Lost Marbles
An obsessive letter carrier loses their favorite marble and will do anything to get it back.
Spencer Joseph is a filmmaker based in Austin TX. He studied filmmaking at University of North Texas and has directed numerous short films and music videos. His latest film, Lost Marbles, was shot in May 2023 and finished in October.
Lost Marbles is a passion project that has been slowly brewing for years. I had the idea for the character of Reno a long time ago but couldn’t find a place to put them. After wrestling with ideas for months I eventually landed on this story about someone’s routine falling apart after losing something. Around the time of writing this one of my best friends was moving across the country and I think I made this as a way to process that change.
I financed this film entirely myself. I wrote it, directed it, edited it, produced it, painted and wallpapered walls, and bought costumes and props. It was months and months of hard work before and after my day job. Obviously, this was not just a solo effort. I was lucky to have two of my incredibly skilled friends (Keegan Broadway and Tallon Rock) who were willing to be one-man camera and sound departments. I was also blessed to get to work with the wonderfully talented actors Brett VerVoort and John Gholson who brought so much humanity to these characters.
We filmed it over 4 long days and after editing it for a couple of weeks and getting close to a good rough cut a disaster happened, I dropped and broke the hard drive it was stored on. I didn’t have a backup of the footage anywhere. I thought it was gone forever. Luckily I was able to contact a specialist and after 6 nerve-wracking weeks, I was able to get the footage back. There’s an irony to almost losing my movie about someone who loses something. It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so expensive.
After a long journey and learning so much about myself and filmmaking, I’m happy that Lost Marbles is finally complete. It’s a strange film that’s tough to fit into one genre. It jumps around from comedy to drama to horror/sci-fi. I struggle trying to describe it sometimes. There hasn’t been anything made with this premise before but this story of two misfits seeking connection and struggling to cope with loss is something that I believe a lot of people will be able to relate to. I’m incredibly proud of this film and hope it finds an audience.