Matthew Long's Page

Official Biographical Blurb

Matthew Long was born and raised in California, where he attended U.C. Santa Barbara and The College of Marin to study writing and filmmaking. He wrote and directed three short films in California, which showed on local television and in several film festivals. He continued his filmmaking career once he moved to Durham by hooking up with David Brigham and David Wilmington on The Wing Nut And You, which he helped produce. He enjoys playing basketball, going to the movies, following his beloved San Francisco Giants, traveling, classic movie theatres, and listening to music. His favorite directors are Richard Linklater, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Soderbergh, David Lynch, Spike Lee, and Stanley Kubrick. Matt is the co-writer and co-director of X-Gen. He lives in Durham.

Comments on "The Wing Nut and You!"

    "We have this idea for a film about a wing nut," they told me over coffee at Francesca's back in the fall of 2003. They, being "the Davids"-- David Brigham and David Wilmington; Me, being a frustrated filmmaker experiencing a severe case of writer's block. "We want to call it The Wing Nut And You," they told me. "There will be scientists and wing nuts and Nazis, and it will be funny."
    Thus, began the partnership that is now Sea Shanty Films. At least, that's how it started for me. And, none too soon. I was going through a slow creative period at the time and was looking for something to get me going, and this was it. I joined the project as a producer (among other things), and we were off and running.
    My experience up to this point was only on film (you know, that ancient grainy stuff that runs through a projector), and Wing Nut was to be shot on digital video. A little skeptical and snobbish at first, I am now a DV convert (especially when you can shoot on a Panasonic 24P, which we did on WN). For low budget, lo-fi, independent filmmaking, DV is the only way to go.
    We shot the film over 2 days and edited it in about a month. Amazing. We sent it out to festivals. We got into a couple. It showed on TV. We got some rejections. We did some interviews. It was cool.
    It was the collaboration unique to filmmaking that got me once again. From Brigham's CG wizardry and editing skills, to Wilmington's writing and acting, to all the actors and crew and musicians and locations-- it was a wonderful project and it made me want more.

    Thus, we embarked on a new project in the spring of 2004. But, more on that later...