Boo the bad guy: the wacky cinematic world of local promoter Will Bailey

What first drew you to cult and 'so-bad-it’s-good' films, and why do you think audiences love them so much?

I’ve just been into films all my life. Me and my friends would do the Kevin Smith all-dayer and just watch Kevin Smith films all day. It was fun to have the community cinema. Depending on how busy the audience was, it would be better. South Park: The Movie was one of the best experiences of my life.

The film Troll 2 was on Netflix with a doc called Best Worst Movie, and it showed how it was screened all over the world, which fits right into what I love. I just had to do my own screening. I hired the lounge at Broadway and screened it at The Maze. At that point, I hadn't thought about it being what I wanted to do. I've naturally gotten involved in that sort of thing.

During lockdown, we streamed loads and loads of bad movies, and it's never as fun to watch a classic with friends. It's not what I want from a group cinema experience. Bad films are so much fun because we can cheer and shout out the lines. When I was at uni, there was a screening of Withnail and I, and everyone was trying to drink along with the film. Rocky Horror is another amazing cinema experience. It works. Anything that gets you singing or is quotable.

How is Boo The Bad Guy different from projects you’ve been involved with previously?

For me, in the past, like with Notts Bad Movie Club, it was the first time we could sell tickets. It's so much fun, and how I found the niche. I remember Marc Shaiman was the composer for South Park: The Movie, and I contacted him for Notts Bad Movie Club, and he was so offended that I was suggesting the film was bad.

I wanted to come up with a name that sums up what I do. I want you to boo the bad guy and throw spoons at the screen. It's not about bad movies, it's about whatever worked. It doesn’t always work, and sometimes it doesn't land with an audience. It's given me more scope to try different things. I'm all about screening films in venues that aren’t cinemas.

I like this idea of people in a cabaret style eating hot dogs. I want to upscale those Kevin Smith all-dayers. Those nights with five mates sitting on the sofa are what I’ve tried to do. People are easing back into things and looking for more for their money.

Your events are much more than just screenings. When did you realise audiences wanted a more interactive experience?

Before I announced the live wrestling, my friend said I couldn't just merge all my ideas. I like that people are coming to these events. They've got the film on DVD at home, but I'm trying to make it like the DVD special features or the trivia part of IMDb into a real-life event.

I'm not just trying to look for the most famous person in the film. I wanna find someone who swept the floors and hear their stories. Quite often, they're like, “Are you sure you wanna speak to me?” Sometimes I get to interview the director, and I video it and play it before the film. I also get extras, so you get a few different sides of the story. I layer it with a raffle and some games.

It's a bit like a mad, poor man's Butlins show. In every band I've been in, I've been the guy on the mic trying to rile up the crowd. I might be posting it, but I’m right with you at the table watching the events. I feel like I want to be a part of this. I wanna be sitting on the sofa shouting out the Nicholas Cage lines and singing karaoke in fancy dress.

Yes, I want you to have this ridiculous experience, but im also with you having this ridiculous experience. It's a shared mad evening.

You track down cast and crew for recorded intros. What’s been the most surreal or memorable response you’ve had?

It's been pretty mad. I’m a big fan of cinema, and the first ever video I got was someone from Anaconda. I just thought, “How have I infiltrated Hollywood?” I realised a lot of people who made those films love people chatting about them; they're really proud of them. This is why you go to conventions. They love chatting about their films. I've received almost 150 videos. The one that really got me, I remember being sat on a bus receiving a video from Brian Blessed. Suddenly, Stephen Fry, who was in Spice World: the Movie, was just pleased to talk about being a judge. He was flattered that someone remembered him in the film.

There's one I look back on, and it's a pinch-me moment. Someone was screening The Room, and I thought, " How do I get that?” so I Facebooked Greg Sestero and said Greg, I’d love for you to come to Nottingham for a screening and he said, "Sure!” I was sitting in Bar Iberico having tapas with him in Nottingham, and that, for me, has opened my mind as a film fan. If I can put on these events and have these mad experiences, it is what drives me to these unique, strange things.

How do you choose which films to screen, and what makes something the “right” kind of bad?

