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An exclusive conversation with writer\/director JEREMY SNEAD discussing MATTER OF TIME.<\/p>\n
SYNOPSIS:\u00a0 MATTER OF TIME\u00a0follows Charlie Fleck,<\/strong>\u00a0a 29-year-old aspiring video-game designer who discovers a mysterious device that can stop time \u2014 giving him the chance to finally pursue the dream he\u2019s never had time for. As Charlie leans into the intoxicating power to \u201cpause\u201d life, the film asks what ambition costs, and what (and who) we risk losing when we try to control the moments that shape us.<\/em><\/p>\n MATTER OF TIME is directed by JEREMY SNEAD, co-written by Snead, Zach Smith, Sean Wilkie and Jason Baumgardner, and stars\u00a0Myles Erlick, Sean Astin, Ali Astin, and Jamie Alexander, among others.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n What would you do if you could stop time? That irresistible question sits at the pulsing heart of Jeremy Snead\u2019s MATTER OF TIME, a lively, genre-bending narrative debut that fuses sci-fi fantasy, video game energy, and emotional sincerity into something unexpectedly moving. Following Charlie Fleck, a 29-year-old aspiring game designer who discovers a device capable of freezing time itself, the film spins a deceptively playful premise into a story about ambition, grief, friendship, and the dangerous allure of trying to control life one paused moment at a time.<\/p>\n For more than two decades, Jeremy Snead has been telling stories through documentaries, commercials, shorts, and episodic work. But with MATTER OF TIME, he takes a major creative leap: his first narrative feature, and an ambitious one at that. Blending sci-fi mechanics, video game iconography, emotional character storytelling, and a heartfelt meditation on friendship, purpose, grief, and human connection, MATTER OF TIME is the kind of debut that does not play small.<\/p>\n And that is precisely what makes it so much fun.<\/p>\n Snead\u2019s film follows Charlie Fleck, a 29-year-old aspiring video game designer who discovers a mysterious device that can stop time, opening the door to the life he always thought he wanted. But as Charlie becomes more intoxicated by the power to pause life and seize control of his ambitions, MATTER OF TIME asks bigger questions about what success costs and what we sacrifice when we try to master the moments that shape us.<\/p>\n Snead was delighted to hear that the film\u2019s balance of heart and entertainment came through.\u00a0 \u201cMission accomplished,\u201d he said, smiling at the response.\u00a0 For him, that balance was always the goal. Drawing on his documentary background, he explained that nonfiction filmmaking taught him an essential lesson: \u201cYou need to inform and entertain.\u00a0 And I always think you need to entertain first to keep them around for the information.\u201d\u00a0 With a narrative feature, he said, \u201cYou just got to entertain,\u201d but that did not mean abandoning substance.\u00a0 Instead, he wanted MATTER OF TIME to be visually engaging and emotionally meaningful at once.<\/p>\n That intention is immediately visible in the film\u2019s design.\u00a0 Even for viewers who are not gamers, MATTER OF TIME is inviting and accessible, because Snead builds its world through a visual language that is both playful and familiar.\u00a0 The film references decades of video game evolution, from early arcade-era aesthetics and blocky pixel-inspired design to more polished modern flourishes.\u00a0 But those elements never feel exclusionary.\u00a0 They function less as insider shorthand than as expressive worldbuilding, allowing even non-gamers to feel Charlie\u2019s creative obsession and emotional investment.<\/p>\n Snead said that the approach was absolutely intentional. The visual style was meant to entertain first while also enriching the story. That meant not only embracing animated and VFX-driven elements, but making sure they were woven into the emotional fabric of the film rather than existing as decorative flourishes.<\/p>\n In many ways, MATTER OF TIME feels like the culmination of Snead\u2019s career to this point. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely the culmination of my career thus far,\u201d he said, citing his work as a commercial producer, documentary filmmaker, and creative entrepreneur. He founded his agency, Media Juice, in 2004, and the company\u2019s roots were in the gaming world. \u201cWe started by cutting video game trailers. Our first client was Atari.\u201d One client became several, and before long, Snead was working with major publishers and developers, producing trailers, commercials, and gaming-related documentaries. That experience shaped not just his industry fluency, but also the aesthetic DNA of MATTER OF TIME.<\/p>\n Still, wanting to direct a narrative feature and actually making one are very different things. Snead was keenly aware of the risk. