Nils Taylor is a director writer and graduate of Chapman University with an MFA in film production, where he was mentored by notable film director John Badham. Nils has traveled the film festival circuit where his previous films have attracted national and international acclaim, including his short-film The Fighting Kind, which won the Hatchfest Groundbreaker Award in 2010. The graphic violence of Quarries is proportionate with each character's desire for self-preservation. With death coming for them in a very real way, they are left with the minutiae of what is most valuable in their lives: the relationships the have with themselves and each other. My writing partner and I wanted to write a simple story about lonely, damaged people struggling against the uncertainty of life. The brutality that unfolds is affecting, but we never wanted it to overshadow the character's journey. The character of Jean offers the girls a quote '"The jungle is neutral, it builds on what you bring it. If you're weak, it will break you." With Quarries we wanted to look at how the indifference of our environment challenges an individual's search for deep and personal change. We knew it would be difficult to produce a feature film given our extremely low budget, but we believed it was possible if we were to challenge the standard methods of modern production and aim for something more intimate. Most of the film took place in one location, which challenged the cast and crew to use the expressive landscape to mirror and amplify the character's emotions, serving as an integral part in the telling of the story. Jean's quote at the beginning of the film applied to all of us. Read less