About It Films

Max Strand

Creative director

Max is our creative director and deck maker extraordinaire. He builds the lookbooks and investor decks, with moving images and sound, that get our projects, and our clients' projects, in front of talent, producers and financiers.

He's also an award-winning writer and director. His debut feature, Goodbye Honey, played festivals around the world, including the Philadelphia Film Festival, Dances With Films and the Garden State Film Festival, and made the 2020 Fantastic Fest Recommends list. He co-wrote and directed Rocky's, with a breakout cast including Gil Perez-Abraham (The Batman), Jasai Chase-Owens (The Expanse), Ben Tyler Cook (West Side Story) and Stanley Simons (The Iron Claw), released by Gravitas Ventures in 2025.

Before directing, Max worked in production on Silver Linings Playbook, Broad City and Showtime's The Affair.

Josh Michaels

Line producer & finance

Josh is our line producer and financial plan expert. He builds the budgets, schedules and finance plans, works out the investor terms, and runs the physical production from prep to wrap.

On Goodbye Honey he raised additional financing and post funds, attached a sales agent and helped land distribution through Freestyle Digital Media and Cardinal XD. On Rocky's he worked with casting director Kate Geller (Shiva Baby) to assemble the cast. He line produced the short Copepods, and came up in production on network shows including Power (Starz) and The First Wives Club (Paramount+).

Josh is also a screenwriter; his script Phantom Walls was a finalist in the 2023 ScreenCraft Horror Competition. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America.

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