Trevor needs to get something off his chest. After a late-night party, he decides to open up to his buddy, Cole. Then the nightmare begins.

Director’s Vision for ‘Hey Man’

I’ll say it – I’m bad at opening up with people.

I’ll forever cringe in horror when remembering all the times rambling nonsense came out of my mouth as I struggled to express my feelings, or the moments I responded to news of someone’s personal tragedy with an ill-timed “damn, that’s crazy,” or even worse – “oof.”

Opening up can feel awkward and uncomfortable, and always provokes a fair amount of anxiety in me. “What’s the worst that could happen?” I ask myself. With “HEY MAN,” I wanted to answer that.

“HEY MAN” is the result of letting my own vulnerability anxieties fuel a dark cringe-comedy short film that aims to provoke laughter and discomfort in equal measure. Part of the fun in creating the film was challenging myself and my team to make such a small-scale two-hander somehow feel like a funhouse ride, where audiences could be thrilled by the film’s twists and tonal shifts while simultaneously feeling uneasy about what could be waiting for them around the next corner – all from 12 minutes of just two dudes sitting and talking.

To be clear, this is not (I repeat, NOT) a realistic depiction of what guys talk about when they open up to each other (I swear!). But even though this is an absurd film, my hope was for it to accurately convey that FEELING of opening up when you’re not used to it: the anxiety, the fumbling communication, the discomfort when someone gets a little TOO forthright about their issues, and once you’ve made yourself vulnerable, the urge to close Pandora’s Box and return to the comfort of just chatting about fun things, like The Sopranos (especially how great Season 3 is).

There – I opened up about our film. That feels kind of nice, actually.