Victor Ronald Salva (born 1957/1958) is an American filmmaker. The self-described protégé of Francis Ford Coppola, he has primarily worked in the horror genre, most notably as the writer-director of the commercially successful Jeepers Creepers (2001) and its sequels Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) and Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017). Outside of horror, Salva wrote and directed the fantasy-drama film Powder (1995).
Salva's filmmaking career has been controversial due to his 1988 conviction for sexually abusing a 12-year-old actor who starred in his feature film debut Clownhouse (1989) and videotaping the encounter, along with possessing child pornography, having been publicised in 2006. This has led to protests against his films, including a boycott of Powder organized by his victim.
Early life
Born in Martinez, California, Salva was raised as a Roman Catholic. His biological father abandoned the family and Salva stated that his stepfather was an alcoholic and physically abusive.
The adolescent Salva was very interested in horror and sci-fi; his favorite monster movie was Creature from the Black Lagoon and, in 1975, the local newspaper reported that Salva had sat through Jaws 55 times. By the time he graduated from high school, Salva had written and directed more than 20 short and feature films. To finance his filmmaking hobby, he often held two jobs during the week. Salva's family disowned him at 18 when he came out as gay to his mother and stepfather. Salva was a child-care worker at some point before becoming a filmmaker.
Early career
In the mid-1980s, his 37-minute short film Something in the Basement (1986) took first place in the fiction category at the Sony/AFI Home Video Competition. A horror allegory about a young boy awaiting his brother's return from a bloody war, the highly acclaimed film went on to win several national awards (including a Bronze Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival) and brought Salva to the attention of Francis Ford Coppola, who then produced Salva's first theatrical feature, Clownhouse (1989), which Salva again wrote and directed, with Salva becoming Coppola's protégé.
Child sexual abuse and child pornography
In 1988, Salva was convicted of sexual misconduct with one of Clownhouse's underage stars, who was 12 years old at the time, and videotaping one of the encounters in which he forced the victim to perform oral sex on him. Commercial videotapes and magazines containing child pornography were also found in his home. Salva pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious conduct, oral sex with a person under fourteen, and procuring a child for pornography. He was sentenced to three years in state prison, of which he served 15 months. He completed his parole in 1992.
