Fredrik Carlström does not play around.

Pffft. Yes, he does.

fredrikcarlstrom.jpg Before relocating to New York from Sweden, Fredrik was the creative director of the advertising agency Graceland Stockholm that he founded at the age of 21. Leaving an ulcer and a failed relationship behind, he moved to New York in 2000. He has since produced and assisted directed numerous commercials, shorts, and features. He worked in development for Academy Award winning producer Edward Saxon (ADAPTATION, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) and this year, he set up the mini film distribution branch of online publishing house Gawker Media.

Read the following with the lightest sprinkling of a Swedish accent. (But not on the parts where I'm asking questions. In those cases just imagine the voice of Mrs. Harvey Fierstein.)

BK: I think Gawker.com once identified you as a "porn producer." Is that an accurate title?
FC: Well, I did put together and released a porn film, so in a way I guess it is accurate. Though I am not big on titles, my favorite would be "creative godfather". It is held by Neil French of WPP (the advertising group).

I am famously unfocused, so if I had to give myself a title it would be "generalist". But I guess "producer" is vague and general enough.

BK: How did you end up being the executive producer of the DVD version of Ed Wood's long lost last film Necromania?
FC: Alexander Kogan, the man who owned the rights to the film, realized it should probably be released through the internet. He contacted Nick Denton [of Gawker Media] and since Nick and I are friends and since Nick, unlike me, is very focused, he asked me if I would be interested in heading up their film projects and I said yes. We launched the films under the brand name of one of Nick's blogs - Fleshbot.com.

BK: I haven't seen it yet, but I've read that it's basically a porno, Ed Wood-style. Is it just as explicit as what we often see today? You know, misogyny, money shots, cameras right up in there...?

FC: Yes and no. They are absolutely Ed Wood, and hence look nothing like anything else you see in porn today. But it's old style: Necromania is almost soft core [by] today's standards. No shaved pussies, no double anal and no probe shots. The reason people are interested in it is obviously because it's Ed Wood, but I also think people are tired of all the crap that the San Fernando Valley spews out: platinum blond, fakes boobs etc.

BK: Did you know that you're listed on IMDB?
FC: Bastards! I asked for them to take it down.

BK: What are you working on now?
FC: For Fleshbot Films I'm trying to find a distributor for Necromania and we are looking into releasing more titles, some made by Ed Wood and some by others.

I've been editing a music video I directed for a Swedish artist Edith Söderström.

I am also setting up a partnership with something as rare as a creative venture capitalist person, that I feel very good about, and we have a few projects in development: a design book where we collect unpublished corporate design, ads etc. from the "dot com" era; a documentary that we are pitching around; a new type of cooking show; a novel we optioned is being turned into a script; and we want to turn an old Swedish TV series into a feature. We are also starting another DVD project with a guy in LA that I think will be interesting.

BK: Who would you most like to meet?
FC: Hmm, I guess myself in 10 years time would be kind of interesting, I wonder if I'll ever make it to the gym.

If that doesn't work, Karl Rove. I pretty much disagree with him on every single political, social and economical issue, but he is a very good political strategist and that is something I always wanted to do - I think I would be pretty good at it too.

BK: Remember when Nick Denton tried to get us to hook up?

FC: Yes.

Fredrik Carlström's production company is called Third Factory. Learn more about Freddie's Necromania on Fleshbot and in the New York Post and the New Yorker.

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