October 9, 2025

A FINISHED MONSTER

This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly (ha!) blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--

DID I MAKE MY GOAL?

Short answer: YES. I FINISHED A WHOLE DAMN FEATURE FILM.

Long answer: I have failed to post on my weekly blog for NINE WEEKS.

In my defense, the blog is about committing to completing creative tasks. And the reason I didn’t post is because I was busy completing a creative task.

As of this writing, the final digital print of our horror film, DEAD MEDIA, is being shipped to the theater in Minneapolis for its premiere.

The premiere is coming up fast! It’s Monday, October 20th at the Parkway Theater. Tickets are selling well, but we could use help getting the word out to fill the theater.

If you’re in the Twin Cities area and can join us, that’s fantastic. If you’re not in the Twin Cities area, but are willing to share on social media, that would be fantastic, too!

Here’s a link to tickets and full information on the event.

The premiere in Minneapolis is really a celebration of finishing the film. It’s also a chance to test out a possible road show screening series.

The film will find its way to streaming eventually, but right now I think films—big budget and indie films—are dumped on streaming with little fanfare and it makes the art that people work so hard on feel disposable.

So we’re striving to make any live screenings we do feel like an EVENT. To make the movie feel special and unique. Not like just another horror movie you can half-watch on your phone while you’re making a sandwich.

For our premiere in Minneapolis, there’s going to be some pre-film live entertainment from myself and Bill Corbett (who also has a small featured cameo in the film), a post-film Q&A moderated by my old friend and fantastic storyteller Allison Broeren. There will also be a photo op in the lobby, film posters for sale, and even a themed DEAD MEDIA cocktail designed by myself and my wife, Sara.

After we get through the premiere, my main focus will be selling the film. Finding the right distribution model to reach the target audience (people who love physical media, indie film, creepy horror with a deep focus on characters and relationships. Also people who like the actor James Urbaniak who has a good-sized role in the film.) At the same time, we’ll be looking into the logistics of hosting more screenings in more places ourselves.

ADVENTURES OF THE LAST NINE WEEKS—

Big picture, the last nine weeks have been an absolute blur of constant, high-stress/high-reward work on the post-production of the film. Time was already short, but various problems came up, as they always do. And this was my first time navigating some of these challenges so I had a learning curve.

There was so much work to do and it needed to get done so the next person in the process could do their work. And starting around mid-August, I was always about 2-3 days late on crucial deadlines.

There were many nights where I slept only 2-4 hours and then worked for about 16 hours straight. A quick dinner with Sara then more work until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I don’t recommend this or say it in search of kudos.

I say it mostly because I often hear art described as “lazy” when people don’t like it. Maybe there are high-powered directors, writers, executives who have lots of time, money, and resources who needlessly choose the quick, easy, sloppy path. But I think almost anyone who makes an indie film is not lazy. It doesn’t mean anyone has to enjoy their art! Criticize away, that’s the audience’s right. But I think our discourse about art would be better if we relaxed on the lazy use of “lazy” as a critique.

Anyway, in the fever dream of the last nine weeks:

-I worked on lots of supernatural sound design: Monster growls, inhuman scratches, figuring out exactly what a haunted DVD should sound like, etc.

-I worked on the score with Tony Thaxton from Motion City Soundtrack. Tony did a bunch of great work but had some time limits so with a lot of help from Sara, I took some of Tony’s musical themes and built a chunk of the score on our home keyboard. Here’s a peek at my desk, my laptop, and my deeply color-coded keyboard set-up:

-I worked with a company called Bossk Productions and the cinematographer of the film, Matthias Schubert, on organizing and delivering around 150 VFX shots. Matthias also helped me clean up the film as we transferred it from Premiere Pro where I did all the editing to Davinci Resolve where the color grading was done

-I worked with our colorist, Claire (who also did hair and make-up during the filming) on defining the multiple different visual looks for the film

-I worked with a post-production sound house, Toolshed Audio, to complete a ton of non-supernatural sound effects, mix all the music, add some last minute dialogue changes, and much more. A ton of the film’s sound world was built sitting in the studio and working through the film for four days straight

-I shot and edited an opening credits sequence and worked with a company called Cutting Room Floor who helped me build the end credits of the film

-I worked with my friend Bryan Ward to get all the posters, banner, and promo designed for the premiere and the publicity. And worked with the great folks at The Parkway Theater to get the premiere event planned and set up

-Finally, I worked with a company called Cutting Board to make the DCP—the digital final print of the film

-Somewhere in there, I had a birthday and visited my mother-in-law in Wisconsin where I sat in the basement making weird sound effects. Then we’d go out for dinner and I would get an opportunity to take pictures of my wife where she looks like an international super spy. (See below.)

I’m utterly exhausted, but very lucky for the opportunity to make this film. And I’m very thankful for all the people who helped along the way—including YOU for reading and subscribing to this blog that’s helped my stay on track and keep moving forward, one monster at a time.

LIGHT PLUGS—

My one and only plug is the premiere of DEAD MEDIA!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I’m likely going to take the next few weeks off of writing the blog, but we’ll see. Regardless, my goal for the next time I post is to jot down a few more ideas for the next film I want to make!

YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week in the comments below. What's your goal? How can I help you literally finish your monsters?

A LITTLE SKETCH--

This week’s sketch is from midnight of my birthday on August 17th. I took a break from working on the film to sketch a self-portrait. I think I drew my idealized cheekbones but I did nail the twinge of existential dread in my eyes.

Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you hear and tell some good human stories this week, and best of luck finishing your monsters!