Sell Your House (Eric Foss, Brandon Pickering, 2026): USA

Reviewed by Mason Masciangelo. Viewed at the McHurley Film Center, Santa Barbara.

Sell Your House is a sarcastic, witty, and super entertaining documentary about making a film. Anyone who dreams of making a film should watch this documentary for a glimpse at how challenging it can be and the sacrifices it takes to make that dream into a reality. The film not only shows the logistical and financial aspects of making a movie, but how mixing business and friendship can become complicated.

The directors, Eric Foss and Brandon Pickering, unfortunately couldn’t attend the world premiere for their own film as they had to pay their rent and as they later joked in a text read aloud to the audience–“had much more important business, filming Naked and Afraid.” There are no actors in the traditional sense as “Sell Your House” is more of a documentary about the creation of another film, “The Last Stop in Yuma County” by Francis Galluppi and James Claeys (although James doesn’t appear in the credits on IMDb or Google, more on that later). 

James and Francis start as two friends with a deep love for film. James decides to sell his house for a million dollars with his trust and belief in Francis to direct and make their script into a reality. We get to see the behind the scenes madness and magic involved with the production phase of The Last Stop in Yuma County and despite some logistical setbacks, a lack of sleep, and a lot of stress, everything works out and they wrap up production on the 22nd day. Unfortunately, the distribution phase doesn’t go as smoothly.

They signed a contract that gave up creative control for the marketing while giving the distribution company a 35% cut and full recoupment of advertising costs. Tensions peak at the premiere of the film, where James gets no credit for the very film he financed while Francis is receiving praise, showing how industry pressures put a strain on their once strong relationship.

The film was shot well, mostly consisting of handheld shots during the production phase, which reflects the energetic and chaotic nature of being on the set. After production, we get more of the classic static interview style shots that help move the story along and get the characters’ inner perspective as the post production troubles progressed. Despite this technique, we don’t see them struggle equally as James’ sacrifice is more abstract and internal. For example, Francis is running around all day, unable to sleep at night and he is the sole editor of the film in post production. James is present for these moments but he’s not nearly as involved, even falling asleep at times. This paradoxical contrast between Francis’ physical effort and mental obsession with all the technical aspects of making the film and James’ high-risk, personal, and financial sacrifice makes you think about who gets credit for something that was a group effort. I guess in a capitalist society, financiers like James are essential for films to exist, but without talented directors like Francis, the films wouldn’t be what they are. 

The main take-aways the speakers gave to filmmakers after the screening was to treat it as a business at the end of the day. They said you need a team and to know what you’re doing, especially when it comes to contracts and suggested that there are more tools than ever for self distribution so you can avoid the pitfalls James and Francis fell into.