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to ever be the filmmaker that went out and tried to do it on his own and [made] something that doesn\u2019t look good or doesn\u2019t resonate,\u201d he said. Because he also had an established reputation as a commercial producer, he felt added pressure not to put something into the world that would undercut the standards he had spent years building.<\/p>\n The path to MATTER OF TIME began, in part, through Sean Astin, who became a trusted collaborator after the two met around 2012.\u00a0 Astin narrated Snead\u2019s first documentary, and the relationship grew from there.\u00a0 \u201cHe and I became fast friends,\u201d Snead recalled, noting that Astin has since been involved in multiple projects as a narrator, producer, actor, or some combination of all three.\u00a0 At one point, Astin encouraged him directly: \u201cYou should direct. You\u2019d be a good director.\u201d<\/p>\n When MATTER OF TIME came across Snead\u2019s desk about five years ago, he shared it with Astin, who immediately recognized the potential. \u201cThis is it. This is perfect,\u201d Astin told him. But the version they started with was far from the film that now exists. Snead and his collaborators fundamentally reshaped the material. \u201cThe guy that we optioned the script from jokes about it now,\u201d Snead said. \u201cThe only thing that remained of my script was characters\u2019 names.\u201d<\/p>\n As Jeremy explains, originally, the story centered on a comic book store and an aspiring comic book artist.\u00a0 Snead and his team reimagined the setting, turning the store into a toy shop and changing Charlie\u2019s dream from comics to video games. In the process, they added the love interest, expanded the themes of friendship and community, and developed the emotional core that now defines the film.<\/p>\n That toy shop, in particular, becomes one of the film\u2019s great visual anchors. Richly designed and full of personality, it is the kind of space that invites viewers to look past the foreground action and study the shelves, the textures, the toys, the curated clutter of memory and imagination. Snead clearly understood the importance of creating a tactile, physical world to balance the more animated and conceptual elements of the story. The toy shop, the back rooms, and the Onyx Guild spaces all feel lovingly built, never generic.<\/p>\n Bringing all of those worlds together required a directorial process that was both planned and flexible. Snead described the approach as a hybrid. Some sequences were carefully shot-listed and storyboarded, especially those involving transitions between live action and animation. Other moments had to be improvised in the reality of independent filmmaking. \u201cThis is independent filmmaking,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first day of filming, we lost our second location that we were supposed to be going to later that day, so we had to sit and rewrite that scene and put it in a new location.\u201d<\/p>\n That kind of pivot did not seem to rattle him so much as reinforce the collaborative philosophy he already favored. \u201cIt was kind of the kitchen sink,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was improv, there was day-of changes, there was things that we kind of shot from the hip. But then there were definitive, scripted, storyboarded elements that we stuck to.\u201d He credits cinematographer Chris Stacy as a key creative partner and described the set as open, collaborative, and idea-friendly. \u201cAll ideas are welcome, and then I\u2019ll decide which ones I think serve the story best.\u201d<\/p>\n That spirit carried into casting, which proves absolutely central to the film\u2019s success. MATTER OF TIME only works if Charlie works, and Myles Erlick gives the character exactly the right combination of likability, emotional vulnerability, and kinetic energy. Snead knows how fortunate he was to land him.<\/p>\n In fact, Erlick entered the process very late.\u00a0 Snead and his team had initially settled on another actor, but the deal fell apart just a week before shooting began.\u00a0 Suddenly, an independent feature about to go into production had no lead.\u00a0 Snead, his producers, and his DP Chris Stacey huddled in crisis mode.\u00a0 Chris Stacy and producer Ian Campbell both suggested Erlick, whom they had recently worked with on a music video. Snead had not seen him before.\u00a0 \u201cThey showed me some clips,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018Hey, he\u2019s a good-looking kid. Can he act?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 They pulled up scenes from Steven Spielberg\u2019s West Side Story, and Snead was immediately interested. \u201cHe\u2019s got a great energy and a great look. Let\u2019s get him to read.\u201d<\/p>\n The read sealed it. \u201cImmediately, I was relieved and thrilled,\u201d Snead said. \u201cWe have a Charlie, and he\u2019s better than the other guy.\u201d Sometimes, as he noted, that is simply how the movie gods work.<\/p>\n Erlick\u2019s theatrical background also proved ideal for a role that requires him to interact with imagined VFX elements and embody the physicality of game-related performance. Charlie\u2019s motion-capture work, his creative intensity, and his almost restless drive all benefit from Erlick\u2019s movement vocabulary and screen presence.