(HOLLYWOOD, CA) June 4, 2021. From award-winning producers Roger Lay, Jr. (Star Trek: The Roddenberry Vault, The Twilight Zone 60th: Remembering Rod Serling, Aliens Ate My Homework), Mark A. Altman (CW’s Pandora, The Librarians, author, St. Martin’s bestselling The Fifty-Year Mission books) and Thomas P. Vitale (Nextflix’s Slasher, Pandora) comes the ultimate look back at the greatest geek moviegoing year of all-time filled with exclusive interviews, rare behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive never-before-seen clips in a fun, lively, no holds barred celebration of the legendary moviegoing year of 1982.
1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! will take viewers behind-the-scenes at a time when fandom was in its infancy, featuring rare interviews with genre superstars from in front of and behind the camera of the biggest and most influential movies ever made. “1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! is not just a documentary,” says Scott Mantz, one of the film’s producers and a noted film critic and broadcast entertainment journalist. “It’s a time machine that takes viewers back to one of the greatest years of movies ever as we examine the biggest blockbusters as well as the cult classics that made it so unforgettable.”
Made by fans for fans, 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! will be a celebration of the single greatest geek moviegoing year ever including E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, John Carpenter’s The Thing. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, Creepshow, The Dark Crystal, Tron, Conan The Barbarian, Paul Schrader’s Cat People and George Miller’s The Road Warrior. In addition to honoring the classics, the film will also revisit such cult films as Megaforce, a megabomb starring Barry Bostwick (“the good guys always win… even in the 80’s”), Time Rider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann, The Sword & The Sorcerer, a low budget Conan cash-in, and Liquid Sky, a film about miniature aliens in New York who thrive on heroin and sex.
And, of course, 1982 also gave us what Entertainment Weekly later called the Citizen Kane of teensploitation films: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, as well as action classics like First Blood, Rocky III and 48 Hours. In 1982, Gandhi prevailed at the Oscars and comedy classics such as My Favorite Year, Diner and Tootsie were culturally impactful. 1982 was also the year in which movies grew up and began to tentatively explore gay and trans themes in such films as Personal Best, Making Love and The World According To Garp.
On the 39th anniversary of the release of Star Trek II and Poltergeist on June 4th, 1982, the filmmakers are launching a Kickstarter to supplement the film’s production budget to allow for the additional licensing of clips, clearances and global travel in the age of COVID and will feature exhaustive one-on-one conversations with the biggest names in Hollywood — 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! will be filled with anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories of the classics from critics, super fans and a generation of filmmakers who were inspired by these movies.
The film will be completed this fall for a planned theatrical release in 2022, the 40th anniversary of the films of 1982.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
MARK A. ALTMAN (Producer) is the acclaimed author of the bestselling two-volume oral history of Star Trek, The Fifty-Year Mission, for St. Martin’s Press. He also is the author of books on the James Bond films, Nobody Does It Better and the upcoming Star Wars tome, Secrets Of The Force. In addition, he is the showrunner and executive producer of The CW sci- fi TV series Pandora, now streaming on Amazon Prime and has been a writer/producer on such hit shows as The Librarians, Castle, Agent X and many more. He is also the writer of numerous comic books and an award-winning writer/producer for such movies as the cult classic, Free Enterprise, starring William Shatner and Eric McCormack as well as a producer of the superhero satire, The Specials, written by James Gunn (Guardians of The Galaxy, Suicide Squad) and directed by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl). In addition, he co-hosts the wildly popular podcasts, The 4:30 Movie and Inglorious Treksperts, the only podcast for Star Trek fans with a life.
Altman has spoken at numerous industry events and conventions, including ShowBiz Expo as well as the Variety/Final Draft Screenwriters Panel at the Cannes Film Festival. He was a juror at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival in Barcelona, Spain. He has been a frequent guest and panelist at Comic-Con held annually in San Diego, CA and a two-time juror for the Comic-Con Film Festival. In addition to being a graduate of the Writers Guild of America Showrunners Training Program, he is a member of the Television Academy.
ROGER LAY, JR. (Director/Producer) is a founding partner at Lay-Carnagey Entertainment – a media production company that creates innovative content for film, television, and themed entertainment attractions across the globe. He recently produced and directed the large format 3D ride film at the heart of Legendary Pictures ’groundbreaking Pacific Rim: Shatterdome Strike theme park attraction in Jakarta.
