Barry Gregory Gaines: Writer, Director, Editor, Producer, Cinematographer and Choreographer of film. Also the Founder and Owner of GainesCon, the Action, Sci-Fi and Horror Film Festival.
Being born and raised in Queens, New York, I began filmmaking at the age of 10 with a friend of mine who received an Hitachi VHS Camcorder for Christmas…and I haven’t stopped since. As we grew up, we filmed over 20 “cheesy" low budget movies that taught us how to tell a story with nothing. As we got older, we slowed some and took different paths. During those times I was fortunate to snag a job with Virgin Records as a publicist in New York and worked with our legends such as Janet Jackson and Lenny Kravitz during their heyday.
Eventually I wanted to do something different and found a job with one of New York’s high profile cabarets called, “Le Bar Bat”. I worked my up into management within a year and worked with many famous artist and personalities. Throughout this time, I was still working on low-budget film as an actor and as a director with my friends at times.
In 2014 my wife and I started “Gaines Entertainment” and decided to move to Sarasota, FL to be closer to my mother in Venice. Plus Florida gave me a different vibe that inspired me to do something I couldn’t do so easy back in New York. So I began writing a screenplay called, “A World of Worlds”, a Fantasy, Action series that combines many films that inspired me growing up.
So with no budget, no investor, no producer, I set sail around Sarasota to find the right people to bring my characters to life. I was fortunate to find some incredible artist. Since I didn’t have any money give it the scope it needed, I just compensated with what we can get. So if I wrote a character that needed to be in a mansion, I just found a pretty house to film in instead. Many business in Sarasota were very gracious in allowing us to film in their establishments. So, after two years with principal photography coming to close, I needed a VFX supervisor that didn’t know how to get. After interviewing dozens of expensive artist, I came across Prakash Kumararajan in India. He was on the VFX team for 2016 Total Recall and John Carter. He was very gracious and accommodating and worked with what I had throughout the entire post-production. Delivering quality that I wouldn’t normally be able afford. And to this day he is still my VFX Supervisor and good friend.
Next, I needed a composer and came across someone from back home named Michale Vignola, who was accommodating as well. How score lifted each scene to a new level. When it was all over we threw it in some festivals and came out with a few awards. One was for “Best Supernatural Series” from the HBO/Cinemax Urban Action Showcase and Expo in New York City on 42nd St. It was surreal to see my movie play in the very theatre I grew up watching movies in. That assisted us in getting a distribution deal with the Florida aggregator, Green Apple Entertainment.
Then at the end of 2018 I began on the sequel called, “A World of Worlds” - Rise of the King with a few new faces that just help raise the story, character depth and visuals to the next level. This included using a new composer named Andrea Bellucci in Italy that brought that classic operatic muscle that fantasy/action films require. It was completed in November 2020.
And to top it off, I started my first genre film festival on November 19th 2021 named "GainesCon - The Action, Sci-Fi and Horror Film Festival” for short films. Winners receive a Red Dragon trophy for the Best Picture nod and a Gold Dragon for all other categories. This is a festival that gives our many local action, fantasy and horror filmmakers a place to showcase their work locally. I have so many more stories to tell and many filmmakers to showcase. It is truly a wonderful life.
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