Octotber 18, 2024 — I’m thrilled to announce an exciting development. Two established filmmakers who have advised me throughout the process of making this film have leaned farther into their supportive roles.

September 27, 2024 — Sound & Color. Yes, it’s the title of Alabama Shakes’ 2015 Grammy winning album — and if you don’t know it, you’re in for a treat! But for our purposes, Sound & Color are the essential behind-the-scenes elements of a film.

We opened our production office in Hollywood on January 8. I locked picture on August 8. That’s a seven month odyssey from pre-production to completing the edit.

August 9, 2024 — In June we gathered a small crew in L.A. for a weekend of pickup shots. I had made some changes to the order of events in the film during the edit and needed some footage to connect a few scenes. It was fun to be back together with our original crew as well as actors Josh Close and Gilbert Owuor. We got some good stuff!

June 28, 2024 — As the nation readies itself to celebrate the 4th of July next week, I’m thinking about patriotism and the way firearms play a role in the American mythology of “freedom” and “rugged individualism”. It comes at a cost.

June 18, 2024 — The photo above is aspirational.

Kind of. I mean, I was there. The photo doesn’t lie. But just so we’re all on the same page about film festivals, you need to know that 13,016 films were submitted for consideration to the 2024 Tribeca Festival. 103 features were selected. The competition for a spot to screen your film is fierce at a preeminent festival like Tribeca, with less than a 1 in 100 chance that you’ll get your moment on the red carpet.

It’s been three months since we wrapped picture. ​How to write about the grueling process of editing?

That’s a wrap. I was thrilled to say those time-honored words on Saturday afternoon in a parking lot in the neighborhood of Valley Village after we completed our last shot of principle photography for the film.

Serving as the producer on an indie feature has its ups and downs as Dylan has experienced on a daily basis since we started filming. I captured him in his office this past week on set, above.

Last week we were out on a ranch at Allied Studios in Simi Valley for two days filming sequences the main character experiences in his head, either as dream or as memory of his experience of death.

We survived the rain deluge. Filming is underway. Our crew of 40 hard-working grips, electrics, PAs, ADs, producers, DP, production design, costume, makeup, plus a studio teacher, a blacksmithing team, 8 featured actors and 30 back ground actors (including one baby!) pulled long days at three different locations, covering 11 scenes and 81 shots to complete our first week of principle photography.

The Pineapple Express is here. Our first day of the shoot was scheduled for today, on an exterior location. The last 24 hours saw the most rainfall in one day in Los Angeles County in the last 20 years.

We ended Week 3 of production prep with some exciting drama. One of our lead actors, who all but signed on the dotted line, and whose agent had been dragging their heels for weeks on closing the deal, took a job on a bigger film, leaving us scrambling to re-cast the part.

I’m writing at the end of our second week of prep from the production office on Yucca and Vine, around the corner from the famous Capitol Records Building, in the heart of Hollywood.