Behind the Pitch: Mike Gerbino and “Freelance”

The following is from an interview with one of The Film Fund’s previous winners, Mike Gerbino, who received $5,000 to make his short film “Freelance.”

Host: Thomas Verdi
Date: January 20, 2025

Thomas Verdi: Obviously, I know this, but just so we have it for the interview—could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background in filmmaking?

Mike Gerbino: I’m a filmmaker, and I studied screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City—over a decade ago now. I’ve been working in film and television as a video editor, doing branded content, digital projects, and other work, with the ultimate goal of being a feature screenwriter.

Along the way, I’ve been producing short films and digital series to support my own work, always writing features and trying to get something off the ground as a writer. I had a web series that received some awards, made a few short films, and now, by the time anyone hears this, my first feature film, Freelance, will be available on streaming services. It’s a psychological thriller, and the script was preceded by a short film that I wrote and directed—with the help of The Film Fund.

So now, I’m at a point where my screenwriting career is starting to come to life, and it just happens to coincide with a project I did with The Film Fund a few years ago.

Thomas Verdi: That’s awesome! I remember everything kind of happening at the same time—you wrote the feature and the short, and while the short was coming out, you were shooting the feature. We’re really glad to have been involved in the short. Congrats on the feature and the rest of your career!

Mike Gerbino: Thank you!

Thomas Verdi: Speaking of The Film Fund, how did you first hear about us?

Mike Gerbino: Honestly, I don’t remember exactly. It was probably just through Googling or maybe from a list somewhere.

At that time, I was getting tired of financing all my short films out of pocket. I had done that for a long time and was really focused on finding grants and other ways to fund my work. The Film Fund seemed like a low-barrier way to do that—I think it was $25 to enter at the time?

Thomas Verdi: Yeah, we increased the price at one point, but we didn’t get as many entries. I think I raised it too much, so now we’re back to $25 per submission.

Mike Gerbino: Glad I didn’t bring up an outdated price! But honestly, a lot of competitions and grants require not only higher entry fees but also a ton of time and effort for applications. I probably saw you guys on a list and thought, What do I have to lose?

I already had a feature script that I adapted into a short, either to help sell the script or to make it myself. Up to that point, I had only done satire and comedy, but I had all these horror feature scripts. I knew that if I wanted to be taken seriously as a horror filmmaker, I needed to prove I could do it.

So, the short and the feature ended up happening concurrently—I was in post-production on the short when the feature script got noticed.

Thomas Verdi: That’s awesome. So, the short and the feature are both called Freelance. Could you tell us a little bit about the story? We can focus on the short for this, but feel free to talk about both.

Mike Gerbino: Sure! Freelance is a horror film about a video editor who’s struggling financially. She takes a mysterious job editing strange, unsettling videos that depict violent acts. Over time, she realizes that the videos might be showing real people being harmed, and it starts to mess with her psychologically. She begins seeing things in her apartment, and paranoia takes over.

The short is a very contained film—I actually shot it in my own apartment in Brooklyn. The premise is the same as the feature, but while the feature expands the story in many different directions, the short basically serves as the opening act of the full-length film.

Thomas Verdi: That’s really compelling. Specifically, how did The Film Fund help bring your project to life? What did you use the funding for?

Mike Gerbino: So, the resources were $5,000 from The Film Fund that we won.

Mike Gerbino: Basically, I had decided I was going to make this short film. It was 2021, I think—so it was during a lull in the quarantine part of COVID. We had gotten vaccines, but we were still in the middle of it, so we couldn’t do too much. I just knew I was going to do something small, with almost no cast, and probably shoot it in what ended up being my own apartment. I knew it was going to be a very low-budget project, and I had an idea of what I could do with that budget. Like I said, I viewed it as an exercise to prove I could do horror.

Mike Gerbino: Getting that extra five grand basically doubled what I could spend on the movie. Because there’s almost nobody in the film and it takes place entirely in one apartment, there were two important places where that money went, and I think they’re really noticeable in the final film.

Mike Gerbino: One of them was upgrading our lens package. We were able to get Cooke lenses, which gave a much more cinematic feel than what we were originally planning to use. My DP, Peter Pavlakis, had a camera and lenses and was like, “Let’s do this. I’m down to get as gritty as you want, but I’d love to use these lenses if we can afford them.”

