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| 1995 |
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| I would say that my attempts at making "professional films" (i.e. not simply shooting linearly using a camcorder) started at Salem Access Television, the local cable access center in Salem, Massachusetts. Free for public use, it offered analog editing suites, top of the line VHS equipment, and a full studio with live broadcasting capabilities. My first production was a mock full length episode of the popular television show Mystery Science Theater 3000, completed in 1995. The goal of the actual show is to essentially survive watching the worst of B-movie, and rip it apart with insults in the process. I chose to destroy one of the worst movies of all time, Frankenstein's Daughter, which should be avoided at all costs. |  |
| 1996 |
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| The next major project was NCTV, a live variety cable access show which featured bands, live phone calls, movie reviews, satirical news reports, and and sketch comedy. I produced two or three episodes, and each was well received by the surprisingly high amount of viewers who watch cable access. The show was later continued briefly in the summer of 2000 for several more episodes, and I was surprised for the second time at the positive reaction we got. |  |
| 1998 |
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| In December of 1998, I finished the first DV short of my career. Entitled The Blecch Files, it was a parody of the popular Fox show The X-Files. While it's quite primitive in its execution, I feel it shows the point at which I began to use the 3rd Rate name in earnest. And it still makes people laugh today, much to my surprise. |  |
| 2000 |
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| Over the course of May 2000, I made a short action film for icast.com's shorts contest, The 3M Project. Each submission received a vote based on how many times it was watched. Ultimately, the winner was the internet user who had the most free time to click repeatedly for hours on end. The film was in the category of "3 Minutes To Save The World." In our story, Agent Truelove is sent on a mission to break into a terrorist facility and prevent a virus from being unleashed onto the internet. The movie features several guns, an explosion, a lab, a girl, and an evil genius - all the key elements of a good action movie. I shot it using the Canon's XL1, but I had little understanding of its capabilities at the time. |  |
| Over the Summer of 2000, I shot a music video for Bloodhound Gang's Magna Cum Nada. I take all the blame for the dancing "choreography. Film and editing wise, however, it's clear that there's been much progress since the beginning.. |  |
| 2001 |
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| In February, I shot a very short film entitled A Winter Day In The Park, which is completely devoid of any script or story. Essentially, it is an excuse to watch two random people fight with lightsabers. The effects came out quite well. |  |
| 2002 |
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| In January, I made a short film entitled Stranger. The story follows a random person on the streets of Boston, who learns that he will be killed unless he retrieves a journal of some unknown importance. Without question, this is the "artsiest" of anything I've ever done before, though any feeling of mockery is definitely intentional. |  |
| In October, I shot The Cemetery, a quickly made attempt at a horror film. This may or may not ever be finished, as it was largely an excuse to experiment with 3rd Rate's latest acquisition, the Canon GL2. |  |
| In November, we shot the first episode of what I hoped would become a regular webshow, Parachase. Basically, my team and I investigated the paranormal to see what we can find. "Exploring the unknown with low expectations" was our motto. You can find a lot more information by checking out the official site here. |  |
| 2003 |
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| I made several short films over Fall '03 for a filmmaking course at Columbia. Titles included Chips (a silent film with a small homage to Psycho) and The Escape (about a young college student who wakes up following a one night stand and desperately needs to free herself. |
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2004 |
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I was selected this year as one of the finalists for the 2004 Coca-Cola Filmmaker's Award. Each Fall, a call for entries is sent out to students enrolled in the top film schools in the country. Students submit original scripts and storyboards about the movies, the movie-going experience or the movie making process. The scripts are reviewed and judged and ten finalists are chosen. Each of the 10 finalists receives a $5,000 production grant from Coca-Cola to turn his/her script into a 50-second prefeature film. Once the finalists submit their finished films, the Red Ribbon Panel of judges reviews each according to objective criteria. The winning entry is the film that scores highest overall in four judging categories. The winner is announced at an awards ceremony at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas and receives a $10,000 grand prize. In addition, the winning entry is shown on over 21,000 screens in movie theaters across the country for four to eight weeks. I'm the first undergraduate to ever win from Columbia. I made my film, The Pitch, over the course of January and Feburary of 2004. It was the most challenging endeavor I've taken up as a filmmaker, and without question solidified my goal of working in film. The film was shot on 35mm (quite a leap from mini-DV) and came out as I'd envisioned it, with excellent acting, an amazing original score, and beautiful cinematography. It is currently posted on the Project Greenlight site, and I urge you to take a look. |
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I am currently competing in both the Director and the Screenplay competition for this year's Project Greenlight. I am currently in the second round for the Director's Contest (top 250 selected from over 1700 entries). I am currently in the third round for the Screenplay Contest (top 100 out of 4,000+ entries). Fingers are crossed on this one. |
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