The idea of the exciting, fast-paced world of film may be slightly exaggerated, but it's definitely proven true for Wisconsin native Drew Rosas.

Since graduating from UW-Milwaukee in 2005, the independent filmmaker has found steady work in everything from commercials to 2009's "Public Enemies," including his original feature-length horror film, "Blood Junkie," released through Troma Entertainment just last year.

With the experience of writing, producing and directing a feature-length work under his belt, Rosas is out to top his previous project with a new chilling feature, co-directed by friend and regular collaborator Nick Sommer.

I got a chance to ask Rosas some questions about "Billy Club," his fundraising project through Kickstarter.com and his passion for film and the horror genre.

OnMilwaukee.com: How long have you been involved in film?

Drew Rosas: I started my film career, like many lifelong filmmakers, as a 10-year-old kid messing around in my parents' basement with a giant VHS camera. I kept making videos all through high school and quickly realized that the only way I could excel in a professional career was to pursue something I was truly passionate about.

I'm one of those unmedicated ADHD personalities that can't fake it if I don't feel it. I never could pull off the 9-to-5 day job; I would rather work 18-hour days breaking my back doing something I love.

I went to UWM in 2001 and graduated with a film production BFA in 2005. After college, I worked in the local Milwaukee film industry for three years doing everything on set from PA to editor to producer and director.

I worked on the Johnny Depp film "Public Enemies" for five months as the art department coordinator and then decided I needed to go all in on a feature film. I took my PE paychecks and turned them into my debut full-length horror comedy film "Blood Junkie" (originally titled "Rocky Trails"). I found distribution for it with Troma Entertainment in 2010 and showcased the film in the 2010 Milwaukee Film Festival.

OMC: What about the horror genre interested you?

DR: For me, the horror genre is a great combination of comedy, mystery, thrillers, action, romance, science fiction, drama. It combines everything that I personally love about movies. Special effects, one-liners, twisted plot lines, sex and adventure. It really is the ultimate genre for micro-budget independent filmmaking.

Much of this has to do with the unbelievable fan base supporting the horror, sci-fi, fantasy community. The fans are die hard, and if they find something they love they will self-promote it to the bitter end. I've always been attracted to the dedication and excitement of this community. You just don't find people with the same passion for romantic comedies.

OMC: What's your particular style of horror?

DR: "Blood Junkie" was a fun ride down campy horror film lane. "Billy Club" is a slightly different level of humor and camp. It still works off the traditional horror film formula with all of its fun and games, but it is more about solving a mystery than following characters who accidentally stumble into a killer's secret lair. "Billy Club" combines comedy, horror, mystery and adventure into an exciting ride through a terrifying yet comical and campy tale.

OMC: Horror is a tricky genre to work in. Do you try to avoid things people tend to consider cliche or embrace them?

DR: With "Blood Junkie" I embraced the cliches to a whole new level by wrapping the entire film in the quintessential world of '80s B-horror ridiculousness. With "Billy Club," we are shifting to a '90s horror film that takes itself slightly more seriously. It is still very much a comedy but the scary parts are intended to be much scarier.

This is an homage to some great horror films such as "Halloween" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" but we've created our own unique twist on the formula. We invented our own original psychopathic killer with an obsession with America's favorite past time, baseball. The whole move is wrapped in a baseball theme which I have never really seen in a horror movie before. It's full of lots of laughs, twists and turns, mystery and even a male bonding montage. And a great title thanks to Nick Sommer!

OMC: How long have you and Nick worked together?

DR: Nick and I worked on a couple jobs together in 2007 but really became good friends while shooting "Blood Junkie" in 2008. I met him at Beans and Barley to talk about the role of Craig Wilson. I was in a serious jam and the whole film was at risk of not happening if I didn't cast this character ASAP.

He seemed pumped about the project and I just said if he wanted the role he could have it. No audition. He was taken back by this but signed on anyway and turned out to become the star performance of the film. Since then we've worked together on about half a dozen commercials and written two screenplays. One of which is our forthcoming project "Billy Club."

OMC: Kickstarter seems really helpful but really risky. Why did you choose to run a fundraiser through this website?

DR: Well, Kickstarter is a great idea. A place for artists who would otherwise be working with no money to raise money for their projects by collective fundraising. The catch is ... if you don't hit your goal, you get nothing and therein lies the risk. We've already raised $3,500 or our $15,000 goal but still have a long way to go to make this film come to life. And we need all the help we can get!

OMC: Will "Billy Club" go on as scheduled if you don't meet your
fundraising goal? What's the back-up plan?

