Crutches was my first festival film, written in one day, shot the following, and edited the next. It was based on a true story of my first day of school at the University of Texas in Austin.

I found some crutches in the garbage bin on my way to catch the bus and decided that a good pair of crutches shouldn't go to waste and took them.

"Well, I can't just walk around with crutches without using them!" So I put them to use and took note of how differently people treated me.

I can't take credit for such genius, however, as I was inspired by an old high school friend who faked crutches for a couple days so he could go to class late and take advantage of people's extra graces.

It was this fellow who would years later play the same role in my film.

We won the Bowling Green State University Student Film Festival and the following month took home Best Narrative at the BGSU Arts & Media Festival.