Review Fix Exclusive: Nick Zafonte & Jacky Singer Talk Collaboration, ‘In the Shadows’ And More

Review Fix chats with Nick Zafonte & Jacky Singer, who discuss their upcoming film, In the Shadows and so much more.

Review Fix:  How did you two meet? 

We met in college, where we were both taking an intro to Science Fiction class, but it wasn’t until one inspired all-nighter that we discovered a shared passion for storytelling and philosophical conversations. Shortly after, we became best friends and creative confidants; Nick helping to edit Jacky’s first book of poetry and her performing practically every job on his music videos (miraculously working her way up from costume assistant to Co-Producer over a weekend.) Since then we have written, directed, and produced films, fiction, and web content as a creative team. 

Review Fix:  What do you think makes your collaborations so special? 

We creatively complement each other. Each of us comes at storytelling from a unique perspective. And the different gender POV’s don’t hurt either. Since we’re best friends, every project is a chance to hang out, have fun, and talk about what interests us. We get to share our passion for storytelling, delving into thought-provoking, meaningful topics. What do you each bring to the table? Nick’s a high concept, outlining devotee, while Jacky is a witty comedy, character-driven purist. While Nick is a student of structure, Jacky relies on intuition and her deep interest in psychology. That difference in process helps us create stories that feel real, fleshed out, and poignant. 

Review Fix:  How has COVID changed your creative process? 

COVID accelerated our already virtual working style. We live in separate cities now, so early on we had to adopt remote tools to keep the collaboration going. We work on shared documents to outline and draft our stories, and brainstorm via Facetime or Zoom. Recently, we’ve even delved into VR, using the Oculus and Workrooms to ‘come together’ and hash ideas out. How do you find time considering everything else you both do? Being creative is more than a passion, it’s a necessity for us. So we got disciplined about making the time to work together. Yearly goals, monthly deadlines, and ‘Working Wednesdays’ create a slow and steady progress that ensures we finish each project, no matter how long it takes. 

Review Fix:  What are you currently working on and why is it so special? 

Our next project is the movie In the Shadows, a horror meets psychological thriller about a man suffering from sleep paralysis. As he returns to his family home, his isolation leads to paranoia and terrifying nightmares that blur the lines between dream, reality, and delusion. This story is especially interesting to us because Nick has experienced sleep paralysis since he was a teenager, while Jacky has long been fascinated with the psychology of dreams. 

Review Fix:  Why should people check it out? 

Besides being a terrifying, psychological horror in the vein of classics like ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Exorcist,’ the film echoes the current cultural landscape post COVID lockdowns, exploring the themes of boredom, isolation, obsession, and the sudden loss of family. 

Review Fix:  What other goals do you two have for 2022? 

We are also writing a sci-fi young adult trilogy. Building out a world where human knowledge has been siloed, with separate scientific enclaves being the last vestiges of our mastery over technology. A world where the only hope for the future is a return to the values of logic, curiosity, intellectualism, and the willingness to connect, no matter our differences. 

Review Fix:  What’s next? 

We’re preparing to produce In the Shadows, as both a film and custom VR experience, as well as finding literary representation for our fiction projects.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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