‘I’ve written very cinematic stuff at the right time’: Joe Hill on producing a horror show in the social media age

David Barnett speaks to the writer about growing up on his father’s film sets, how the scariest characters in his short stories represent the most toxic ideas of patriarchy, and achieving stardom on his own terms

The TV show ‘NOS4A2’, based on the novel, is about to finish up its first season in the US and airs over here on AMC UK from 13 August (AMC)

It’s shaping up to be a very good year for Joe Hill. A TV show based on the American author’s novel NOS4A2 has just finished its first series in the US and hits UK screens next week. Another show based on the comic book series Locke and Key he creates with artist Gabriel Rodriguez is in production and will be shown on Netflix in 2020. Two short stories he co-wrote with his dad will be published in a collection this October, and one has been optioned as a Netflix movie. Another of his short stories from the same book is being made into an episode of the Creepshow anthology horror TV show.

Well, you get the idea. After two decades of published writing, Joe Hill is suddenly very hot property in studioland. “It’s crazy!” he declares. “A whole bunch of stuff that’s been developing for a few years is all kind of hatching at the same time.”

Something else you don’t know about Hill – partly because he took great pains to if not keep it an actual secret then at least not shout it from the rooftops at the start of his career – his dad happens to be the most famous living horror writer on the planet: Stephen King.