Directing My 5th Feature Film After a 5 Year Break
I directed my first movie “Fortified” when I was 17 years old with some high school friends between my junior and senior year of high school in the middle of summer in 2007. It was such a fun experience. My first film was sort of an experiment to see if I could actually make a full-length feature film I could show in theaters and sell. That movie came out in 2008 and pretty immediately afterwards after my freshmen year of college I made my second feature film “Guilt & Sentence” in the summer of 2009 and then released the movie in the 2010. There was a huge advancement in quality, story, and overall production between the two films, but they were very much amateur and homemade. I loved those first two films and the experiences, but I was eager to improve overall quality and increase the scope and scale of future films.
I took a 5 year break between my 2nd and 3rd feature film. In those years I went to Bible school, converted to Christianity, went to seminary got my masters of theology, went to NYU and was an MFA candidate at Tisch School of the Arts and was ready to dive back into making feature films. I had a lot to sort out with myself, God, relationships, and school before I was ready to make another movie. I think at that time I sort of lost the vision for a few years of what I had always wanted to become… a film director. Ever since I saw movies at the local drive-in or our local historic theatre I wanted to be a filmmaker. I knew I need to make a drastic change and get back to the passion and calling of my life.
2016 I finally moved to Los Angeles and immediately began working on my 3rd feature film which would become my first Hard Faith™ movie trying to make a realistic, gritty, and redemptive movie. This would also be my first theatrically released movie and it made some big waves in the film world. “Generational Sins” was a trip… a life-changing trip. It was an incredible experience. This time it wasn’t just me or my sister holding the camera and my high school best friend holding the boom mic like on my first two films, but now we had a full crew that we flew in from all over the country. Very much still a low budget indie film, but it was a larger scale and a film I am still very proud of to this day. We did a college tour and then a major city theatrical release in 2017. It was rewarding but also extremely challenging.
2018 I directed my fourth and last feature film back in Central Pennsylvania. That movie was one of the hardest experiences on set in my life. We had a great cast and mostly union crew. The stakes were higher, the topic was heavy, and the budget was larger but had a very short window to film everything. We made “Shooting Heroin” in two weeks with a huge ensemble cast and again crew flown in from all over the country. I was the sole producer, writer, and of course, director on that movie. It often felt like it was too much to bite off with the budget and time restraints we had, but somehow we got it done. The topic of the ongoing opioid epidemic was a really tough subject to deal with for three years. So many stories of loss and despair and often I felt like I was getting lost in the heaviness of the project and the response from audiences and grieving souls.
Our theatrical release and festival premieres were scrapped due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. That movie came out in the spring of 2020 and I haven’t been on set directing a movie since. In these past five years a lot has happened. I started a theatre chain and a restaurant, lost it all in the government shutdowns. I left Los Angeles, moved around the country almost five times, got married to my best friend and soulmate, and, just recently, finally moved back to LA. It’s been an interesting time of reset, deep reflection, and refocus. I had some hesitations and fears I had to work through getting back on set again and pursuing the film industry full-time once again, but I finally feel ready again. I don’t know why these breaks happen but the Lord’s timing and plans are mysterious and somehow always good.
Today, February 1st 2023… five years later… I am finally back on set directing a feature film. This movie very much feels like getting back to basics. Not just pursuing my passion and calling once again, but also just enjoying the art form and experience of telling stories with close friends. This is the first time I am directing someone else’s script and I really didn’t write this film at all. The movie is called “Bright Sky” and it is a faith-based modern western romance film written by and starring my dear friend and collaborator Nathan Clarkson and his wife Keelia. Today is day one of filming here in Los Angles, but the rest of the movie will be shot in Colorado in June later this year. I have never filmed a movie in Los Angles, I have never directed a film that I didn’t write or co-write, and it is the first film I have directed in five years. I have had many wonderful producing experiences on others films but this is the first directing experience since my last movie.
I am thankful. I am excited. I am ready. It’s time to get back in the ring and and fight for my dreams and passions once again. I’m older, hopefully wiser, and yet still hopeful to believe that we can make a difference making another movie. I look forward to sharing this film with all of you next year. Say a prayer for us, we are about to make a fictitious world a reality today. Thanks for supporting me along the journey.
