Short Pilot 'Pipsqueak Monstrosity' Sets Four-Day NYC Shoot for November 2026, Now Casting

A quirky supernatural romantic comedy with a festival circuit ambition is gearing up for a four-day shoot in New York City this November, and with casting currently underway and pre-production moving forward, now is the time for local crew and talent to get on the radar. The project is Pipsqueak Monstrosity, a 20-minute short pilot presentation written and directed by Eddie Fritts Tomaselli, with production set for November 8 through 11, 2026. The compressed schedule and New York base make this one to watch for local cast and crew looking to close out 2026 with something genuinely interesting on their reel.

The film centers on Elliott, a young man with a rough-around-the-edges ability to hear the dead, who decides to put his unreliable gift to deeply questionable use: picking up women. When that goes about as well as you'd expect, he enlists Frances, a self-described medium consultant with her own considerable emotional baggage, to help him sharpen the skill. Things take a more complicated turn when Elliott begins receiving messages from Frances's deceased mother, Martha, who has decided to play matchmaker from beyond the veil. The logline lands somewhere between Six Feet Under and a Sundance-friendly indie rom-com, with a character-driven emotional undertow beneath the comedy. Elliott's facial tics, absent parents, and restless mischief suggest the kind of textured, specific lead role that tends to attract strong audition pools, and Frances is the sort of complicated, funny, wounded female lead that character-driven casting directors build showcases around.

Eddie Fritts Tomaselli is credited as both writer and director, suggesting this is a deeply personal project with a strong singular creative vision at its center. That kind of writer-director ownership tends to define the tone of the set: expect a small, close-knit crew where creative collaboration is valued and the director has clear intentions about what this story is and where it wants to go. Edward Tomaselli is attached as casting director, bringing a family connection to the project that often signals a tight creative circle and a shared investment in finding exactly the right performers. Executive producer Derek Mitchell rounds out the key creative team listed at this stage. As pre-production continues, additional department head credits are expected to follow.

Pipsqueak Monstrosity is designed explicitly as a festival submission and a pitch vehicle for a larger series or feature project, which is a smart and increasingly common strategy for independent filmmakers looking to prove concept before seeking broader financing. That dual purpose shapes what this production needs to accomplish visually and tonally in just 20 minutes: it has to work as a standalone short and simultaneously make the case for a bigger world. For crew, that means the cinematography, production design, and sound work will need to punch above what a four-day indie shoot might typically demand. The supernatural elements of the story, even in a comedic register, suggest that the DP and production designer will need to find a visual language that can hold both the grounded emotional realism of the character work and the lighter-touch otherworldliness of the medium-and-ghost premise.

Filming will take place entirely in New York City, one of the most robust production ecosystems in North America. New York's deep local crew base means that even a short-form production of this scale can access experienced department heads who have worked on everything from major network drama to acclaimed indie features. The city's union infrastructure through IATSE Local 600, Local 52, and SAG-AFTRA means that crew and cast of all experience levels operate in this market regularly. For a project of this size and intent, non-union or modified low-budget agreement terms are likely, though that remains unconfirmed. The four-day window in November is tight and will require a well-organized AD team and a locations approach that minimizes company moves. New York's density is an asset here: a skilled locations manager can build an efficient shooting plan across Manhattan or the outer boroughs without the logistical sprawl that location-heavy productions face in less urban environments.

For crew pursuing this opportunity, the production is currently in pre-production with casting actively in progress, which means department head conversations are likely happening now or will begin shortly. A shoot of this scale and duration will need a small but experienced core team: a director of photography who can work fast and bring a distinctive eye, a production designer comfortable building a coherent world on a compressed budget, a sound mixer capable of capturing nuanced performance in New York's notoriously challenging ambient environment, and a first AD who can keep a four-day shoot on schedule without sacrificing the space the performances need. The full production listing, including contact information and any updates to the crew roster, is available now at ProductionList.com, where you can track this project as it moves toward its November cameras-up date.

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