A young woman learns the perils of wasting too much time on her smartphone when she discovers an app that offers to buy her wasted time – an app that doesn’t work entirely as expected. Starring Lindsey O’Neill, Don Larson, and Lisa McConnell.
For his first short film as director, John looked to Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Twilight Zone, and Dark Mirror for inspiration when planning the look and feel of this story. Based on a short story by local author M.D. Taylor and adapted for screen by Noah Camenker, the script could have been told as a very dark tale, but John opted instead to create a lighter mood and even instill some wry humor. Director of Photography Seth Piguet pulled inspiration from Final Destination and La La Land, among others. Shot in a single 12-hour day, the film went through post-production, including visual effects and a custom score by Australian composer Jacquie Joy, in just two weeks. It won multiple awards, including Best Director, at its initial film challenge and has since screened at multiple film festivals, like Love Your Shorts Film Festival, Orlando Film Festival, and Austin Micro Short Film Festival. Time Was is still playing in the film festival circuit.
