Ziad Semaan wrote and directed his first short film in late 2006. Eager to get behind the camera and start putting some of his writing on screen, this first project called The Adventures of Thaddeus Wharton, shot by DOP Adrianna Tsigaras and starring Sebastian Street, is expected to be completed later this year. When Thaddeus Wharton begins to fall asleep in the strangest of places and much to his annoyance, without his control, Thaddeus begins a series of unconventional and inconclusive experiments to uncover who exactly is in control of when he falls asleep.

The Big Smoke Also in the works is an animated short called The Big Smoke, co-written with Nick North, set for completion in 2008. NIGEL CASE is a 1940s, hard boiled private eye, straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel. Couped up in his authentic time-capsule of an office, Case talks the talk, doing his best to live the adventure of heroes like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. The only problem is Case is a twenty-something British graduate who lives in 2005 London. Outside of his office and in the real world, Nigel Case sticks out like a hamburger in a fruit bowl. When he returns home to Berkshire for the weekend, it all becomes clear that the son of a middle-class family is living a fantasy that borders on delusional at the expense of his long-suffering parents. The private eye shtick is relentless even in front of his family, and his sister LAURA, for one, has had quite enough. But when MRS. MALLORY walks through his door to report the robbery of a precious artifact being held for ransom, Case believes he’s met his “femme fatale”, and is suddenly drawn into a world of betrayal and blackmail. A professional toy collector, Mrs. Mallory informs Case that her prize possession, an original toy Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, has been stolen from her home. Convinced of the existence of a sinister underworld of unscrupulous toy collectors, Case launches himself into the investigation with characteristically misguided enthusiasm. But his obsession with playing detective without regard for the consequences backfires when he finds himself in over his head. In real life, the criminals aren’t so easy to handle…  THE BIG SMOKE is an off-beat comedy about a private eye without a clue. It is a black and white homage to the classic crime movies of the 1940’s and a playful spin on the film noir genre. But above all, this is a story of young man so immersed in a delusion of his own making that there is no turning back.

Other projects Other hobbies include spoof documentaries of close friends...