"Willy's Gone" poster (1971)

The success of the low-budget motion picture "Easy Rider" in 1969 inspired Joe to take the leap onto the big screen. Joe urged several WTVT co-workers to become movie moguls and help him finance the production of a drama titled "Willy's Gone."  Ten colleagues each ponied up $1,000 to became partners in Mix Ten Productions.  Written by WTVT production crew member Bruce Lockwood, the racially-themed drama was marketed as 'a black and white story filmed in color'.  A local actor, Ronald Bagley, appeared as Willy with smaller roles played by Channel 13 employees John Mocsary (who doubled as makeup man) and Gil Muro. 

A behind-the-scenes photo from
the "Willy's Gone" presskit

"It was better than Joe's next movie, 'Satan's Children,'" says Larry Wiezycki.  "It was more of a realistic drama.  All the actors were local and the production was pretty straightforward and went well, but the original ending was downbeat…Willy gets killed.  The test audience didn't like that so Joe had to re-shoot the ending to make it more positive.  I played a redneck in the new ending…I get killed by Willy.  I guess that's a happy ending of sorts.  Anyway, there was some kind of distribution problem and everyone lost their investment.  Joe had a lot of bad luck that way.  And what's more, if the management at 13 had learned about Joe's moviemaking, he might have lost his job."

In the meantime, Joe became the director of WTVT's morning program, "Breakfast Beat," with Ernie Lee, and "Pulse Midday," which later morphed into "Pulse Plus!" with anchor Scott Shuster.  However, the movie bug bit Joe again in 1973.  It was to be a horror movie called 'Satan's Children,' and this time Joe was determined not to lose his co-worker's hard earned wages.

"On 'Satan's Children,' Joe went it alone," explains Larry.  "He created a fake corporation based in Miami to make it look more professional.  Even the guy who lurked around the set who supposedly was a money man was fake."

'Satan's Children' was shot inside a hot, stuffy barn outside Gibsonton  and on location in the woods and swamps around Lutz.  "We had lots of problems with bugs in the warehouse where our sets were," recalls Larry.  "There was no air conditioning in there.  He got the place from a friend at no charge.  It probably would have turned out better if we'd spent the money to rent a place with air conditioning.  The actors would be sweating in one scene and then appear dry in the next.  On the locations, we had lots of problems with the sound and with airplanes flying overhead during takes." 

(to read production assistant Marc Wielage's memories of filming 'Satan's Children,' CLICK HERE

One of the movie's most entertaining scenes involves two of the bad guys being trapped in pool of quicksand.  The logistics of creating the scene still remain vivid to Larry.  "I bought $150 of oatmeal for the quicksand.  The guy at the store thought I was nuts.  'Why can't you use Rice Crispies?  Why do you need oatmeal?' he says.  I said 'cause that's what they ordered…white oatmeal.'  The pit we dug for the quicksand couldn't be too deep because we'd hit water or the sides would cave in.  The place where we shot it was near a cow pasture.  After we finished the cows got in there and had a feast.  The owner had to keep his cows out of there in case they overate and got sick."

TOO SEE THE INFAMOUS 'QUICKSAND' SCENE FROM SATAN'S CHILDREN, CLICK ON THE TV SCREEN