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Logline

A down-on-his luck corporate executive escapes to his family’s cabin in the mountains where he runs into his estranged father and buried secrets from the past.

Synopsis

The Cabin follows urban dweller, James, as he climbs his way to the top of the corporate ladder. He has the job, the confidence, and a feisty fiancé to round out his seemingly perfect life, but when his involvement in a work scandal is revealed, James’s world comes crashing down.

With nowhere else to go, he reluctantly escapes to a family-owned cabin far outside the city limits. The cabin is a place that hosts the painful memory of James’s broken home, and thus a place that he has avoided his entire adult life.

During his brief stay at the cabin, James encounters his estranged ex-military father, Burt, which causes tension and resentment from years past to quickly resurface. The relationship between father and son is complex, and it soon becomes evident that James blames his father for dismantling their entire family. But once Burt finds courage to disclose his biggest secret to his son (the reveal of his lifelong same-sex partner, Thomas), the puzzle pieces finally fit together for James, and the decision to accept his father for who he truly is becomes his to make.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Rob Mayes — Director
Rob Mayes is an actor and country artist/songwriter best known for his role in the ABC series Mistresses and the Sundance cult-classic John Dies at the End which he co-stars with Paul Giamatti. Rob took home Best Actor at the 2020 Wild Bunch Film Festival for A Soldiers Revenge which he stars in opposite Val Kilmer & Jake Busey. He can be seen in the biopic 5000 Blankets opposite Anna Camp which premiered in 1200 theatres nationwide and features 3 of Rob’s songs. He recently finished filming comedy Lost & Found in Cleveland opposite Martin Sheen, Jon Lovitz, and Dennis Haysbert. Most recently Rob can be seen in The Neon Highway which he co-stars with Beau Bridges and which debuted in Netflix’s Top Ten for all films in the United States. He’s also in Liongates’s The Desperate Riders opposite Trace Adkins as well as CBS’ Tracker, Paramount’s Lioness, and ABC’s The Rookie. With years of experience on film and television sets, Rob has worked with several inspiring directors. He’s eager to make his directorial debut with The Cabin. 

Andrew Carlberg — Producer
In 2013, Andrew was named one of “Hollywood’s New Leaders” by Variety alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mindy Kaling, and Andy Samberg. Since then, Andrew moved on to become an Academy award and Emmy Award winning film, television, new media, Broadway, and Los Angeles stage producer. Andrew’s extensive credits include, but aren’t limited to, Some Girls(s), starring Adam Brody and Kristen Bell, which premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival; Sun Dogs, which was the feature directorial debut of actress Jennifer Morrison (Netflix 2018); The Blazing World (short and feature) which was an Official Sundance Selection; The Dramatics starring Kat Foster, Pablo Schreiber and Sean Astin; DIRTY WEEKEND starring Matthew Broderick and Alice Eve; SISTER OF THE GROOM, starring Alicia Silverstone and Tom Everett Scott and released by Saban Films; and the HBOMax drama THE FALLOUT starring Jenna Ortega which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and won the Grand Jury and Audience Award. Notably, Andrew was the producer of SKIN, which won the 2019 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film. Andrew has sold projects to HBO, Netflix, CBS, DirecTV, and more.

Casey Baker — Writer/Producer
Casey’s first feature screenplay, Somebody Loved, is an autobiographical story about a son who privately struggles with his sexuality and relocates to his rural hometown in upstate New York when his mother is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Amy Brenneman is set to star. The script won best LGBTQ Screenplay at the 2023 Big Apple Film Festival. Casey’s script, The Cabin, was a quarter-finalist at the 2023 Nashville Film Festival. He has three other feature films in development including Click, a thriller directed by Haylie Duff, Hunch, a sci-fi romance directed by Nicos Beatty, and Chelsea, a biopic about transgender military private, Chelsea Manning, which Casey wrote as a courtroom drama under the guidance of his mentors, John Collee and Fred Schepisi.

Derek Bauer — Cinematographer
Derek is an award-winning cinematographer based in Santa Monica, CA. Derek has shot films, scripted series, documentaries, and commercials. He is best known for Where the Wind Blows (2025), Don’t Tell Larry (2025), Mr. Student Body President Series (2016-2017), The 24-Hour War (2016), Butterfly Caught (2015), and Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman (2015). His commercial clients include Ruffles, Audi USA, Nissan, Adidas, and Universal’s Jurassic World. In 2021, Derek completed his first feature film, Two Yellow Lines, as both writer and director. The film was picked up for distribution by 101 Studios. Originally from Seattle, Derek graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Drama. While attending university, he was 1 of 15 selected students to participate in the Theater Directing Program. He is a member of the International Cinematographer’s Guild, a dedicated father and lives to ski, mountain bike, and travel.

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Contact

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