Filmmaking
While Stellastarr was on the Hot Fuss Tour alongside the Killers in 2004, Christensen collaborated with Jason Dolan on a feature-length spec script for a drama called Sidney Hall - he shared it with Paul Wesley, who presented it to William Morris Endeavor, resulting in the signing of both screenwriters. Christensen and Dolan further collaborated on other spec scripts during the mid-2000s, including a psychological thriller called Enter Nowhere. Christensen independently penned an Alfred Hitchcock-inspired thriller, Abduction, and a science-fiction drama, The Karma Coalition. The screenplays for Sidney Hall and The Karma Coalition were sold in 2008, to Scott Free Productions and Warner Bros., respectively.
After a week-long bidding war in February 2010, Lionsgate Films acquired the screenplay for Abduction, with actor Taylor Lautner attached. Jeffrey Nachmanoff rewrote the screenplay and the film began production the following July. In 2011, Jack Heller directed Enter Nowhere, with Christensen & Dolan credited as executive producers. It was acquired by Lionsgate for a direct-to-DVD release, prior to its October premiere at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival.
Disillusioned from studios retrofitting his screenplays, Christensen rebooted his filmmaking career, to focus on directing. He wrote a screenplay in 2011 for a short film for him to direct and co-star in called Curfew. Two days prior to shooting a dance scene, negotiations with the artists behind the accompanying song failed, leading to the filming of cast members dancing to the original song, while Christensen composed a single, "Sophia So Far", to replace it. For two weeks, editor Evan Henke edited Curfew, before Christensen took over and edited the film on his MacBook Pro in his living room for the rest of 2011. Curfew premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in January 2012, to critical acclaim, numerous festival screenings and awards for Christensen's acting, directing and writing. At the 85th Academy Awards, Curfew won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
Prior to Curfew's success, Paul Wesley took an interest in the short film and together with Christensen and his producing partner, Damon Russell, collaborated to develop a feature-length adaptation. The film, titled Before I Disappear, premiered at South by Southwest on March 10, 2014, and won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature. Before I Disappear went on to have a successful festival run, with distinctions including an official selection at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. IFC Films was announced to have acquired the North American distribution rights for Before I Disappear in August 2014 and the film was released on video on demand, concurrent with a limited theatrical release the following November.
Per the Writers Guild of America, East Separated Rights, the rights to Sidney Hall reverted to Christensen in 2014, after five years of no development. Christensen opted to independently produce it through Jonathan Schwartz's Super Crispy Entertainment banner, as well as his own Fuzzy Logic Pictures banner. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. Sidney Hall was acquired for distribution by A24 and DirecTV in April 2017, with DirecTV providing an exclusive pre-release prior to its theatrical release. The film, re-titled The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, was released in theaters on March 2, 2018.
