A movie to watch now: 'Separation Anxiety'. My film, watch online!

Rent from $3.99
Buy from $9.99 

Click on the logos above to watch 'Separation Anxiety' online.

Photo above right, courtesy Curtain Players.
Photo right, by Ian Iott, courtesy Glass City Films.

Found out some great news recently. Like, Snoopy happy dance great. Like birthday times a million great. Yeah. That great. My first film, an indie-feature called "Separation Anxiety" is now available online! To rent or buy at several digital retailers like Amazon. Google Play. Vudu. Even XBOX. If I already didn't own a copy, I'd seriously go download it on my XBOX, because that boggles my mind a bit that a movie I wrote can be ordered and watched on my XBOX.

Backstory: "Sep" started out as a play back in 2008 (though I wrote it before that). So how did it become a film that's now for sale online? Great question. This all happened in a stars align kinda way in that the play was selected for a local play fest here in Columbus at Curtain Players Theatre. Back then, their new play work was done as staged readings and workshop productions.

So for one weekend in January of 2008, my play graced their stage and we had talk-backs with the audience. I loved it. After one of the nights, we all went out to this pizza shop and one of the cast members, Cole Simon (pictured, far right), asked if I'd ever imagined it as a film. Well, yeah.

Corbin Jones as Bailey Palmer, filming on the set of 'Separation Anxiety'. Fall 2009.

2008 would become the year we'd film an investment trailer for Cole's company, Glass City Films. GCF was co-founded by OSU grad Cole and a man named John Klein, and it so happened he, like me, also went to Notre Dame for film (just coming in the year after I left). Cole reprised his role as Bailey Palmer in the investment trailer. I got a crash course in directing for film (ya know, that wasn't a school project --- big honking difference), and an 8-minute extended trailer (for a movie that didn't exist yet) was born. In the end, that investment trailer helped GCF secure a budget and in the Fall of 2009, we began filming the feature. Only now, I was focused on being the screenwriter and Cole stepped in the direct.

That film would take less than month to shoot, both in Columbus and in Toledo. It was a whirlwind. I was going back and forth from the film set to helping my own theatre company open a show. And they were shooting in my house, so it was kind of crazy. But just as quick as it started, filming wrapped. That was five years ago. A year later, in the Fall of 2010, we began screening the film in Columbus, Toledo, and Chicago (where GCF is primarily based now). It was pretty sweet. 

"Separation Anxiety" went on to hit some festivals, getting nominated and winning some awards like Best Drama at the Riverbend Film Fest and Best Director at Trail Dance (where it was also nominated for Best Drama and Best Actress for Kiana Harris). Laila and I got to travel to Alexandria, VA, in the Fall of 2011, with Cole for a film fest screening and it was such a blast. I was both excited and humbled to have my film included in the line up at each of these festivals. 

This movie was made on a tiny budget (film-wise), somewhere around $50,000 (you'd have to ask GCF, I'm not a numbers guy, I'm a words guy). The leads were OSU grads (and a student I think), Tyler Seiple, Kiana Harris, and Corbin Jones. And we had two film vets in our key supporting roles: Polly Adams (United 93) as Lily, and one of the best TV dads ever, John Wesley Shipp as Mr. Palmer (seriously, JWP is a gem to work with; and he was Dawson's dad on Dawson's Creek and he's Barry Allen's dad on The Flash on CW!). I still remember John Klein asking me who I'd cast as Mr. Palmer if I could just cast anyone, and I said (I thought wistfully) "John Wesley Shipp, of course." And then John Klein got him for the film. Awesome.

For so many years, there were only a handful of friends and family who ever got to see this movie, and so I'm beyond thrilled that it's now available for everyone to watch. Being a little indie-drama, I know it's not going to break box office records, Avenger's style, but that's cool. I'm just glad that people have a chance to see it now and I hope they like it. I hope they rent it. I hope they buy it. I hope they find something in the film that speaks to them and I hope they share it with their friends. 

Here are some photos from some of the premieres from 2010. I'll leave you with these to close out and encourage you to visit my Separation Anxiety film page where you can watch the trailer and some behind-the-scenes action and see if its your kind of movie. Even if it's not, I bet you know someone who would like it, so please do me a favor and tell people about the film and send them my way (or to Amazon or Google or their XBOX, etc.). Happy viewing! (But seriously, bring tissues... it's a dramedy... with the drama).