06/12/2026
For the last few years, I've worn a lot of hats. Director. Producer. Festival organizer. Marketer. Fundraiser. Problem solver. Truthfully, there are days when I feel like I've spent more time figuring out how to make movies happen than actually making them.
And that's okay.
Every production has taught me something. Every setback has taught me something. Every mistake has taught me something. I've never pretended to have all the answers, and I probably never will. Filmmaking is still a learning experience for me every single day. There are people far better than me at budgets, logistics, management, marketing, and a hundred other things.
But if there's one thing I've always known about myself, it's this:
I'm a storyteller first.
I'm a creative first.
Everything else comes second.
Five years ago, I wrote a screenplay called Cult of the Shovel. Even then, it felt different from anything else I'd ever created. It wasn't just another horror script. It was a nightmare romance. A story about love, death, obsession, fate, graveyard dancing, and stories hidden inside other stories. A world where the main character constantly breaks the fourth wall and pulls the audience deeper and deeper into the dream.
A few years later, I turned part of it into a proof of concept. But the proof of concept was never the destination. It was never meant to be the final form of the story. It was simply the first shovel strike into the earth. The first glimpse of a world I always knew was bigger than a short film.
This morning, I pulled the screenplay back out for the first time in years. Honestly, I expected to hate parts of it. I expected to find scenes that didn't work anymore or ideas that had aged poorly. Instead, I found a story that still feels alive. A story that still feels honest. A story that reminded me why I started doing all of this in the first place.
Not because I wanted to organize festivals.
Not because I wanted to raise money.
Not because I wanted to manage productions.
Because I wanted to tell stories.
The older I get, the more I realize that's the thing that keeps pulling me back. Not the business side. Not the stress. Not the politics. The stories... AND JUST BEING A GENUINE STORYTELLER.
I've had people doubt me. I've had projects stall out. I've had plans collapse. I've had friendships disappear. I've had moments where it would've been easier to walk away from all of this and do something else.
But I never do... I have the ability to admit my humility.. and move forward a better person.
Every time life knocks me down, I get back up and keep moving forward. Maybe a little rougher around the edges. Maybe a little more stubborn. Maybe carrying a few more scars than before. But still moving forward.
Because storytellers don't stop telling stories.
Before a single frame is shot, I'm handing Cult of the Shovel over to someone I trust completely. Someone who will tell me everything that doesn't work. Every weak scene. Every bad line. Every missed opportunity. Because if this story is finally going to step into the spotlight, then it deserves the strongest version of itself.
Production won't begin until next summer, and this will be a 100% local production with only a handful of roles.
As for Riverlight, don't worry. That story isn't dead. Not even close. The reality is that it has grown into something much larger than I originally imagined. More locations. More moving pieces. More resources. More time.
Rather than rush it, we're going to do it right.
Over the next couple of years, we'll be filming select scenes and proof-of-concept material from Riverlight to help build campaign support, attract additional resources, and continue pushing that project toward a full production in 2028.
Its time will come.
But right now, after five years of waiting, I think it's finally time for Cult of the Shovel to have its moment.
And if this story hits people the way it hit me when I first wrote it, I think you're all going to understand why I've carried it around for so long...
As I move forward into Fashion Killerz Post production.. I also move into Cult of the Shovel pre-production...
This one is going to be a fun one.
