Stephen Graves has always been fascinated with the horror genre since being terrified as a child by the novelisation of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER and the school library copy of Usborne's 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯: 𝘎𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴.   So making THE DEAD OF WINTER is basically therapy.   A writer/director of short films, he's worked across a range of genres, including horror, comedy, and drama.   He currently works as Special Projects Editor at Decrypt, a news site focusing on emerging technology and Web3, and has previously written for titles including including 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧, and 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘢 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. He's particularly interested in the growing Film3 movement, which applies Web3 technologies such as blockchain to filmmaking.   His favourite ghost story is THE INNOCENTS (1961). Eerie, atmospheric and ambiguous, he particularly likes the way the film toys with whether the ghosts are real or a figment of the protagonist's imagination.