Projects at the Studio

Cleverer Fergus Lumley is a down and out inventor who has finally done it. He has created the billion-dollar idea. His invention is a machine that cleans almost anything at the molecular level: dishes, automobiles, clothing, upholstery, and equipment. With mass manufacturing in his sites, he offers a partnership to the world technological leader and his former employer, MARCUS INDUSTRIES. Mr. Marcus, being the shrewd businessman that he is, finagles a way to “legally” steal the device and its design and locks it away in his vault, until he can take full credit and claim it as his own. Depressed and down trodden, Fergus is escorted out of the building and returns home to his tiny, cluttered, basement apartment he shares with Colin, his crippled, 85 year old father. After explaining the events of the meeting with him, he begins to fiddle with an earlier prototype of the cleaning contraption sitting on the kitchen table. As he stews about Mr. Marcus, he flippantly cranks up the voltage switch on his invention, sending an electric bolt through the nearby microwave, shorting out the apartments breaker, leaving everyone in the dark. This small moment is the turning point for Fergus. When the lights are returned he discovers that an increase in voltage has turned his cleaning device into something more. He found the true potential of his invention. Now Fergus must reclaim the rights to his machine in order to make his mark in history. Along the way some unlikely heroes emerge and help bring Fergus to the limelight he so richly deserved. Will he succeed and change history? Only an Irishman, a Hillbilly and a Clown can make that happen.

Yodar Critch 15 year old Rick Sleet arrives for the first time at his mother’s San Francisco Bay Area home in 1983 carrying a small suitcase. A significant step up from the foster home, but Rick is too numb to notice—he’s just doing time. Two neighbor kids, Clyde and Matthew, allow Rick into their world of creativity and carefree teenage antics. Rick teeters between accepting the delusional legacy of his father and embracing the hopeful dreams his new-found friends offer him. He begins to share his twisted and dark past, consequently paying a high price for exposing the truth to himself and his friends. Through his interactions with his caring friends and surrogate father figure, Jake Sheppard, Rick learns how to forgive and find his own way. For the first time in his life he allows himself to dream of a better existence. Tightly based on true events and characters, Yodar Critch is a passionate retelling of the inspiring story that transpired in Concord, California in the early eighties.