Based on the incredible true story of professional baseball player-turned WW2 spy, Moe Berg, The Catcher brings us along on Moe’s first mission for the OSS.

Jamie Brindle (Director) and John Houston (Exec Producer/Agent Edmonds) had worked together previously on a few projects but this was their first outing together on a narrative live action short. When they discovered the story of Moe Berg it was immediately apparent that his life’s journey was brimming with film-worthy moments and they decided to develop concepts for a series based on his exploits as an operative during WWII and the subsequent birth of the Cold War (during which he continued his intelligence career). “THE CATCHER” was a product of that process — an endeavor to create a visually-striking and engaging take on Moe’s first outing as an OSS operative.

A type of film that we are used to seeing on the bigger screen as a feature length, which is wonderfully adapted to the short screen with just the right amount of information to indulge over the 18 minutes.

Our take on Moe is probably a little more ‘Humphrey Bogart’ than history would support, but we really wanted to tap into the feel of the entertainment of his era as well and recreate the period not just with our production design and costume, but with our tone and filmmaking as well,

Director, Jamie Brindle.

We grew up watching spies and action heroes captured on film in the rich colors and textures of old serials. When we started delving into the world of Moe Berg and The Catcher, we realized we had the opportunity to step into our own childhood fantasies and tell the story of a real life American Action Hero.

Executive Producer, John Houston.

Incredibly, the 15 page script was filmed in only two days, where the team had to be careful about how many times they moved the camera onto other equipment. That’s where they ultimately decided the DJI Ronin would give them the most versatility in shot choices and save a lot of time.

There were 100 lanterns that lit the garden sequence and gave us those beautiful points of light in our wides and a really unique look in the close ups — Our cinematographer, Nate Fu was essential in crafting the lush look of the lighting. The interiors were all done in one building — we found a location that had maintained it’s original architecture/lighting fixtures/etc from the 1920’s, that also happened to be renovating an entire floor, which became our warehouse: eliminating the need to pack up and move the crew from location to location.