Max Ortiz
Acting
Biography
Max Ortiz is a film student at Columbia College Chicago and the co-founder of Birds Today Films. He has written, directed, and edited over a dozen short films and two features, including Can't Kill A Cowboy. He also co-created a four part web series with Eli Crowther, The Book, and they're re-teaming to develop The Jeremy Proximity Dilemma.
Known For
Alex bleeds out at a get-together. Thom searches for a vanished shoe. Jimmy seeks revenge through mind control.
Vignettes
A gorilla must fend off a horde of people who want to take his prized possession: a television.
Television
When Ty attends his friend group's annual costume party, he becomes the target of mind games and humiliation from Trey, a charismatic newcomer with an underlying darkness.
This Is Not
Can’t Kill A Cowboy documents the story of Billy the Kid, an American outlaw and gunfighter who was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1881. Having been reincarnated in present-day Ohio, Billy must navigate a modern world where he feels he does not belong. With his skeptical best friend Brandon by his side, he sets out to forge a new legacy by bringing his Wild West antics to his sleepy Midwest town.
Can't Kill A Cowboy
A delusional young man breaks into his ex’s bedroom, convinced that a nice corduroy suit and a bouquet of roses will win her back.
Corduroy
Go behind the scenes of the short film Rain Check, a genre-bending, cerebral drama that was plagued by on-set tension and runaway egos.
Rain Check
A man is convinced that if he stops moving, he’ll explode- much like the bus in Speed (1994).
You Don't Understand
Tim Schwochow abandons his finger puppet web series, disheartened by the fact that no one is watching.
Fingerbib
A young woman wakes up in her bathtub with no memory of how she got there, triggering a chain of events that unravels her reality.
Why Am I Here?
After a night of tickle fights and pickle fights, Max wakes up on the floor to find his best friends have no idea who he is.
Straw Man
Max and Eli lose a rare library book and spiral into increasingly absurd schemes to avoid the quickly mounting late fees.
The Book
After receiving a disappointing grade on their group project, four art majors conspire to sneak their sculpture into the Art Institute of Chicago and pass it off as a legitimate exhibit in an attempt to prove their professor wrong.