Survival of the Sexiest: A Satirical Short Film

Logline: A hot-tempered college freshman’s dreams of love are ruined when he’s assigned a very peculiar roommate.

Project Overview What if the IKEA shark was evil—and could telepathically communicate? That’s the question that launched Survival of the Sexiest, a satirical short film I co-wrote and directed with a crew of 20+. Equal parts absurdist comedy and cinematic fever dream, the film parodies the melodrama of human desire, power, and plush toys.

My Role As director and co-writer, I led everything from story development to on-set execution, working closely with department heads to keep our vision cohesive. I also cast the film, managed scheduling and shot planning, and took on post roles including sound design, dialogue mixing, and original music composition in Logic Pro.

Behind the Scenes Shot on a RED Komodo, the film had a $2.5K budget and was edited in Premiere Pro, with final color grading in DaVinci Resolve. I even hand-sewed the shark’s costume and engineered the entire puppeteering setup myself — because sometimes you just have to DIY your villain.

The Result Survival of the Sexiest screened for an audience of over 200 people — and the laughter filled the room. What began as a student project became a riotous exercise in embracing the ridiculous, proving that sometimes the most “serious” filmmaking lesson comes from not taking yourself too seriously.