February 16, 2026 — You may know that I live in Southeast Alaska for part of the year. The warm part. I wrote the screenplay for AMERICAN SOLITAIRE at my place in Haines, a small town about 75 miles, as-the-crow-flies, north of Juneau, the state capital. It’s a great town with stunning natural beauty and a warm, inviting community whom I’ve become quite close with over the years. And they’ve been very receptive to my work.

February 3, 2026 — Dr. Dean Winslow and I had a beautiful and in-depth conversation last week after the screening hosted by the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Dr. Winslow is a combat veteran and professor of medicine at Stanford University and had some interesting anecdotes to share about his relationship to firearms, which he revealed is not an easy one. But it was the film’s treatment of PTSD that most moved him, and he was quite emotional.

January 13, 2026 — Thank you to the more than 400 people who came out to the Grand Lake Theater for the Bay Area Premiere of AMERICAN SOLITAIRE. It was an incredible night and great to see so many familiar faces. We’re grateful for partnerships with the Vets Center, Swords to Plowshares, Brady United and a number of community groups who came out including the Throttle Island motorcycle club, a group of veterans on bikes! Building community around in-person screenings of the film is central to our mission.

November 24, 2025 - We were just notified that we won an AUDIENCE AWARD at the Coronado Island Film Festival. Filmgoers filled the Village Theater for our world premiere, November 7. They stayed for the Q & A after and engaged in a meaningful discussion. And they voted that it was one of their favorite films at the festival. We’re honored and grateful!

November 2, 2025 - The Premiere Is Here.

October 6, 2025 — I loved talking with actor Gilbert Owuor, who plays the role of Auggie. From Nairobi to the Yale School of Drama to Los Angeles and a career in film and television, Gilbert has had a fascinating journey.

September 10, 2025 — I’m continuing with a short series of craft conversations with a few of my creative collaborators on the film. I had a delightful conversation with actor Joanne Kelly, who plays the role of Athena in the film.

July 25, 2025 — I’m continuing to reflect on the process of filmmaking by having conversations with a few of my key creative collaborators on this project. First up is my conversation with cinematographer Hana Kitasei. We spoke this week about form and content, collaboration, and other things. Below is an edited version of our conversation.

December 6, 2024 — I’m pleased to tell you, we finished the film.

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.