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P.J. Palmer
Writer - Director
Emotionally true. Morally complex. Visually bold.
Based in Santa Monica & NYC
www.twenty2films.com | (917) 768-0226
WHY I DIRECT
I’m drawn to stories that live in the quiet before the storm, the moment right before someone breaks their silence.
I grew up closeted in a rural, working-class world that offered no language for who I was. I survived emotional isolation, poverty, and years spent in the margins. But I also lived in deep connection with people who were resilient, hilarious, and full of grace and that humanity lives in everything I make.
My work centers characters who have good reasons for doing the wrong thing, or who take too long to do the right one. I’m not here to moralize, I’m here to hold the complexity.
Whether I’m telling a story about a queer cowboy grieving a lost love, or a Southern town uncovering generational violence, or a teenage boy torn between faith and identity, what ties my work together is emotional precision, moral tension, and the ache between who we are and who we could be.
Because I know how much it costs to stay silent. And I know how powerful it is when someone finally speaks.
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, 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.
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.
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Director: P.J. Palmer
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Lead Producer: Edoardo Bussi (former MGM/Amazon)
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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.
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Creator: P.J. Palmer
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Cast: Angela Lewis, Gloria Rueben
CRAWFISH: WE THE INVISIBLE
Hybrid Stage/Film Feature - In 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.
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Director: P.J. Palmer
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Executive Producers: Andrew Carlberg, Neal Baer
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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'
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Writer / Director: P.J. Palmer
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Producers: Andrew Carlberg, Ryan Haffey
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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)
My work lives in the quiet before the break. Emotionally precise, morally complex, and deeply human.
I’m already building stories at scale, with collaborators who trust both the work and the vision behind it.
Let’s build something lasting together.
This isn’t a portfolio. It’s a living ecosystem, with traction, urgency, and intention.
