Behind The Scenes: Intruder! Short Film
I have been wanting to make a short film using my apartment for a while. I’ve written several scripts over the years but none of them felt quite right for the space. Finally, the concept for Intruder! came to me! the script formed from one simple question: What if my partner of 14 years had a major secret they’ve hidden from me all this time?… The actual storyline deviates a lot from that initial question but it was enough to get the thing going!
Andy Copeland and Jeb Berrier browse the Day Museum library. Photo by Chantel Bailey
The project was a whirlwind. I wrote the script in February 2026, and by March we were looking for cast. Jaime Lastimosa, my long-time Director of Photography, reached out to Brook Hogan. Brook jumped on, and recommended Andy Copeland and Jeb Berrier. These three were my first choices; they are near identical to the characters I had in my mind and despite scheduling conflicts, other projects, and lack of pay, somehow all three agreed to be part of this project. I am so thankful for their work and fortunate we all found each other!
April 2026 we were filming. I loved filming in my apartment, I was able to work on decorating the location over the course of a month since there was no pressure to set up and tear down in a short term rental. I could wake up and have everything prepared for the cast and crew in no time at all and at the end of a long day of shooting go straight to bed with no pesky commute. These were the smoothest days on set I’ve ever had. Everyone arrived on time, we easily stuck to the schedule and we wrapped on time every single day. All the pre-production Jaime Lastimosa, Taylor Bailey and I did over the course of the month really paid off and Andy Copeland, Jeb Berrier and Brook Hogan were incredible from the first take to the last.
Filming in Cycle Portland. Photo by Chantel Bailey
After filming I got to work on the edit right away. There weren’t many problems outside of some audio and coloring issues on the opening scene, and for a film written and recorded in less than three months that’s pretty damn good. While I was working on getting hours of footage into a fourteen minute edit, Presley was working on the score. We had a few meet ups and went back and forth on ideas for the music. Watching him experiment with sounds and make changes on the fly was a thing of beauty. I couldn’t be happier with what Presley Perez dreamed up as the final draft; So many different moods were captured by Presley, it really brought the whole thing together.
Presley Perez, Kevin Bailey and Carl Suby on set. Photo by Chantel Bailey
August 1st 2026, That’s a wrap! After a solid four months of editing the film is complete and ready to put out there. I will be doing a festival run for the film and then figure out what to do with it afterwards. If you want to see Intruder! I recommend following the @shortfilmintruder instagram, which is where I’ll be posting the festivals we get into. Otherwise, once the festival run is over I will have more information on my website on how and where to watch it. Thanks for following along and I can’t wait to share our latest story with you all!
