Withersin’s Damned Interview with:

Jonathan Rocks

I'm from Philadelphia, where I graduated Temple University's Film School. Following that I worked for several years in film production working on Feature Films including The Village, Jersey Girl, Like Mike and Lady in the Water. I've since cut back on production work, as my main goal is to be a screenwriter. Currently I am working towards my MFA in Creative Writing at Wilkes University, as well as working on 2 feature length screenplays.

List website: http://www.jonwritesforthescreen.blogspot.com

How can we contact you? JonRocks62@gmail.com

In your own words, define Withersin.

Artistic. Expressionistic. On the fringe, and damn proud of it.

If you were a sideshow act, what would you be?

The carnival barker, describing the horrific and amazing acts behind the curtain that make it impossible for people to pass by without having a look.

What is your greatest non-literary influence?

Coffee. A lot of coffee. And my cat.

Describe your most irrational fear.

Vomiting-- something that, in a perfect world, should not be physically possible.

How about your most guilty pleasure?

Sitcoms from my childhood. Saved by the Bell, Full House, Home Improvement-- and I enjoy them all without a lick of irony. Guilty as charged, indeed.

Name the most disturbing nursery rhyme/fairy tale you can recall.

I would say Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Not the Disney, happy version, but the original, creepy one.

Do you eat meat?

Absolutely.

What were the skies like when you were young?

Much more prominent. Seems like now I take looking at a beautiful blue sky, or a dark starry night for granted.

Name your favorite garden tool.

The post hole digger. Those things are brutal.

Name your least favorite color, first job and worst job.

Least favorite color: I suppose purple is not one of my favorites.

First job: Hollywood Video Clerk

Worst job: Grocery Store Gofer

Favorite:  Author, Movie, Music Group, Song, and Quote.

Author: Patrick Mcgrath, Flannery O'Connor, Ernest Hemingway, Paulo Coehlo, Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy

Movie: “The Third Man” and “The Thing”

Music Group: Air, Ben Folds, and lots of Jazz

Song: “Under Pressure” is one of my favorites.

Quote: In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed-- but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.

If you were a loaf of bread what kind would you be?

100% Whole Wheat. I'm something of a health nut.

Weirdest news you have read in your local newspaper:

“Philadelphia now has highest murder rate in the country”

Not so much weird, as it is ridiculously sad. I gotta move.

Why horror?

Because it's the only genre that constantly keeps my interest going by pushing the boundaries. Because it's better to express horrific things, no matter how awful, with a pen or on the screen rather than in real life. And because with horror (film), no matter how bad it is, I can always find something in it that I like in it.

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