A group of kids team up to rob the dentist who traumatized their childhood.

Director’s Vision for ‘Operation: Cavity’

‘Write what you know.’ That’s the traditional wisdom that screenwriting gurus tell aspiring filmmakers when they’re searching for ideas to create. However, I took a bit of a different approach; ‘Write what you fear.’

I began developing OPERATION: CAVITY in 2015 after shooting my last award-winning short film, Hi-Glow Retro. The concept I kept circling around focused on a boy and his fear of the dentist. Growing up, that boy was me.

Maybe I can blame myself for having a mouthful of cavities from a diet of sour candies or that time the orthodontist shaved down my front teeth so that they were perfectly flat-edge. Whatever it may be, I know this — in the eyes of a kid, going to the dentist can be terrifying. Syringes. Drills. Pliers.

Now, throw in my love for great action films and we have OPERATION: CAVITY. The pitch was simple – a group of kids team up to rob the dentist that traumatized their childhood.

This is a heist film. Think Stranger Things meets Ocean’s 11. Or for the older crowd, think 1980s-style adventure, like what Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment started off creating.

I set off to create something for myself. An adventure film that promised the same thrills and action of a roller-coaster ride.

But realistically, I couldn’t make it myself. I didn’t have the money to create a high-quality film so I turned to Kickstarter and made a campaign for our film. Over the course of several weeks, we campaigned to raise our budget. I was so thrilled that 95 backers believed in the vision. Without them, we simply wouldn’t have this film and I’m forever grateful to each and every one of them.

We shot for four days in the summer heat of August in 2019. We called in every favor we could and our thrifty producing team led by Megan Catalfamo got us bargains at nearly every vendor. We cast local talent and brought in many leads from NYC. Lensing our movie was none-other than my close collaborator, Sam Cutler-Kreutz.

After nearly two years in post-production, filled with strenuous edit days and VFX led by Alexander Frasse and Paul Stamper, we finally got our premiere at the Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts film festival. This was the biggest achievement of my career thus far and I couldn’t say how proud I am of this film and the team who helped me make it.

We went on to screen at over a dozen other festivals across the country and brought home several awards for ‘Best Short Film’. I am so excited to be releasing this short film to your platform. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.