SYNOPSIS
Vincent is uncomfortable in his own skin but he's witty and adroit on his favorite hook-up app. Thane is hot (like...incredibly hot) but he's dumb and can't express himself. When Thane asks Vincent to grind for him by combining his own underwear model pics with Vincent's flirty texted banter, he's certain the partnership will attract the clever guys who don't take him seriously. Thane is introduced to a new class of men but Vincent gets addicted to the rush he's always assumed the beautiful people feel as they all navigate the competitive, multi screened hook up culture of New York City's Hell's Kitchen. As their paths run through darker territory both men will question: Is a monster created or revealed?
Lunchtime Shorts is an opportunity to screen a short film and have a Q&A with the filmmakers all within the lunch hour. Come down on your lunch break to watch a film and learn about the filmmakers process in creating the work. Food will not be provided and one cannot eat in the screening room.
PANELISTS BIOS
Zachary Halley, actor, director, producer, co-writer
Zachary makes his short film directing debut with Grind. He has directed projects in the super exciting but low budget world of obscure music videos and PSAs and Production Management and Post on big budget shows for HBO, Showtime NBC, CBS, Fox, USA, MTV/VH1, TNT, and The History Channel as well as films Life of Crime, Home Run Showdown, and one of the numerous failed iterations of Masterclass starring Faye Dunaway (…we should talk…) He is currently a Producer on Drunk History for Comedy Central. Zac went to Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama and is still paying for it.
Derek Gregor & Selda Sahin, producers, co-writers
Selda and Derek are the songwriters of the short musical film GRIND starring Anthony Rapp (“Dazed And Confused”, “Rent”) and Claire Coffee (NBC’s “Grimm”) (winner of Best Overall Short Film and Best Cinematography at Film Out San Diego, Best Short Film at the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival, and Best LGBT Film at the NYC Downtown Shorts Film Festival and SENE Music and Film Festival. The film’s soundtrack is available on iTunes and Amazon). They are co-writing Eric Michael Krop’s album “Greater Things” with Krop which will be released this fall. Their song “The Storm” was a finalist in the Great American Song Contest. Selda and Derek have worked with performers such as Lea Salonga, Laura Bell Bundy, Audra McDonald, Jeremy Jordan, Patti LuPone, Michael Cerveris, Danny Glover and Natalie Weiss. They perform regularly around the world
Steven Tylor O'Connor, actor, producer, casting director
Steven produced the award winning short film "Grind" along with writing, directing and producing two other award winning short films, "A Fairy Tale" and "Welcome to New York." He has also produced the critically acclaimed web series "It Could Be Worse" (created by SMASH's Wesley Taylor and ROCK OF AGES' Mitch Jarvis). Upcoming projects include the indie feature "Daddy" starring Gerald McCullough and Jaime Cepero and the short film "Carefree" starring Trey Gerrald (Orange is the New Black, Younger, Carrie Diaries, You're the Worst) and Tara Shayne (Grey's Anatomy).
Joe Rusin, producer
Joe has has extensive experience in the entire process of filmmaking, from development to production and distribution. A graduate of the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California, he has worked in development for companies like Double Feature Films (WORLD TRADE CENTER, FREEDOM WRITERS) and currently as a screenplay consultant with companies like OddLot Entertainment (ENDERS GAME, ROSEWATER) and The Sundance Institute, as well as Gracenote's screenplay service Script Shark. He has also worked in production on numerous television shows, including WHITE COLLAR (USA) and MURDER IN THE FIRST (TNT).
