Why Muck?

It's a tiny miracle that any film is ever made. There's so much time and effort required. So many moving pieces. So many opportunities for things to go wrong.

Yet here I am, hard at work on my latest project - a short film called Muck - which, I assure you (as with any other movie I've ever made), will be "my best and most ambitious work yet!" I wouldn't have it any other way.

Explaining how Muck arrived at this point would take more time than I can commit at the moment. But briefly, Muck is the result of the convergence of three streams - story, talent, & opportunity:

Story
To date, I've worked almost exclusively in narrative comedy. In Muck, I'm branching out in a big way. At its core, Muck tells the story of a podcast journalist who's out of his element and in over his head, uncovering clues about a missing person cold case that seem to raise more questions than answers. The idea came to me in bits and pieces over time, but viewers will note some obvious influences - Fargo, Twin Peaks, Winter's Bone, and more recently, True Detective & Serial. Whittling the story down into a manageable and satisfying short film remains quite a challenge. Ideally, the audience will leave Muck wanting more - there's plenty of room to expand it into a feature or mini-series.

Talent
Over my ten plus years of indie film-making, I've worked with all sorts of cast & crew. I can say with confidence that this production for me represents the most impressive collection of talent with whom I've ever collaborated. We still have a long way to go, of course, but in recruiting cast & crew to participate in Muck, the alignment of professional schedules and creative interests just seemed to miraculously "click." I couldn't be more delighted with the core team of creatives involved in this project, and I think we have an opportunity to make something incredibly cool and special.

Opportunity
I've always wanted to shoot a film back in Buckhannon, West Virginia, the town where I grew up, and a place I'll always consider my true home. But for an indie producer like me, it's just not an easy thing to do logistically. Thankfully, over the course of the past year, my frequent collaborator, Travis Edwards (DP & Editor) agreed to go "all in" with me on a "big" project in 2015. It took us some time to settle on Muck, but once we decided to move forward on it, there was no looking back. Three, weekend-long scouting trips to Buckhannon this past spring resulted in the fun side project "Buckhattan," an separate idea that we've fashioned into a promo video for Muck. Two birds, one heavy stone, but hey - as my hero Lafayette would say, "Cur Non? (why not?)" This the year to make it happen. As the old line from Shawshank Redemption goes, "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'." 

So here goes nothing, and here goes everything. Thanks in advance for sharing the ride and welcome to...The Muck!