\u00a0 Around him, Snead assembled a strong ensemble in Patrick Britain, Allie Astin, and Quinn Angel, creating a core friend group that feels authentic across time. The film\u2019s depiction of enduring friendship\u2014from childhood into adulthood\u2014gives MATTER OF TIME much of its emotional resonance.<\/p>\n Snead was especially pleased with the chemistry that developed among the cast.\u00a0 \u201cThose guys were all such a great little ensemble,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cWe had so much fun on all of our different sets.\u201d There is a lived-in warmth to the group dynamic that helps ground the film\u2019s more fantastical elements.<\/p>\n Then there is Jamie Alexander, who delivers the film\u2019s villainous energy with gleeful excess.\u00a0 As Miles Sugar, he is theatrical, neurotic, ridiculous, and deliciously entertaining.\u00a0 Snead clearly relished what Alexander brought to the role.\u00a0 \u201cJamie is a trip,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cHe is such a fun guy.\u201d\u00a0 When they saw his audition, the response was immediate.\u00a0 \u201cWe were all laughing. It\u2019s like he\u2019s a guy you love to hate, but also love to love.\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly, Alexander\u2019s performance also forced a structural realization in post-production.\u00a0 In the original cut, Sugar was simply a bombastic executive barking at his staff. But when those scenes were placed alongside Charlie\u2019s more grounded home life and emotional arc, the tonal disparity became too extreme.\u00a0 \u201cNo matter what we did, no matter what music we put with it, it was just off,\u201d Snead said.\u00a0 The solution was to create an offscreen venture-capital board applying pressure to Sugar, contextualizing his manic energy as performance under investor scrutiny.\u00a0 The reshoots solved the problem and, in doing so, made the character stronger.<\/p>\n That kind of discovery speaks to how critical the edit was in shaping the final film.\u00a0 Snead described the editing process as long and transformative.\u00a0 \u201cWe were editing it in post for, gosh, a year and a half,\u201d he said.\u00a0 During that time, the team went through numerous iterations and conducted many friends-and-family screenings to identify what was landing and what was not.\u00a0 \u201cIt was really just ringing it out,\u201d he explained, refining structure, energy, and emotional logic through repeated viewings and feedback.<\/p>\n The result is an edit that feels buoyant, propulsive, and inventive.\u00a0 Montages, music, VFX, and graphic flourishes all combine to create a sense of momentum that keeps the film humming.\u00a0 Some of the most charming animated transitions even arose from budgetary necessity.\u00a0 Snead needed travel and establishing shots to show Charlie moving through his world, but the production had run out of time and money to shoot enough of them in live action. Rather than settle for bland coverage, he found inspiration in an unexpected place: You\u2019ve Got Mail<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI always loved that opening intro,\u201d he said, referring to its blocky, digital New York aesthetic.\u00a0 So he decided to solve the problem through animation.\u00a0 \u201cWe got our establishing shots, but then it also adds a bit of flavor to the film.\u201d\u00a0 It is a classic example of an independent film turning limitation into identity.<\/p>\n Music also played a major role in building the tone.\u00a0 For Snead, working with composer Ray Sharp was a new experience in narrative form.\u00a0 In documentary projects, he had generally licensed tracks.\u00a0 Here, once the story structure was finally locked, he and Ray held a spotting session and began discussing the themes and emotional arcs scene by scene.\u00a0 Snead pointed to motifs involving \u201cself versus tribe,\u201d the ring itself, and Bree\u2019s emotional presence.\u00a0 \u201cIt was really interesting how it changed emotionally just from the sprinkling of score that Ray did throughout it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kind of brought it to life.\u201d<\/p>\n That score helps the film move fluidly between wonder, emotion, comedy, urgency, and introspection, giving MATTER OF TIME a polished tonal coherence that feels remarkably assured for a first narrative feature.\u00a0 It never loses its fun, but it also never loses its soul.<\/p>\n By the end of the process, Snead says he learned a great deal, but one insight rose above the rest. \u201cI think community is the most important thing in life,\u201d he said.\u00a0 That idea is not only baked into the film\u2019s themes, but into the way he now understands the creative process itself.\u00a0 \u201cYour value as a human being has nothing to do with what you do, and it has everything to do with who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t
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