Background:
This was my last short film in Nashville. Over the previous few years, I’d gradually collected a group of actors that I liked working with, and I’d recently met a producer named Emily Steele who I worked with to make this.
It was one of my only solo productions in Nashville, and it kept me busy with writing, directing, producing, shooting, and editing everything. There were a few issues along the way, first and foremost being that the “reveal” didn’t work all that well in practice. It’s one of the hardest parts about turning a script into a video, getting that tonal shift correct when working with actors instead of just words on a page.
This project was partially successful, though I still think it’s a bit too long and could have gone even more balls to the wall with the ending. I’m glad I was able to finish it since I felt so many conflicting feelings upon wrapping this one.
Mike Stanley, who plays the “killer” in this short, was stellar. He drove in from Knoxville and was just so professional, and managed to make the short way funnier than it seemed on paper. In recent years he’s been pitching the Duffer bros to cast him as one of Hopper’s relatives. They should, he’d be great.
Jonathan Forisha 