Media: September 2026 • Champaign’s Indie Filmmaker
Robin Christian
Robin Christian is an Indie-filmmaker, the writer of over a hundred film scripts, and the director of films for more than twenty years. Yes, that’s all very impressive. But what makes his accomplishments even more impressive is where he is doing it: right here in Illinois. Robin is based in Champaign.
His journey into this film world is definitely unique.
“I started an ad agency,” he explains, “which I had for three decades. All my stuff was high tech, I did a lot of aerospace. So I was on the road to Chicago three times a week. With the ad agency, I had equipment that could make good documentaries. So while I was still with the ad agency, I wanted to make oneabout John Lennon and his impact on society and culture. I ended up running around interviewing rock stars, and it really turned out well. I thought it would be a great project for VH1. Unfortunately, the quality of my cameras wasn’t good enough for VH1, but the content was amazing, and I knew that this was something I wanted to do.”
So that’s what he did. But he didn’t move to LA. He stayed put in Illinois. Robin believes there are some definite advantages to basing his film life here in the Midwest, especially with that all important first step: writing the script.
“I think by living in the Midwest, my stories are more vivid than those written by someone in a back room on a studio lot in Los Angeles. Our characters are just as rich as anyone.”
And working here in Illinois certainly hasn’t slowed him down.
“I write four to six screenplays a year. My first one took me eight years, and now I can do one in 30 days. Of course, I’m not ready to show it to anybody, but it’s a craft, and I’ve learned thatcraft.”
The other thing he’s learned is the way the film industry works.It’s not like being in LA would help him getting his scripts produced.
“I can’t just walk into a studio and say here’s my script, you should hire me. They have their formula now, and they already have the next 50 movies they want to make.”
Which led Robin into the world of directing and producing the films himself. His movies, including the horror trilogy CORN(the third film in the trilogy comes out this fall), have received great reviews and notices. This third film will wrap up the story line revolving around human taxidermy.
“Today’s audiences love sequels,” Robin explains, “and when I come up with a movie idea I am constantly focused on making the character’s dilemma solved in a satisfying way in the first movie. In a trilogy like my CORN series, the protagonists appear to be teens on the run, however the trilogy follows the daughter of the antagonist. Imagine if your dad pretends to love you yet he kills and stuffs your beloved mother, and you must suddenly grow up enough to vanquish him and somehow be sane.”
When I asked how he came up with an idea like that, he chuckled.
“My wife wonders the same thing. How can she sleep next to someone with a brain like this?”
Robin loves writing. He loves directing. But the raising of the funds is the most difficult part of the process. It hasn’t get any easier, even though he has proven he can deliver.
“My budgets were low on these movies, so when I show them to the potential investors, they’re looking at my past movies and going, “Well, this is decent.” I say, “Well yes, but I did them for $75,000 sometimes. What if I would have had seven million instead of $75,000? I’m basically like Hootie and the Blowfish. I’ve spent 20 years now building my craft, getting ready for the moment, so I’ll be ready when someone says, ‘Hey, this is great.What else you got?’”
He’s got a lot. Despite his success in the horror genre, Christian hasn’t given up his love of the Beatles and has written an award-winning script about their early days.
“I have one about their first manager, Sam Leach. He had them playing for 4000 people a night at the New Brighton Ballroom. Sam was let go by the Beatles after a failed concert in Aldershot, near London. He had great big ideas, but no one showed up because something didn’t happen with his check clearing. I speak at Beatles-Fest about that time. It’s called the Mersey era before the British invasion. If you ask Paul McCartney, whatwas your favorite time in your life? He’d say when he was 17 and playing all those bars. It was so much fun before the mania. Unfortunately many of these people that helped them got left behind. But this one has a happy ending. When John died, Sam called Yoko and brazenly said, ‘Can I do the vigil for John?’ She knew him because they were still friends, even though he hadn’t done anything in 20 years. And he ended up promoting the vigil for the greatest songwriter of all time.”
Robin has also written a musical featuring the songs of Three Dog Night, and another script about World War II. To find out more about Robin Christian and his wide range of films, go to his website, dreamscapecinema.com
– Rick Kaempfer
