About Us

From about 2004 to 2008, Brian Firenzi mistakenly wandered into USC classrooms that taught Screenwriting. This happened almost daily until someone correctly identified Brian as an editor of TV promos and had him extradited off the premises of USC. Today he lives in Hollywood, and is often caught “trying” to write screenplays, when really his computer opens up the writing program on its own, whereupon he slips and falls onto the keyboard with alarming frequency. Brian is the co-founder of 5-Second Films and jointly runs the website with Daniel Hollister.

In addition to co-founding this little business, Daniel Hollister is one of the cool dudes responsible for this fabulous website you are currently visiting, as well as all of its bugs and flaws. Daniel is also unaccustomed to writing about himself in the third person, and will definitely shut up now. 

Michael Rousselet is blonde, he wears black-framed glasses and is a better screenwriter than a grammarist. He has written some stuff including most notably José (Finalist: 2008 Sasha Screenwriting Grant) and Thís (Finalist: 2009 5sf Bio). In 2003 Michael saw a movie called The Room, he became manically obsessed with it and told way too many people. He’s very sorry for the damage he has done to cinema and is trying hard to rectify it.

Erik Sandoval is a writer and director.

Raised by gypsies in the midst of an historical re-enactment of medieval Krakow, Ben Gigli is 40ft tall and assembled primarily from bamboo and a variety of water-soluble glues. He is a USC graduate with a BA in International Relations and Film as well as a Masters in Communications Management (the Internet). He has worked and consulted for a number web media companies in Los Angeles. He also has co-founded a number of totally unsuccessful web ventures and is currently working on yet another (welcome). He enjoys writing, acting, and long walks on the beach.

His ultimate goal in life is to own and successfully ride a solid gold jet-ski.

Jon Worley is a writer. He enjoys tackboard, V-necks, black organic coffee, and loose women. Mess with him and he’ll cut you. For more info, go fuck yourself.

Michael E. Peter doesn’t ask permission to be a filmmaker. He spends his days working in the broom closet of the Hollywood industry and his nights plotting revolution with the next generation of storytellers. A late-bloomer in the world of 5-second cinema, Michael cut his teeth on a 5,383 second film, Chronicles of a Love Unfound. For more information on that project and Michael’s stubbornly idealistic view on cinema, go to straydogproductions.net.

Olivia was born at the bottom of the ocean, raised by a family of magical sea ponies and, after spending the first 1,100 years of her life in a world of water, she built a space shuttle (with help from a herd of sea slugs) and blasted into space! Never to look back. After landing on Pluto she decided to join the Prestigious Plutonian Drama Club and soon became the biggest star on the planet! Having conquered this planet she decided to grow wings and fly to the larger planet known as Earth and joined a group of gypsies whose trade of 5-second moving pictures soon became the talk of the town. She is a vegetarian.

Kelsey was born in 1924 to a Vaudeville ingenue and a clown-wrangling father. After discovering the fountain of youth, she attended Washington State University where she graduated with a BA in Theatre and Music. She then proceeded to move to Los Angeles where she has been in several talking movies and fantastical television shows including Castle (ABC), How to be a Gentleman (CBS), Chelsea Lately (E!), and a recurring role on Community (NBC), as well as many independent films and webseries. She is honored to make seconds of film every week and contribute to the lack of attention spans worldwide. You’re welcome.

Jon Salmon prefers to hang out behind the camera. Not because of any kind of innate visual talent or fascination with the psychological atmosphere of cinema, but because he’s seriously just Medusa-ugly. He directed the unofficial MGMT video on youtube with 38 million views and typically hides his bizarre joke of a face in the edit bay at 5sf. He’s also kind of a pretty boy and a decent cinematographer.

By day he checks focus on celebrities for the E! channel, and by night cleanses his palette shooting and editing very short films for this here website. His dog and cat moved into the 5SF house in 2010 and allow him to stay there while he pays student loans and collects their hair. He yearns to one day make films with substance, depth, and meaning that demands viewing on a screen larger than any Best Buy has in stock. Stay tuned.

Paul Prado wandered onto the set of Rescue 911 in the episode “Peeved Preschooler.” True story. Despite being too young to comprehend such harsh realities, he was encouraged to wander onto another set, which turned out to be an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. At age 5, he was disappointed that neither experiences led him to a chance encounter with William Shatner. LA proved too much for the man so he moved to Hemet, California. Hemet also proved too much for the man so he moved back to LA and attended USC, broke some world records, travelled in the wrong circles, and ended up here. He counts all these to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of comedy.