Short Film Review: “Michael Solace” Contemplates Selling Out and Selling His Soul

The journey to success is not always linear. Even when granted a major opportunity, it often comes with strings attached. In the film industry, there are questions of financial backing, artistic integrity, and the recognition each member of the project deserves. The eponymous Michael Solace is aligned with many of his indie filmmaking peers when he says, “I don’t want to be a sellout”.

This sentiment is repeated multiple times throughout Michael Solace, a short film written by Kris Salvi and directed by Chris Esper. Throughout the 14 minute runtime, Michael debates whether to sell his screenplay to Mr. Blanc, a rich benefactor who has a habit of buying out screenwriters and changing their work entirely before it makes it to the screen. The decision riddles him with anxiety, sending him into a spiral where he equates selling his script to selling his soul.

The film blends reality and the supernatural world together, leaving the viewer unsure of what’s real and what’s merely a figment of Michael’s agitated imagination. An assistant named Shadowman has eyes that go black, and as he drives Michael into a forest they’re met by men in Scream masks made of written words. It’s eerie, and I especially love the way Michael’s agent, Monica (Diana Porter), goes from kind and collected to a vampire wielding the writer’s dreaded red pen.

Even before the supernatural elements kick in, this is clearly a horror. Justin Thibault plays Michael Solace as the type of guy who scratches at his collar and pays more attention to the clinking of cups on the table than the conversation at hand. He’s overwhelmed by his producer interviews and wants better for what he considers his “best work” yet. It’s an anxiety-driven nightmare that’s bolstered by sound mixing that makes the background noise louder than the conversations and a camera that swings violently, quick to jump to whatever new attention-grabbing thing there is to see. 

The questions raised in Michael Solace are familiar to many people in creative fields. What does it mean to give away your freedom in exchange for the money that most of us need to survive? In her memoir, Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill relays stories of sleeping on cat litter in basements and turning down lucrative record deals because to take them wouldn’t be “punk”. In this way, the metaphor of selling your soul is entirely accurate. By selling out, Hanna and Michael would be abandoning their principles for the potential of overwhelming success. The question is whether or not that success is worth it if they are compromised in the process. For Hanna, the answer was no. 

For Michael, there is initial indecision over whether to accept the offer from Mr. Blanc. He has the (incredibly relatable) dream that if he sells out just this once he’ll be able to create a situation where nobody has to sell out again. It will be a screenwriter’s utopia! Funding will be given to the creatives with the most integrity! It’s a noble dream, but one that even Michael knows is unlikely to exist in reality. It’s these gestures at heroism that allow Michael to silence his moral compass as he eyes the money he’ll earn from the deal.

As a film, Michael Solace worked to make me consider my own life choices. As someone who has long grappled with the fear of “selling out” it hit close to home and successfully mirrored much of my own internal dialogue. The thriller/horror genre kept me on the edge of my seat and pushed the action forward which was useful given the constraints of the runtime. This was an effective short that left me wondering what the filmmakers’ own relationship with sellout culture is, and whether we will see more from them in the future.