There are trips you plan, and then there are trips that transform you.
This one wasn’t supposed to be monumental. I flew into LA for a screening, nothing more, nothing less. But from the moment I touched down, the energy felt different — charged, aligned, like something was already in motion before I even stepped off the plane.
Last night, Where The Shadows Wait screened at the Culver City Film Festival… and the room erupted.
Not a polite applause, not a filmmaker-to-filmmaker nod — a full, real, unexpected wave of energy that hit the second the credits rolled. The kind of reaction you don’t forget. The kind you chase as a storyteller. The kind that tells you the work is connecting far beyond the world you created it in.
I walked out of that theater inspired, but the universe wasn’t done.
Outside Culver City Studios — standing in front of a historic lot where decades of iconic films and series were made — I filmed a new Monarch Dispatch. In the Dispatch I said something that’s been ringing in my head ever since:
“Keep building your momentum. Keep building your audience.”
Because that’s what this trip reminded me of: momentum comes from movement. From showing up. From saying yes to the next step even when you don’t know what the step after that looks like.
And then something even crazier happened.
Me and Riley linked — and like always, that’s when the sparks hit. Last year, one conversation in a car after the airport led to Where The Shadows Wait. This year?
It’s leading to something bigger: ZEROED, shooting in February.
We were both inspired, both lit up, both ready to build.
It was the same creative electricity as before — but evolved. More focused. More intentional. More aligned with the studio we’re building.
By the time I was heading back to the airport this morning, I already had a recap cut. That’s how fast everything moved. That’s how much energy was flowing.
What started as a simple trip became a turning point for Dark Monarch Films.
A reminder that DMF isn’t just running — it’s accelerating.
A reminder that the audience is out there.
A reminder that momentum is real, but only if you feed it.
This is just the beginning.
Zeroed in February.
Party in April.
COTWC in development.
DMF+ growing every day.
I’m grateful. I’m focused. And I’m ready for the next chapter.