Writer, director, and producer Aylin Baykal photographed for Iconography magazine's September 2026 issue, featuring an interview about her filmmaking career and independent horror productions.
In a new Iconography interview, the filmmaker discusses the birthday wish that inspired her screenplay, her multiple roles in the production and her longstanding fascination with Oregon.
Writer, director, producer and actress Aylin Baykal has revealed the personal inspiration behind her upcoming supernatural horror feature, Baby Girl, in an interview published in the September 2026 issue of Russian entertainment publication Iconography.
The film explores the consequences of an eighteenth-birthday wish that comes true at a devastating cost to strangers.
In the interview, Baykal discusses how an ordinary family memory developed into a supernatural story and why she chose to bring the production to Oregon.
A Birthday Wish That Inspired a Horror Film
According to Baykal, the original idea for Baby Girl emerged from a birthday wish made by one of her cousins on her nineteenth birthday.
Although the wish never came true, the family repeatedly discussed what might have happened if it had.
Those conversations eventually inspired Baykal to develop a fictional scenario within CreepTV’s established cinematic universe.
The resulting screenplay centers on a wish granted at the expense of other people’s lives, exploring the consequences of personal desires and the unseen costs they may impose on strangers.
The concept also reflects a recurring theme throughout Baykal’s filmography: the relationship between human choices and supernatural consequences.
In the Iconography interview, she discusses her longstanding fascination with stories involving hidden consequences, referencing the influence of the original television series The Twilight Zone on her imagination.
Taking Creative Control of Baby Girl
Baykal serves as writer, director, producer and script supervisor on Baby Girl, while also appearing in the film as Selena Diaz.
Her involvement across multiple creative and production roles reflects an approach she discusses throughout the interview.
Baykal explains that she finds directing her own material easier than working within another filmmaker’s production because it allows her to bring her original vision to the screen.
She also discusses the experience of working under the direction of longtime collaborator Harley Coleman, highlighting the creative understanding they have developed over approximately two decades of working together.
For Baykal, the ability to move between writing, directing and acting is closely connected to maintaining the intended vision of a production.
Why Oregon Became the Setting for CreepTV’s Cinematic Universe
Oregon plays a significant role in the visual identity of Baby Girl and the wider fictional universe developed by CreepTV.
During the interview, Baykal discusses filming on location in the Pacific Northwest and the influence of its natural landscape on her creative work.
Despite having travelled extensively, she identifies Oregon as a place that has consistently captured her imagination.
“It’s always been Oregon,” she explains.
The region’s forests, mist-covered landscapes and isolated locations provide the geographical backdrop for the supernatural world developed across CreepTV’s productions.
The interview also addresses Baykal’s visual collaboration with Matthew James Gordon and the role of the Pacific Northwest landscape in shaping the film’s overall atmosphere.
A New Addition to an Established Horror Universe
Baby Girl is part of CreepTV’s interconnected fictional universe, in which individual productions contribute to an expanding body of supernatural mythology.
Baykal explains that the mythology of a story continues to develop even after its production has been completed, allowing subsequent films to build upon previously established concepts and locations.
Her influences include Scandinavian and Japanese folklore, which have contributed to the original supernatural mythology developed by the creative team.
Alongside Baby Girl, CreepTV’s current projects include In the Family and the continued development of an independent streaming platform intended to house the company’s original productions.
The complete interview with Aylin Baykal appears in Iconography’s September 2026 issue.
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