1. Yard Saleing starts from a premise that feels almost deceptively simple — a couple at a yard sale stumbles onto something that puts lives at stake. Where did that seed of an idea come from, and how early did you know the story had to be a film rather than, say, a short story or something else entirely?
The original premise was about a treasure hunt of some sort that led to the ultimate “Hitchcockian” outcome. I first conceived that story over 35 years ago. Over time, the plot device (and characters) had to evolve. Ultimately, there had to be a simple and believable way for my present day protagonists to stumble onto the clues to finding the hidden treasure and a simple yard sale seemed the most logical way.
2. You have a story credit alongside a co-screenplay credit with director Tom Logan. Walk us through how that collaboration actually worked in practice. Was there a clear line between what was yours and what became a joint conversation, or did the story transform significantly once Logan came aboard?
I wrote the story and the script – start to finish. When I first pitched it to Tom, he felt the script needed revision to make it affordable to shoot as a short. With mutual agreement, he and I rewrote it and I extended him credit for writing.
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3. The film leans into a mystery-drama register rather than going full genre. Was that a deliberate creative choice from the beginning, or did the tone find itself during the writing process? There’s always a version of this story that goes harder into thriller territory — what kept you from pulling that lever?
The script was tailored to be fast-paced and stay within the confines of a short that could be affordable. The original script from the early 1990’s was different in a lot of ways, was far longer and would have been far more expensive to shoot without any demonstrably improved results.
4. You brought Eric Roberts and Eliza Roberts into the project. Landing that kind of talent for a short is no small thing. How did those conversations happen, and did their involvement change anything about how you saw the characters they’d be playing?
I didn’t bring Eric & Eliza in; Tom Logan did. Casting is ALWAYS the responsibility of the director, and Tom is a veteran, DGA director with decades of experience. Having them in the film changed nothing regards the story or script. They were attracted to the film because of the story, the script AND Tom as director.
5. You wear a few hats here — story originator, co-writer, producer, and you’re on screen as a News Anchor. As a producer, what was the hardest single decision you had to make during production, and do you stand by it now?
I wore many hats because it was my project; my vision and Tom fully embraced that. The “hardest” decision I had to make was agreeing to have my cameo on-screen role hit the cutting room floor. For multiple reasons, the scene simply didn’t work. Tom gave the decision to me – with his recommendation – and I agreed it didn’t benefit the film so I said “cut it.” Other than that, there were NO “hard decisions.”
6. Yard Saleing was shot on location in San Diego. Location can either be a backdrop or a character in a short film. How intentional was San Diego specifically, and do you think the film would feel different set somewhere else?
San Diego was chosen because Tom had a first-rate film crew there and he knew we could get the results we did without having to complicate matters needlessly. The crew was an assemblage of perfection – and the cast was incredible. I’ve been on many film sets. Never before have I experienced one as cohesive and efficient as the San Diego crew. And we’ve heard the same countless times from the cast and crew.
7. Short films occupy a strange space right now. They’re playing festivals, landing on streaming platforms, and increasingly being treated as legitimate standalone works rather than calling cards. How do you think about the short form as a storytelling medium for this particular story? Could Yard Saleing be feature-length?
Making Yard Saleing a feature length film would have only guaranteed it never would have gotten made. Also, I do not agree that short films “occupy a strange place.” Ridley Scott shot “Boy and Bicycle” (27 minutes), Sofia Coppola shot “Lick the Star” (14 minutes), Christopher Nolan shot “Doodlebug” (3 minutes), Martin Scorsese WON Prix de l’Age d’Or Award for “The Big Shave” (6 minutes), Tim Burton WON the Chicago International Film Festival for “Vincent” (6 minutes) and Martin McDonagh WON the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Live Action Short with “Six Shooter” (27 minutes). Where would these legendary directors be today if they’d not started with shorts as “proof of concept” before moving on to features. Especially today, when making movies is a mega-million dollar proposition, investors do not want to risk that kind of money on an unknown. We made Yard Saleing specifically as “proof of concept” that not only do my stories have value, but that the collaboration between me and Tom, also has value. And the proof of that is that Yard Saleing has garnered (and still counting) well over 300 festival awards, including 224 wins + 23 nominations on IMDb – placing it in the top 10 most awarded short films in history.
8. The film pulled an 8.7 on IMDb, which is a strong early number. Do audience reactions match what you expected, or has something surprised you about how people are connecting with the story?
I don’t really pay attention to IMDb ratings scores as they’re often very “political.” Friends, cast and crew members vote high, and those who, for whatever reason don’t like the filmmakers (didn’t get cast, etc.), vote low. Far more indicative of the film’s success and widespread appeal is in the festival awards and recognitions – and comments directly received by and from industry professionals (who we respect) that are not widely publicized. Everyone is free to make their own minds about a film (or any work of art).
