The Telemarketer wins “Best Lead Actor”

And the award for best actor goes to...John Patrick D'Arcy!

What can I say? From the moment David Kocher told me about this concept, I knew it had to be John. I had the pleasure of watching him work at our sadly now closed Actor's Workout Studio and was mesmerized by his talent every week.

It was a crowded field of acting chops that were showcased over the weekend, and there was no distinction between male and female lead actor - John was honored with the best performance across the board, and I would be lying if I didn't say he deserved to be celebrated like this.

The man was on screen for 90% of the time, making something that is very hard to do look effortless, which is bringing real emotion and gravitas to his performance while being fed lines to phone calls that had yet to be recorded...all with the camera right up in his face.

He goes from charming, to dejected, to scared, to desperate, to blinded with rage, to creepy, to gloating, and all the way back around to charming over the course of 8 1/2 minutes. I'd love to be able to say I pulled this out of him, but John was born to perform and we were so lucky that he was up for being The Telemarketer.

Thank you John for your amazing performance, to Happy Fright Film Festival for honoring him, and to Oz for the wonderful presentation!

Shoutout to Tanya Linette Smith for those wild layered reps and to my dear Ellie for her support!

Watch the acceptance speech on Instagram @JustinCooperHankinson