Mike Gerbino: That upgrade opened up a lot of creative possibilities. The big challenge was: How do I shoot this in a way that keeps the audience engaged in one room? How do I keep things visually interesting when it’s mostly an actor in front of a computer, feeling like something eerie is happening? There are only so many ways to make that compelling visually. So, that was a huge factor—the movie wouldn’t be nearly as impactful without those lenses.

Mike Gerbino: The other key investment was in post-production—specifically, the score and sound design. Without that extra funding, I don’t think we could have had an original score or such a thorough sound design.

Mike Gerbino: We ended up working with an artist named Mauricio Escamilla who was just awesome. He created this really tense, brooding, gnarly score that builds and builds. When you see the movie, the whole ending is just our actor, Renee Gagner, her face, her great performance, through that beautiful lens, with that crazy music—that’s the whole climax. I wonder how impactful it would have been without those two elements that The Film Fund’s support made possible.

Thomas Verdi: Sound design and score are so important. I think of John Carpenter or—who’s the other one I like? The guy who does all the body horror from the ‘80s?

Mike Gerbino: Cronenberg?

Thomas Verdi: Cronenberg! I can’t picture those films without such a specific soundscape, and I think that’s something you achieved as well. We hear your voice in that, too.

Mike Gerbino: Thank you!

Thomas Verdi: So, what challenges did you face during the creation of your project, and how did you overcome them?

Mike Gerbino: Man, everything was way more challenging than I expected. But ultimately, the biggest challenge with a project of this size is that—for me, at least—I always produce my own stuff. I handle all the producing work up until the shoot day, and then I become the director. The hardest part is those couple of weeks leading up to the shoot when everything is locked in.

Thomas Verdi: Right.

Mike Gerbino: At that point, the dates are on the calendar, everyone’s basically hired, and all I can do is obsess, panic, and triple-check everything to make sure I can focus on creative stuff when the day comes. That’s my least favorite part—it’s nauseatingly stressful. That’s always the biggest hurdle for me. We had equipment getting dropped off at my apartment the morning before, just a ton of logistical things stacking up. But once we started shooting, I loved directing, and everyone was great. Sticking to the schedule was tough, but once it was in the can, I was very comfortable. Editing and post—that’s my wheelhouse.

Mike Gerbino: The biggest challenge was just having enough resources to make the movie, but not enough to make it the way it probably should’ve been made. Ideally, I’d have hired a line producer. I didn’t even have an AD. Just kind of figured it out as I went.

Thomas Verdi: I’ve done the same thing for my shorts. I’ve never worked with an AD. Even at my day job shooting commercials, we don’t use ADs. It’s very much low-budget, indie-style production, actually. So, I totally get that—I’m the line producer as well for my projects.

Mike Gerbino: I would never want to be a line producer for someone else, but for myself, I actually find it kind of cathartic. I’m a control freak, so I like scheduling and figuring things out. But man, on shoot days, I would really love to never AD my own shoot ever again if I can help it.

Thomas Verdi: Same here. I’m always checking my watch, thinking, “How much time do I have left to make the rest of the day?” But you made it happen on a low budget, and that’s awesome.

Thomas Verdi: I know you screened at several festivals. Dances with Films was one of them. What other festivals did you screen at, and what kind of impact has the film had?

Mike Gerbino: We were very lucky. Dances with Films was our premiere, and we were part of their midnight screening series. That was huge for me. I had been making short films and web series for a while, and while I got into some festivals, I had never been accepted at Dances with Films before. I always had high regard for them, so it was amazing to premiere at the Chinese Theatre. I couldn’t go, but Renee, our lead, was able to go and represent us at the Q&A.

Thomas Verdi: That’s awesome!

Mike Gerbino: Another lucky break was that our film landed on Screamfest’s YouTube channel. They’re a horror festival but also a really popular platform for horror shorts on YouTube. So that’s where Freelance lives now—if you go to YouTube and search “Freelance Screamfest,” you’ll find it.

Thomas Verdi: That’s amazing.

