CLICK HERE to see a small celebration of the work we’ve created, together — projects that have challenged us, inspired us, and occasionally kept us up at night — pieces that have made us laugh and moved us to tears. The best part of this work is working with you. We are Offbeat because of your talent, friendship, and collaboration. 

But wait — there’s more! We’ve also revamped our website! Check out our new:

• DIRECTORS ROSTER

• COMMUNITY PAGE

Offbeat Films is a full service video production company in Seattle, WA.

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Events 📅

Coming Up

August 26 — Filmspirations, next Tuesday at Ballard Church! We’ll be screening short films, sharing pizza, and generally getting into it — join us at 6 PM! RSVP! 🎞

September 20 — First Annual Film Community Kickball Tournament (FCKT!) and after party. Stay tuned for details and location! Save the Date! ⚽

Fall ‘25 — Offbeat Spelling Bee will be nostalgic, preposterous, eudaemonic. Do you have the mental a-c-u-i-t-y to out-spell the competition? Stay Tuned! 🐝

In Our Community

August 20 — Nice Try Kickoff Event at the Beacon Cinema TOMORROW, a brand new screening that celebrates the art of trying new things. Follow at @nicetry.sea!

August 21 — AAF No Agenda at Copacino+Fujikado. Come connect with industry peers and meet AAF’s new board — one of whom you may already know… 👀

August 28 — Locals Only #20 at Northwest Film Forum, presented by Seattle Film Society, featuring films by local talent. This month’s theme is endings.

September 1 — Film Community Training Social Hang-Out at Northwest Film Forum. Rumor has it they may also have an exciting announcement!

Recent Events

Spring Egg Hunt 🐣

Think easter eggs are just for kids and Taylor Swift? Think again! For our May event, the film community came to Green Lake ready to rumble over colorful plastic eggs. Some got fun prizes, some got outpaced by a six-year-old, everyone got a lot of Starbursts.

Filmspirations 🎞

Our last Filmspirations became very animated, in both senses of the word. We debated AI, took a moped ride with a giant mouse in a vintage Spike Jonze sequence, and once again got our existential foreign film game on with the Swedish short, “The Burden (Min Börda).”

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Offbeat Recs

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Industry Spotlight: Film Community Training Program 🎥 

Back in 2023, local key grip Mike Astle realized there was a lack of hands-on film training in Seattle and decided to invite a couple people for a demonstration.

Since then, the Film Community Training Program (FCTP)—helmed by Mike, along with Devante Smith and Jordan McGrath—has held nine hands-on training events and two panels—all free—for filmmakers, by filmmakers.

It’s a place you can go to learn, mess up, make mistakes. The goal, Mike says, is to raise the bar of filmmaking in Seattle and get departments talking to each other. “As a key grip, the more that I know about how wardrobe works, the better key grip I am; the more I know about how sound works, the better key grip I am and the better we’re able to be cohesive as a team on set,” he says. “That’s one of the things that sets Seattle apart.”

Standout event so far? “Our Steadicam event was huge. That was the beginning of January. We had 85 people show up … six or seven Steadicam operators … the room was full and buzzing.” Often, events go all day—but don’t let that keep you from joining. “If you can’t make it for the whole thing,” Mike says, “still show up, still talk to people, still be in the room, still participate, and even if you just pick up one or two little things, great. That’s all we’re here for, is to help push it to the next level a little.”

What’s next for FCTP? As of recently, their team has grown to five people, and they are planning some big upcoming events, including a rigging for camera demonstration to celebrate their 2-year anniversary in a few months. Mike says there has been interest from other cities, and the FCTP team loves the idea of the program expanding someday, with chapters all over the country — but mostly, he says, “I just want this to encourage people to do more. To up your game, to learn how to do things better, to get inspired to do more things and meet people that are in the same boat. That’s what I love about it more than anything else.”

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Call Sheet: What We’re Up To

Commercial 🎬

We recently joined our friends at Townsend Hurst and donned our finest PPE for a four-day commercial shoot with PACCAR, directed by Nate Townsend and starring really big trucks all over the Puget Sound.

Offbeat Originals 🎭

Offbeat Originals is a gathering of aspiring and experienced filmmakers creating short films with the intention of learning.

Check out our most recent film, A Grate Guy, directed by Lael Rogers & Peter Edlund. “Todd drops his phone down a grate. Fortunately, there’s a strange man down there. Unfortunately, he’s an asshole.”

Stay tuned for our upcoming film, Screen Time, directed by Bryan Campbell.

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Join our community! If you’re reading this and aren’t already on the Offbeat Community list, sign up HERE to get updates. Or email us at [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you!