A story of chance encounters, random acts, and the strangers who drift in and out of our lives.

Tenth was born out of an overwhelming sense of sadness and loss. It’s one of the few times I’ve been compelled to channel such emotions through filmmaking. The short was selected by Cameron Crowe, Danny Devito, Bono, Annette Benning and Mike Myers as a winner of Kevin Spacey’s Triggerstreet.com film competition. Turn up the volume for maximum effect.

I have to admit this short was inspired by my own experience (although it wasn’t so extreme). I auditioned Dan DeAngelo at a public park, where on-lookers wondered why he was screaming and rolling on the ground. Good times.

It’s amazing YouTube survived so many years without the internet.

I guess as far as YouTube goes, this was the video that got me on the map, or in the club.  Garnering 600,000 views in one week, it’s safe to say it went viral.  The clip was a collaborative effort, with other YouTubers sending me their clips digitally.  As a filmmaker, it was an interesting experiment, and I was thankful that BeanerLaRue, XgobobeanX and Nalts shot such great stuff.

Many have asked where the idea came from.  I guess the seed was a faded photograph that my Aunt Marg sent me.  Taken during the early ’80s, it was of a chubby Matt Koval sitting in front of a wood-panelled station wagon.  The photo got me thinking about those days, and how much the world has changed.  Around the same time, I had been invited by Deena (BeanerLaRue) to collaborate on a video.  She didn’t have anything specific in mind, so I started brainstorming.  At some point, the old photograph sparked “YouTube in 1985″.

Made in college, this footage was originally shot to be the opening of a horror film. But when the project fell apart, I slapped on some titles and twisted it into this mock-PSA. It actually became an award winner, and has played all over the country.