Today we’d like to introduce you to Char Simpson.
Hi Char, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My career began betwixt the paradoxical worlds of extreme haunted houses and luxury department stores. My first job was at Blackout, an extreme haunted house. I worked with them for about four years and did everything from designing rooms to scaring participants. Blackout was seasonal work, so I had to get survival jobs. I worked at Barney’s department store on Madison Ave in NYC. I started as a visual display assistant and focused on menswear and production for the larger window displays. Between the visceral horror of Blackout and the extravagance of Barney’s, I was living a double life! By day I was dressing mannequins in couture and by night, I transformed…like a corporate werewolf.
Retail was a grind, but I have always enjoyed having jobs that are unrelated to my writing. Even so, I needed more creative outlets. I started working on Horror films, plays, radio plays, and even a Choose Your Own Adventure book called Eighth Grade Witch.
I have always been fascinated by and deeply critical of the Horror genre. On the one hand, I feel like it gives creators an invaluable space to critique our culture, government, and society. On the other hand, its formulaic use of unacceptable clichés is not entertaining or artful. More of us Horror lovers need to challenge the genre and elevate it.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
A smooth road infers the existence of a path or some markers along the way…but people don’t really know they need an interactive writer until I convince them. I struggle a lot with figuring out how to place my work in the world or relate it to a specific industry. I think that breeds a certain kind of imposter syndrome: “if I can’t define my work then how can I define myself?” And vice versa.
Now, I feel like my work is about those in-betweens, the undefined, messy and frazzled parts of existence. There is so much complexity and depth to the unknown- the fragility and tenderness of ambiguity. I denied myself that space for a long time both in terms of my work and my personal identity.
I know the binary conditions of our society are in place to keep us separated. Creative action often revolves around solo authorship and individualism. I don’t believe in that myth at all. I believe in co-authorship and dynamic collaborative groups. We need a chorus of voices to make work that resonates in a universal way. It’s challenging to find other people who actually want to work that way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an interactive writer, teacher and creative producer. I specialize in the crafting and mapping of compelling immersive stories. I’ve shown interactive work through Tribeca Film Festival’s Virtual Arcade, Sundance, Cannes XR, the idfa DocLab Forum, DEFCON, Mozilla Fest, CPH:DOX, and others. I work in a variety of industries including education, healthcare, entertainment and Horror. I use Horror, humor, and sometimes Artificial Intelligence to create immersive installations, novels, and experiences that give participants the opportunity to explore volatile concepts and pervasive tools in a safe, flexible environment.
Right now, I’m awaiting the release of a graphic novel adaptation of my first CYOA book: Eighth Grade Witch. I am also looking to gain more teaching experience. I work with Columbia’s Digital Storytelling Lab, CalArts, and this incredible grassroots teaching initiative called “Problem Children”. Problem Children connects students who make cross-genre or unclassifiable work with artists in the field. I feel very passionate about acting as a conduit for burgeoning writers to reach beyond their traditional practices. I’m hoping this work can shake things up and change the field of writing and teaching in dramatic ways. It feels the most urgent and needed right now!
I am also very excited about working with Artificial Intelligence. I’ve worked on two projects that offered the opportunity to collaborate with AI. The first was Alexa, Call Mom! An intimate, single user experience, where the participant explores Alexa’s powers as a medium using her new “Beyond Skill”. This project blends comedy and horror, real user data and fake Amazon ads. It is a dynamic, multi-sensory experience about grief, humor, and consumerism. The creative process required a close relationship with Alexa – in fact, we (the human team!) spent hours asking Alexa questions and getting to know her so that the subversion of her virtual assistant identity felt right.
I recently co-wrote a project in collaboration with Columbia University School of Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab. Project Immerse is a paranoid thrill-ride down a conspiratorial rabbit hole. It encourages participants to become architects of the thriller and break away from victimhood caused by online deception. I used the ever-accessible RunwayML to create our AI co-writer, NightFall. This writing experience feels so radical because every part of the dialogue, story and even some of the instructional text was created by a machine and we (the humans!) credit NightFall as a co-writer.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Cold email people! If there’s an artist you admire, get in touch with them. I guarantee they want to hear from you and if they don’t then that’s their loss. More established artists who aren’t interested in new ideas or new people are arguably not worth working with.
When you cold email, write something short and to the point so they can read it at a glance. Get to know the person before you ask them to do anything. Here’s an example- you can include your reel or your website in your signature but it almost feels too transactional to ask someone to give an opinion on your work immediately. Although you admire this person and their work, you should always vet them. Have a quick phone call or a Zoom chat but keep it casual. The best collaborations have emerged when I have no agenda.
Contact Info:
- Website: charsimp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hicharsimp/
Image Credits:
Personal photo by Eric Potts
