MIDDLE C

In Front of a crowd of hundreds of people with my good friend and creative collaborator, johnny cannizzaro!

Holding our BEST MUSIC award with our insanely talented composer, pietro!

A very rare moment for me, being in front of the camera, speaking about middle c in front of hundreds of people inside the samuel goldwyn theater.

The audience.

holding the BEST MUSIC Award.

our award of the night.

getting a selfie in with the iconic statue.

June 27th, 2025

In May 2025, I returned to the Director's Chair, after a 7 year hiatus.  I was approached by my good friend and creative collaborator, Johnny Cannizzaro, with an idea for a short film for CFC 2025 (Collaboration Filmmakers Challenge).  At first, all he knew is he wanted to play the piano, and he had exclusive access to a historical location in Hollywood with an old piano he could play.  With a tight two week deadline for the competition, we quickly got to work on the project.  In a matter of just a few days, Johnny wrote a stellar script, which was both emotional and uplifting.  I quickly brought on my long time trusted friend and creative partner Chris Courtner, to Line Produce the project and help up us crew up.  We quickly put together a casting call for our lead actress for the role of Ruby, and we were overwhelmed with many actresses interested.  I allowed Johnny to make the casting decision, but thankfully we agreed on our choice.  At the same time, we were furiously making crew calls for any and all positions on set.  It was a mad rush, but we pulled it off.

In less than a week, we were on set, cameras rolling, shooting the film with a full crew.  It was a one day shoot in the heart of Hollywood, and it went very smoothly.  The next thing we knew, we were deep into post-production.  My specialty - editing, and I was off cutting the film with Johnny by my side every step of the way.  The first cut was 10 minutes, and my producer Chris told me it was way too long and needs to be cut down.  Johnny and I took two more days to cut it down to 6 minutes 30 seconds to meet the CFC time limit - it was not easy, and we sacrificed MANY lines Johnny truly missed, but ultimately it made the film better, tighter, and stronger.  I don't think Middle C would have made it as far as it did had we not cut it down so aggressively.

By the time we had reached picture lock, we had only 3 days to color, score and sound mix the film.  The was no time for delays, and every second counted.  We brought on our insanely talented composer Pietro to score the ending of the film, and we had a stellar colorist and sound mixer that elevated the entire narrative.  Finally, it was pencils down, and time to submit.

The competition for CFC 2025 was fierce - there were 126 films submitted to the competition, a record, and only 16 were selected to screen.  Middle C was the judge's 16th choice.  We got in, but just barely.

Middle C screened at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills at 7pm on June 27th, 2025, in front of hundreds of people.  The crowd was cheering us on as the film started playing, and Johnny was very recognizable to many in the crowd.  We ended up winning BEST MUSIC award, which we were certainly not expecting.  It was a night for the history books, and Johnny and I left the night feeling very inspired to make more films soon.  More to come!

on stage, inside the samuel goldwyn theater in beverly hills.

Johnny and I getting a selfie in with our poster on display in the lobby behind us.

Middle c on the big screen, inside the samuel goldwyn theater.

The theater entrance.

Our poster on display in the main lobby.