Pilotgroove Pictures was back in action last week, wrapping production on their fourteenth short. The latest film, You Make Me Wanna Rock! will make its theatrical debut at the Boston 48 Hour Film Project Group B screening, Monday May 15 at 9PM at the Somerville Theater.

You Make Me Wanna Rock! is a buddy comedy celebrating all things music and movies. It follows two friends through a series of wise-cracking non-adventures. All is not well for John Smith (Aaron Compagna). With the help of his friend Alex Green (Jay Chanoine) and the power of rock, on his side he looks to quiet the noises in his head and shed what’s been haunting him.

You Make Me Wanna Rock! is the 14th 48 Hour Film Project from Pilotgroove Pictures and the 10th from award-winning writing/directing tandem, P.J. Huot and Ben Peirce. It was conceived, written, shot, and edited between May 5-7, 2023 as part of the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. The required elements were:

Character: Alexandre Green, tattoo artist
Prop: a pizza box
Line: “She’ll never know”
Genre: Buddy Film

The film strikes a personal chord (pun intended) with Pilotgroove Pictures producers. Peirce had this to say in his letter to the cast & crew…

“It’s not just that it’s funny and heartfelt and so [expletive] technically-beautiful and well-acted that it makes me wanna puke—which it does… It’s that it’s a perfect telling of the exact story I needed to hear. I don’t think I had any idea how badly I NEEDED this, until it came spilling out of your hearts and onto the screen.”

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Tickets for the Group B screening are on sale now from the Somerville Theater box office. Click here to order.

ONLINE PREMIERE

A remastered version of You Make Me Wanna Rock! will be available here at pilotgroove.com immediately following the premiere screening. An extended cut will be released later this month.

WATCH ONLINE
(Available after the live Premiere)

SOMERVILLE, June 14 — Get Your Hands Dirty had a big night, leading all films with 12 nominations and five awards at the Boston 48 Hour Film Project Best Of & Awards. The mocku-sports short was a nominee for Best Film and a winner for Best Use of Character, Best Use of Genre, Best Sound, Best Editing and Best Script. The accolades make it Pilotgroove Pictures’ most decorated 48 Hour Film Project to date.

The Boston 48 Hour Film Project Best Of & Awards returned to the theater this year, with 16 films screening before a capacity crowd at the Somerville Theater’s Crystal Ballroom. Get Your Hands Dirty closed out the night, before the awards presentation by Boston producer, Andrew Osborne.

Pilotgroove Pictures captured two of the four required element awards, winning Best Use of Genre (Mockumentary) and Best Use of Character (Martin Shatternick, Florist). They were also nominated for Best Use of Line (“Who said that”). 2017 entry, Don Is the New Death, was also a winner for Best Use of Genre (Fish out of Water).

The mix of broadcast commentary, music and live atmospherics, secured the award for Best Sound. It was the first win in this category for Pilotgroove Pictures and the technical team of Jay Syrene, Dave Distilli and P.J. Huot. The soundtrack—featuring tracks from The Whatnot, Anton Vlasov and Skilsel was also nominated.

Ben Peirce made it back-to-back wins in the category of Best Editing, following up last year’s win for Life with the Dead. Fast-paced action sequences, layered graphics and careful cuts, contribute to a film that’s both cinematic and evocative of live TV.

In another repeat performance, Peirce and Huot picked up their third (second straight) award for Best Script, winning previously for Don Is the New Death and Life with the Dead. They share the honor with collaborating writers and floral pun-smiths, Tim Peirce, Greg Giorgio and Jay Syrene.

If the 2022 Awards were a sports movie, Pilotgroove was Apollo Creed. Get Your Hands Dirty was a nominee for Best Film and after several wins early in the night, the defending champs seemed poised for a return trip to Filmapalooza. But it was Moose Films in the Rocky roll this time. The middle schoolers from Meadowbrook, took top honors with their Buddy Film, Best Frenzy. Moose Films—a rotating crew of student filmmakers since 2007—was also inducted into the Boston 48 Hour Film Project Hall of Fame, along with longtime 48’ers, Playomatic.

Pilotgroove Pictures received 12 award nominations for
Get Your Hands Dirty (*winner):

• Best Use of Line
• Best Use of Character*
• Best Use of Genre*
• Best Special Effects
• Best Titles
• Best Soundtrack
• Best Sound*
• Best Editing*
• Best Script*
• Best Acting (Ben Peirce / John MacAskill)
• Best Directing
• Best Film

As always, Pilotgroove Pictures would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to our crew, to the judges and producers behind 48 Hour Film Project Boston, and to everyone who came out to the theater, viewed from home, or otherwise took time out of their life to watch our film.

