"Man of Action!" completed!

This morning, post-production on "Man of Action!" officially came to a close!

The short (which clocks in at precisely ten minutes) is an action piece starring Matt Raimo and Sophie Cooper. It was written by The Joe Kramer, produced by Joe Kramer and Karri Miles, and directed/edited by me.

The project's origins speak to the advice I've often heard (and started to internalize): If you don't declare your wishes, no one knows to make them come true for you.

The first snowflake that would become the snowball that would become the avalanche came from Hauk Heimdallsman, a composer, musician and post-sound guy who did the audio post on "Glimpse", the feature I directed last summer.

Hauk and I belong to a networking group called "The Table" - the group meets regularly, but much of the productive networking happens through a robust and active email list. On December 29, 2014, Hauk sent out an email announcing that he had just concluded post-production on "Glimpse", and that he was looking to expand his work as a film composer. He asked for scenes in certain genres that he could score and then use as part of his demo reel. One of the scenes he was hoping to compose for: "A good kick ass action scene".

I emailed Hauk back on 12/30: "I'd love to direct an action short! If we can get our hands on a (relatively easy-to-shoot) script and find ourselves some actors who want action on their reels, maybe we can pull something together in January?"

Hauk agreed, and offered to throw in post-production audio work for the opportunity to score an action short. But where to find a good action short?

January 22, at a Thursday night meeting of The Table, I introduced myself to the group and announced that I'm looking for something with action content to direct. Joe Kramer (who I hadn't met before) put his hand in the air and said "I've got something for you".

Joe is a writer with strong producing instincts. He has a certain east-coast-intellectualism and get-it-done attitude that I liked immediately. He was looking for opportunities to get his writing produced (and if he had to produce it himself, then that's what he was gonna do!)

Joe had a friend, Matt Raimo, a successful model in the midst of a promising career transition to acting. Matt's modeling portfolio is very impressive, but it wasn't getting him enough acting work. His agency got him through the door for countless auditions, and he auditioned well, but without a demo reel, few casting directors were willing to hire him. So Matt and Joe got to talking. Matt was being groomed for action/superhero work, so they hatched a scheme to shoot some action scenes. Joe would write and produce, Matt would star, and they'd both have some material to show off their skills.

They were crafting an action piece, I wanted to direct action - it was an obvious match.

With these pieces in place, it was just a matter of guiding the snowball as it rolled downhill. The important pieces that got it started were the declarations. Hauk wanted to score an action scene, and he didn't keep that to himself. He put it out there, which allowed me to bring him aboard. I wanted to direct an action scene, and because I stated that to a roomful of filmmakers, Joe knew to flag me down and talk about his project. In just over eight months, we went from Hauk's wish to score an action scene to submitting an awesome action short to its first film festival.

So get out there, know what you want, and give voice to it. Give people access to your dreams - it's the only way they'll be able to help you achieve them.

-Arnon Shorr