I’ve got a trailer here for you to watch for a fun animated short film titled Almost Ten. In the film, “when an innocent girl fish almost gets robbed, she does something unexpected that shocks the aggressor..”
The story explores themes of trickery, female empowerment, and fighting back. This is a standalone story, but it’s attached to the animated series “Legends of the Deep” that also have a bunch of standalone stories in this comedic fashion.
The short was written and directed by Sean Davis, and this trailer is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the great indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating.
I’ve included an interview with the filmmaker below along with the short!
What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea?
Inspiration for the film to be honest would be revealing what the surprise is but it’s definitely kickass and you’ll appreciate us keeping this on the DL.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?
Daniel Quinn is a writer/director based in Providence, Rhode Island. He has over 5 years of experience and specializes in comedy and animation. He was awarded Best Animated Short at The Lower Eastside Film Festival and Austin Under the Stars Film Festival. Sean Davis is a director/producer based in Astoria, Queens. He also has over 5 years of experience as a filmmaker and specializes in animated comedy. He has worked on Bill Plympton’s feature “Slide” as well as a variety of animated projects.
What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories?
Making people laugh is key to any production we’re currently working on so we take inspiration to what we find funny. Also love Chris Elliot’s show “Eagelheart” and the comedy in Martin Scorsese’s films.
What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?
I would say putting our end credits together with the animated part of the film as it helps the story and main joke quite a bit. Also we threw a bird in there.
What are you most proud of with this film?
That audiences respond really well to our film and we’re getting laughs. Being in a theater when a joke hits feels very good.
What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you’d like to share?
We worked with a metal group based in Mexico to do the end credits song which was pretty cool. Making a metal song out of something so stupid rocks.
What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?
Our characters matching our backgrounds was pretty challenging and to be honest, is always a challenge in our films. We’re getting better though.
If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you’ll approach future projects as a result?
It didn’t change but I would say we learned a lot about pacing and not making the backgrounds look like snot.
Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other?
Carter Wescott, Stuart Parks, Mae Aswell. This isn’t a riveting story, we met them on backstage and they killed it!
What is the best advice you’ve ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?
Throw out a lot of your shitty ideas and cultivate the ones that are original and interesting. Also sharing your ideas with friends and randoms helps a lot. The randoms give you better perspective sometimes since they aren’t bias.
What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward?
We would like an animated tv show and/or movie. We hope to continue to make people laugh and also have cool world building and interesting ideas. We’re currently making a bunch of short ones so.. hopefully we raise enough money for production to keep people coughing up those laughs.
What is your next project and when can we expect to see it?
We’re working on a short film called “Pistachios” and like I said earlier our series “Legends of the Deep” will be released next year 2026 around May on all platforms. If you like Adult Swim like comedy then check it out for some goofs.
Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handles?
Our instagram is @legendsofthedeepshorts and you can contact me at my instagram @seanduckyy
Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite film?
The made for tv movie “Merlin” with Sam Neil.
Bonus Question #2: What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work?
Honestly probably Terminator 2 or something cause that movie was sick and made me wanna replace my father with a robot.