Fresh off of its theatrical premiere at the Somerville Theater, we’re proud to present the 13th 48 Hour Film Project from Pilotgroove Pictures – Get Your Hands Dirty.

“Get Your Hands Dirty”
48 Hour Film Project Boston, 2022 (Genre: Mockumentary)

Live from Cougar Field House in Flemmingville, it’s the 13th Perennial, Northeast Regional Floral Design Championship. Commentators, Bob Boreman (Ben Peirce) and Bob Windlehavenson (John MacAskill) have the call as upstart flower shop owner, Martin Shatternick (Aaron Compagna) attempts to upset the great Cristobal Levile (newcomer, Ira Jones) in this mocku-sports event, written & directed by P.J. Huot and Ben Peirce

“Get Your Hands Dirty” is the 13th 48 Hour Film Project from Pilotgroove Pictures. It was conceived, written, shot, and edited between May 13–15, 2022, as part of the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. It was screened theatrically at The Somerville Theater on May 23, 2022.

Copyright © 2022, Pilotgroove Pictures

Barely two months since their appearance at Filmapalooza, the hardest working crew in show business is back at it! This weekend, Pilotgroove Pictures wrapped production on Get Your Hands Dirty—their 2022 entry in the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. Live screenings are back this year, and the latest short will get a live theatrical premiere on Monday, May 23 at the Somerville Theater.

Get Your Hands Dirty takes you the 13th Perennial, Northeast Regional Floral Design Championship, where underdog flower shop owner Martin Shatternick (played by Aaron Compagna) takes on the heavily-favored Cristobal Levile (Pilotgroove newcomer, Ira Jones).  The broadcast team of, Bob Boreman (Ben Peirce) and Bob Windlehavenson (John MacAskill) and Kelly Clemens (Jennifer Peirce) bring you all the action,  in this mocku-sports event, written & directed by P.J. Huot and Ben Peirce

“Get Your Hands Dirty” is the 13th 48 Hour Film Project from Pilotgroove Pictures. It was conceived, written, shot, and edited between May 13–15, 2022 as part of the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. The required elements were:

Character: Martin Shatternick, Florist
Prop: a Letter
Line: “Who said that?”
Genre: Mockumentary

Writer/Director, Ben Peirce talks about taking on the mockumentary genre again:

“We’ve done mockumentary before, so we wanted to take a different approach this time. Besides a traditional film, what else could we mock? Our crew’s origin-story is set in live sports production, and we’re all life-or-death fans of various teams. This film is a love letter to sports and a natural fit for a film competition designed as a sporting event.”

“Get Your Hands Dirty” has a lot of nods and winks, contained within its script. Peirce and Huot—as well as Greg Giorgio, John MacAskill and many others in the Pilotgroove family—met while producing games for the American Hockey League’s Manchester Monarchs, making the live sports spoof a natural fit. The 13th Perennial, Northeast Regional Floral Design Championship is a nod to the 13th film in the Pilotgroove catalogue. And the event itself bears some striking similarities to the 48 Hour Film Project, and gives a tip of the cap to Boston city producer, Andrew Osborne in the character of Judge, Ozzie Andrews (played by Greg Giorgio). This year’s production is bolstered, by the addition of two Pilotgroove newcomers. Ira Jones, gives a stirring (albeit silent) performance as the film’s villain. Dave Distilli joins the picture crew, bringing a kinetic, sports energy to the visuals—and creating the graphic package that gives life to PGV Sports.

EXTENDED ONLINE PREMIERE

An extended cut of Get your Hands Dirty will be available here at pilotgroove.com immediately following the premiere screening. This full version of the film features over 2 minutes of additional content that would not fit in the competition version.

“There was just too much here to edit contain in 7 minutes, and complete in 48 hours,” said Peirce. “I’m excited to release a version that better captures all the magic our cast and crew made happen.”

WATCH THE EXTENDED ONLINE PREMIERE
(Available after the live Premiere)

This week, Pilotgroove Pictures’ Life with the Dead will take the international stage as part of Filmapalooza 2022. The 2021 city winner from Boston, MA will be featured in an 11:00 AM screening on Friday, March 11 as part of the 4-day festival that runs March 9th – 12th, at the AFI Silver Theater in Washington DC.

Filmapalooza is the culmination of the 48 Hour Film Project, featuring the winning films from over 100 cities, worldwide. The annual event brings together hundreds of filmmakers, actors, writers, and professionals from around the world, to celebrate and showcase independent film. Winning films from Filmapalooza will earn a spot in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner.

