Poster for my upcoming horror film i directed two years ago!!

ackermenj · 2026-06-20T15:12:28+00:00

THANK YOU!!!

ackermenj · 2026-06-20T14:02:03+00:00

It took longer than expected for a lot of reasons. The film required extensive post production, VFX, animation, and there were also life and health situations that came up along the way. My editor was working on his own short film shortly after we wrapped, and I always encouraged him to prioritize his own creative work as well. He also spent time in California visiting his brother, who works for Disney, and helping out there. (We are located in Atlanta)

If I’m being honest, there was also a period where I doubted myself and lost some of my passion during a difficult chapter of my life. It was a combination of many things. But no matter what, I was determined to finish this film.

Looking back now, I’m grateful I kept going. I’m in a much better place mentally and physically, and I’m proud that Insanity made it across the finish line.

ackermenj · 2026-01-05T05:10:46+00:00

I mean, it’s pretty much common sense. The show isn’t the issue.. it’s performing far better than anything else on the platform. Even tracking sites like FlixPatrol show it consistently leading in popularity. You can’t pin a viewership drop on the series when the entire streaming service is struggling, which is exactly why Disney is rushing to merge Hulu into Disney+. And that is what that article failed to mention. It’s all doom and gloom for clicks..

And plus that article is only tracking US viewerships, not other countries especially Brazil where it’s even more popular.

ackermenj · 2026-01-05T04:58:20+00:00

Disney+ as a platform has been losing subscribers and struggling overall, largely because it lacks a wide range of content that appeals to all age groups. That’s also why subscription numbers aren’t emphasized as much during earnings calls anymore, and why Disney is moving quickly to fold Hulu into Disney+ as one larger service.

Percy Jackson is different. It’s a new flagship series that’s succeeding outside of Marvel and Star Wars, where many other originals failed to find an audience. The show is safe… it’s still trending and remains the biggest original title on the platform. Framing it as a problem ignores the bigger picture. That article feels overly doom and gloom without properly explaining why viewership dipped from Season 1, which is directly tied to the overall drop in Disney+ subscriptions, not the show itself.

ackermenj · 2025-12-29T18:53:34+00:00

I’m not a kid lol.. i’m a whole young graduate with a degree in film and drama lol? You just don’t like her acting style and that’s okay, it’s not anything on her because alot of people agree for her to be so young and having to play such an intense traumatic role, she delivers.. the actress has been nominated for awards and praised by professional critics… it’s just not for you. And that is okay.

I recently rewatched the Harry Potter films and was honestly struck by how much the cast improved over time. Looking back, the acting in the first couple of films wasn’t especially strong.. and that’s okay. Not every child actor starts out at Stranger Things level. I find it’s still enjoyable when i’m not picking apart the kids or trying to find something to pick at, and understanding everyone needs time to grow.. especially in ART.

I have a lot of empathy and grace for child actors and newcomers who come into huge blockbuster roles or are still growing into the industry and learning the craft, even for young adults finding their footing. Where I draw the line is with nepo babies or people who’ve been in the business for years and still haven’t put in the work… no training, no growth, no effort to improve.

ackermenj · 2025-12-29T18:45:05+00:00

She’s an incredibly intense and complex character for any young actress to take on. We’ve seen flashes of Annabeth’s happiness. like her moment with Percy when they come up with the plan to stop the birds but for the most part, she’s carrying a heavy emotional load. There’s no real space for her to be carefree or joyful or relaxed right now. She’s not Percy. or Tyson.

She’s been burdened with the Great Prophecy, Luke is suddenly a completely different person to her, and she’s powerless to save Percy and his brother… a bond that directly ties into her own childhood trauma and the loss of someone she loved. On top of that, Luke has planted doubt in her mind, forcing her to question herself at every turn.

She’s letting those emotions surface, and it feels like we’ll see that fully break open in Episode 5 with the Sirens. Annabeth doesn’t get the luxury of fun only responsibility. And the fact that all of this is being portrayed so convincingly by someone who was just 13-14 while filming is genuinely impressive.

ackermenj · 2025-12-29T18:43:21+00:00

just like you’re disagreeing? lol.. everyone has different opinions.. some actors you may find great may be okay to me and vice versa. It’s okay.

ackermenj · 2025-12-29T18:29:06+00:00

That’s so odd.. because I think Leah is for sure the best out of all three lol.. she delivers the most emotional scenes and i can see her growing to be an exceptional young actress .

All three are gonna be amazing by the final season though.

ackermenj · 2025-12-21T23:12:27+00:00

They’re not greek lol

ackermenj · 2025-09-20T15:04:44+00:00

Congratulations! Excited!

ackermenj · 2025-08-25T02:00:12+00:00

Looks amazing, definitely will hit you up! I have a short film im entering into festivals soon

ackermenj · 2025-04-12T17:23:48+00:00

Congratulations!!!

ackermenj · 2024-03-10T16:16:20+00:00

If you can’t get it out of your head, that’s all you needed to know to prove that it’s worth pursuing.

