Sleight of Hand
“Sleight of Hand” the film that almost didn’t happen.
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In November of 2023 I traveled to Charlottesville, VA for their annual Adrenaline Project film competition. The competition itself is already a challenge: write, shoot, and edit a film within 72 hours.
My team faced additional difficulties.
For one, the weekend of the Adrenaline Project was also the weekend of a local sporting event. I still don’t know what sport or which teams were playing, but I will never forget the difficulties of trying to rent a hotel room in Charlottesville proper, let alone one at a reasonable price. We ended up booking a hotel 30 minutes to the west of town.
We literally had to climb a mountain (we drove) every day of the competition because our hotel was on the other side of a mountain range.
Casting was our second struggle. While we tried to find a prospective cast ahead of the event, actors were in short supply. This was partially due to us being outside of our native city, though a slew of bad events also plagued our efforts: bad cell service, recent firings, and even broken down vehicles.
That said, our final cast was more than I could have ever hoped for.
This also goes for the crew. Well… our “second crew.” As you may have already guessed, our first crew fell apart. This happened just a week before the competition.
But if this sounds like a list of complaints, it’s not. These challenges are an inseparable part of why this film is special to me. I hope that as you watch it, you can enjoy it as the film that almost didn’t happen.
![[poster for the film sleight of hand]](https://i0.wp.com/brendanwriley.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/SLEIGHT-OF-HAND.webp?resize=1080%2C1350&ssl=1)