Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Roy.
Hi Rob, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been a maker for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I couldn’t just watch a movie and move on. I had to make something from it. I built models and dioramas inspired by movies like King Kong, Godzilla and Alien. My mother used to say, “You can’t see a movie without making something about it?” That pretty much sums me up.
I started playing music when I was 13, and eventually music and filmmaking began to overlap. One of my early projects was a music video called Tears in the Rain. I wrote and performed the original song, starred in the video, filmed it and edited it myself. It went on to become a winner in Videomaker Magazine’s 2003 contest.
That eventually led me deeper into filmmaking. Through Wits’-End Entertainment I’ve spent more than two decades writing, directing, shooting, editing and creating visual effects for independent films.
Lycan Colony was my very first attempt at making a feature film. I was learning by doing and certainly didn’t imagine people would still be talking about it twenty years later. Over time it developed what people affectionately call a “so bad it’s good” cult status, and I’ve completely embraced it.
The film has played at festivals and special screenings around the world and continues to be requested for showings year after year. RiffTrax created their own riffed version, which is available online along with Lycan Colony T-shirts and other merchandise. I personally released and signed many of the standard DVDs over the years, and for its 20th anniversary in 2026, Wild Eye Releasing released new Blu-ray and VHS editions.
There’s something wonderfully strange about seeing your very first feature come back twenty years later on a brand-new VHS.
I think Lycan Colony taught me that you don’t get to decide why people love something. Some people discovered it as a werewolf movie, some through its “so bad it’s good” reputation, some through RiffTrax and others through festival screenings. What matters to me is that people are still watching it.
I also continued that world through writing. Under my pen name, R. G. Roy, I wrote the novels Lycan Colony and Lycan Colony R.O.T.T.: Rage of the Theriomorphs.
More recently I completed Damaged Disciples, a supernatural dark comedy/fantasy about an atheist social worker who is saved by a fallen angel and given seven days to help recover twelve lost souls. The film premiered theatrically in 2026 and is now reaching audiences through streaming. I’m currently developing the sequel, Damaged Disciples 2: Fallen Daughter.
Filmmaking isn’t my only creative outlet. I’ve also spent decades working professionally with food, and I’m now bringing that experience into Unbelieva-BAO Fusion Street Eats — U-BAO, a food truck I’m building and developing myself. From the kitchen and equipment to the menu and branding, it’s another opportunity to take an idea and turn it into something real.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Independent filmmaking is almost never a smooth road. Budgets change, locations disappear, equipment fails, schedules change, and something you’ve planned for months can suddenly become impossible.
You learn pretty quickly that the problem doesn’t get the movie finished — finding another solution does.
Some of the best things I’ve learned came from working within limitations. When you don’t have unlimited money or resources, you have to become inventive. Sometimes the solution you find out of necessity ends up being more interesting than what you originally planned.
There have certainly been projects that didn’t turn out exactly as I imagined. Lycan Colony is an obvious example. It was my first feature and it was imperfect. Twenty years later, some of those imperfections have become part of its personality and cult following.
That experience taught me not to judge the future of something entirely by the moment I finish it. Once you put your work into the world, it can have a life you never anticipated.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work has always been very hands-on. Through Wits’-End Entertainment, I write, direct, shoot, edit and create visual effects for my films. I enjoy being involved from the original idea all the way through the finished project.
I’m probably best known for independent genre films, particularly horror, fantasy and dark comedy. My latest feature, Damaged Disciples, combines all three. I like stories that are a little unusual and difficult to put into one box.
What I’m most proud of is simply that I keep creating and finishing things. Independent filmmaking requires wearing a lot of hats, learning new skills and finding ways to accomplish something without the resources of a large studio. After more than two decades, I’m still excited by that process.
My creative work has also expanded beyond filmmaking. I write novels under the name R. G. Roy, I’ve been a musician for most of my life, and after decades of professional experience with food, I’m now developing my own food truck, Unbelieva-BAO Fusion Street Eats.
What probably sets me apart is that I don’t feel the need to stay in one lane. If an idea interests me, I want to learn what I need to learn and see if I can make it happen.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think risk is unavoidable if you want to create something independently.
You can spend years making a film without knowing where it will ultimately end up or how an audience will respond. Eventually you have to accept that there are no guarantees and make the thing anyway.
The same applies creatively. I’d rather try an unusual idea that interests me than make every decision based on what I think I’m supposed to do. Not everything works. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you change direction, and sometimes something you thought was a failure comes back twenty years later with a cult following.
Starting U-BAO is a different kind of risk. I’m taking decades of experience working with food and putting my own ideas, time and money behind a business of my own. There’s uncertainty in that too, but uncertainty has never been a very good reason for me not to try something.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2241526/?ref_=fn_t_1
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Robroy333
