Director's Statement
The Current State of the Backyard Pool Industry is the latest evolution in my long-standing creative partnership with The Minor Prophets, a comedy troupe I have been making films with for nearly two decades. This marks our tenth project together and represents a clear shift in tone and style from our previous film, Viaticum.
While Viaticum is intentionally tight, claustrophobic, and restrained, filmed largely in dim interiors with static and locked-off compositions that echo its focus on emotional suffocation and last breaths, The Current State of the Backyard Pool Industry celebrates the act of reawakening and the pleasure of finding one’s breath again.
Thematically, The Current State of the Backyard Pool Industry explores the rituals of suburban life through the lens of middle-aged masculinity, but always with tenderness and affection. There is comedy throughout, but also undercurrents of melancholy and quiet desperation. It is a story about men trying to stay afloat not just in a backyard pool, but in their lives, careers, and relationships. It is the test of remaining relevant in a world that has stopped paying attention to you.
In crafting The Current State of the Backyard Pool Industry, I drew significant inspiration from the films of Federico Fellini. Much like Fellini, I wanted to transform an ordinary, everyday setting into a space where reality and gentle fantasy intertwine. In that sense, the film is a modern, heartfelt nod to Fellini’s tradition of blurring the line between the real and the dreamlike to reveal deeper truths about our lives.
The Minor Prophets and I have always gravitated toward stories that find something profound in the everyday. The Current State of the Backyard Pool Industry is no exception. This time, we are launching off the diving board, lighter in tone and splashier in style, but still making waves that ripple into deeper emotional waters.
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INTO THE DEEP END
The Making of the film
With a completed script, pre-production began in May 2025, the team planning carefully for the unique demands and logistics of shooting in and around a backyard pool. Filming took place over four days in August, split between two dry day-time shoots and two long water-soaked nights.
Filming after dark in water presented challenges for photography, lighting, and choreography, but the team’s preparation paid off, as the late-night shoots shaped the film’s atmosphere and gave the pool sequences a surrealistic quality. The location, sitting directly beneath the flight path of Philadelphia International Airport, presented a different challenge during the daytime. But rather than fight the constant overhead traffic, the team embraced it and incorporated it into the storytelling.
Music also played a key role in the film. Carefully crafted songs and deliberate score choices helped to define the story’s shifting moods and heightened sense of play. Editing and post-production ran from September 2025 through January 2026, refining the film’s blend of humor, dreamlike energy, and suburban weirdness.
