Joe Augustyn was born in Philadelphia, PA, the son of a factory worker and a hairdresser. An award-winning painter in his teens and a published cartoonist, he won a Nissan FOCUS Award for a paper he wrote in the film studies program at Temple University. A freshman at the time, he was the only undergrad among eleven graduate student winners that year.In 1981 he entered The American Film Institute's Center For Advanced Film Studies as a producing fellow, where he became a close associate of Steve Golin and Joni Sighvatsson, who would later go on to form the highly successful rock video and movie company Propaganda Films. While at AFI, Joe worked on a record number of student video and film productions, doing everything from sound work to assistant directing. Following graduation, he worked with Steve and Joni on their first two feature productions, serving as production and location coordinators on "Hard Rock Zombies" and "American Drive-in."Joe produced his first feature film based on his own original screenplay "Halloween Party," later released as "Night of the Demons." The film, and its first sequel, which he also wrote, went on to become cult favorites, and a remake was made in 2009. He also produced his second screenplay "Night Angel" but retired from producing as a result of stress-related chronic fatigue resulting from that production, and focused solely on writing.He's written on assignment for countless indie producers and companies like Tristar Pictures, Inc. and Propaganda.In 2001 he returned to Philadelphia where he continues writing screenplays and novels. His novels include "The Nine Lives of Felicia Miller", a story of witchcraft and feline shapeshifting, and "Dead Rain", an epic zombie adventure set in New Jersey. He also wrote a non-fiction book of true ghost stories which included an in-depth look at the strange case of Wright the "ghostwriter" who communicated with the occupants of a house in the Los Angeles area via Polaroid film, a case which has been extensively investigated but never debunked.