What's New?
Donald McRonald
The pandemic forced me to take a break from filmmaking. I did film a scene from Gruesome Playground Injuries with my friend Laura Przybilla, but it wasn’t to the scale of The Edge of Town or For the Benefit of Mr. Winston. Moving to Los Angeles in the fall of 2022, it seemed like a good time to clown around and make a new short.
Years ago, I read an article about a certain clown fast food mascot. Specifically, it was about the rules that performers had to follow to play him. Performers were not allowed to talk about the food, they had to be in good physical shape, and they could NEVER break character. I’ve wanted to make a movie out this concept ever since.
I wrote Donald McRonald in 2023. I wanted to stress test the “don’t break character” rule, so I had the protagonist, Donald, get pulled over for speeding. He chooses to follow the rules rather than the law. Things go off the rails from there, and it eventually enters Black Mirror territory.
It’s definitely my oddest project. We filmed it in June of 2024. Finding a street to film on was incredibly difficult and nearly forced us to cancel the project all together. On the first day of filming, the truck carrying our equipment was stolen. Luckily, we were able to get a replacement truck in time. At the end of the day, a wildfire turned the sky orange and ash fell upon the set. With all this bad luck, it was amazing we were able to film the project at all.
Donald is played by a college friend of mine Ricky Downes. I wrote the part with him in mind, and I was thrilled when he said yes. Ricky is an incredible comedian, and on his way to becoming a household name. Alex Frost plays the cop, Lisa Wyatt plays the mother, and I play the manager of the restaurant.
The project is in post-production right now, and is nearly picture locked. I’m very excited for people to see it. It’s funny, weird, and has a tad bit of horror. It’s my third project with Shu Hirayama (probably the most underrated indie cinematographer around). We’re planning our forth project to be filmed in a few months.
-Matt
The Edge of Town
This short has been in the making since 2013. I wrote the first draft back in college, and it was the first thing I’d written that I was proud of. My teacher told me, “You know; you could film this". This surprised me since I wrote it without thinking that would be possible. Times have changed though.
I wanted to write something similar to the shows I was watching at the time (Supernatural, Breaking Bad) while also capturing a feeling I was struggling with; irrelevance. I felt like I was becoming a background character in other people’s lives without a strong enough purpose. I’ve since gotten over that.
The story is of James Morris, a young veteran that was forced to leave the army because of a TBI. Bruce Thompson, an older veteran, takes him under his wing and convinces him to go on vigilante drug busts. The short is about the bust where things go wrong.
I didn’t write it with current events in mind, but as the years have gone on, the story seemed more and more relevant. As I retooled the script late 2019, I added more of that context. I wanted it to reflect the people and places that are being hurt by unemployment, wealth inequality, and isolation. How the vulnerable can be taken advantage of by those with bad intentions.
We filmed in March of 2020. The weekend before COVID-19 shutdown the world. We had a joke on day one of filming that this was “the last movie of all time”. By the day three it didn’t seem like a joke. We thankfully managed to get everything filmed in time.
Post production has been on going. I took a break from the project for a few months. I felt wrong to not focus on current events. I started up again in August and managed to finish a cut of the short I liked. Sound, music, and color are next.
-Matt
For the Benefit of Mr. Winston
It has been too long since I have updated…but the big news is For the Benefit of Mr. Winston has been made! Not as a feature, but a short as of now. Our goal is to get the interest of investors to make the feature. I was the executive producer, co-director, writer (duh), and star (I also did a lot of editing and music). I tend to live by the saying, if you want something done right do it yourself.
The short has done pretty well so far. It was selected to screen at the Big Apple Film Festival, made it to the semi finals of the LA Film Awards, and was a finalist at the New York Cinematography Awards. I also won honorable mention for best acting at the LA Film Awards, and they picked our cover of “Rockin’ Robin” as best song.
It hasn’t been without setbacks though. So far none of the major festivals has accepted the film. That has been understandable, knowing how hard it is to get in, but frustrating none the less. There’s still a lot of festivals to come though. Expect more news soon!
-Matt
Drafts...
The first draft of my feature script, For the Benefit of Mr. Winston, is finally complete. I'm currently in talks with several producers about getting it filmed, and I'm excited (and a bit scared) to see where everything goes.
I'm not ready to share much about the plot yet. All I'll say is it's about a songwriter and his mentor.
-Matt
On the Set
Assistant directing the short film The Impulse of Being.
Cleaning Up
Very proud of the cast and crew of Dacher Meiner Stadt, my good friend Maya Jasmin (the writer, director, and star of the film) in particular. It's been included in all kinds of film festivals getting nominated for numerous awards. It recently won best film at The Lee Strasberg Film Festival.
This was another project I worked on as the assistant director (I also make a small cameo if you're watching closely).
-Matt