Experiencing Interruptions?

Touched by a Lawyer

Phil has an amazing ability: With a touch, he can see exactly one hour and eight minutes into someone’s past. Unfortunately, it seems to cause him nothing but trouble — especially at the office, where he is called in before the boss and lectured on “inappropriate touching.” His coworker Lily is convinced that his ability makes him a superhero, but Phil is hardly persuaded… until a chance bump with a new client shows him that he may have an opportunity to prove her right.

  • William R. Coughlan
    Director
    Tex: Wisdom of the Old West, Number One With a Bullet
  • Robin Brande
    Writer
  • Pam W. Coughlan
    Producer
  • Nello DeBlasio
    Key Cast
  • Mary Egan
    Key Cast
  • Nick DePinto
    Key Cast
  • Dan Foster
    Crew
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Superhero
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2011
  • Production Budget:
    500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.40:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 48 Hour Film Project
    Washington, DC
    United States
    May 4, 2011
    World Premiere
    “Best Of” Selection
  • Alexandria Film Festival
    Alexandria, Virginia
    United States
    November 4, 2011
    Virginia Premiere
  • TIVA Peer Awards 2011
    Washington, DC
    United States
    November 19, 2011
    Silver Award: Editing - Fiction, Short
  • Central Michigan International Film Festival
    Mount Pleasant, Michigan
    United States
    February 12, 2017
    Michigan Premiere
  • Indiana Comic Con Film Festival
    Indianapolis, Indiana
    United States
    April 15, 2017
    Indiana Premiere
  • Ocean City Film Festival
    Ocean City, Maryland
    United States
    June 9, 2017
    Maryland Premiere
  • Tampa Bay Comic Con Film Festival
    Tampa, Florida
    United States
    July 29, 2017
    Florida Premiere
  • San Francisco Comic Con Film Festival
    San Francisco, California
    United States
    September 1, 2017
    California Premiere
  • Movie Night at the Evening Star Cafe
    Alexandria, Virginia
    United States
    May 27, 2018
  • Comedy World Network Film Festival
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    United States
    December 1, 2018
    Nevada Premiere
  • LTUE Film Festival
    Provo, Utah
    United States
    February 15, 2019
    Utah Premiere
  • Cleveland Concoction Cinema Festival
    Aurora, OH
    United States
    March 3, 2019
    Ohio Premiere
    Finalist
Director Biography - William R. Coughlan

William R. Coughlan is an award-winning screenwriter and director, and founder and CEO of independent video production company Tohubohu Productions, LLC. He worked for several years with The Advisory Board Company (and its offshoot companies, CEB and EAB) in Washington, D.C., where he began as a graphic designer before creating a full-service in-house video and multimedia department, and then eventually moving into the ranks of creative department management. In addition, he provides creative oversight for the global public affairs firm EGA, is the Creative Director of Jabberwocky Audio Theater, and served for several years on the Board of Directors for TIVA, the Television, Internet, and Video Association of DC, Inc., filling the roles of Treasurer and Vice President before finishing his tenure as President. He also enjoys acting, voiceover performance, design and illustration, editing, animation, and writing autobiographical comments in the third person. He is the illustrator of the therapeutic workbook Stories for Children with Problems & Wishes, has provided schematic graphics for several HBS case studies, designed the acclaimed Protégé clay poker chip line, served as the Critic at Large for the online literary magazine Inkblots, has been a judge for both the TIVA Peer Awards and the Emmy Awards, founded and co-hosted the long-running Tohubohu Producer Podcast, and is an accomplished animator and ambigram artist. He currently resides at a secret compound in Northern Virginia.

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Director Statement

An almost universal assumption in the “superhero film“ genre is that a person with extraordinary abilities will naturally gravitate toward either heroism or villainy. But in the real world, the vast majority of “mutations” are frightfully minor, providing no evolutionary advantage or disadvantage whatsoever; it would seem only logical that most so-called “superpowers” would follow the same distribution. That said, in a world where the superhero film has gone mainstream, it would be all too easy for anyone granted such powers — regardless of how insignificant they may be — to feel woefully inadequate if those extraordinary gifts did not allow for extraordinary heroism. So with “Touched by a Lawyer,” writer Robin Brande and I decided to pose the question, “What if circumstances were exactly right to give a heretofore-unremarkable ‘superhero’ the once-in-a-lifetime chance to actually become the hero he has always longed to be?”