5 Things You Didn't Know About Grimm Exchange

On Friday the 13th November 2020, the Grimm Exchange online horror series launched branding our screens with exciting Q&As at Grimmfest, showcasing independent filmmakers on the collective Youtube channel ‘Grimmfest TV.’ It’s certainly given horror fans something new to tune into during this global pandemic.

One of the brains behind the series is Co-Producer Mariam Draeger, who I’ve had the pleasure of featuring on the panel of her ‘Horror Is No Place for A Lady,’ event at the Liverpool Horror Film Convention.

Mariam is also the founder of Headcinema Productions, a service provider for the horror genre and is well connected in the international horror industry. She has become a spokesperson for horror at festivals, such as Grimmfest, Dead of Night and Liverpool Horror Festival; programs for BBC Radio and podcasts like The Overlook Hour. Recently she has been appointed to the department of Funding and Finance for the EU funded, international project Creative Shift. Other international clients have been the United Nations and YouTube.

Grimm Exchange is the latest in her incredible repertoire of works, as she continues to work closely with the GX editorial team, coordinating the content for the channel, with a high calibre of guests on the show, from writers, like Joshua Conkel of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, to academics like Professor Dr. Marcus Stiglegger.

So, at long last, let’s get to know Grimm Exchange a little better with the top 5 things, straight out of this exciting ensemble.

1# If you look carefully, the current intro has close-ups taken from a number of classic famous horror films and games: Gremlins (1984), It Follows (2014), The Birds (1963), IT (1990), Coraline (2009), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Demon Knight (1995), Outlast (2013), Audition (1999) and Goosebumps (1995-1998).

2# The Grimm Exchange team is truly international and since everything is online, they actually produce the show in two different countries: the UK and Germany, not to mention featuring guests who hail from all over the world. The team also plan an annual weekend trip together at a haunted location. Go team!

3# Whenever a guest appears on the show, even if they’re seen for only a minute, you can guarantee, the conversation would’ve been enough to produce an “off the record” show, with each episode being at least four hours long! Any insights or emotions you get hints that they are 100% genuine.

4# The Grimm Exchange was completely unintentional, but when putting the team together, many of the people who came on board due to their interest in the format and subject matter, turned out to be female.

The team is now made up of two guys and six gals! The format is also completely gender neutral, because the whole show is generally from horror fans for horror fans, but at the moment over 60% of the Grimm Exchange viewership is female.

5# After every interview, Grimm Exchange record a real-life spooky story with their guests that goes into a Halloween special. Of course, these have to be edited down because a lot of these stories actually include celebrities who haven’t given permission to be named!

So…next time you go back and listen to stories from last year or new ones coming in this year’s compilation in October, whenever a storyteller says “someone,” there’s a good chance you’ve heard of that person’s name before.

Grimm Exchange seem to live in a very haunted world and some people in the horror industry are definitely less impressed than others by weird occurrences.

https://youtu.be/83hPmLa-blI

The future of Grimm Exchange is an exciting one as the show continues to develop, with exclusives in every episode. The next episode airs tonight and is also dedicated to Women in Horror month. I’m featured in this episode, where you can catch my review of Justin Simien’s creepy ‘Bad Hair’ movie.

The Grimm Exchange WIHM episode is particularly special, as it will feature an exclusive interview with established ‘Final Girl,’ Kelli Maroney. You can also look forward to another exclusive with one of the founders of the Women in Horror Month Miki Hickel, who has never given an interview herself and might never again, since this is the last year for the WiHM organisation.

There you have it, the Grimm Exchange channel so far, giving you an insight into what it takes to launch a developing horror channel along with the exciting guests and content that’ll keep you hooked up for your monthly dose of horror!