Life with the Dead is the 12th film from Pilotgroove Pictures, and the first to be screened at Filmapolooza. The spot was earned with the title Best Film at the Boston leg of the 48HrFP in May of 2021. Life with the Dead is a sequel to the 2011 short, Just Remember That They’re Dead—a mockumentary retrospective looking back to the world created by Pilotgroove Pictures, 10 years ago. Nominated for 12 awards at the city level, the film also took top honors for Best Script, Best Editing and Best Directing.

As they take to their biggest stage yet, Pilotgroove Pictures will be well-represented in the US capitol. Making the trip to Washington DC are (producer/writer/directors) P.J. Huot and Ben Peirce, along with Jennifer Peirce (producer) and Jay Syrene (co-writer/director of photography). In addition to the film screenings, Filmapalooza features a schedule packed with workshops and networking events, sure to enhance the production value of future endeavors from the hardest working crew in show business.

4-day passes to FIlmapalooza can be purchased online. Day passes and individual screening tickets may be available on site at the time the event (TBD).

Pilotgroove Pictures took top honors at the Boston 48 Hour Film Project Best Of & Awards, winning 4 categories including Best Film, for Life with the Dead. The mockumentary short was nominated 12 times and was also a winner for Best Editing, Best Script and Best Directing.

The Boston 48 Hour Film Project Best Of & Awards were held virtually on Saturday, June 19 and featured encore screenings of 16 of the top films from this year’s event. Following the screening, over 20 category awards and special honors were handed out. The night also included the first Boston 48HrFP Hall of Fame Inductions (honoring Obnots and Wax Idiotical), and featured celebrity cameos from Gilbert Gottfried, George Wendt and John Ratzenberger—who delivered the nominees for Best Film.

The first win of the night was for Best Editing. Life with the Dead was nominated alongside The Deja Vu Paradox (Extra Medium) and Man’s Best Friend (Unclear Advantage). This is the first Editing award for Ben Peirce—editor on all 12 films from Pilotgroove Pictures—with post-production assistance from Jennifer Peirce and P.J. Huot.

The writing team of P.J. Huot and Ben Peirce were winners for Best Script, but share the honor with contributing writers, Jay Syrene, Greg Giorgio, John MacAskill, Tim Peirce, and Christopher Shannis. Life with the Dead beat out The Deja Vu Paradox, The Background (Medly of Fresh Vegitables) and The Next Big Thing (Moose Films) for the title of Best Script. This was the 2nd win in this category for Pilotgroove Pictures—winners in 2017, for Don Is the New Death.

The award for Best Directing was another first for Pilotgroove Pictures. Life with the Dead is the 7th directorial collaboration for P.J. Huot and Ben Peirce. The pair were honored as “Best Regional Filmmakers” at the 2011 SNOB Film Festival, for Just Remember that They’re Dead—the prequel to this year’s film. Other nominees for Best Directing were The Deja Vu Paradox, Man’s Best Friend, The Next Big Thing and Flush (John Mark Mac).

The nominees for Best Film were The Deja Vu Paradox, Flush, The Background, The Next Big Thing and Life with the Dead. The win not only gives Pilotgroove Pictures their first title for Best Film, but also a slot at Filmapalooza 2022 in Washinton DC (date TBD). Filmapalooza features the 48 Hour Film Project winners from over 160 cities in 48 countries around the world. The winner of Filmapalooza receives an entry into the Cannes Film Festival.

The judges for the Boston 48 Hr. Film Project awards were Joyce Kulhawik (President of the Boston Theater Critics Association and Film Critic for joyceschoices.com), Tom Meek (WBUR, Boston Society of Film Critics) Martin Thomas (Film-Critic and Podcast Host at doubletoasted.com), Cassidy Olsen (Film Critic for the Boston Globe) and Alecia Orsini (President of Women in Film & Video New England)

Pilotgroove Pictures would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the judges, to our fellow nominees, to our amazing cast and crew, to Boston Producer, Andrew Osborne and everyone else who helped make 48HrFP Boston happen. And finally, we’d like to thank everyone who attended the online screenings and supported independent film through this unprecedented era.

Life with the Dead is garnering some critical acclaim with a selection to 48 Hour Film Project Boston 2021 Best Of & Awards — screening digitally on Saturday, June 19. The Best Of & Awards features 16 of the top films from the 2021 Boston 48 Hour Film Project, in which featured 42 total films. Awards-winners will be announced in a number of categories, including Best Film*—which includes a screening at Filmapalooza 2022 and a shot a the Cannes Film Festival.

