Short Films

DEMO JAIL

Released: April 2006

A short comedy segment PTA directed for The Showbiz Show with David Spade featuring a dude trying to get Spade to listen to his band's demo tape. A possible pre-cursor to the "Portlandia" DJ Night sketch?

BLOSSOMS & BLOOD

Released: 2003

A 12 minute assemblage of various deleted bits and alternate takes from "Punch-Drunk Love".  Originally included on the DVD.

COUCH

Released: 2003

A very silly 2 minute black and white short featuring Adam Sandler as a man shopping for a couch. Originally premiered on Sandler's official site.

SNL FANatic

Released: 2000

A very funny parody of MTV's FANatic complete with slow motion, rock tunes in the background & lots of emotion.... PTA is a fan of SNL, Fiona was performing & he's good friends with Molly Shannon, so he thought it would be fun to put something together for the show.

FLAGPOLE SPECIAL

Released: 1998

This 17 minute short was shot by PTA featured a locked-off take on digital video of the torsos of two guys - a long haired, bicycle panted, chubby ranting about women as his pal idly strums his electric guitar. Based on a conversation Anderson found on a discarded audiotape, the characters, portrayed by actors John C. Reilly and Chris Penn, managed to keep up their inane dialogue for an irresistibly mind-boggling amount of time like a flesh-and-blood Beavis and Butthead.

CIGARETTES & COFFEE

Released: 1993

Paul borrowed a camera to shoot this short film. Cigarettes & Coffee premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival in the Shorts Program II. From that short, he was able to develop a feature at the Sundance Institute’s Filmmaker’s’ Workshop. The result was Hard Eight, starring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Samuel L. Jackson, which screened at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

THE DIRK DIGGLER STORY

Released: 1988

A 31 minute short film shot by Paul when he was just seventeen years old. It was written and shot like a Spinal Tap documentary about the rise and fall of Dirk Diggler.