Work samples

  • Tori - Trailer
    A successful Type A security expert has to have a home monitoring system installed and realizes that her biggest problem maybe what happens in her own home.

    Official selection 2020 Maryland Film Festival
  • The Love Within
    The Love Within 2016 was our first attempt at a festival quality movie utilizing the best cast and crew available in the greater Baltimore area highlighted by the opportunity for onset training for numerous students of film outside a university setting.

About Eric

Baltimore City
Eric. R. Cotten was born and raised in the low rise projects of West Baltimore. Seeking a better life, he put himself through college and became a critical care nurse. He was always torn between the practical world of making money, helping others, and his creative side which revolved around storytelling. 

After an near fatal car accident, he decided to diversify his income stream by starting a real estate business, which eventually grew into a very successful  operation. 
more
Jump to a project:

Scrunchies

A failed writer is tasked with completing her dead daughter's film treatment but first she has to overcome her demons related to the death of her family, which she caused.
  • Scrunchies
    Password: scrunchies
  • Scrunchies
    A failed writer is tasked with completing her dead daughter's film treatment but first she has to overcome her demons related to the death of her family, which she caused.
  • Scrunchies

Ashburton

ASHBURTON is a ten-part episodic examining the changing cultural and socio-economic pressure on a middle-class family in West Baltimore.
The story revolves around Dean Reed, investment community marketing genius and his loving dentist wife Terri, as they suffer through the downturn in the California housing industry compounding the loss of their crypto investments. At wit’s end they decide to return to Baltimore to re- calibrate their careers and support Dean’s aging parents.
Terri is a dedicated wife, who supports her husband’s failed attempts at financial success.  Her dental career is stable but second to her role as wife.
Glenn and Rose, Dean’s parents are solid foundations of the Ashburton community. They pride themselves on setting an example for their children. They encouraged honest hard work. They are physically strong, and work on their health on a regular basis.
Returning to the family home stresses Dean because of the success of his sibling, his history of business failure and internal sense of failing his family.
The environment he returns to is loving and supportive but challenging because of the strong personalities of the family and their naïve attitude towards the pending gentrification of the community. His sibling all are developing dynamic careers while supporting his parents.
Upon returning to Baltimore, Dean realizes that many of the socio-economic realities that he faced in his California career were pressuring his family and parents into difficult decisions. The primary one being the rapid gentrification of his community - Ashburton.
How will Dean navigate his questionable career in marketing which destroyed Black communities in California with supporting his family and community in Baltimore?

  • Ashburton PD Final 4.0.pdf
    Ashburton is a project rooted in my own childhood and the legacy of my community.

    The community of Ashburton has been the traditional epicenter of the Black middle class in Baltimore. The home of mayors, nurses, doctors and business leaders.

    The Ashburton production will serve multiple functions:

    It will provide the viewing public with a very positive, historically accurate portrayal of one the most important areas of Baltimore.

    The production team will incorporate as much local talent as possible with a goal of elevating their resumes and provide essential on camera footage.

    In cooperation with several local film groups (including the Baltimore Filmmakers Collective) we will provide "on set" skill training for Baltimore residences who want to develop marketable skills so that they get jobs in the non - union film community.

Church Hat

Church Hat is based on personal experiences . It 's the loving story of an Afro-Carribbean middle class parents dealing with the natural gender curiosity of their son and how their navigate his actions in a sensitive and satifying manner.  

I met the book author Debra Williams at the Toronto International Film Festival (2022). She had just self published the book to much local acclaim.  We discussed the further development of the book into a short animated film, along the lines of the Acedemy awarding winning HAIR LOVE (2019). Since September 2022 an amazing team of Sundance alum, Baltimore creators and Canadian funders have signed on to the project.  

I was tasked with adapting the book into a short script and sign on as a producer.  

The goal is have filming completed by August 2023.  
  • CHURCH Hat Baker Award.pdf

Tori

Tori is an existentialist exercise in examining the juxtaposition of reality and fantasy as filtered by career expectations and inherent personal fears.
  • Tori
    A successful Type A security expert has to have a home monitoring system installed and realizes that her biggest problem maybe what happens in her own home.

    Official selection 2020 Maryland Film Festival
  • Tori_stillz_Official Selection2 - Copy.jpg
  • Tori_still1.PNG
  • Tori_still2.png
  • Tori_still3.png
  • Tori_still4.PNG
  • Tori_still6.PNG

Sea Monster

Sea Monster is a community collaboration between the Baltimore Filmmakers Collective and Filmmaker Miceal O'Donnell.
This is a "WTF" short examining a mundane idea taken to its unnatural uncomfortable ending.
  • Sea Monster - Short Clip
    Short clip from the short film, "Sea Monster."

    Heather dares Sydney to sleep with the "big man" on campus, and gets more than she bargained for.

    Starring Alexandra Clear, Aurora O'Greenfield, and Zach Michel. Produced by Eileen O'Donnell. Cinematography by Travis Whitworth. Music by Rick Szybowski.
  • Still1.PNG
  • Still2.PNG
  • Still3.PNG

Lucid

  • Lucid
    Lucid tells the story of Dawn and the road she takes to cope with the loss of her mother. There are worlds where things can seem so real.

    BIBFF Audience Award "Best Narrative" Winner 2018
  • IMG_3416.JPG
  • IMG_3417.JPG
  • IMG_3419.JPG
  • lucidstill1.PNG

Blue Light

  • Blue Light - web series - Episode 1
    This was a collaboration between the Baltimore Filmmakers Collective, writer director Miceal O'Donnell and students of his acting class. Blue Light is a psychological study of one woman's experience in a "Twighlight Zone-ish" world.

    Created for the Charm City Fringe Festival.