9. Georgia Van Cuylenburg carries a lot of the film’s emotional weight as Sally. What was your instinct about that character when you were writing her, and how did the performance either confirm or challenge what you had on the page?
I didn’t know Georgia when I wrote the script, so it wasn’t written to be her. Rather, Georgia is such a gifted performer that she gave a performance that WAS Sally. That and credit to Tom as a director because his great skill is bringing out phenomenal performances from cast. When I was watching her perform, I was cheering inside because of how perfect her portrayal of Sally was. The same goes for Liam – and Eric and Eliza, and Robert, Joe, Koletti, Elizabeth, and Steven. When I wrote the story, I always knew who Sally and Jim were. That never changed.
10. There’s something very American about the yard sale as a setting — this idea of treasure hiding in plain sight, of one person’s cast-off being another person’s obsession. Was that cultural dimension part of what drew you to the premise, or is that reading more into it than you intended?
Call it instinctual if you will. From the outset, I intuitively understood that there was drama in ordinary, everyday objects having uncommon value. Going way back to my childhood, I was always fascinated with rare and highly coveted things. Call it childhood fantasy that was never “flushed away.”
11. Cinematographer Mario Ortiz and editor Bob Unger both shaped how the film actually looks and breathes. How involved were you in the visual language of the film as a producer and story originator? Was there a specific look or reference point you brought to those conversations?
Mario and Bob are simply great. But they were selected by Tom because he knew them from previous work and already knew how good they would be. Everything points back to the fundamental story, the script, etc. Everyone, from Tom to Mario, to Bob to the cast, the crew – everything was about telling the story – as written (by me and Tom) with the best possible result. Once the ball started rolling, I was along for the ride.
12. The short received an Official Selection from the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival in March 2026. What has the festival run taught you that you couldn’t have learned any other way about how this film lands with different audiences?
When we finished the film, Tom and I were saying “I hope it wins 40 awards.” We thought that would be incredible. Then, we won 50 and were speculating “is 100 possible?” When we won 100, we started daring to imagine winning 200. Now we’re over 300 and not finished yet. I never imagined it would do that well, and to this day, I find it surreal. As I said previously, I don’t really think about how different audience persons feel; not because I’m being haughty but because art is always in the eye of the beholder and some will like it and some won’t. Obviously, I hope people enjoy the film – and more to the point, hope it makes them think because that’s to a large extent, what the purpose of it was.
13. You’ve worked across acting, writing, and producing. At this stage of your career, which of those roles feels most like home, and is there a version of your future work where you’re directing rather than handing that responsibility to a collaborator?
I get variations of this question a lot. For me, acting, writing, producing, etc. are the same thing: story-telling. I started out with stories I felt compelled to tell – and being a visually-oriented person, always felt film was the medium of choice. But I had no idea how to do that so I managed to get cast as an extra in a feature film “The Handmaid’s Tale.” What I never counted on was how much I would fall in love with film-making as an entity. So I started taking film acting lessons. Then, because I still needed to tell my stories – but now with a far better understanding of acting (and film sets – because I’d been on several by then), I began professional training in screenwriting. But as my stories started to take shape, I also realized that if I was going to have any say in how the stories would be told, I also needed to produce. Fortunately, Tom and I became friends and when it came time to actually produce Yard Saleing, he let me maintain the role of producer (jointly with him and Gerren Hall). I’m extremely fortunate to be permitted this degree of flexibility because in the usual world of Hollywood (AKA “Hollywierd”), that does not happen.
14. For the AndersonVision audience — which skews toward people who care deeply about film history, physical media, and the kind of storytelling that rewards close attention — what’s the one thing you’d want them to take away from Yard Saleing that a casual viewer might walk right past?
Two things:
- Watch the film and judge for yourself. It can be seen on my website www.emeraldoakproductions.com under “Yard Saleing.”
- I personally love great story-telling which I regard as something original, something that raises questions about the human condition, something that is not immediately predictable and something that makes people think. I feel that increasingly, films focus on either remakes (copycats) of previously great (and profitable) films without regard to what made the original film great in the first place, or something that pairs gratuitous whatever with tissue paper thin story lines, plots and characters. I also firmly believe that audiences haven’t lost the desire to see fully three-dimensional, “high concept” films with great and complex characters – they’ve just forgotten what it looks like.
What I’d most love is to overhear someone critically talking about the film: what it means, what the implications after the end are, etc. – and not realize I’m sitting/standing there and/or who I am.
