Rolling, Speeding, Action!

When I came back from Hollywood in April, I decided that I wanted to spend my summer creating a short film. I had no crew, no script, no equipment, just an idea for a story and how I was going to pull it off.

Over two months later, I’d find myself standing in my transformed living room surrounded by a talented cast and crew. There was a talking skeleton, cold ravioli, and a VCR that worked only half the time. And yet, here we are. We are now officially halfway through production for MY NEXT GUEST, a short film about an introvert who learns to socialize by emulating his favorite talk show hosts.

This shoot didn’t come together overnight. It took months of planning, emailing, scheduling, and writing to get it off the ground. We still have a long way to go before we wrap. Juggling the schedules of several hardworking college students is easier said than done. However, the habits I’ve picked up from leading previous sets allowed us to come together to create this thing.

I anticipate it’ll wrap in August.

Practice Makes Perfect

Emily was the first person to sign on.

Over the past two months I’ve been developing a short film called MY NEXT GUEST, which is about an introvert learning to socialize with people by emulating his favorite talk show hosts. For the two main characters in my film, Jimmy and Chloe, I had a very specific type of actor in mind. One of them just graduated from my alma mater.

Both of these characters are on the younger side, and I wanted to convey that they could really be in high school. For the part of Chloe, I reached out to girl I acted with back in high school. She’s quite reputable and is even professionally trained as a singer. I knew she could translate the overbearingness of theatre acting to the subtle direction I required for the silver screen. Her co-lead would be my brother.

Austin has been on and off with acting over the years. He did a little in middle school, and came back to co-star with Emily for ANNASTASIA. While I wasn’t able to watch their performance, as I was out working in LA, I knew that I could count on these two to have the right chemistry. They’re comfortable together.

Today we held the first rehearsal for MY NEXT GUEST. We’ll be transforming my living room into a talk show set tomorrow, with a goal to shoot their scenes on Friday. This was my first rehearsal in over a year, and I felt a surge of confidence in the direction I wanted to take these characters. There was a considerable difference between their cold readings and their final delivery.

Break a leg, Friday!

Homecoming

Traveling makes a world of difference.

It’s surreal to think that just two weeks ago I was still interning with Mandalay Pictures. Now I’m writing from the heart of Pennsylvania. It’s a sweet feeling to be home, but it’s an even better feeling reconnecting with my community. The first few days I took it easy, but then it was back to State College. I had the enormous pleasure of attending the CommAgency end-of-semester party and the premiere of over two dozen short films. The Graduating Class of 2024 is incredibly talented, the next generation of storytellers are promising.

My ten day retreat came to an end yesterday when I got to attend graduation. As somebody whose final two years of high school was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent a lot of time to give myself closure with these seniors. Saying goodbye is a privilege we take for granted.

Back in December I spent as much time as I could with my friends, because I knew I didn’t have the luxury of a spring semester like everyone else. Now, that bittersweet feeling has eroded into just sweetness. It’s great seeing these faces again, and I know this isn’t goodbye. The industry is so small, we’re going to cross paths again.

This is more of a see you later.