This weekend, the judges announced nominees in 16 award categories. Life with the Dead leads the field with 11 nominations, including:

• Best Use of Genre
• Best Costumes
• Best Special Effects
• Best Sound
• Best Song (Dead, Dead by Bitter Pill)
• Best Acting (P.J. Huot)
• Best Acting (Aaron Compagna)
• Best Editing
• Best Script
• Best Cinematography
• Best Directing

* Nominees for Best Film will be announced live, at the awards ceremony

The 48 Hour Film Project Boston 2021 Best Of & Awards will take place in a ticketed online screening on Saturday, June 19. To see the full lineup of nominated films, and purchase tickets, visit: 2021boston48hourfilmproject.com/best-of. Your ticket also includes a vote for Best Poster. The At 6:00 PM, there will be a screening of three films representing Boston in the Global Film Challenge. The Digital Red Carpet opens at 6:30 PM, and the Best Of & Awards kicks off at 7:00 PM.

On the heels of its live online premiere, Pilotgroove Pictures is proud to present our newest 48 Hour Film Project – Life with the Dead.

“Life with the Dead: a Decade of Stories from the Zombie Inconvenience”
48 Hour Film Project Boston, 2021 (Genre: Mockumentary)

It’s been 10 years since the first of the dead appeared. Zombies are accepted as a permanent and persistent part of life. Radio host-turned Zombie expert, Simon Wright (P.J. Huot) has fled the spotlight to a life of semi-reclusion, but documentary filmmaker, Kirk Roberts (Aaron Compagna) is determined to bring him out of hiding to host a 10-year retrospective on the Zombie Inconvenience. Will he convince Wright to rejoin the land of the living and tell the stories of life among the dead?

“Life with the Dead” is the 12th 48 Hour Film Project from Pilotgroove Pictures. It was conceived, written, shot, and edited between May 7-9, 2021, as part of the Boston 48 Hour Film Project.

Copyright © 2021, Pilotgroove Pictures

In 2011, Pilotgroove Pictures made a mockumentary short called, Just Remember That They’re Dead. The film won several awards and put our fledgling film crew on the map. Ten years later—in our 12th 48 hour film, and first sequel—we’re taking you back to the world of the Zombie Inconvenience in Life with the Dead.

The film will debut with a live online screening Saturday—Group B: May 15, 2021 @ 7pm

It’s been 10 years since the first of the dead appeared. Zombies are accepted as a permanent and persistent part of life. Radio host-turned Zombie aficionado, Simon Wright (P.J. Huot) has fled the spotlight to a life of semi-reclusion, but documentary filmmaker, Kirk Roberts (Aaron Compagna) is determined to bring him out of hiding to host a 10-year retrospective on the Zombie Inconvenience. Will he convince Wright to rejoin the land of the living and tell the stories of life among the dead? How has life changed after a decade among the the living dead? Find out on May 15!

Life with the Dead (a Decade of Stories from the Zombie Inconvenience) was, written, shot, and edited between May 7-9, 2021, as part of the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. Writer director, Ben Peirce talked about the excitement of returning to this world.

We’ve always talked about doing a sequel. We’ve always wanted to return to the world of Just Remember that They’re Dead. Drawing mockumentary again—exactly 10 years later—felt like a sign we couldn’t ignore. There’s something special about this world we created a decade ago. The time we’ve spent there, has been some of the most fun we’ve had as filmmakers.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

See Life with the Dead (and 14 other 48 hour films) at the Boston 48 Hour Film Project (Group B) screening – Saturday, May 15 at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased online or for $6. Ticket purchases include access to a live Q&A with filmmakers and the ability to vote for the coveted Audience Choice Award.

Fresh off its live online premiere, Pilotgroove Pictures is proud to present our newest 48 Hour Film Project – The Heroics: Return to the Hall of Heroism.

“The Heroics: Return to the Hall of Heroism”
48 Hour Film Project Boston, 2020 (Genre: Superhero Film)

Five of earth’s most heroic heroes reassemble in the Hall of Heroism to discuss heroing in a brave and bold new world. Meet the The Heroics — Superion (Ben Peirce), The Goddess (Jennifer Peirce), Knightwatch (Aaron Compagna), Zoomer (P.J. Huot) and Gill (John MacAskill). Super-egos clash over politics, protocol and pan-dimensional conspiracy theories in this satirical short, written & directed by P.J. Huot and Ben Peirce

“The Heroics: Return to the Hall of Heroism” is the 11th 48 Hour Film Project from Pilotgroove Pictures. It was conceived, written, shot, and edited between August 14-16, 2020, as part of the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. It premiered with a live online screening, presented by The Somerville Theater on August 26, 2020.

Copyright © 2020, Pilotgroove Pictures