With Cardboard Castles, Erwin updates the Hans Christian Anderson tale Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne (1845) to modern slums – of course, with hard-core differences. A frazzled and strung-out prostitute abandons her two daughters to fend for themselves. In a the basement of an dilapidated house, they find a game that plays off of their vivid imaginations. Giving away more would take away from the surprises to be enjoyed here.

Erwin keeps his allegory cooking with a striking set of characters, and a suspenseful tension that works even on multiple viewings.

Each of Erwin’s film’s has a sense of visual freshness, but this one is a complete surprise.

Behind The Plastic Curtain

The entire movie was shot in 2 days, with a pick up day of inserts. To achieve this, the schedule had to be well thought out and the crew had to move very fast. Director of Photography, Troy Moore, worked with Erwin to “practical light” the set so they could quickly move to each set up with minimal staging.

“I thought working with kids would slow us down,” Erwin says, “but they were great. When I saw some of the crew getting teary-eyed during their performances, I knew we were onto something special.”

Executive Producer Brent Brooks had been working with the 2 girls in his improv class, Monomyth, and had highly recommended them for the roles.

Erwin goes on to mention that the production was a collaborative effort. There were many instances where the cast and crew brought great ideas to the project. During a rehearsal, actor Aaron Simmons come up with the title for the film. Some of the girl’s scenes were completely improvised. When a confrontation scene between Leonard and Latiesha was moved from a hallway to inside a tent, the two actors had to conform their dialogue and blocking on the spot.

“The chemistry on this set was amazing. Everyone, no matter what department they were in, gave 200%. We all had a great time making this movie.”

The Cast:

Leah JOHNSON

Leah Johnson was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Leah first started modeling at the age of nine where she won her first fashion competition in 2009. From there she realized she also wanted to pursue a career in acting. Leah attends Blueprint4Hollywood and is currently being coached by Kristen Shaw, actress and Karli Brooks, actress of several amazing productions. With inherent charm, sharp intelligence, and a vibrant personality, the young actress leaves a lasting impression on everyone she meets.
Leah has often been described as an old soul, someone whose unique combination of sensitivity, strength and emotion is well beyond her years. Leah is well on her way to stardom.

Jada MAY

A rising star actress Jada May is also a member of the Blank Stage acting program and was last seen a series of commercials forHyundai.

Carlette JENNINGS

A core member of the Blank Stage acting team Carlette has starred and directed several live past Blank Stage productions, Scorched,Unpredictable, Mr. Right Enough and American Icon Reject Debacle.

Aaron SIMMONS

Aaron Simmons thinks its obvious why he’s trying to break into acting/film. “I love the process of wearing another character’s skin and completely losing myself in that character’s psyche.
I’m also an artist and musician. I like photography especially when I can recreate death scenes or photograph a subject(s) while adding a controversial flavor to it. I write, draw, paint, illustrate, animate and/or stick my claws into anything else artistic.”
He feels that creativity is the fuel that keeps his engine running.
Simmons loves women but only needs one and is a hopeless romantic. Emphasis on the word: “hopeless” lol.

 A Movie With A Message

Everyone needs to see this film. Even if you find afterwards you can’t breathe for a moment, and you find yourself stumbling in a haze of tears and grief. The whole point of this story is to bring the searchlight of compassion and charity into the heart.

This is quite a stern message and a wake up call to everyone. Perhaps it is the very sternest message which can be given to some people. It is very, very sad, but you have to remember that the girls do reach paradise, as do many every day, and if this is too sad, then, well, there is no answer beyond the consolations of heaven.

The story speaks much about the sanctity of human life on earth, and I suspect that this will become a more pointed message as time goes on this century. If death happens in this way, if there is ANY possibility of this happening to children in your city, then we should be listening to Christ:

“I was hungry and you gave me no meat, thirsty and you gave me no drink, naked, and ye clothed me not, sick.. and in prison.. and ye visited me not…”

We should always be aware that beggars were once little boys and girls, who have now grown old. Some have lost their parents, some have lost other things, but they should not be forgotten. And they may hidden away, where you are not looking, or they may be staring you right in the face.

Directed By 
Byron Conrad Erwin

Executive Producer 
Brent Brooks

Written By
 Troy Moore

STARRING
Cora*Jada May
Lauren*Leah Johnson
Loenard*Aaron Simmons
Lateshia*Carlette Jennings

Producer*Cynthia Collins
Producer*LaFawn Austin
Producer*Ted Rubin

Director of photography*Troy Moore
Picture Editor*Byron Conrad Erwin

Original music
written and conducted by
Aaron Akins

Special Effect Make-up*Ondie Daniel

Sound Mixer*Zach Cowan
Sound Mixer*Theo Miller
Sound Assistant*Chykeria Thompson
Assistant Director*Craig Rhee
Production Manager*Mela Rayne
Script Revisions*Brent Brooks
Set Designer*Alvin Eric Vazquez
Hair Stylist*Nicole Ferguson
Wardrobe*Girli Girl Botique
Producer’s Assistant*Janlatae Mullins
Chief Marketing/ Crew*Ted Rubin
Key Grip*Russell Kozlosky
Grip*Ivan Ortega
Key Lighting/ Grip Dept*Valmon Davis
Visual Effects*Eric Regan
Catering*Yasmein Ziyad
Casting*Blank Stage Productions
Casting Facility*The Blank Stage
Assistant to Mr Erwin*Robert Gardener
Legal Council*Gertie Peters
Photography*Alex Johnson III
Photography*Devon B Allen

Film Festivals

*WINNER*

As Emily struggles to keep her small flowershop in business, Charles begins to generously infiltrate her life. She soon discovers that her new friend has a shocking secret; a nefarious plan to buy her business out from under her.

