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Behind the Mask with Sean Clark of SSN

Behind The Mask with Sean Clark of lver Shampain Novelties

Without wasting any time, lets dive into the mind of one of the fore fathers of the "white" mask craze. Lets go Behind the Mask with the often outspoken and never dull Sean Clark.....

How did you get started in the buness of mask making?

It was by accident. I was at a toy convention back in 1995 and I came across an original Don Post Captain Kirk 75' mask for $30. I freaked out and bought it immediately. I showed it to my friend Darren Roberts who was at the time working with the legendary Henry Alvarez. He wanted one for himself and said we could make a mold of this so we can make copies. I have always been the type of person who likes to share the love so I agreed. We did it and Darren taught me how to do everything. Then I thought I bet other Halloween fans would want one of these too. So I put a small clasfied ad in the back of Fangoria magazine selling the masks for $60 each hoping just to make a few bucks. I had 50 orders in just a couple of weeks. The rest is history.

Please describe in detail what lead to your pason for the horror genre and or the Halloween holiday?

My parents were very young when they had me. My mom was 17 and my dad was 18 so they were still kids. They dug horror films and started taking me as far back as I can remember. They were always my favorite and I've just been a life long fan. As for the holiday of Halloween I have always loved that too. Costumes and masks have always been a part of my life and inspired everything I do.Who or whom was the biggest influence in your life and how did that effect who you are today?

I would say the band KISS. I got into KISS when I was 7 and it was a combination of everything I loved wrapped into one. Horror movies, costumes and rock n' roll. KISS are the universal connection to all those things and I always looked up to them. As a writer Rod Serling is a huge influence and as a director it would be Stanley Kubrick.What do you do in your spare time when you are not making masks or doing something work related?

Almost everything I do is work related. I am one of the buest people you will ever meet. Other than the mask company lver Shampain Novelties I run HorrorShirts.com, I have a buness called Convention All-Stars were we put celebrities into conventions, I help put on horror movie conventions and film festivals, I write for Bloody-Disgusting.com and HorrorHound Magazine, I have my article and show called Horror's Hallowed Grounds, I am involved in several film and documentary projects, I just did my first feature film The Black Waters of Echo's Pond and I am working on starting the next film soon.

I am a sports fan. I love to watch football and basketball. Both my teams currently suck ass and that is the Seattle Supersonics and the Miami Dolphins. My I love to go to Disneyland in my spare time as well as going to the movies. I love to watch movies at home. I have stacks and stacks of unopened DVDs I haven't had the time to watch yet.What was your first sculpt and or mask making experience? Were you a natural or did it take time to hone your skills? How much have you learned nce then?

I pretty much answered that in question one but I did try my hand at sculpting a few times and with zero training I was actually pretty good at it. I've always been very artistic but I am also a buness man and that is why over the years I teamed up with guys like Sandy Collora, Darren Roberts and Brad Hardin. Also working directly with the FX shops too. Why bother resculpting something if you can actually get the real thing? So that is what I did.

What project have you worked on in the past that you would conder your favorite thus far?

I don't really have a favorite.

What projects have you accomplished in your career that you feel really cemented your legacy in the buness?

I guess it would have to be the first run of 100 masks I did now referred to as the Clark 75'. That cemented my legacy because I was the guy that by accident started this whole indie Myers masks craze.

Was there a point where you took a step back and said, "Wow, how am I going to get all these orders filled"?

Absolutely. When I got those first 50 orders I panicked. I immediately raised my prices to try and stop the hemorrhaging but the orders just kept coming. I did all of the first 100 myself but I got partners to help in all of the future projects. Also I wanted to work with people who were better than I was. I would take care of the buness end plus pour up the masks and clean them up then my partners could paint and hair them.

What were some low points in your career (if any) when you had to take time to reflect and ask yourself if this buness isn't right for you?

The low points have been the lack of appreciation and respect some people have given me. Those movie mold masks wouldn't have been out there if it wasn't for me and I could have just hoarded them all for myself but I didn't. I shared them with everyone willing to buy one. People have no idea how hard it was to make those deal happen and they just take it for granted. In the past year there have been a bunch of recasters popping up trying to make a quick buck off of the hard work of others and it wasn't until recently that a bunch of us maskmakers put our differences ade and joined forces to try and do something about it. It's a start in the right direction.

What upcoming project if any can you share with us? And what are your plans for the upcoming year?

We will be doing a Brad Lorre gnature Series mask. We still have our Tom Morga gnaure Series mask coming. We will also be bringing back the H20 V.1 mask as another Chris Durand gnature Series mask. Plus a few other surprises in 2008.

http://i42.tinypic.com/2hdmk9d.jpg" class="photoborder" /> Thanks for the great interview Sean, Justin & Joel