2004: Joe

Date of Creation: 2004

Synopsis: God, the just, fair and loving creator of our world, allows the devil to torment and destroy the life of one of his most devoted followers to prove a point. He's kind of a dick.

A Brief History: From the mind of Geoff Tippit comes a modern retelling of the story of Job, which is from the bible or something. As part of his senior thesis, he compiled the greatest minds of Webster University to spearhead one of the most challenging productions to come out of the school.

Countless rolls of film were expended over the course of 6 shooting days, and much fun was had. Performances by Dale D. Moore and Michael Ray Reed easily rank in the top ten performances all time by people with 3 or more names.

This was really a fun shoot, and collaborating with Geoff exemplified a refreshing level of competence and creative confidence. That guy should make some more movies.

I'm pretty sure I still have all of his Beta master tapes of the raw footage too. I wonder if he wants those back.

My fondest memory was probably Eric blatantly hitting on Ross's mom. His euphemisms were endless.

Critical Analysis: Overall, the production value, storyline and final product were remarkably high. Dale's cancer looked more like he was turning into a dalmatian, but special effects makeup was kind of the one thing we didn't have a grasp on quite yet at this point in our education.

2004: Dial 'M' For Hobo

Date of Creation: 2004

Synopsis: 5 reasonably attractive roommates plot to remove a well-dressed squatter from their domicile and drink very filthy water.

A Brief History: Created for the 48 hour film project in 2004, this was one of the first things I acted as executive producer on, which means I put up the money and smoked cigars. I don't think I really did much else except walk in and cancel a complicated dolly/jib simply because I could.

Directed by the illustrious Bill Parmentier and lensed by the inexalted Dave Jacobsen, this film gave theatrical powerhouse Kevin Stroup his first foray into the big leagues as W.M. Murray, former historian to the White House and avid lover of scotch. Veteran thespian and "Justified" regular Nathan Sutton weaves the three worlds of this complicated, plot-driven storyline with expert precision in both performance and eyebrow grooming.

The title was birthed from the mind of brother Sean; after a lengthy argument about what to call the piece, his spontaneous and transparent theft of a lesser known Hitchcock work soothed even the most reactive mind in the room.

Critical Analysis: The conspiratorial presidential diatribe delivered by Stroup in the bar is a work of brilliant writing, but the true glory lies in the alternate dialogue tracks available ONLY on the DVD ($192.99 amazon.com).