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Ad contests are one of my favorite things to do as a filmmaker – because prizes for the winners are awarded almost entirely upon merit. Back when PopTent was a thing, I won a few with them. Also, Tongal. Tongal is still going and keeping ad work fun and engaging for creatives.

Outside of contests, I also make ads for local market TV – I enjoy making these despite the budgets usually being the tiniest of tiny because the impact of an attention arresting ad upon a small business is enormous. It is the fuel for their own growth engine and helps them realize a more foundational dream.

The ads below are from my time at WWAY TV3 in Wilmington, NC. One-man band affairs all, these are the no-budget gems of local advertising.

I enjoyed shooting this film with Violetta D’Agata – we decided to “Co-DP” the film after working together on a number of other projects previously. Eric Schaeffer directed and Elisa Pugliese (now Elisa Key) produced this film on a breakneck schedule of 12 shooting days, with a single day for pick-ups. We shot in Vermont (for Kentucky) as Eric had a house up there that served as a backdrop for much of the story, and because Vermont in spring has a bucolic and wholesome country feel to it.

We shot with two RED Epic Dragons and a set of the 3rd generation Schneider Kreuznach Cine Primes. We got the lenses on loan from Schneider to try them out – and try them out we did! Our G&E package came from Eastern Effects in Brooklyn, NY.

The film had a successful award-laden run in festivals and launched the acting career of Michelle Hendley. It starred Michelle and Michael Welch (of Twilight and Z-Nation fame) as well as (the always great to work with) Alexandra Turshen (Red Oaks, Ray Donovan). Here is the film trailer:

I shot this feature film that is a triptych of three women’s lives living in NYC around 2010.

I learned so much about what I could bring to a film if I were to sync up with the director.

We were speaking of different things and we just weren’t on the same page – which is not helpful – but what happened when we started speaking the same language of “feeling” rather than camera placement, was nothing short of miraculous.

A camera person has an artistic bend in them that usually runs very deep and has lots of quirks and kinks. If you tell me you want this character to feel lonely to the audience – I got you – they will feel lonely from the outset allowing the actor to work from that to either accentuate or counter it. The camera is an instrument to be played as part of a grander symphony of motion, light, color, form, and shadow.

I am very proud of this work – because we all managed to stick to it and make something that has a little bit of ourselves in it – for a laughably tiny budget.

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.”

– Leo Burnett

I seek to remain curious. It keeps one emotionally supple, intellectually new, and spiritually bright. Without curiosity, there is a perpetual limit to everything you encounter. Curiosity breaks limits.

At work, I ask myself a million questions – all passing through the filters of experience, skill, art, and love for what I am doing. From those questions come form … direction … a “raison d’être” for every element – no matter how small or large – so that it fits together behind some sort of idea and feels like there is a mind at work and a heart at play.

Curiosity fuels that process more than anything else – it helps avoid cliche, gives depth to work, and improves existence in increments relative to the depth of one’s curiosity.