48 hours. Horror sci-fi. Toronto.
Wrote it, shot it, cut it inside the window. The Lost Tape, made for the 48 Hour Film Project with a crew that brought their absolute A game. Things only happen on a 48 because there isn’t time to second guess them. You commit, you shoot, you move. Fully prepared but some of the best ideas got figured out in the room, on the day, with the right people in front of you.
Huge thanks to the crew. More to come.
@48hfptoronto@Conroy.films@connorjones66@aidanmatney@thegreatgatesy@kayla.golden9@pidlusska@jeffcampesi 📸 by @andrewdoesphotographs 🎵 incredible New music song 'Deep Below' created by @darryllahteenmaa and @sleahy_music for the #toronto48hfp #48horrorscifito #48hfpto
This scene played the funniest in the cinema screenings we did in Canada and Ireland! Watch the rest of the it now. The Treatment has been on @primevideo@tubi and @appletv for a while now. If you’ve been waiting to watch it, now is the time.
It is a unfolding non scripted drama about what people do when they think they’re not being watched. Fully improvised. IMDb 8.5. Multi-award festival run.
Link in bio for all streaming platforms: Prime Video, Apple TV, Tubi.
Why I keep talking about The Treatment in a time full of AI content.
Not to argue against AI. Not to protect territory. Because something specific is being lost in the noise and I think it’s worth naming.
Films made the Cassavetes way, with actors under real pressure, produce moments of genuine human behaviour on camera. That has always been rare. It is rarer now because the economic pressure to generate content quickly and cheaply is pushing everything away from what we came here for in the first place.
The Treatment is the opposite of that. One director. Two cameras Three actors. No script. Two years of festival circuit. IMDb 8.5. Now on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Tubi.
Go watch it. Tell me what you think.
What improv filmmaking teaches you that a script can't.
When we made The Treatment the cast didn’t have a finished screenplay. They had situations. Their job was to be in the situation and respond honestly. My job was to create enough pressure that the honest response was interesting.
Three things you learn that you cannot learn any other way.
First, you learn when to cut. Not in the edit. During the take. An improvised scene has a natural peak and a natural fall, and the director has to feel both in real time. No rehearsal prepares you for that.
Second, you learn what actors actually need. A scripted actor needs clarity. An improvised actor needs permission. Those are different conversations and different kinds of trust.
Third, you learn what the film is actually about. The script tells you what you think the film is. The improv shows you what it is. Those are often different things. The best version of The Treatment is the one the actors found in the room, not the one I planned on paper.
The film is on @tubi@primevideo and @appletv now.
In 2024 I made a film about pressure, manipulation and the lines people cross to get what they want. No script. No AI. The Treatment. IMDB 8.5 @primevideo@appletv@tubi
For a sequence in “The Dreamers of Fae Woods,” I kept going back to what Lubezki did in “The New World.”
He doesn’t light the scene. He lets the scene exist inside the light. The camera follows like it’s discovering something, not covering it.
That’s the feeling we were after. Not to show the Otherworld. To move through it. #Dreamers