DR: I have one investor outside of Kickstarter and a business credit card with a $10,000 limit. So this film will happen one way or the other. I would prefer the less painful road with the economy in chaos. Ironically, my second week of pre-production on "Blood Junkie" in 2008 was hit with a global financial crisis and the stock marked plunged. Three years later, the fourth week of pre-production on "Billy Club," the stock market is dropping again.

This is a call-out to anyone who is sick and nauseated by the roller coaster investment theme park in the world financial markets today. Consider investing in our film. It will ease your anxiety and give you something to watch and share for the rest of your life. Personally, I would rather put my money toward something tangible and in the hands of truly passionate people doing what they love than hand it over to a stock market casino manager working only for the bottom line.

OMC: How far along is the movie right now?

DR: We have a really solid script that is getting better every day! We have three out of four lead characters casted. I'm flying out two actors from Los Angeles to be part of this project. Locations are coming together. I still need a little league baseball team, that is a tricky one.

I just arrived back in Milwaukee yesterday and I'm working on this full time now. Every day we get several steps closer to the end result. We are shooting the last three weeks of September so I'm in a pretty major time crunch until then.

OMC: What challenges come with independent filmmaking?

DR: The hardest thing is trying to do five different jobs at once. I would love nothing more than to have all my finances in order so I could focus on location scouting, casting and other prep work. Part of the major challenge is getting people to donate their extremely valuable time and money to your project. This is always tough and a lot to ask of people.

The great thing is the flaky people flake out and the dedicated people push twice as hard. So by survival of the fittest, I always seem to end up with an amazing team of incredibly talented and dedicated people willing to walk an extra mile for the sake of the greater project. For this, I am overwhelmingly grateful.

OMC: What are the benefits to doing so much of the writing, directing and producing work yourself?

DR: The greatest benefit is having full knowledge and control over the project. But in reality it is more a situation of, either I do it myself ... or it don't get done. Nobody will care as strongly about your project as you do. I have to constantly hype people on the project and try to get them involved.

Luckily I have a ton of really great friends in Milwaukee with a remarkable range of talents. It is just a matter of organizing the different roles and assigning tasks to the appropriate people.

OMC: How do you plan to make this project bigger and better than "Blood Junkie?"

DR: As an artist and filmmaker, I am always trying to grow and challenge myself with something bigger and more ambitious. "Billy Club" is definitely the next major step in that process. We have more characters, more locations, bigger crew, more special effects, longer screenplay, more expensive equipments and a bigger budget.

"Blood Junkie" was my first try at a long format film project and I learned an insane number of lessons the first time around. I'm sure I will learn a whole new list of things this time but that is just the nature of the beast.

OMC: Are you aiming for another Troma release for this project, too?

DR: No, I aiming much bigger. Although Troma has already contacted me about distribution for the film I really would like to use the "Blood Junkie" distribution deal with Troma as a launch pad for something bigger and better. Not sure how this will play out quite yet, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I'm focusing on the 10,000 more immediate tasks at hand!

OMC: Do you want to continue working on small-crew films that allow you to contribute to the different aspects of the movie or work up to large-scale projects?

DR: I love the intimacy of small crews and working with people passionate about the project instead of just showing up for a paycheck while counting the hours until overtime kicks in. I've been on way too many big-budget sets with 40 people standing around craft services waiting for one person to finish a task. I like working with people that can jump in and help out another department if they need and extra hand.

That said, I would love to work with a larger budget at some point. It would be great to be able to pay talented people what they deserve and to let my imagination run a little more wild. At this point I'm constantly restraining ideas based on the reality of the budget I'm working with. But this process does help to make me more creative with my solutions. It challenges me to think outside of the box and often leads the way to some wonderfully unexpected gems.

OMC: After "Billy Club," you'll have made two feature films in two
years. Is this a comfortable pace for you or just how the projects
fell in place?

DR: Well "Blood Junkie" was released in 2010 but I really shot in 2008 and edited in 2009. So it is more accurately a two-year process for each film. I'm really excited to knock out my second feature because it makes it less of a fluke occurrence and paves the way for a lifetime filmmaking.

I hope to continue making feature films for many years to come. My ideal situation would be to live in L.A. for nine months out of the year, and travel back to the Midwest every summer to make another film. So for the moment, I'm living the dream!

OMC: What's next for you?

DR: We plan to shoot "Billy Club" this September and edit through 2012 with a premiere in Milwaukee sometime around Halloween 2012. My next project is a psychedelic, science fiction, film noir, action comedy shot on location in the deserts of California.

This project follows a spaceship captain that finds himself stranded on a strange planet suffering from acute brain atrophy. I plan to shoot a short 15-minute section of this film in early 2012 and hopefully raise money to turn it into my third feature length film project.