We plan to shoot pickups (extra footage) in October and have the film finished by late November. Thank you so much to all of my donors! You can click on their names to go to their individual websites.


Ava Bogle

Iciar Dominguez

Sydney Levine

Norbert Maas

Kyle Peters

David Yang

Danah Reinerth

Katharina Lengfeld

Steven Huffaker

Alexandra Georgi

Marcia Rosenberg

Susan Hanfield

Etsuko Barrows

Lois Krieger

Marie Forster

Josefa Kosnopfl

Laura Ferrara

Penelope Sawyer

Morgan J Kaminski

Louis Santucci

Peter Kimball

Linda Meier

Crisjan Zoellner

Laura Ferrara

David May

Roberta Marie Munroe

Beth Lott

Rhonda Henry

Carol and Mike Bisanti

James Esposito

Gib Dunham

Jan Evans

Klara Jockel

Marie Hankins

Richard Munger

Francesco Agresti

Buy it on Amazon.

The Sundance shorts program began as a box of VHS tapes in 1989. In 2010 there were more than 6,000 short films submitted. For her five years as a shorts programmer Roberta Munroe was responsible for wading through them, deciding which ones would make it to Sundance.

I recently attended her excellent Short Film Workshop, where she posited an interesting theory; even though the number of shorts being made has exploded, the number of really good short films hitting the festivals each year hovers around 300. Whether there are 600 or 6,000 shorts sitting in the Sundance Institute’s mailbox this year, that’s generally the number that will be good.

Roberta’s book lays out the path to making one of those 300 with wit and candor. The book covers every stage of the filmmaking process, from story development and structure through exhibition and distribution. It’s wonderfully practical; addressing subjects as diverse as money, cameras, and festivals with an honesty that could only come from someone at the small end of the filmmaking funnel. Vide chapter titles like “Why 43 Minute Shorts Never Really Work,” and “How to avoid kicking your producer in the throat.”

Munroe emphasizes filmmaking as a collaborative process, highlighing the importance of underestimated contributors such as assistant directors, casting directors, editors and producers, all of whom play a vital role in most films’ success. Yes, you can do everything when you make a short. The result will be entirely yours, but will often be weaker than what you might have achieved with the aid and expertise of a few skilled professionals.

For interested parties there is also a heading on whether or not to go to film school. Hearing arguments on film school from a programmer’s perspective is refreshing (Columbia seems to be a  favorite). The moral of the story; if you decide you can afford to go to film school, pick one that focuses on STORY.

With the proper help, commitment and faith, making a short film can be an amazing process. The digital age has brought us the greatest opportunities for short filmmakers since D.W. Griffith. This book attempts to make the process cleaner and more fun. Possibly even a reminder of why some of us didn’t end up going to law school.

My Kickstarter Page

A few weeks ago I began the process of raising funds to get my last short film, A Son Like You, through post-production. This is a lengthy process that includes a colorist who cleans up the image, digital transfer to HD, foley (SFX) work, sound mastering and mixing, and DVD creation. It can be an amazing process to watch a colorist at work, as I saw on my last film:

Pre-Telecine

Post-Telecine

This is the kind of magic a great colorist can do. It’s night and day.

Please take a look at my Kickstarter page and donate to become a part of the film. I am offering some great perks for those who do.  Click on the link below to help out. Thank you for reading!

Here’s the Link Again

The Swimming Lesson is the first film I made at UCLA. We were given four hours and one roll of 16mm film (about 10 minutes) to shoot a film.