Merritt Reid began his filmmaking career when he was out of work as an actor. His creative gremlin was relentless so he began writing. His first script, Just the Eleven of Us won the LA Comedy Festival. However, unable to sell his scripts, he decided to just do it himself. Between theater jobs, he took extra work on a feature film, so he could save up to buy camera and production equipment. He made his first short film, A Sure Thing, in 2013. He also met long time friend and creative partner, Mike Jacobson in 2013 working at a restaurant. They worked together on a few projects but reunited in 2016 to form Last Straw Films.
Mike Jacobson was born in Rochester New York and accredits his writing abilities to chemical imbalances created by the lack of sunshine in the gloomy part of state. He found filmmaking at 16 years old when his parents signed him up for a video production class in high school. He graduated at Montclair State University with a BFA in filmmaking and detests playing it safe or following trends when it comes to storytelling.
Brian Ogden is an independent filmmaker from New Jersey. From a very young age, Brian was completely captivated by film. He credits films for the majority of his “knowledge” and jokes that films like Jurassic Park and Back to the Future raised him “at least” as much as his parents did. At 13, he made his first short film and was immediately hooked. In the following years he would write, produce and direct a number of short films including Beef Impact, which he co-wrote and co-directed alongside fellow Last Straw Films member Mike Jacobson. Beef Impact would go on to screen at a number of festivals including the Portland Comedy Festival, Austin Revolutionary Festival and LA Cinefest. Brian’s focus in filmmaking is entirely on telling stories that immerse the viewer and allow them to connect to strange and complex characters. Brian graduated with honors with a BFA in Digital Filmmaking from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.