Makin’ movies. It’s what I like to do when I’m not in my basement office (The Nerdery) writing like the wind. I’ve been making movies of some sort since the advent of the camcorder, basically. Even as far back as 8th grade, my friends and I would make videos for class projects, Spanish classes, commercial parodies, you name it. For a while, I even lived in California to chase down a film career. In the short time I was there, I worked on a handful of films, including Dante’s Peak, Alien Resurrection, Godzilla and the HBO produced mini-series From the Earth to The Moon. Though writing will always be my first love, I find I still enjoy making the occasional short.

And dang it, I still have high-hopes for filming my zombie/sitcom/musical: Oh, Zombie! It’ll happen.


Z-Fest

A local film/video gear rental company in Minnesota called Z-Systems threw their hat into the film festival ring in February 2010. Having been burned by the 48 Hour Film Project a few times, our group (Soft Drink Productions) decided to enter the competition. It was less stressful than our usual schedule and we weren’t constrained by the goofy rules of the 48 HFP. We got a few weeks to write it, shoot it and slap it all together. They’ll look at the script and suggest goofy changes that you can decide if you want to include. I think you get extra points if you do. Whatever. We thought having all this extra time would be easy. It wasn’t.

Watch on YouTube »

Rise of El Retrete

Did you ever see the Coen Brothers movie Barton Fink?  In it, a celebrated playwright is asked by Hollywood to write a movie for them.  Thinking this is his chance for the big-times, Barton agrees.  He’s excited, until he finds out…he’s writing a “wrestling picture.”  This is sort of what happened to me, but you know, without the Hollywood and celebrated playwright bit.  With access to wrestlers, a ring and a chance to try and do an underdog-type of movie, we decided to give it a shot.  After we were introduced to our star, Jeff Chermak, who in real life wrestles under the name “El Bano”, the idea was born.

Sadly, RISE OF EL RETRETE didn’t rise too far.  We exceeded our 7 minute limit and the film was disqualified from Z-Fest.  We decided that ultimately we just couldn’t chop it down and still make it rock.  Art.  What’re you gonna do, eh?


48 Hour Film Project

My pseudo production company, Soft Drink Productions (consisting of a crew of talented people from the Minneapolis/St. Paul film scene) has participated in the world famous 48 Hour Film Project. The rules are simple: You have (literally) 48 Hours to write, shoot and edit a short, 4-7 minute film. To add to the fun, you pull a genre out of a hat at the beginning of the weekend, never knowing WHAT you’re going to get. They also require 3 things to be included in EVERY short film: a prop, a character, and a line of dialogue. Sounds like fun, right? Add no sleep, conflicting ideas of what’s cool and a looming deadline and you’ve got a recipe for disaster and cancelled friendships. Thankfully, we all still get along.

Watch on YouTube »

FutureSand

Shot in June of 2009, FutureSand is one of those movies I never thought I would write/direct. Ever. My producer/partner-in-crime and I sat in my office arguing about potential ideas we could come up with. Neither of us liked what we were brainstorming. I looked up at my menagerie of pop culture stuff above my desk and spotted the Tusken Raider action figure from Star Wars. Suddenly, I had it. Using Michael Biehn’s voice from The Terminator, I said: “The year is 2072, the world is covered in sand…” The rest is history!

We finished in the top 15 of 90-something teams. Not too shabby! We even won an award, Best Costume Design. We were nominated for 7 other awards as well.

Genre: Buddy Film
Prop: A sandwich
Character: Kathleen or Kevin Schnaebel, Expert
Line: “I hope they decide soon.”


Watch on YouTube »

High School Drifter

HSD marked my first attempt at directing something with a real crew in many, many years. This was shot in June of 2008 and all we really had going for us was a location (a high school) and an insane amount of actors. Too many, really. I sort of wanted my ‘return’ to writing/directing to be completely over the top. I wanted gratuitous, fake-y violence, a hero who could kick some butt, and ninjas. Female ninjas.

High School Drifter, amazingly, won Audience Favorite for the night it screened at the Riverview Theater, landing us a spot in the “Best Of” show. Considered by some the ‘underground favorite,’ HSD was nominated for a few awards, including Best Actor for Rikki Robinson. Sadly, we took home nothing!

Genre: Western/Musical
Prop: A fish
Character: Mr. or Mrs. Perkinson, Substitute Teacher
Line: “You look very familiar.”


Watch on YouTube »

Love on the Docks

Okay, so I didn’t direct this one, but I did write the screenplay.

Given an hour and a half of the allotted 48 Hours, The Brown Grapes team had me scratch out what is probably one of the most awkward and strange little scripts ever. It’s about a love ‘rectangle’ that takes place at a shipping company. It’s uncomfortable in parts and just plain…weird. I’m sorry. Blame my producer/friend, Jason Almendinger. He directed it.

Love on the Docks didn’t do much of anything, other than steal a few hearts. It screened at Cinema Lounge, a monthly short film expo at Bryant Lake Bowl. There, Jason and I got to talk about and show the extended director’s cut to a packed crowd. Awesome.

Genre: Romance
Prop: A ‘Congratulations’ balloon
Character: D Poe, Runway Model
Line: “Do you have a breath mint?”