It's important for me not to pigeonhole myself. Sometimes I don't put on a fancy dress, and I interview people properly. I screened TMNT, but the 90s one, but before it was rereleased, I had to pay £1000 just to license the film. Steve Barron came down, and the unique thing about him is that he directed all these films, but also made all the best music videos in the 80s and 90s. He worked with David Bowie and Madonna, and he made the Dire Straits Money for Nothing video and the Billie Jean video. The interview was in two halves about film and music videos.

As I say, there's good and bad. I haven't done many bad films. A lot of what I want to do depends on whether I can add an interesting spin on this. I don't want to say, here's the DVD, let’s screen this. With Tammy and the T-Rex I’d been chatting to the director, so I set up an interview. It made the event more interesting, but it depends on the film. The Lord of the Rings would sell out Broadway but you're not showing LOTR and drinking along to it. Wayne's World has a nostalgia for it. Ace Ventura would be a lot of fun. It's about finding a field that works for that crowd.

Sharknado is one of those films that they knew was rubbish. There's a difference between cheap films and the director trying to make it good, and it turns out bad. Troll 2 wanted to be good, but everything went unfathomably wrong. Everyone who read the script was American, but the director was Italian. The main actor is a dentist, and he went down to be a bit part and ended up getting the starring role. 

Tell us about the upcoming Troll 2 event at the Savoy on 18th May. What can people expect on the night?

Troll 2 is the one where everything went wrong. I've been screening Troll 2 for years in Nottingham. I've done it in the lounge at Broadway and the Maze. Notts Bad Movie Club screened Troll 2 and Mac and Me. I contacted the cast and crew, and about six people sent me videos. George Hardy, the dentist, lives in Alabama, and they made a documentary about him. We’re now Facebook friends and chat on WhatsApp because I've been trying to get him to the UK, but haven't been able to get him over because he's a very good dentist.

Chatting to this dentist made him howl with laughter at the fact that he was in the film. He made this film and then forgot about it. Years later, he found out it existed, and both he and Darren Ewing watched it for the first time on VHS in a video shop.

You made the leap into full-time promotion. What were the biggest risks, and has it paid off as you hoped?

It's scary. I've been a promoter for twenty years. I like to think of myself as a DIY promoter. I book bands I like that I wanna see. If I’m lucky, I make money. This is year three of being freelance. Year one was scary. Year two was the best year so far. I’m a creative person who has to come up with these ideas, or I make no money. I've got this freedom to do whatever works. There's a band I used to book in Nottingham called Bomb the Music Industry, and they've got a song called “Can I Pay My Rent in Fun?”

Your work spans cinema, music, comedy, and even wrestling. How do you juggle so many different projects?

I've always been good at juggling. The life of the promoter is Facebook, email, WhatsApp, and carrier pigeons. It's a case of spinning those plates. Because I've got these ideas im really keen to develop them as much as I can. I just love it.

The wrestling thing only came out a few years ago. Walking into the venue just made me thing wrestling ring. The same with the Faulty Towers dining experience. How does that work, and how do we integrate this into a restaurant setting? I don't know how I juggle it. You'd have to ask my wife! In my opinion, it'll all be worth it.

Where do you want to take the project next: bigger venues, bigger guests, or something completely unexpected?

I’m sure there will be something completely unexpected. I enjoy putting things on sale and people not knowing what they're going to be. If people know it's just another bad movie, it’s a bit dull. I want to do more interviewing and more very unique events. I've tried to get Brian Blessed to Nottingham, but I'd love to get someone of that calibre to speak to me. I'm keen to keep creating these unique nights out that people can't get. You're not getting that level of event at a Vue or an Odeon. As long as im enjoying it, then the audience will enjoy it.

For the past year, I've been organising a cinema tour, which happened in January. I never believed it would happen because it's so ridiculous. I was the tour manager and the driver for Lloyd Kaufman, who created The Toxic Avenger. His wife is the executive director of the New York State Governor's Office for Motion Picture and Television Development. So I spent January with them, driving around the country and interviewing them in different cities. It's mind-blowing that this could happen.

Fancy seeing the best worst movie of all time? Come along to the next event, where you can really boo the bad guy at the Savoy on 18 May. Tickets are available through the Savoy. You can also follow Boo the Bad Guy on Instagram and Facebook for future events.

 @boothebadguy