I'm Making a Movie!

I added this section awhile back and there’s like no posts here I realized, so I figured I’d use it as an opportunity to give an update of sorts.

If you follow literally everything I do, you probably already know this, but I am making my debut feature film What I Left Behind this summer and casting and crew selections are currently underway!

I’ve previously written and produced (in collaboration with another director) the short film The Fire That Won’t Stop which made it into a few festivals in 2021, but this is the first feature-length independent film written and directed by yours truly.

What I Left Behind began as a short play that premiered at the New York Theatre Festival’s January 2018 NYWinterfest, where it won the award for Best Short Play.

I was originally planning to do a straight adaptation of my first full-length play to be produced A Therapy Session with Myself, and some scenes from that play are loosely adapted into the film still.

But I keep thinking about the monologue from Behind as some of my favorite words that made it to the stage.

To put it bluntly, they resonate with an audience that goes behind my deeply personal experiences - which frankly, I wrote Therapy Session so I’d never have to talk about the most personal aspects of my past again.

When I made my intro to a wider audience in the film world, I want them to see a more complete picture of my artistic approach that I’ve tried to bring to the stage. We’ll see how it translates on the screen.

I’d be lying if I said it was always my plan to direct a film when moving to New York in 2016. It wasn’t until after Therapy Session first opened at the Kraine Theater in 2019 that I gave much thought. Even then, I hoped I’d find some other director so I could focus on the writing aspect.

Yet after three full-length plays presented in some fashion in NYC - plus a ton of one-act plays & founding my own theatre company - I decided it’ll only happen if I find a way to make it happen myself.

That’s been the mentality I used when navigating the indie theatre scene, and I’m gonna approach film the same way.

After this, I already have a clear idea at what I’d what my second film would be, (and this is while I’m also finally working on a new play!) but first I need to overcome the anxiety that naturally goes hand in hand with the excitement of directing a film, now don’t I?

I’ll likely update this section in the coming weeks with more posts, as often as I can remember, with things that have inspired my latest work, thoughts on the subjects that are on my mind during this time, and other random things too.

As long as we still have some resemblance of free speech, I’m gonna use it however I feel like.

AJP