12/28/10 - POPSTRIKE.COM - Several months ago, I raised the question: “What if Judd Apatow remade Police Academy?“. Most of my casting choices were not surprising, though they did spark some debate over facebook. The role of Sweetchuck, however had the biggest “who?”-factor. Whit Hertford has been around for quite a while. You’ve seen him in Jurassic Park and Full House. He was Freddy Kreuger’s spawn in A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child. In the 2000s, Hertford has been taking strides in reinventing himself as an active member of the Los Angeles comedy scene, landing bit roles in Glee, How I Met Your Mother and [the late] Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. I had the privilege of experiencing Hertford’s latest venture: writing. Along with director Ryan Darst and co-star Nora Kirkpatrick, Hertford has created an honest look into the night of a burgeoning romance between two young comedians with a shocking height difference. Certainly, Hertford based his script on personal experience, being that no CGI or camera-trickery was used in order to emphasize his vertical challenges. Long Story Short is the story of Fisher (Hertford) who meets Georgia (Kirkpatrick), the girl of his dreams, at an audition for a comedy show. Going against his friend’s warning (Breaking Bad’s Matt Jones), Fisher looks past the 18 inch height difference and strikes up several conversations with Georgia. During a night of intense bonding, Fisher and Georgia explore and debate the idea of an inter-height romance. The real question is what happens next. Do they have a successful relationship? Does Georgia meet somebody more height-appropriate in her comedy troupe? Maybe that’s not important – maybe Long Story Short is just about the moment and not about sexual attraction. Maybe this is the one and only night that Fisher and Georgia exist on the same plane. A colleague of mine asks, “Who wants a relationship when you can have freedom?”, but maybe this is about freeing yourself by expressing your romantic urges. I guess that’s the beauty of a film like this – you don’t need all of the answers, you just live in the moment, their moment. Hertford and Kirkpatrick are so convincing in the minimal amount of time the short film allows, that I was shocked at how much they drew me in. Kirkpatrick said more with her face and body language than any word on Hertford’s script. I also can’t praise Darst’s direction and cinematography enough. The word on the street is that Hertford and Darst have a few other projects in the works, for which I am quite excited. Until that happens, Long Story Short will be trolling the festival circuit, so definitely keep a look out.

4/10/11 - BLOGGING ASHLAND - Movies are often grouped at the Festival around a common theme. In the case of the pairing of “Long Story Short” and “Stranger Things”, it’s an obvious pairing of films about mismatched pairs of protagonists. For “Long Story Short”, the couple is a shortish man (under 5′ 6″) and tall woman (6′? Taller?) who meet during auditions for some sort of acting or comedy role. He is smitten with her; she finds him interesting, but clearly doesn’t have the same instantaneous romantic attraction. The bulk of the film is a set of conversations between them in which he tries to win her. It’s a great, light romp without being the usual stupid Hollywood rom-com. Solid 4 out of 5, recommended.