Work samples

  • DUMMY Trailer (2024)

    In a series of vignettes, a desperate musician on a pilgrimage for fame is haunted by a peculiar ensemble of locals throughout the course of one day in Baltimore. 

     

  • Poolboy

    Poolboy is a short film written and directed by Wiley Hopkins. 

  • So It Goes (2018)

    So It Goes is a short film written and directed by Harish Chatrathi starring and produced by Wiley Hopkins. 

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About Wiley

Baltimore City

Wiley is an writer, actor and filmmaker from Baltimore, Maryland. He is a graduate of Skidmore College with a BFA in English and a minor in Film Studies . He has been involved in a number of local productions in the DMV area and is currently under production for his debut feature film.  

View Wiley's Resume
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DUMMY (2024)

Dummy is a feature film that I wrote, and am directing and starring in. This project is my first feature length film that I've spent the last two years making since its inception. We started production in the fall of 2023 and have filmed around sixty percent of our script. We are currently trying to find more financing to get through the next stage of production, and working with a limited budget we have been able to get incredible footage considering our financial restrictions. In order for us to maintain the quality of production value we are seeking various executive producers and grant opportunities to complete the production and post production phases of Dummy. We have cast all local Baltimore talent, which mainly consists of regular people with limited to no acting experience and wrote the roles for them accordingly. The funds I am seeking are to pay these actors and crew members for their commitment to this film, as well as allocate resources for necessary rental equipment and location cost moving forward. 

  • Dummy Production Overview
    Dummy Production Overview

    • Balm in Gilead

    In the Spring of 2017, Wiley was cast as 'Dopey' in Landford Wilson's acclaimed off broadway play, Balm in Gilead, for his debut in a main stage production at Skidmore College. In only his second time on stage, Wiley delivered an erratic and charismatic take on the role of strung out, derelict narrator. The performance won him an award that spring in the Skidmore College Theater Department for excellence and originality. 

    • Balm in Gilead (2017)
      Balm in Gilead (2017)

      The vagrants on the corner talking about the state of their world.

    • Balm In Gilead (2017)
      Balm In Gilead (2017)

      'Dopey' delivers one of his whimsical and foreboding monologues with omniscience; explaining the protagonist's fate to the audience. 

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    • Warping Through the Weft of Time: The Story of the Women Weavers of the Remote Himalayas

    In the fall of 2017, I traveled throughout Nepal where I conducted research for an ethnography that I wrote for SIT Study Abroad. After living in Kathmandu with my host father for three months, I left for the mountains. Over the course of twenty two days I conducted research traveling to certain villages in the valleys of Tsum and Nubri along the Tibetan plateau. I interviewed mothers and grandmothers about the craft of weaving and the preservation of traditional Himalayan culture though hand woven textiles like rugs, aprons, handbags and ceremonial garb. This story examines the practice of rural weaving traditions in the Ghorka district’s Tsum valley and Nubri and my journey in search of the weavers of these communities. The work profiled practitioners and connoisseurs of the ancient craft that I met throughout my travels; vignettes that reflect issues of identity and social change as a result of western influence and the progression of modernity. I focused my research in terms of rural heritage in relation to macro influences that have threatened the culture of Tibetan communities. But most of all, this project’s aim is to be a personal exposé of Himalayans who have been influenced by this cultural nuance, with stories to share of their past or present changes. I completed my research in both the Tsum and Nubri valleys, conducting interviews in the homes of local woman who shared their craft and personal stories with me. Each profile is rendered in narrative form as an account of the people and places observed through the rich story of the traditional weaving from rural mountain communities that only recently opened to outside influence within the last thirty or so years. In short, is the rural practice of weaving being overtaken by either Nepalese urban industry or Chinese trade control in border communities of the Himalayas? Are the local weavers seeing their craft slowly fade into the periphery of everyday life, wondering if weaving will last or fade into a glimpse on horizon of tradition?  

    • Spinsters in the Distance (2017)
      Spinsters in the Distance (2017)

      A woman on the outskirts of the village of Chokang Paro spins wool into yarn as she walks the road through town. 

    • Grandmother in Chumchet (2017)
      Grandmother in Chumchet (2017)

      Nga Wong Dolma from the village of Chumchet, sits with her two grandchildren. At the time, Nga Wong was raising her grandchildren after the tragic passing of her daughter in law. Like many Himalayan women her age, she is an avid weaver of many traditional items like the den (carpet), pankep (apron), and kara (belt). She introduced us to the many aspects of the craft, and the tools required for the production process of these handcrafted items. Because of the furthering education opportunities for younger Himalayan women, many of them cannot weave. Nga Wong is like many from an older generation who are trying to preserve the craft and produce as many items as possible for future generations, considering the affects of social change. 

