THE FATAL EGG
He just wanted breakfast.
The universe had other plans.
Official Selection - Oak Cliff Film Festival 2025
- Late Night Shorts Block
The Fatal Egg script hatched out of a sketch class at the Dallas Comedy Club in the summer of 2024. The class was taught by the eclectic DCC owner, Rosie Caruth. That week, the sketch was simple. Write a sketch where a character pursues a simple but impossible task.
There’s a saying that goes: write about what you know. And I know how to make an egg. But one thing led to another, and what started as breakfast slowly hatched into something bigger.
The script is very much structured like a sketch. You hit the joke three times, each time more punchier than the last, until finally, you knock it out of the park.
Out of the eight sketches I wrote in that class, The Fatal Egg was by far my favorite. Because of its simplicity, I also thought it would be an easy film to produce.
I’d heard about a local film organization, the Dallas Film Alliance, which runs a 10-week flash film challenge. Many film clubs follow a similar structure: a pitch day where people present ideas, a group vote to select three or four projects for production, and a finally, a screening where everyone watches the (sometimes partially) finished films.
I decided to toss The Fatal Egg script into the mix—and it was voted in. I remember feeling a mix of dread and excitement. The dread came from knowing I’d have to produce a film on top of my full-time job, and wondering who the heck was going to help make it happen.
But the urge to make something was more exciting and motivating, and there's never a perfect time for anything, so I went for it. I didn't have much money, so I was going to take whatever help I could get—while also learning to say no to help that didn’t serve the vision. That’s a skill you develop when making films with new people & no money.
Luckily, those worries disappeared once I met my would-be 1st AD Austin Campbell, producer Argentina Reeves, and UPM Don C. Platt. Incredible people willing to help a stranger with their crazy film idea. At the same time, I leaned on friends, old and new, to help as well.
When it came time to cast, I turned to Stomping Ground Comedy, a Dallas non-profit community theater focused on improv. Olivia Hughs and Raymund King, two hilarious & amazing performers, as Anchorwomen Maureen & Steve the Weatherman. And of course, the star, Brandon Enriquez—a wild, crazy & vulnerable performer who I met in a level 4 improv class at SG. I had the pleasure to perform with Brandon in our troupe Just Happy to Be Here.
Brandon is, well, Brandon. I simply filmed Brandon knowing what he does best: Improvise.
Queenie, the beautiful hen, I casted through the Facebook group, Backyard Chickens of DFW. (Definitely check it out for great deals on local eggs) She was amazing and laid a real egg on set! (I ate it for breakfast, it was delish.)
The entire film was shot in my apartment—a hundred-year-old home turned triplex in Junius Heights, Dallas. With intentional mise-en-scène, we transformed the space into something surreal and chaotic: a goofy, wild chicken world for a guy who just wants to make an egg. And as a bonus, I finally furnished my first apartment.
It was truly the first time I had lived on my own on my own dime. It was great to finally have some piece and quiet. There was no excuses, I just needed to focus on what mattered.
The actual filming went without a hitch. Three shoot days at around ~10 hours each day. We filmed the chicken realm scene in my apartment. I knew early on that I was going to create the chicken realm in Unreal Engine, and animate the chicken using motion capture suit. I also ended up doing the voice over as I was rewriting and changing lines on the fly.
Fortunately, we were given a generous grant by the Austin Film Society. That money was put into post, where Ernesto Grey made an incredible score & Rayne Beckman killed it with the sound design.
In the end, through this process, I met a lot of great people. I'm grateful for the creative community around me willing to help me tell these wild stories. It's a lot of fun and I hope to keep doing this.
Nearly one year after that “simple but impossible” sketch assignment, The Fatal Egg had its cluckin' awesome premiere at the Oak Cliff Film Festival!
Onto the next one!
