Jeff wears the silver medal
Now winning Best Director, this is actually the fourth time we've won this award out the last five competitions. I'm quite humbled. There is no artist I revere more than feature film directors. To have my work as a director recognized with an award at any level is wonderful.
When we first received this prize for Wheel of Death in 2023 I accepted the prize by saying the film was not my work but a team of artists who carried the project to that moment. I meant it, but not just for Wheel but every film we produce. Whether they win awards or fall short of our hopes, Tiny Explosions is a team effort.
This year at the Horror Best of City awards there was a wave of super quick and quippy speeches. Later in the evening when they announced our wins, I jumped on the bandwagon but pretty much immediately regretted it. That was the moment to mention every person by name who helped make an award winning short. I'm grateful they spend a hectic weekend with me making something preposterous. If any Exploders read these wrap up posts I write, please know I am so thankful for each person who shares their time, talent, and literal likeness on these projects.
As a team Tiny Explosions is pretty lucky, we've never had any crash outs, blow ups, fistacuffs, or shouting matches. I was pretty proud of that until this year. Making Jeff there was some miscommunication, some soldiering through without sharing changes, and general treatment of people like unvalued employees (which is upsetting because no one is getting paid). Basically, a weekend that we generally see as a big laugh, ended up in tension and hurt feelings. Worse than that, I am dead center responsible. I screwed up.
On the regular we find ourselves shooting a 48 and I look at the script mid-production and start cutting beats in our script. Usually by the end probably 30 seconds to 2-minutes of run time is just never shot. Executive decisions need to be made and redundancies cut. That specifically did not happen with Jeff, or Junk Mail for that matter, but I did make a couple executive decisions that were received as disregarding people's beliefs about what was best for the film. Certainly not my intention but in the sprint that is 48 I didn't see the forest for the trees. Truth be told, sometimes when I revisit our YouTube playlist of behind the scenes videos I cringe a bit at my tone. As the Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Co-Producer/Co-Writer I am beyond multitasking on 48 weekends and in that juggling act I seem to let my sympathetic heart take a far backseat.
Why am I sharing this? Well I've used these posts for years to catalogue our 48 experiences and find ways to refine our process. Since the first time I heard about 48 I felt I could run a fun-as-heck team where everyone is having a blast and together have a chance at winning awards from the strategy. So as our 13 years of 48s have rolled by I have re-read everyone one of these post-mortems to see what has worked and what could be better. This time I discovered I can be better. I may sometimes win awards for directing but that doesn't mean shit if I hurt those important to me in the process.
Again, if you are on Tiny Explosions and you read these, please tell me when I’m driving our bus out of the lane. If you aren't having fun, do not feel obligated to take part but please tell me I let you down. We've had many people come and go over the years. Nearly 100 people have worked on our films and if all them showed up next weekend to help make a film I would do flips of joy but also freak out. We’ll make something if there are 30 of us or just two. So if you aren't having the best time, take a year off, take two. I'll still be here if you consider coming back. Hopefully Brian will be here too (if not, I will be crying literally non-stop from behind the camera).
I think I've typed enough. As I frequently say to my wife, I will do better. There's no value in boosting, doubling down, or letting ego steer the ship. I don't like taking anyone or anything for granted. As Warren Buffet just said in his farewell letter: Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman.
As I regularly do, here are my three favorite films from the competition (Tiny Explosions film aside [don't be that guy]).
1. Meat Printer by Nightmare on Hilton Street. This film won for a reason, it's killer on all levels. Could've swept the awards.
2. Cages by Kung Fu Biker Club. This was a legit horror film with some disturbing elements. Easily my favorite KFBC film to date. These guys keep getting stronger and stronger. Soon they'll take the top prize.
3. 236 by Fractured Film. How this film didn't advance to Best of City is a mystery. Everyone on Tiny Explosions really enjoyed it. I thought we'd end up arm wrestling for 3rd place.
Okay, that's the story of Jeff and 48HFP Horror 2025. Now it's time to make another one for 48's Yes We Cannes. Stay tuned.
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