ST ANTHONY, Minnesota — To say David Ash is busy would be an understatement.
His work life consists of being a finance director for Ecolab in St. Paul, while his home life involves being a father and husband in a family of seven.
But in his spare time, including the early morning hours, Ash can be found in his home office in St. Anthony writing and editing everything from feature films to a TV series.
"Some people golf. Some people work on their cars in the garage. Dave's in his room editing," said Jen Hanlon Ash, David's wife.
Ash started writing in college for the newspaper, getting paid $6 per week as a columnist. He eventually took a break from writing before the itch returned.
"I always wanted to write screenplays for films and I learned all about that. Took some classes, entered some contests. Actually did very well, surprisingly. That led to just wanting to make films," Ash recalled.
So that's what Ash did. He started off making short films with an average budget of $50. His first feature film, 12 years ago, had a budget of $800.
Then Ash spent two years writing a TV series called INCOMPLETENESS. It won the prestigious Minnesota State Arts Board "Artist Initiative" grant, which provided funding for production of the series.
"We made three episodes and then COVID happened. Took a break, entered those three episodes into some festivals and did shockingly well," Ash said.
INCOMPLETENESS has won the "Best Series" award at more than 50 international festivals. According to Ash, it has become the most awarded series on the film fest circuit.
"It just kind of blew up on the fest circuit. Hey, we might have something here," Ash said.
It motivated them to complete the first season in June. INCOMPLETENESS Season 1 includes eight, 45-minute episodes.
The series is described as "a psychological dramedy series set in the present-day American Midwest that revolves around the relationships of three couples, interconnected by a tragedy, as they try to find love in a modern world while dealing with their own mortality, betrayal, Chinese cabals, A.I., genetic engineering and the illusion of free will."
"I think the heart of the film is really folks that are dealing with the kind of issues that we have because of all this technology. Anxiety, depression, feelings of isolation, loss of faith," Ash said.
About a third of the series was filmed at the Ash family's home. The project used all local actors.
"We got some amazing actors... Guthrie actors. Some that have been in some TV shows. The great part about working here is that there's not a lot of films being made and there's really no TV series being made. This is really the only narrative TV project I'm aware of being made in Minnesota. So the actors are all excited to work on it," Ash said.
Currently, Season 1 is being shopped around to different streaming services.
Ash is also working on the script for Season 2.
"There's not any money in it. At least so far," Ash said. "The return on the investment for me is connecting with other people through really honest depictions of what the characters I'm creating are going through which are based on the characters of my life, including myself. Hoping and getting good feedback about, 'Hey, I've experienced that. I've felt that. That was meaningful to me.'"
Three episodes with a total runtime of 140 minutes will be screened at the Twin Cities Film Fest on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 6:15 p.m. at Showplace Icon Theatre at the West End in St. Louis Park.
Tickets for the show cost $12 and Ash will be there for a Q&A after the screening.
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