Back in 2007, I was a massive fan of the Canadian rock musician Matthew Good. I followed his blog religiously, so when he announced a fan contest to direct a music video for his upcoming track “Born Losers,” I was completely dialed in. I had a vision, and by some absolute miracle, the stars aligned to pull the right crew together.
My wife, Erika, had recently reconnected with her good friend Keri from high school. Keri was dating Noah, who happened to be a working actor—and not just scraping by, either. He was voicing a cartoon on YTV and hosting prestigious gala award shows. Erika pitched them the idea, and they loved it. We made a chaotic, beautiful day of it, shooting guerrilla-style around Midland and at our house, fueled purely by adrenaline and donuts, with our then-toddler, Tyler, hanging out in the background.
The post-production became a beautiful obsession. I spent the next couple of weeks meticulously editing the footage every single evening. I even found myself sneaking edits at my day job, grinding away on it between client projects the second my boss turned their back. I had to get it done. There were specific effects shots where the photographs needed to remain in color while the rest of the scene was stark black and white. It wasn’t a quick toggle back then; it was hours of agonizing, frame-by-frame rotoscoping to get the visual impact just right.
The grind paid off. When I finally sent the cut to Matthew Good, the validation was instantaneous. Within hours, he replied with exactly the kind of email you dream of getting from an artist you admire: “Fucking Excellent Nate! Fucking Excellent!” The very next morning, he posted on his blog that he was shutting the entire competition down early because my submission had won.
It was an incredible high, followed immediately by a very strange hangover. The blog post didn’t stay up for long, and there was no grand prize or lasting official acknowledgment beyond a brief spotlight.
What did linger, however, was the audience reaction. The video racked up a lot of views—way more than I was used to—and with that exposure came a shocking wave of internet vitriol. There was a lot of love, sure, but the friends of the rival filmmakers who hadn’t won were furious that the contest ended early, and they made sure I knew it. Getting hit with that kind of vocal, public hate was something I was entirely unprepared for.
Looking back, the internet drama is just a funny footnote. The pride in what we actually built is what stuck around. Keri and Noah eventually got married, and Noah traded our donut-fueled indie shoots for hosting gigs like Carnival Eats on the Food Network.
The video itself remains a time capsule—a product of stolen moments at the day job, agonizing late-night rotoscoping, and a genuine love for the music. It might have ruffled the feathers of a few rival filmmakers, but it earned the exact stamp of approval I was chasing.
So, here it is. The video that shut down the “Born Losers” contest.
