Ben is a commercial video editor working late at the office on a commercial with a tight turnaround. A pesky technical error causes him issues, which forces him to stay at the office later than originally expected, much to the dismay of his anxious wife who communicates with Ben via his email chat.

   As it gets later into the night, it becomes clear that the technical error isn’t the only obstacle preventing him from leaving. He finds that more nefarious forces lurk in the dark…

   DEADLINE is a short man-vs-machine thriller , and a parable for the negative effects of “hustle culture.” No deadline is worth dying over.

Nick wrote DEADLINE back in 2018, when he was in a similar situation of working late at the office on a commercial edit thinking “what if…

This was Ben Bradley’s acting debut. Initially, someone else was in the process of being cast, but when Ben sent a brief audition video showing his acting ability, the script was rewritten with him as the lead.

Filming for DEADLINE took place over the course of 2 evenings.

All of the screens in DEADLINE were digitally created and superimposed in the edit. So Ben had no idea what would be on the computer when he was acting.

The editing software “Motion Marvel Pro” was completely fabricated and designed based on Adobe Premiere Pros interface. The reason a new software was used was to be able to create chimes and errors that wouldn’t cause people to say “Hang on, Premiere doesn’t do that!” Maintaining immersion and keeping the audience on their toes at the same time.

The song “Dust it Off” by The Do had always been DEADLINE’s ending credits song in Nick’s mind. It took 6 months to secure the license for the song.

The first time we see Ben, we also see part of the office mural which reads “The Dream is Free, but the Hustle is Sold Separately.” The mural existed long before the conception of DEADLINE, but ironically, that phrase is the theme of the film.

Film Threat