In 1980 at the age of fourteen, Mark Borchardt realized what he had to do. He bought his first movie camera, a Super-8 that barely focused, for forty dollars from a friend down the street. With this came a horror movie titled The More The Scarier, Mark’s first film, which was shot in his backyard and local cemetery. After this, Mark went on to shoot five more shorts while erratically drinking and getting high: The Mad Doctor’s Monster, Rocketship 101, The More The Scarier II, I Blow Up, and a more advanced effort, Let There Be Light. In May of 1984, rather than join a homogenized society and become a zombie, Mark enlisted into the army, drinking away the next three years.

Once back, Mark completed The More The Scarier III. Then he went on to write theater and film reviews in local free press papers. He also joined the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum, ascending to Chairman of the Board of the nationwide organization.

By the end of 1993, Mark realized he wasn’t getting anywhere cinematically, so he started writing Coven in his 1982 Mercury Zephyr with a thermos of coffee at the small plane airport down the street from home. Shooting weekends, Mark filmed a good piece of Coven before it fell apart due to his lack of discipline, drinking, and running out of money. Having self-resolved his alcohol troubles, Mark kept scraping, borrowing, replacing the cast, and reshooting scenes until the film was finally completed.