The basic pitch for Game Changer is deceptively simple: it’s a game show starring improv comedians, where the game is different every time. Players don’t know the rules until they start the game and must figure out the nature of the game on the fly. From that starting point, the show has a propensity for … Continue reading GAME CHANGER – Expect the Unexpected
Like so many internet “creepypastas”, the Backrooms concept originated from an unassuming post on a message board: a picture of an empty room in a furniture store with beige carpet and drab wallpaper, all bathed in a sickly yellow light. This photo inspired a web of crowd sourced mythology about a bizarre realm outside of … Continue reading BACKROOMS – Contributing to a Specific Vision
“It’s good to be able to come to work and laugh every day.” This was one of the first things camera operator Jamie Hitchcock said to me during my visit to the set of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, where they were pre-shooting several scenes for the episode “A Snotty Attitude and a Party on … Continue reading GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE – Preserving an Art Form
When it comes to the blending of horror and comedy, there’s something of a spectrum. On one side you have something like Shaun of the Dead, which is primarily a comedy that happens to feature aesthetic elements of horror (namely, zombies). On the other side, you have something like Sam Raimi’s original The Evil Dead: … Continue reading WIDOW’S BAY – Slow Burn Horror-Comedy
In 2015, Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian went on to be a critical success and a box office juggernaut, ending up as one of the highest grossing films of that year. Now, just over a decade later, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s adaptation of Weir’s third novel, Project Hail Mary, has … Continue reading PROJECT HAIL MARY – Keeping Things Grounded In Outer Space
After being greenlit and produced during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hacks had something of a tough road ahead of it. Now five seasons and dozens of Emmy nominations later—including 24 for the latest season—the series has become a beloved institution and gets to go out on a high note with a funny and emotionally … Continue reading HACKS – Crafting a Cinematic Sitcom
Even amidst an illustrious career, Steven Spielberg’s films about visitors from other worlds stand out. Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial remain some of the filmmaker’s most enduring, beloved works. At a glance Disclosure Day appears to follow in their footsteps, and though thematic lines can be drawn between these movies … Continue reading DISCLOSURE DAY – Building Trust
More than a decade before he created one of the most heralded television series of all time in Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan cut his teeth as a writer, director, and executive producer on The X-Files. With Pluribus—now nominated for 18 Emmy Awards—Gilligan is returning to his roots in weird science fiction and paranormal thrillers in … Continue reading PLURIBUS – Unity and Desolation
For almost as long as there have been horror movies, there have been horror-comedies. The peanut butter and chocolate of cinematic genres. From Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein to Shaun of the Dead, filmmakers have long been playing with tension and release to deliver screams of laughter alongside screams of terror, but there’s always room … Continue reading QUEENS OF THE DEAD – Operating to Convey Confidence and Terror
With a lineage tracing back to The Office, St. Denis Medical is the latest in a series of mockumentary workplace comedies from writer/producer Justin Spitzer, this time trading the setting of an office park or a big box store for an underfunded hospital in small town Oregon. In that way, St. Denis Medical manages to … Continue reading ST. DENIS MEDICAL – Exaggerating Reality
