innerspeak (2021)
A Quarantine Short Film
Director/Producer/Writer/Actor
A man confronts the ugliness inside
himself with a confession to God in an
attempt to escape the mundanities of life.
Innerspeak is a monologue-driven short film that I made in a day. I made it to capture some long gestating feelings that I had, which came to a head shortly after a certain experience of mine.
I’ve been working in the family business on and off for over 10 years. This experience has come with its own set of troubles and trauma; the business has endured various frivolous patent infringement lawsuits which I became entangled in. It has also contributed to a rather difficult working relationship I’ve had with my boss…aka my father.
This job is not the most difficult job in the world, but it does demand quite a bit of emotional sacrifice. In February 2021, I quit this job. This film is a response to taking that action; an attempt to capture all those negative feelings I harbored about myself while employed in this business, its effects exacerbated by the isolation incurred with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Sticking with the “make it in a day” spirit, the poster was made by my talented best friend Danielle Koppel as we brainstormed doodle ideas for two hours. We landed on an incandescent light bulb - sans bulb - with the wire filaments unraveling from the bottom up.