Psychopomp

Amidst a super virus that ravages most of the world’s population, a tenacious microbiology student leads a small team through a rogue planned exposure. But the human trials end tragically, taking his friends’ lives one by one and leaving potential treatments untested. As he becomes more and more isolated, the line between what’s real and what’s not begins to blur.

TRAILER

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Most films face difficulties being made, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it was a minor miracle that ‘Psychopomp’ was ever created, much less completed. After years of writing and trying to get multiple films off the ground, Brian K. Millard and I were finally scheduled to go into production on our first feature on Friday, March 13, 2020. A day and a half before the shoot we postponed due to Covid-19. It was the right thing to do, to keep our cast and crew safe. But it was still unbelievably deflating, to be so close and then to have it yanked out from under us.

After a couple months of depression and boredom (there’s only so much Netflix you can watch!), Brian and I decided to write a new screenplay… a feature to make while the pandemic lingered on. In addition to being writing and creative partners, Brian and I were also roommates and the best of friends, with the plan to shoot it by ourselves in our bubble. Inspired by what we were seeing in the real world, themes of fear, guiding others, trust in science, and isolation found their way into the story, all woven into a genre script as was our norm, in this case a psychological thriller.

This is not what I ever imagined my first feature would be like. We wrote it around the severe limitations we faced, confined ourselves and story to our house, and Brian and I quite literally did everything. We cast Brian as Theo, the lead, and myself (very allergic to being in front of the camera!) in a supporting role. We filled out the rest of the cast with actor friends of ours, who we filmed exclusively remotely. Production was slow going and extraordinarily difficult, as we juggled shooting chunks in between our remote jobs. But it also proved to be endless fun. After all, I was exercising my creative muscles day after day with my dearest friend in the world. Eventually we completed production, and I began editing.

And then everything – my life, the film – came to an abrupt halt on December 24, 2021. Brian died quite suddenly. Overnight I became rudderless. For months I couldn’t so much as look at the footage (he’s literally in every scene), much less continue editing. But I eventually understood I couldn’t let Brian down. I knew I had to finish the film.

When I finally resumed post, the work was emotionally taxing. It’s not lost on me that during the film’s climax, Theo’s psyche fractures when he loses the person he’s closest to… and has no support system remaining to keep him tethered. Thankfully, I had friends and family I could lean on through my darkest days to help me heal. And while I still face the inevitable moments of grief, especially the heartbreaking realization that Brian will never get to see the finished product, I take solace knowing that he’d be proud of the work we did together.