I had to find some new obsession to keep from compulsively refreshing my email, waiting for feedback from literary agents. And so, filmmaking. One of my many, many former roommates is finally getting recognition for his short films. (You can find some of his masterpieces over here!)

I’d never once contemplated becoming a filmmaker, but then I had an idea, and it got me thinking…

We live in the age of magic. How else would you describe the internet to someone from a century ago? Here, now, in 2024, we have a lot of huge and scary problems that hadn’t been on anyone’s horizon just 50 years ago, but we also have some tremendous advantages. One of those advantages is the overabundance of public domain footage. It can come from aspiring videographers, or from taxpayer-funded federal agencies, or old-timey movies whose copyright has lapsed.

Regardless of the origin, the footage is out there. Likewise for great free software. (I highly recommend the OpenShot Video Editor.) Ditto for short but beautiful sound effects. Double ditto for talented music enthusiasts who post their creations online – all of it under the Creative Commons license.

All that material is up for the taking, up for grabs, as long as you attribute the creators. (And why on earth wouldn’t you?)

And so… My 7-year-old gaming PC, though it’s no longer in pristine condition, was more than up for it. An incredibly talented voice actor from the UK did a stellar job with her voiceover – on Fiverr, of all places. (I made sure to leave a 50% tip!) I’ve submitted my very first creation (experimental sci-fi, “Please Don’t Send Help”) to a couple of film festivals – one in Toronto, one in Brooklyn. Let’s see how that plays out, eh.

But meanwhile, there’s another short film I have made. I’m a huge connoisseur of the supervillain genre, and it blew my mind to realize there aren’t all that many short films (especially low-budget ones) on that topic. In particular, on the topic becoming a super-villain…

During my first expedition for public domain footage, I stumbled on the amazing 1964 film “The Last Man On Earth” starring the one, the only Vincent Price. It was based on the classic sci-fi novel “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson. (You may have seen the 2007 adaptation “I Am Legend” with Will Smith.) And it was in public domain! And so full of old-timey black-and-white horror goodness!

I wrote up a quick little script, went to bed, spent the next few weeks procrastinating, and then finally – finally – sat down, spliced the movie, did my own voiceover (gruff Eastern-European accents are still villainous, right?), and voila – it’s done. The title is “So, You Want to Be a Supervillain?” and I’ll post it all over the web later today.

I’m curious to see how this will go, for I have many, many more ideas… Realistically, nothing will probably happen. Optimistically, this will attract the eyes of some literary agents who might be on the fence about my “Time Traveler’s Etiquette Guide” novel. Wildly, utterly unrealistically optimistically – hey, Netflix and/or Hulu, I’m down to join your writer room, let’s do this! (No, seriously, let’s do this.)

And so… Here it goes:

Vimeo link

Youtube link