He’s a morning person, she isn’t. A comedy about just how long a wife can put up with her husband’s unique way of expressing himself.

HONERABLE MENTION - Kansas City Filmmakers' Jubilee 2004 Unofficial People's Choice Award - Laugh is Hope Comedy Festival 2004

So far, “The Morning Guy” has appeared in the following film festivals:
Slamdunk – January 2003 (Park City, Utah)
York International Film Festival – March 2003 (York, England)
Florida Film Festival – March 2003 (Orlando, Florida)
Memphis Film Forum – March 2003 (Memphis, Tennessee)
REVelation Festival – July 2003 (Perth, Australia)
San Antonio Underground Film Festival (San Antonio, TX)
Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre - July 2003 (St. Louis, MO)
Hollywood Film Festival – October 2003 (Hollywood, CA)
Raindance Film festival – October 2003 (London, UK)
New Orleans Film Festival – October 2003 (New Orleans, LA)
San Juan Mountains Film Festival – November 2003 (Telluride, CO)
Laugh is Hope Comedy & Film festival – January 2004 (Houston, TX)
Cinequest – March 2004 (San Jose, CA)
Durango Film Festival – March 2004 (Durango, CO)
Indianapolis International Film Festival – March 2004 (Indianapolis, IN)
American Independent Film Festival – April 2004 (Agen, France)

DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY/BIO:

Mark W. Gray was born in Indianapolis, went to film school at USC from 1984 to 1988 and spent the last dozen or so years as a cinematographer, shooting TV movies, music videos etc. He has been married to his wife, Eileen, eleven years. They have two children, Noah and Fiona.
This is the second short film Mark has directed (not counting film school, where there were dozens.) His last short, the animated “Legends of Show Business” has been on the festival circuit since early in 2002. More information on it can be found at: www.legendsofshowbusiness.com

HIS CINEMATOGRAPHY CREDITS INCLUDE:

Features
“Firetrap” "Back To Back” "Straight To The Heart" "A.P.E.X." "Prototype X29A" "Dark Rider" “Sand Trap”, “Slipknot” "Ocean Tribe" (Additional Photography) "The Novice" (Additional Photography) "The Hard Truth" (2nd Unit) "Automatic" (2nd Unit)"Dangerous Waters" (2nd Unit)"Eyes Of The Beholder" (2nd Unit DP/Dir.)

M.O.W.S
“You Lucky Dog” "Under Wraps" "Her Costly Affair" "To Face Her Past" "Runaway Car" (2nd Unit)

Music Videos
"A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die" The Geto Boys W/Scarface, "Ain't Down With Bein' Broke" The Geto Boys, "Gotta Get Over" Gangstarr W/Guru, "Hit 'em From The Back" Mobb Deep, "That Man" Ya Kid K, "Slangin' Dope" O.F.T.B., “Water Rush” The Samples, “Weight Of The World” The Samples, “A Conversation W/Steve Perry” (Long Form) Karaoke Videos: Directed, photographed, and edited - 14, photographed 2 more.

A word about
The Morning Guy
From director Mark W. Gray

I came up with the idea for “The Morning Guy” on the flight back from The Cannes Film Festival last year. I was looking for a film I could shoot on digital video, in my own house, without spending a lot of money. It started out as a simple gag, but ended up as an allegorical story about being married. The Morning Guy is like a lot of married guys I know in Los Angeles. We’re underemployed creative professionals with wives who have straight jobs and put up with us. The film is a satirical cautionary tale about driving away your spouse by relentlessly doing your own thing.

I don’t believe in the Dogme school of filmmaking; it seems a little lazy to me. My philosophy is what I call “House Power” where you use lights, but not more than a few; you shoot DVCam, but keep it on a tripod and in focus; you have a cast and crew, but not so many people that they can’t fit around one table at lunch; you use professionals, but don’t impose on them so much that they feel the need to be paid. (By the way, the cast and crew are mostly pulled from the above-mentioned pool of under-employed creative professionals.) In short, you use your grown up film making skills with the resources of a typical film student.

I made this film as sort of a pilot to test this method for a possible feature, and it worked out great. My wife took the kids to school at 8am, we shot until about 5pm, and were done by the time they got home. I shot, cut, and mixed the film all in my own house, where I also burned the DVDs. created all the artwork, and did all the PR work. With a good Macintosh, a DV camera, and a few skills, you really can be a full service film studio.

Bill A. Jones
Star of The Morning Guy

Bill A. Jones is one of those performers who you’ve probably seen or heard, but can’t quite place.

In addition to Trade Show Narration, Bill has done a great deal of emcee work, ranging from the Bravo Awards for best shopping center design, to the Razzie Awards for the worst films of the year. He recently brought on the group America at the LA Mart Gift Show.

For years, Bill’s voice has been heard over LA radio as an air personality for stations such as KMPC, K-Lite, KLAC and KGIL. But, if you think you’ve heard him on radio in other cities as well; you’d be right. Every weekend, Bill is heard on 250 radio stations nationwide as a host on Westwood One’s Adult Standards. He’s also been the ‘voice’ of The Fox Movie Channel, and of American Airlines’ in-flight audio program “Timeless Tracks.”

But you more likely have seen Bill recently on television. Perhaps you saw him as Mr. Barry on “Just Shoot Me,” gun down an innocent hotel maid on “Sliders,” threaten to have Kurt Rambis fired as the basketball coach on “7th Heaven,” sell a cell phone to George Jetson, have a beer bottle broken over his head as ‘Miller’ on NBC’s daytime drama, “Passions,” or arrest Drew and his ‘gang’ as bemused Officer Bob on “The Drew Carey Show.”