Mike Gerbino: Thanks! It’s got eighty-five thousand views right now, hundreds of comments, and most of the comments are good. I couldn’t ask for anything better than that because the other challenge always is, once you finish something, how do you get people to see it? How motivated am I to keep hawking this thing I’ve been working so hard on? To have a premiere like that and to have a place for it to live like that is just amazing, and then, in the middle of it, I sold the feature. So, it just felt like, okay, this went sort of according to plan. People like the short, and I’m really hoping that the feature pushes more people to watch the short and that the short does the same for the feature. 

Thomas Verdi: I think every filmmaker understands the slog of “what do I do with this film?” That’s awesome that you got eighty-five thousand views and counting on Freelance: The Short.

Mike Gerbino: It’s exciting, but it is by far my most viewed short thing. I have the same exact struggle with everything. It also speaks to the [horror] genre stuff too— where it’s just a little easier, I think.

Thomas Verdi: Yeah, I noticed that with one of our other films, “Night Work,” directed by Savanna Hunter-Reeves. We actually funded this before COVID, and we were sitting on the prize money for a while because at that time we were being flexible with the timing requirement for production.

Thomas Verdi: We were sitting on this prize money, thinking, “What do we do?” And then finally Savanna reached out to me like, “Hey, we shot the film. Can we have the money?” I’m was like, “Yes, absolutely!”

Mike Gerbino: That’s awesome.

Thomas Verdi: It’s got 14,000 views just on our YouTube page, and I haven’t even really promoted it— I just put “horror short film” in the title and sent it to our email list once.

Mike Gerbino: That’s awesome!

Thomas Verdi: So, there’s definitely an audience for horror.

Mike Gerbino: I’ll check it out. I love horror shorts, and they do lend themselves to the medium really well. But also, I am a big dark comedy guy. Everything I’ve done has been dark comedy and satire, and it is frustrating sometimes to see how hard it is to get traction if it’s not straight horror or really broad, inoffensive sketch comedy. It’s really hard to get people to take a chance on it or see it.

Thomas Verdi: All right, what else do I have here for you… Here’s a good one: what advice do you have for filmmakers who might be entering The Film Fund’s short film funding contest?

Mike Gerbino: As far as entering the contest, obviously that logline— that one sentence— is everything, right? But I think part of that comes down to really knowing what your movie is and being specific about what you would do with the resources. I don’t know because I’m on this end of it, but I do feel like Freelance had a very clean logline that helped get it read by the director, John Balazs, who did the feature. There’s definitely a reason why that logline resonated with you guys and why it also resonated with him, and, apparently, enough financiers and producers to make the feature.

But, not every project is suited for pitching in that way. So, I do think it’s helpful to be real about what your project is: can it be pitched in a way that is clean, simple, and concise? And, how can you best do that? Then, also, really know what you actually want the money for. I would have made the movie either way, and the two very specific places where the money helped are probably what I included in the logline. So, yeah, that’s my advice for the competition.

Mike Gerbino: And then just in general— don’t give up. There are a million things that have to go right for anything to go your way when you’re making an independent film, and it almost never will. So, keep at it and refine your methods.

Thomas Verdi: Awesome. And to really drill down on the tips— what would you say is your best tip for crafting an effective one-sentence pitch?

Mike Gerbino: Like I said, I think it has a lot to do with what is inherent in your project. I don’t know that every project lends itself to being pitched that way, but sometimes it’s important to forego trying to describe the film in all of the intricate ways you wish you could. There are all these exciting, cool things that make it unique and fascinating, but focus on what’s essential.

Even in my case, I feel a little bit like the logline of Freelance misrepresents what the movie ends up being— especially with the feature— but it gives you a sense of what the movie is and something to anticipate. Be okay with the fact that your movie might actually subvert those expectations later. The logline of Freelance suggests it’s a supernatural ghost story, and that’s something we played with throughout the film. Choosing to pitch it that way lets people say, “Okay, I think I know what this movie could be, and I want to see that.”

So, just simplify it and think of it as an exercise in pitching to someone who you want to give your project a shot.

Thomas Verdi: That’s exactly what we’re looking for— a glimpse into the kernel of the story, and then growing it from there. You can’t pitch the entire film in one sentence, but you can pitch the feeling, what it’s about, and what the core conflict is.

Mike Gerbino: Exactly.

Thomas Verdi: What are your next steps in your filmmaking career?