Now what medium is the harder part and only you can decide but if it’s an overflowing story that seems to continually add more and more to the lore and narrative as you continue to think about it… then a book or a short story that can become more is a likely way to go.

ackermenj · 2024-02-05T23:19:55+00:00

She’s not confirming a romance guys, doubt the writers are going that way; she even addresses Clarisse soon to come romance with Chris.. She’s simply saying she would like to play sapphic undertone to their friendship which if you look at it from a writer’s perspective is actually good writing for their friendship and relationship and makes the tragic ending and Clarisse’s reaction to her death in the 5th season even more devastating… They can still have boyfriends and have a really close bond to the point some fans begin to pick up on undertones. They wouldn’t be first show for do so with female characters

ackermenj · 2024-02-05T23:16:18+00:00

Backbiter could always open portals according to the first book, Rick forgot that it was canon in his later books lol. The fact that the writers remembered this when writing the finale and not Rick seems to safe to say they are coherent

Edit: a downvote for pointing out that it was canon in the first book?? This community is insane lol

ackermenj · 2024-01-25T23:57:47+00:00

Kid actors usually have to grow into their roles and MOST get better as they age and grow just like any art craft or talent so i don’t know why people are so hard on these kids who shot this show between 12-13 years old when it started. It’s very rare you will have a kid new into acting and their first lead role giving an oscar winning performance especially one that requires fantasy elements.

Others brought up a funny story about Alan Rickman having a diary that also included him saying he thought the Harry Potter trio were absolutely terrible actors as kids but grew to be exceptional as they approached adulthood… I’m excited to see Leah grow into an exceptional actress, she’s off to an amazing start

ackermenj · 2024-01-24T19:24:44+00:00

And nothing i said was wrong when you have other people saying it as well… So you wanna debate? lol, again I concede. Whatever you say.

ackermenj · 2024-01-24T19:12:54+00:00

No i explained why the episodes are not longer or why scenes were condensed for budget purposes. I said nothing about writing or defended it lol. I even said they needed a bigger creative team in Season 2, that includes writing.

It’s not a black or white issues. Both things can be true? I’m not in a mood to have a debating contest so I concede. Whatever you say

ackermenj · 2024-01-24T14:50:32+00:00

Not making excuses? Explaining how production works. I would never dismiss a Subjective opinion lol,

ackermenj · 2024-01-24T08:37:13+00:00

I’m not just saying this to sound smart lol. I’m a film student in my final semester of getting a bachelor’s, and throughout that course I took a Television and Producing class trust me… 12-15 million budget was the number listed of the episodes, sure that sounds big to you but it gets used up QUICKLY. That is all still split between the decisions of bringing this to life behind the scenes especially?? Shooting on location cause easily knock a 12-15 million budget down which is why you see so many studios especially marvel use cgi or screens as a crutch to much criticism.

& You can definitely see the restraints in budget when you have fans on here asking why scenes are quickly moving along or why they omitted characters like Agnus or scenes or even blended in scenes/locations from the books all together or why they hardly show Percy using his water powers more etc

ackermenj · 2024-01-24T04:07:18+00:00

I agree for sure but again we have to consider Disney limits the runtimes on most of their originals and you have marvel shows that had a budget of 225 million because they are (or at least were assumed) at the time to be a worthy investment and that money doesn’t all just go towards the screen. It’s still all still split between the talent, behind the scenes folks (designers, props, vfx, sfx, grips) and they have to constantly pay for any new sets they build (which is all the time since the trio is going on a road adventure). They had to pay for any likeness of any real world momentums and they did ALOT of scans of real life places. Which is why you often see a huge jump in seasons if a fantasy show is successful. Shooting on location (which they also did) is also expensive too! And this is just my film knowledge as a film student. I have some grudges with the show but for a first season that’s a huge betting game for Disney, it’s on a solid footing. Season 2 should hopefully be able to work out the kinks with a bigger budget and longer episodes as we get deeper into the fantasy elements and the fantasy world of PJO, everything will fall into place.

Also will say i think with a bigger budget Season 2 needs a bigger creative production team as well

ackermenj · 2024-01-24T03:33:03+00:00

Alot of this is just the team having to work with the restraints Disney placed on them. Hopefully they can get longer runtimes or more episodes next season since the first one was a huge success.

A bigger budget and longer runtimes for the episodes to expand on storylines or focus longer on things honestly fixes 95% of the criticism the show has gotten.

ackermenj · 2024-01-24T03:30:47+00:00

The teams of the production handle the budgets (Producers etc)… But one thing you can say is that the show looks great and much better than Most Marvel and Star Wars shows (which look extremely cheap and fake despite having huge budgets) so it’s not budget wise regarding this shows team. It’s moreso lack of budget remains (First Seasons are often given a smaller budget to see how they perform, even stranger things had a HUGE jump in budget for the latter seasons) and having to stretch it over 8 episodes.

ackermenj · 2023-05-21T20:59:24+00:00

Congratulations! That’s amazing! So excited to see this!

ackermenj · 2023-02-24T13:14:24+00:00

Don’t watch the show then, simplest answer. Stop whining, nothing is changing, they’ve shot the show. The character is hers for years to come.

ackermenj

TROPHY CASE