Some of his film producing credits include Universal’s Aliens Ate My Homework (based on Simon & Schuster’s best-selling children’s book series) as well as the sequel Aliens Stole My Body (now streaming on Netflix), HBO’s 95 Miles to Go starring Ray Romano, and eOne’s Chrysalis — based on the short story by internationally-acclaimed author Ray Bradbury.
Roger is also the Saturn Award-winning producer/director of multiple specials and documentaries for CBS/Paramount including The Twilight Zone 60th: Remembering Rod Serling, Star Trek: Inside the Roddenberry Vault, and Star Trek: The Journey to the Silver Screen, to name a few. Roger is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America.
SCOTT MANTZ (Commentator/Producer) is the recipient of the ICG Publicists Guild Press Award (honoring outstanding entertainment journalism), Scott “Movie” Mantz is a longtime member of the Producers Guild of America and the Critics Choice Association. From 2000 to 2018, Mantz was an on-camera correspondent and Emmy-nominated Producer for “Access Hollywood” and “Access Hollywood Live.” Mantz currently reviews movies and conducts talent interviews for KTLA-TV’s Emmy-winning Morning News program in Los Angeles. He is also the host of the weekly Awards Season film show “For Your Consideration” for Collider Video, and he also co-hosted the Facebook Watch film series “You Know That Scene” for Focus Features. All year long, Mantz is an in-demand moderator of panels, press conferences and post- screening Q&A sessions with filmmakers and acting talent, particularly during Awards Season.
In recent years, he moderated numerous FYC Q&As for many Oscar-winning films, most notably “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” “Parasite,” “Judy,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Green Book,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Shape of Water” and “La La Land.”
For the past four years, Mantz hosted the Official Golden Globes Red Carpet Preshow, and he has moderated highly-viewed press events for blockbusters like “Incredibles 2,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Blade Runner 2049.” He is also the host and instructor of “Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology,” an online course produced by the Smithsonian Institute. His on-camera movie reviews also appeared on various national platforms, including the monitors at gas-pumps, supermarkets, and taxicabs. Finally, over the years, Mantz has been a regular contributor of reviews and film commentary for “The TODAY Show,” Headline News, CNN, National Public Radio, KNBC-Channel 4, KTTV-Channel 11 and the PBS movie review series “Just Seen It.”
THOMAS P. VITALE (Producer) is a television producer and executive specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror/supernatural programming and movies. He currently runs Vital Signs Entertainment. Tom is Executive Producer of Pandora, a scripted series for The CW and Amazon Prime. He is also an Executive Producer on Slasher, a Netflix and Shudder horror series currently in production on its fourth season. Recently, Tom co-wrote and produced the horror-comedy, You Might Be the Killer, which played in over 15 film festivals in the U.S. and internationally, and is now available on streaming.
Prior to Vital Signs Entertainment, Tom was Executive Vice-President at NBCU’s Syfy Channel and also Chiller Network, where he ran scheduling, acquisitions, original movies, documentaries, specials, and series co-productions. While at Syfy, Tom made the network into one of the largest producers of original movies on television when he created Syfy’s original Saturday movie franchise, “The Most Dangerous Night of Television.” The over 300 original movies made during Tom’s tenure include buzzy, high-rated titles like Mansquito and Ice Twisters, Roger Corman’s Sharktopus, Stan Lee’s Harpies and Lightspeed, and the social media sensation Sharknado. In the series world, Tom developed, commissioned, or supervised many original shows including Z Nation, Dark Matter, Flash Gordon, Tripping the Rift, Farscape, and Painkiller Jane. He was also responsible for bringing the immensely successful Stargate franchise to Syfy and worked on everything at the network from Battlestar Galactica to Stephen Spielberg Presents Taken to Eureka to Ghost Hunters to Paranormal Witness. For Chiller, Tom was responsible for critically-acclaimed festival horror and supernatural films such as Elijah Wood’s The Boy, and Animal from executive producer Drew Barrymore. Tom is a member of the Writers Guild of America, and the Producers Guild. He began his entertainment career in the famed Page Program at NBC.
