"Pie Heist" Selected for Best of Boston Screening

Something has come between Winston (Erik Rodenhiser) and the strawberry rhubarb pie.

I'm pleased to report that our latest short film "Pie Heist," has been selected to screen at the Best of the Boston 48 Hour Film Project screening at the Kendall Sq. Theatre on June 14th.

We shot on a beautiful spring day at the Salem Willows Park. It was an HD shoot (DVCPro HD) on a Panasonic HVX200 using a Brevis35 lens adapter and Nikon primes. It all worked like butter with only one 16GB P2 card. Post was on a MacBook Pro running Final Cut Studio. All done, from conception to delivery, in 48 hours. A real tribute to the spirit and patience of our cast and crew!

In between set-ups, I took a few moments to shoot some stills with my infrared camera:

Ever vigilant, Wilma (Leigh Deacon) can both read and defend a pie.

A reflective Kim Pederson.

Jeremy keeps things running on script.

The Baldwin girls take five.

Winston and Wilma in happier times.

A classic stand-off.

Winston is undeterred.

BOO!!: :60 sec Promo for the Witches Cottage in Salem

I recently shot this :60 sec spot for the Witches Cottage at the Griffen Theatre in Salem, MA. The footage was edited by Steven Stuart at Playomatic Media Group.



The multi-talented Erik Rodenhiser owns and runs the Griffen Theatre at 7 Lynde Street in Salem. The theater usually hosts a fun, frightful show called, "Eerie Legends of Salem," as well as a variety of theatrical readings, improv comedy showcases and plays.

During Halloween season, however, the theater ups the ante and transforms itself into "The Witches Cottage," featuring a live multi-media theatrical performance exploring the ghosts, legends, Native American tales and history of witchcraft in New England.

As of this posting, the links to the Griffen Theatre and Witches Cottage websites are showing a "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" page. Hopefully, this means business is very good for Erik and the cast and crew this week. (I'm sure that's mostly due to the demand created by the fantastic trailer that we put together!;-)

In case the website is not back up shortly, The Witches Cottage/Griffen Theatre can be reached at:

978-825-0222
7 Lynde Street
Salem, MA 01970


To quote one of the reviewers on Trip Advisor:

"The quality of the attractions in Salem vary widely. Amid a field of the mediocre, the Griffen Theatre shines!...Salem could sure use a few more places like this - a Must See !!"

"The Best of Playomatic" screening at the Griffen in Salem

A collection of Playomatic short films, most of which I was involved with in one way or another, usually as director of photography, will be screening this weekend at the Griffen Theatre in Salem, MA. Sadly, I'm out of town and unable to attend but maybe you can and help support my good buddy Steve Stuart and his family.

Here's the press release:

"The Griffen Theatre at 7 Lynde Street in Salem presents The Best of the Playomatic: A Hilarious Short Film Screening on Friday, June 27th and Saturday, June 28th at 8 p.m.

There is a $20 suggested donation at the door as the evening is a benefit for the filmmaker and his family, who plan to move to Western Australia next January to work for Create International, a cutting-edge ministry organization in Perth that provides culturally relevant Christian video and web materials to different nationalities throughout the world.

Beverly-based filmmaker Steve Stuart has won several awards at Boston's 48 Hour Film Project for his zany shorts, filmed mostly in Beverly and Salem. The shorts feature North Shore actors and one pesky yard gnome that pops up in each of them. Featured short films include: America's Next Top Superhero, Opening Night Jitters, Sneaker Double Feature and the most recently shot Deadly Deja Vu.

According to the filmmaker, these 'strange, little films' represent his alter ego. Stuart's 2007 film Hope for Uganda screened this year at the first Salem Film Fest."