A good day at the office for The Infected

Hey all -

Just wanted to update those of you who weren't able to make it to the A3F Heroes and Villian Challenge screening. Our film, The Infected, had a pretty good showing taking home the award for Best Directing, 2nd Place Overall Film (actually 4th when you consider 3 films tied for first but not bad!), Best use of prop and theme, and last but not least, taking the award for Best Ensemble Acting. Kudos to Jennifer Pfalzgraff, Laney Smith, Hemina Kapadia, Heather Taylor, Kevin Tye, Ted Quinn and Claudia Rubio.

With respect to the Best Ensemble Acting award, I'd just like to give a public 'thank you' to our director, Brenton Covington. Thanks for giving your cast a strong character driven script that challenged all of us and provided us with an opportunity to either shine or fail - it's all an actor can ask for.

For those of you that don't know, Brenton is taking his considerable talent to LA at the end of this year. This is a big loss for the Arizona indie film community and a big gain for Hollyweird. You can't talk about the pillars of the AZ indie film community without mentioning Dynamic Film. La la land is getting a good one.

On a personal note, I'd like to thank Brenton for the opportunities he's given me during my brief acting career. I still remember in early 2008 when I felt like the new kid on the block and got a chance to work with Brenton on short film called Crimes Against Man. I remember feeling somewhat intimidated to be working with him and quite frankly, I think it showed in my performance. But, it must not have been too bad, as B ultimately took a chance on me again and cast me as Larry in Red Corvette - a feature film which ended up being an official selection in the Phoenix Film Festival. To date, it's arguably the largest role I've had. So, thank you, Mr. Covington, and best of luck out in LA. Please don't change your cell number because I'll be calling you when you get that $15M film deal..

Ok, enough of this love fest. Time for a virtual awkward man hug. For those of you who bothered to read this whole thing, thanks for your support. It's keep me going when I wonder why I continue to spend most of my free time on this "hobby." :)

Have a great week!

Patter: Response is kicking butt and taking names

Pattern: Response, created in 21 days from start to finish by SyntheticHuman Pictures and directed by Stephen Krystek, had a really strong showing at the Project 21 Film Festival (ProjectTwenty1.com) in Philadelphia. The short film took home the award for Best Editing and Best Sound Design. The movie is visually sick. I love it.

The movie was also nominated for Best Marketing and Visual Effects. Not sure what else to say about SyntheticHuman Pictures. It seems they took home at least 1 award in each film competition they enter.

If you get a chance, check out the official page for the movie here.

Here is the trailer below:

Pattern:Response Trailer on YouTube.

Get your tickets to the A3F Heroes and Villains All Star Challenge!

Hey everyone -

Here's a friendly reminder to buy your tickets to the A3F Heroes and Villains challenge. The challenge is a film challenge in which teams make a short film in 72 hours. There are a few guidelines that each film must adhere to:

Theme: Remorse
Prop: a Liquid that a character spills onto him/herself or onto another character.
Line of Dialogue: Next time, things will be different.

Each film also features a hero or villain from the brainchild of Kleos Studios. For a rundown of the different characters, click here.

I had the privilege of working with D+NA and our film, The Infected (Dir: Brenton Covington), will be screening with the other great films of this challenge on Thursday, October 22nd at 7:30pm at the AMC Arizona Center 24 Theaters in downtown Phoenix. For more info and tickets, click here.

Here are some stills from the set of The Infected. Photography by Kathy Chu. Enjoy and thanks for your support!

Recently shot Tia and Maro for PBS

Recently, I was fortunate to land a featured in role in the short, Tia and Marco. In it I play a border patrol officer in the year 2025. This was a production for PBS , co-financed by IVTS, the government non-profit fund for independent film. It represents one of PBS's first forays into the fiction realm.

Tia and Marco is a part of a larger narrative piece called Future States, which explores how the US will handle social issues 20 years into the future.

Tia and Marco is directed by Annie Howell.