Hi /r/movies! I’m Luke Barnett, writer, actor, and producer. I produced the Angus Cloud thriller ‘Your Lucky Day’ and wrote/acted in ‘Faith Ba$ed’ opposite Jason Alexander. I recently co-directed my first short, ‘The Crossing Over Express’, which unexpectedly went viral on X. Ask me anything!

Hi /r/movies,

I’m Luke Barnett, writer, actor, and producer. I produced the Angus Cloud thriller ‘Your Lucky Day’ and wrote/acted in ‘Faith Ba$ed’ opposite Jason Alexander. I recently co-directed my first short, ‘The Crossing Over Express’, which unexpectedly went viral on X. I also have a small recurring role on For All Mankind.

Here is my short film, ‘The Crossing Over Express’:

[https://youtu.be/MVgnL_ylM3o?si=4iH1x-GQQr111MnOA](https://youtu.be/MVgnL_ylM3o?si=4iH1x-GQQr111MnOA)

Some background about my short/directorial debut:

My mom died when I was 17. I only have a handful of pictures and zero videos of her. A couple years ago, on my birthday, I got a text from a number I didn’t recognize. It simply said “happy birthday” with a YouTube link. I clicked it and my heart stopped. It was my mom.

I had to pull over immediately. She was telling me how proud she was of me and how she wondered what I’d become. Maybe a policeman, a preacher, or even a clown. I couldn’t believe it.

Well, it turns out the random phone number was my friend Jon’s dad, who had found this video on an old VHS tape they made before a 1999 school event. I was 16.

This experience got me thinking… what if we could have one last conversation with someone we lost?

I decided to make this short with my friend Tanner Thomason. We shot it in one day with a skeleton crew on a micro-budget. After posting it to X, it took off, getting nearly a million views in it’s first week. It was featured in Variety and we’ve had reach outs from a lot of our favorite directors and producers. We had no idea it would get this kind of response but it’s been really incredible to see it resonate with so many.

Also, the other cast are Emmy nominee Dot-Marie Jones (Glee) and Ron Song (Jury Duty). It’s co-written/directed by Tanner Thomason.

AMA!

(I’ll be back at 1 PM PST/4 PM EST) today Wednesday 10/2 for answers.