Mike Gerbino: Right now, it’s an exciting time for me. My latest feature, Freelance, will be out by the time this conversation is published. So, I’ll just say Freelance is out and available on VOD—probably on Google and Apple TV, where you can rent or buy it digitally. It’s an Australian production, directed by John Balazs, an amazing thriller director out of Melbourne. Nicole Pastor is the lead, and she’s incredible. I’ve seen the film, and it’s awesome.

I really encourage people to support independent cinema by renting or buying the film. Maybe it’ll eventually land on a streaming platform you’re already subscribed to, but with a low-budget project like this, direct support really matters.

My second feature, The Spotter, is already shot and is now entering festivals. It’s a horror film directed by Harry Locke, and it has a fantastic cast. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it, and it looks gorgeous. So, that’s coming up next. Beyond that, I’m just keeping the momentum going and, at some point, I’ll probably return to directing short films. But this year is a big one for me—it’s a test to see if screenwriting can be a sustainable path.

Thomas Verdi: In the back of my mind, I feel like I saw something about you being a rapper as well. Do you still do that?

Mike Gerbino: Yeah, I do—though not nearly as much as I used to. I used to perform live, work with DJs, and be part of groups. These days, I just release music occasionally. I have a new project coming out this year with a producer named Es-K, though it doesn’t have a name yet. It’ll be on streaming services when it’s ready. If you search my real name, you can find some of my earlier stuff, too. It’s something I still do regularly, but I don’t promote it the way I do my film work.

Thomas Verdi: That’s awesome. What’s the best way for people to follow your creative journey—whether it’s your rap releases, screenwriting, or eventually directing again?

Mike Gerbino: The best place is my Instagram: @mikegerbinofilm. I’ve tried to be active on other platforms like Twitter—sorry, “X”—but it’s just not for me. Instagram is where I focus my updates.

Thomas Verdi: Yeah, I feel the same way. Even with The Film Fund, we get the best engagement on Instagram. It just seems like the natural place for filmmakers since it’s such a visual medium.

Mike Gerbino: Exactly.

Thomas Verdi: Speaking of, what is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from your experience with The Film Fund?

Mike Gerbino: That meticulous planning really pays off—in two ways. First, in terms of production. When you’re working with limited funds, the more you plan, the better. Second, in the larger trajectory of a project. Freelance is a great example: I planned carefully for its festival run, and that strategy helped it land in a place I’m happy with.

Winning The Film Fund’s grant made me really think about how to use the money effectively, and I believe I got the absolute most out of it.

Thomas Verdi: Definitely. Even in our contests, filmmakers have to be meticulous—down to crafting a one-sentence pitch. Every word matters. We actually have a blog post where we analyze a winning pitch word by word, breaking down why our judges responded to it.

Mike Gerbino: Exactly! It’s a microcosm of writing in general. That’s why I loved this competition—it aligns perfectly with how I think as a writer. Stripping everything down to its essence is such an important skill.

Thomas Verdi: It’s almost like your a perfect poster boy for The Film Fund! Okay, last question: is there anything else you’d like to share with the community? It can be advice for aspiring filmmakers—or a shout-out to your mom!

Mike Gerbino: Hi, Mom!

Beyond that, I’d just say that I’ve seen a long-term plan come to life over the past six or seven years. I made a conscious decision to shape my career toward making certain types of projects, thinking that would be my way in. Early on, I focused a lot on satire and comedy, but I wasn’t seeing much return on it. So, I asked myself, “What else do I love?” The answer was horror. I didn’t stop doing comedy, but I actively pursued horror as well.

I started developing low-budget horror scripts with compelling concepts, and over time, that strategy began to pay off. It circles back to what I said earlier—having a plan is crucial. Setting small, achievable goals is key. Not everyone will win an Oscar or make millions, but if you hit your personal milestones, that’s a real success.

Thomas Verdi: That makes total sense—plan, set realistic goals, and if you don’t hit them, readjust. It’s all about knowing what’s realistic for you.

Mike Gerbino: 100%. If you surpass your goal, great—aim higher next time. But setting achievable targets keeps you moving forward.

Thomas Verdi: Absolutely. Thanks so much for chatting, Mike. This was great.

Mike Gerbino: Likewise! Appreciate it!