The Picture in the House

When Nick, a hard-working photographer and Ronnie Lee, a passionate theater costumer and cosmetologist, got married they decided that in lieu of a honeymoon, they would make their first ever short film, "The Picture in House". They did so under the notion that a vacation lasts for a week; a film will last forever.

The two met in high school when cast as a married couple in a dramatic duet speech team event and have been an inseparable creative force ever since. Sharing a combined passion for exploring queer pulp genre narratives, they founded Cosmic Egg Productions and have dubbed their style as Queer'd Fiction (a play on Queer Films and Weird Fiction). They seek to illustrate some of their unique personal fears and challenges as queer folks through the lens of Cosmic Horror.

Before embarking on their filmmaking journey they honed their performance, directing, and writing skills through a Meisner acting and improv program with Green Shirt Studios in Chicago.

Based in Elgin (but spending the majority of their free-time in Chicago) The Cartwrights have also begun building a vast creative network in the Chicago film scene and beyond. They have several projects in the works.