which was covered by Cosmopolitan and various other media machines.
In Autumn 2012 she joined dark synthpop band X-KiN as their female vocalist, and appeared in the band’s music videos. Less than a year later, in spring 2013, Emma went on to star in BEF/Kim Wilde horror themed music video Every Time I See You I Go Wild, featuring heavily in the final cut. This experience ultimately led Emma to switch focus from modeling and singing to acting and filmmaking.
2014 saw her moving forward in her film career, taking part as an official judge at the prestigious British Horror Film Festival, and producing/directing horror fan short Island of the Blind Dead (2015) with fellow filmmaker Merlyn Roberts. As 2014 drew to a close Emma embarked on her greatest challenge to date, her first self-produced and directed, horror/action short Seize the Night (2015)
In 2015 Emma’s work on Seize the Night went on to win her the notable MMBF Rising Star award at Ireland’s The Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival. The film garnered favorable reviews from a multitude of respected genre websites including Dread Central, Starburst and UK Horror Scene, as well as a news article on the official AMC’s Horror Channel website.
As the film gained momentum Seize the Night and Emma Dark featured in comprehensive national print articles, including front page mentions, in the UK’s leading horror magazine Scream, and indie filmmaking favourite Digital Filmmaker Magazine. Emma also featured in online cult magazines Malevolent (US) and The Digital Dead (UK), and participated in a multitude of web, video and radio
Other achievements in 2015 included returning as a judge at the British Horror Film Festival, the honor of having an MMBF horror achievement award created in her name, and narrating a storytelling based segment for Richard Gladman’s Fragments of Fear, alongside classic horror greats Caroline Munro and Francoise Pascal. Additionally, Emma featured as an official signing guest at KnightCon 2014, Digi-Con 2015, and bi-monthly cult film event the Camden Film Fair in December 2015.
2016 was another action packed year for Emma, attending Doncaster’s Digi-Con2, Birmingham’s MCM Comic Con, Rochdale’s Dale-Con 4, Sheffield’s HorrorCon UK, Scifi Wales and Bristol Horror Con as a special signing guest.
May 2016 saw the online release of Emma’s film ‘Seize the Night’, which was covered by a wide range of media channels, receiving a positive critic and audience reception. It also saw Emma dubbed an honorary patron of the arts for London’s esteemed Misty Moon Film Society, and starring in Misty Moon and Robo Film’s ‘Frankula’ alongside Hammer Horror scream queens Caroline Munro and Judy Matheson, and television star David Barry of ‘Please Sir!’ fame.
I've been nominated for the Winter 2017 'Outstanding Female Filmmaker' Award at @StormyWeatherHF! #WomenInFilm #WomenInHorror #WiHM #Horror pic.twitter.com/jRj12RHt0y
— EMMA DARK 🎬 (@EmDarkOfficial) January 10, 2017
September 2016 saw Emma grace the front cover of issue 39 of internationally distributed independent filmmaking magazine – Digital FilmMaker Magazine – heading an article charting the rise of female filmmakers. January 2017 then saw Emma take over the monthly ‘Ask the FilmMaker’ column in Digital FilmMaker Magazine from previous columnist Sean J Vincent.
indieactivity: Did you study what you do?
Emma Dark (ED): No I didn’t at all. I come from an artistic and technical background and filmmaking for me is a way to express both of those parts of me in a way that works.
What is your filmmaking process?
Emma Dark (ED): I can describe myself as a messy organized person. Which means I am fairly methodical and mostly logical but it might take a lot of thinking to get there as my creative mind is always on the go at the same time. So there is no set process for me save to explore every possibility at every part of the process, work hard and then take the most logical route to achieve my goals.
Do you take courses to improve your craft?
Emma Dark (ED): I don’t no, not at this point in time, I wouldn’t rule out taking some. For me it’s generally a mix of research on the net and trial and error practically. I do like reading about the experiences of other filmmakers and learning what worked for them and what didn’t, I think that’s pretty invaluable.
How do you combine acting, producing and directing?
Emma Dark (ED): With difficulty! As much as you can you need to try and switch between those mindsets and still keep on top of everything. I don’t have a particular method of doing it bar taking a moment to step back at key points and assess what ‘hat’ I’m wearing at which point in time and then pick the most logical outcome while trying to stay creatively organic within the process.
How did you get into the film business?
Emma Dark (ED): It’s not a business for me, but I fell (head first) into filmmaking after acting in a few music videos and a brief stint interviewing other filmmakers. I decided it was something I wanted to try, and I’m glad I did, I’m very passionate about it.
How do you turn an idea into a screenplay?
Emma Dark (ED): Well there are probably set ways you ‘should’ do this, and trained screenwriters certainly will implement those, but for me it’s simply trying to figure out what may or may not work on screen and getting the pacing and dialogue right. I had a trained screenwriter in the form of US based writer Rick Humphries for my first serious film “Seize the Night”, he did a wonderful job of breaking down pacing and dialogue. For my most recent film (currently in production) “Salient Minus Ten” I did this myself as it’s a slightly more abstract and heavily visual film. I would advise anyone looking to implement a lot of dialogue or complex storylines to seek out and work with a competent screenwriter such as Rick, it can be an invaluable part of the filmmaking process.
