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P.J. Palmer

Writer - Director

Emotionally true. Morally complex. Visually bold.

Based in LA - NYC - ATL
www.twenty2films.com 

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WHY I DIRECT

I build stories that interrogate certainty.

I am drawn to contradiction, to people who believe they are right and still cause harm, to systems that claim virtue while protecting power, to moments where mercy is chosen without guarantee of reward.

I grew up inside extreme moral structures. I learned early how righteousness can disguise fear, and how belief can both save and wound. That education did not make me cynical. It made me rigorous.

My work resists moral binaries. I do not reduce characters to symbols. I am interested in interiority, consequence, and the cost of conviction. Justice is not guaranteed in my stories. Meaning is not cosmic. But agency remains. A choice still matters. Presence still matters.

Form must serve emotional logic. Intensity must be earned. Harm must never be aestheticized. I will experiment with structure, time, and genre - but never at the expense of truth.

I am not interested in spectacle without inquiry or righteousness without self-examination.

I make work that asks:
    What sustains excellence?
    What justifies belief?
    What does it cost to hold a line?
    And when must it be released?


You matter because you are here, not because you are right.  And because of that, your presence creates consequence.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Storytelling as an Ecosystem

I approach my work as an interconnected ecosystem, each project part of a larger conversation I’m having with the world about identity, memory, connection, and what it means to truly see one another.

 

North Star is a quiet film, but it carries the ideas I return to again and again: the sacred space between people when language falls away, the quiet cost of survival, the dignity inside grief. I’m drawn to stories that are intimate but expansive where the personal becomes political not through speeches or plot twists, but through presence.

What Guides My Work

Across every project - Son of a Preacher Man, If You Go, On Cannery Row, Crawfish, On the Line, Biography of the Bones, CROSSFADE - I’m interested in the things we don’t say. The moral questions we inherit. The emotional choices that shape us. My work often lives in the moments no one sees... until it’s too late.

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PICTURE PERFECT

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WHATS NEXT

Active collaborations, in motion with trusted partners

BIOGRAPHY OF THE BONES

Feature Film - In Development

A racially charged Southern Gothic mystery about two families, one Black, one white bound by a buried secret and the legacy of generational violence.

  • Director: P.J. Palmer

  • Lead Producer: Edoardo Bussi (former MGM/Amazon)

  • Script: Black List Top List, Nicholl & PAGE Quarterfinalist

CROSSFADE

Anthology Series (Theater + Film Hybrid)

In Development

A bold, formally inventive original exploring untold stories through a fusion of live performance and cinema.

  • Creator: P.J. Palmer

  • Cast: Angela Lewis, Gloria Rueben

IF YOU GO

Short Feature - In Pre-Production

After her young son collapses from a sudden neurological event, a mother remains at his bedside through days in the ICU, learning how to endure without answers—while he drifts through a quiet, unseen world of his own.

  • Writer / Director: P.J. Palmer

  • Producers: Andrew Carlberg, Jamie-Lynn Sigler

  • Script: Santa Barbara Inter'l Screenplay Awards - Best Script, Wiki-Scripts Awards - Best Script

PICTURE PERFECT

Short Film - Post Produciton

When a picture-perfect teen couple hides a violent secret beneath their polished prom smiles, they must each decide whether to keep performing or finally tell the truth about who they are.

  • Writer / Producer - Mentor: P.J. Palmer

  • Director: Brendan Giang

  • Sponsored by: The City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto Unified School District, RISE Club, Palo Alto Teen Arts Council, The Palo Alto Children's Theatre

CRAWFISH: WE THE INVISIBLE

Hybrid Stage/Film Feature - Post-Production

Crawfish, living under a freeway overpass in the East Bay, uses poetry, spoken word and percussion to share his stories of life on the streets, systemic racism, and climate change, and how they affect his attempt to make it in the world.

  • Director: P.J. Palmer

  • Executive Producers: Andrew Carlberg, Neal Baer

  • Song: Fiona Apple

SON OF A PREACHER MAN

Limited Series or Feature Film - In Development

An autobiographical coming-of-age story set across three timelines, exploring queer identity, generational silence, and the cost of being seen in a world of shame and faith. 'From the team behind North Star'

  • Writer / Director: P.J. Palmer

  • Producers: Andrew Carlberg, Ryan Haffey

  • Script: Black List Top List

IN MOTION. IN COLLABORATION.

"P.J. Palmer is a filmmaker of rare emotional clarity. 

His work is intimate, resonant, and necessary."

- Colman Domingo (Rustin, Sing Sing, North Star)

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P.J. Palmer

Director | Writer

Based in Santa Monica & NYC

www.twenty2films.com

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My work lives in the quiet moment before the break. The morally complex and deeply human moments that connect us all.

I build stories at scale, with collaborators who trust both the work and the vision behind it.

I am deeply proud of the teams I work with, and forever passionate about the stories we tell.

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Representation and team info available via: 

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