As Charles gets more involved in Emily’s life, he reluctantly begins to face the increasingly powerful feelings from his forgotten past — the pain of his loving wife’s death. At the moment he recognizes that he can still have love and compassion, his bid to buy her shop is revealed. Can Charles reconcile her friendship before it is too late?

Packed with heartfelt drama, Tiger Lily is a story of love, friendship and the determination of the human spirit.

Tiger Lily is a drama based on true life. It is a compelling story of how two people, worlds apart, can positively impact each other. At its core, Tiger Lily reflects the contradictions, insecurities, and loneliness of today’s society.

 The Fragile Project

In the spring of 2010 I was offered the director’s position on a film that was spawned from the Atlanta 48 Hour Film Festival. The producers came to me with an idea to shoot a movie about Simon Kornblit, a local who worked for Paramount Pictures. He had stated that he was getting old and wanted to be in a movie. The producers worked with their writer and began the script. Unfortunately, Simon passed away before production began, so I assumed that the project was shelved.

Later that summer I got the call that the film was on. The script had been completed and they were going to begin casting. Instead of the movie being a vehicle for Simon, it was now dedicated in his memory. So we set out to find the actors to fill these delicate roles.

After a month of tedious casting, we jumped right into the production. What a great set! Lavish locations, talented crew, amazing cast, everything ran smoothly and on schedule. But the most wonderful thing about this production is that every person on the set was volunteer. I couldn’t believe how many generous and gifted people there were donating their money, their sweat, and their precious time to this project.  I have been on many sets where the paid people weren’t half as dedicated. It was truly a moving experience for me.

The Icky Flick

Lure is so bizarre that it often seems to be a self-parody, but somehow this works for this kind of movie; like the desperate cult leader’s recurring answering machine messages, the audience can never be quite sure what’s meant as a joke and what’s dead serious.

Some of the images are quite disturbing, like the hero fantasizing about committing suicide in various horrific ways. It is a vivid and overwhelming work of art.

Starring: Jared Young • Josh Ford • Brent Brooks • Travis Young • Peter Kown • Jason Grant Davis • Karli G Brooks • Brenda Norbeck • Carlette Jennings • Maura Perin • Mary Jac Beavers • Julie Butler • Ian George

Director of Photography: Tom Pritchard
Music by: Todd Smith
Writer, Director, Editor: Byron Conrad Erwin
Producer: Matthew Young

In association with Brothers Young Productions

Bending The Mind

Lure was written in 2009 by Byron Conrad Erwin who says: “I had been pitching my idea around to people, and was getting great responses. I wanted to make a film about a depressed guy that doesn’t want to commit suicide, so he gets a serial killer to do it for him. I took the screenplay to a script writer’s group to get some input and many people all thought the same thing: the serial killer’s victims should  all be women so the hero has to dress like a woman to become his next target. I thought, wouldn’t that make this a comedy? And they would say, isn’t it a comedy? I thought it was going to be a dark horror film, but the use of irony made it too funny.

I had been directing a few of the Brother’s Young Productions and they loved the idea. Jared Young came on as the star and Matthew Young as a producer. It wasn’t very long after that before we began shooting the film. Director of photography Tom Pritchard’s gloomy photography really helped create the story’s bleak world.

Actor Josh Ford had performed on stage many times with Young doing comedic improvisation. I took that opportunity to shoot an entire conversation between the two of them showcasing that talent. I gave them the concept of the scene and what the point of the conversation would be, and let them roll with it. Although it was like assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle, I enjoyed editing that scene together very much. Creating a conversation from multiple takes of various dialogue was fun.

Although the film has an ugly feel and leaves the audience with no resolution, I felt it accomplished what I had originally set out to do; experiment with outside-the-box ideas and try something I had never done before.”

The Story:

This movie is based on a true story about events that occurred in 1987. I was working in a sheet metal fabrication shop and there was one welder that never spoke. He kept to himself, completed his job tickets on time, and never said a word to anyone. One hot summer day, he came to work covered in blood. Not hard scabby dried blood, but wet dripping fresh blood. I asked my boss what was wrong with the guy and my boss told me not to bother with him. He said that guy was weird and to stay away from him.

So I walked over to him, saw his arms, neck and face covered with small razor slices and cigarette burns. I asked him straight up, “What happened?”

This is the story he told me that day.

After the script was completed, the storyboards were drawn up in 1988. The visuals were carefully designed to be as racy as possible (for that era) without being so sexually graphic that we would be excluded from the film festival circuit. Because we were shooting in 16mm and recording audio to mag track, we had to be cautious as to how much film we could shoot based on our minimal budget. After signing into the Video Art class my next semester, our team decided to take on a different project using the less expensive video cameras and editors we now had available to us. So the project went on the shelf and was forgotten.

Recently, I discovered the artwork in my storage closet, and created the animatics in Final Cut Pro. This way, investors can clearly see the idea for the film themselves, instead of listening to concept pitches from the producers.

Cast:

Troy Halverson – Miles

Mark Ashworth – Leonard Stanley

Barry Piacente- Barnett

Chris Serizant – Bill

Snuggles – Himself

Starring:

James Peck        Luke Donaldson        Quynh Thi Le

Written by Kenny MacLaughlin

Neither narrative fiction nor documentary, Undershadow is a wordless montage of images photographed around Atlanta Georgia. Played to stirring music and edited into a sublime piece of visual poetry. If you are looking for meaning, you may have to dig pretty deep. The artistic accomplishment of this film is simply dazzling.