I was always loved the short films shown on Saturday Night Live. That kind of creativity seemed so far away. I wanted to make my own. My initial experiments with Super 8 films had mixed, unsatisfying results. Then, the Internet happened. With cell phones and affordable digital cameras now being widely available, one of my great joys is working with my friends on short films. It’s rewarding to see an idea come to life.
Math Test
A student and teacher meet to discuss the score on the test.
The Average Guy Dance Ensemble
A well-known dance director finds a new, surprising career
Fourth Street Stories
Stories of growing up in Northern Minnesota in the 1970s.
Godot Waiting
“What was Godot doing all that time?”
Jake
Our first storytelling film.
A true story about an encounter with a bully in the eighth grade.
Storytelling Film Project Introduction
Working From Home ( A Zoom Meeting)
A short film about how we work now.
The Daughter Experience
A successful professional tries a new service to experience an aspect of life she has missed.
Talking in Circles
Two sisters struggle over their dad’s inheritance.
Magician Classes
A young couple, sitting on a park bench, reaches an impasse in their relationship.
8:25
Inspired by the avant guard art films of the 1960s, this short experimental film that examines a minute in time.
Sunday Evening Caravan
A reflection on an unseen procession that takes place each week.
Mirror Mirror
A man looks into a mirror only to meet someone he never expected.
Floating Man
A Film by Phil Holt
“Have you ever dreamed you could fly?”
I wrote this story when I was in my mid twenties living in St. Paul, I would ride the bus back and forth into downtown to work in a series of temp jobs. One night, I dreamed I could float around my apartment. The freedom of floating in the air stayed with me until I wrote it down. For a long time it was a short story (as you can read on our Fiction Tab). Then I thought it may be a play, but I couldn’t figure out how to make that work. Slowly, over many, many years, It became this short film.
Living Room Fragile
A Film by Phil Holt
“Slowly but surely, the cracks begin to show.”
Right out of college I landed an internship with Twin Cities Public Television. They told me during the interview, that I should not expect to have the internship lead to full time employment. They were upfront about that. After time though, it became apparent that if wanted to become a paid production assistant, you needed to be a successful intern, I held on for months, working as an unpaid intern on several programs until one of my mentors told me that it was time for me to leave. The pain of not landing that dream job was devastating and led me to craft a story in my mind of a man with a family who loses his job and then loses himself. Years later, I wrote and directed Living Room Fragile.
When John is fired from his job, his family tries to hang on. Slowly…steadily…the cracks begin to show.
Living Room Fragile was first presented on CTV15 in 2007. Later that year, it went on to be the winner of Best Original Teleplay from the the Alliance for Community Media.
One on One
A Short Film by Phil Holt
I created the idea for this film when I worked for a large pharmacy benefit management company in the early 2000s. As part of this job, we would have regular one on one meetings between workers and managers to discuss projects. These meetings were often stages for drama. I kept this idea in my mind and wrote a number of scene prompts for improvisation and saved them until I met two actors who were skilled in improv. We met in an office on a Saturday morning and shot this short film.
A cube dweller and her manager work in the novelty toy division of a large corporation. They must struggle to find profitability in the challenging novelty toy market.
The Ballad of Lenny Leatherhead
I have always been a huge fan of John Lennon. I knew his music first and later learned more about his life. As I grew to appreciate his music, I also came to understand that he was a deeply imperfect man. In college, I developed a character who was an an aging rock and roll star, first for a radio show and then as a lead character for a film. I played him myself in this quasi-documentary.
Lenny Leatherhead is racing against time to complete his comeback album. He is haunted by a hunger for a father died when Lenny was just a boy. While searching for answers on how his dad was killed, he discovers he has a secret and a stranger that he never knew but knows him all to well.
The Spontaneous Event Committee
A group of cube dwellers must decide to do something spontaneous, but what to do?
Student Films
In college, I wrote, directed and produced two comedy television specials at the student television station. In the second episode we started making short films. Here are three of our more successful efforts from back then.
Statue
When I was in college, our library had these odd statues of people with their heads in their hands, as if overwhelmed by too much studying. I often wondered about them and one day this film idea popped into my head.
Homework
One day in class, a fellow student asked my professor if he could record his lecture for her tomorrow, because she wouldn’t be in class. Then my imagination kicked into gear.
Bob the Rat
A darkly comic mock-documentary satirizing popular culture and the news media’s focus on the demise of celebrities.
Comments? Click the contact us page and let us know what you think.