#ShelterShort for Short Of The Week

Make a short film of any topic, genre, or style, there are only two rules!

1. Filming must take place at the location where you are sheltering.
2. Cast and crew are limited to those you are sheltering with.

Creative Statement:
Many moons ago (read: 2014), back when there was no such thing as #content and short films were just short films, I tried for years to create a series of scary short films that functioned more or less as the "cold opens" to movies. The series I shopped around would crowdsource the best Creepy Pasta or user submitted ghost stories/experiences and the community would “vote” on which short film would get made each month…with the larger goal of using them as proof of concepts for future feature films. The last one we made was in 2014, a creepy little short called NIGHT SWIM (which was a Short of The Week!) before our kids came along and we had to buckle down and focus on the larger boulders on larger hills. But also I couldn’t get anyone big enough or important enough to help me bring the idea to life, so the series idea got relegated to the back burner.

But over the years we’ve continued to collect and source great stories like this one here. Five weeks into quarantine I was losing my mind from the seemingly endless deep development I spend most of my creative time doing, something that’s already frustrating to someone who needs to be creating things, collaborating, and problem solving in real time - not just doing development work I never know if it’ll see the light of day. Making MOMMY was a way to scratch the itch that is the need to create. And in spite of the original short form horror series this was to be a part of, making this was just about creating something and the rewards that come from using those muscles and skills - with no other goal in mind. Making something with my wife, in our house, over the course of two nights while our toddler slept upstairs (we probably could have filmed it one night if we didn’t need to crash by midnight each night, already exhausted from long days of working from home and “homeschooling” our recalcitrant toddler), and to be a part of this community, doing what I can to support World Central Kitchen helping others in need, was exactly what I needed to be done.

Mommy - My Wife (who works in public policy for a non-profit, has never acted before, never wants to act again and who wishes to remain anonymous)

Directed by Rod Blackhurst
Written by Rod Blackhurst and Oliver Harwood
Color by Jaime O'Bradovich
Post Sound by Jay Pellizzi
VFX by Jake Owens

Special Thanks
Bryce McGuire, Noah Lang, Julian Terry, David Ebeltoft, Ross O'Conner, Darin Quan and Gabrielle Espinosa