PRESS
PRESS
Dumb Owl Productions - Venice, California
⭐ 2018 Streamy Award Nominated
Best Indie Series
🏆 2020 Bronze Telly Award Winner
Outstanding Achievement in Documentary series
🏆 2023 Silver Telly Award Winner
Outstanding Achievement in Scripted Series
As Featured In
Voyage LA - Hidden Gems of LA
"A filmmaker who finds the extraordinary in the everyday."
- Voyage LA
The Family Pickle
A heartfelt mockumentary about a family of competitive pickleball players navigating love, legacy, and a very awkward Thanksgiving tournament.
Official Selection
· Hollywood Just4Shorts · Hollywood Verge Film Awards 2025 · Venice Shorts 2025 · Silicon Beach Film Festival 2025 · Kyoto Independent Film Festival 2026
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
TRASH started as a simple question: what happens when someone tries to fix everything and ends up becoming part of the problem?
I wanted to make something small on purpose — 3 minutes, no dialogue, just a person and the world around them. Shot on Venice Beach in black-and-white and color, the film lives somewhere between slapstick and philosophy.
It's about the mission that swallows you. And maybe that's funny. And maybe it isn't.
— Benjamin the Third
Festival Photos
Silicon Beach Film Festival 2025
About
Benjamin the Third is the founder and creative director of Dumb Owl Productions, a Venice, California-based independent production company built in 2013 as a home for stories with heart and humor. A UCLA theater, film, and television graduate, he has spent over a decade producing across web series, short films, feature comedy, live performance, music, and daily vertical video. Two Telly Awards. One Streamy nomination for Best Indie Series. Featured in Voyage LA. Also performing as BEN, one half of the live comedy duo MIKE&BEN. Current slate: The Family Pickle (streaming on RELAY via Filmhub), TRASH (short film, festival circuit — first official selection: Indiewood Film Festival, TCL Chinese Theatre), BETAWATCH (web series, in production).
Press Contact
For interview requests, review copies, and press inquiries:
Ben Goldsmith
Responses within 24 hours.