    • Ashing In Yari, Humla (2017)
      Ashing In Yari, Humla (2017)

      Ashing or "auntie" is working hard in the field preparing for winter, which was approaching quickly, the first snow fall only a week or so away. 

    • The Road to Chokong Paro (2017)
      The Road to Chokong Paro (2017)

      This path takes travelers all the way to the mountain pass that leads into Tibet. It passes through many villages in Tsum Valley along the way. The road serves local villagers and trekkers alike as Ganesh Himal (Mt. Ganesh) looms in the distance. 

    • Wool Drying (2017)
      Wool Drying (2017)

      Tibetan wool from the other side of the mountains is dried in the sun as a part of the curing process before it is spun and often dyed. Local weavers usually use a mix of local wool and processed wool that is brought from Kathmandu to be traded or purchased out right.  

    • High Above Simikot (2017)
      High Above Simikot (2017)

      A local of Nepal's most western district, Humla, takes rest after hauling a bundle of sticks back to her village.  

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    • Visual Art

    A collection of some of my visual art. 

    • Talk Talk (2023)
      Talk Talk (2023)

      Talk Talk is piece for a series called "Stories I'll Never Write", where I come up with a  film idea that would be impossible to make. Talk Talk is a dystopian horror where a chronically ill bio technician, Eugene (Chris Farley) kidnaps a pop star Guy Friday (Jacob Elordi) and uses his body as a vessel for his brilliant yet disturbed mind. The experiment is a success and Guy (Elordi), now Eugene (Farley), attempts to kill his former celebrity self which is inhabited by Eugene's mind. It is only revealed that this experiment was successful at the end of the film as throughout we are meant to believe Eugene (Farley), is rather just a delusional super fan who has convinced himself that he is trapped in the wrong body. 

    • Sleeping Faces (2023)
      Sleeping Faces (2023)
    • Invisible Cities (2021)
      Invisible Cities (2021)
    • Oh Dear (2016)
      Oh Dear (2016)
    • Telefun (2023)
      Telefun (2023)

      Telefun is piece for a series called "Stories I'll Never Write", where I come up with a film idea that would be impossible to make. A lonely home inspector (Jim Carrey) is tricked by a salacious and indignant grunge girl (Winona Ryder) when he accidentally calls the wrong number and she answers. 

    • Alien Poles (2016)
      Alien Poles (2016)
    • No Big Heart (2023)
      No Big Heart (2023)

      No Big Heart is a piece from my series called, "Stories I'll Never Write" where I imagine a film that would be impossible to make. No Big Heart is a comedy/adventure feature film about Bobby Heart (Michael Douglas) who is fed up with his banal job and being a pushover, cuckold to his adulterous wife Millicent (Michelle Pfeiffer). Bobby has a mental breakdown, kidnaps Millie at gunpoint and steals a small plane to Las Vegas, where he embezzles his in-laws for money that he gambles with the help of a loud mouthed, card counting thirteen year old genius orphan named Max (Corey Feldman), pretending to be their son. 

    • Nothing Head (2018)
      Nothing Head (2018)
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    • Audio Work

    Audio work and manipulating the possibilities of sound have always been of interest to me. I've included a few audio projects with a wide variety of category to them, from audio documentary and audio narrative work, to pieces that are more experimental and chaotic. 

    • A Distant Episode (2019)

      A Distant Episode is a dystopian short story that briefly outlines a future America through a soon to be prophet of the people, Hope Namesake, who disobeys the authoritative technocratic world he is living in. 

    • Everything You See Before You Die (2019)

      Everything You See Before You Die is an audio piece that is exactly its title, an auditory and sensory overload of over one hundred different samples from American pop culture, old voicemails and everything between. It tells the story of a life through sound and everything I imagined hearing at the end of it. 

    • What Americans Don't Want to Talk About (2019)

      What Americans Don't Want to Talk About is an audio documentary from 2019, where I met an interesting character in town who agreed to discuss the state of America during the Trump years and what the future holds for our country. 

    • Welcome to the Monkey House (2019)

      Welcome to the Monkey House,  is an audio piece from 2019, it is a bizarre manipulation of sound. Sampling different things like Terrance Mckenna and chimpanzees and mixing them with haunting synthesizers and a washy oboe. 

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