Behind the Scenes

Following the "coup" at the Old Ship Saloon, where Daryl Della handed the producing reins to Becker Von Felsburg, the tempo of Dollars & Donuts shifted overnight. Daryl went to Becker’s apartment to map out the strategy for the remainder of the year and found himself in a state of creative euphoria. Gone were the endless spreadsheets, the stalling tactics, and the exhausting necessity of explaining basic concepts to Michael Martin. In their place was pure kinetic energy.

Working at what Daryl described as "the speed of thought," the new duo accomplished in one hour what typically took months. Becker was on the phone immediately, securing Sasha Boggs for The Tattoo and Sierra Totten for Number Nine within minutes. By the time they ordered food, they had a budget, a cast, and a calendar. The plan was borderline masochistic: they would film three complete short films—Number Nine, The Tattoo, and The Neighbor—entirely within the month of August. This grueling schedule was the only way to meet Daryl’s deadline for an October premiere of the Welcome to the Strange anthology. It was crazy, it was exhausting, and for the first time in years, the team felt alive.

Becker Von Felsburg fronted the majority of the costs, putting his money where his mouth was. Toward the end of the production, Michael stepped back in with a financial contribution to reclaim his "Executive Producer" credit. Michael had claimed he didn't want to work, but seeing the machine run so smoothly without him clearly stung.

The centerpiece of this frantic production slate was Number Nine, a psychological thriller that served as another resurrection from the Hank Della archive. Originally titled Copycat and based on an old short story, the script was retitled to Number Nine—a name salvaged from an unfinished Dollars & Donuts project from years prior. Ray Revello took on the role of Tom Harley, a man paralyzed by indecision, while Chris Ross was cast as his alpha-male foil. In a nod to the studio’s deep lore, Kristin Mayer was brought back to play Tom’s bitchy wife, Monica; Kristin had starred in the original, unfinished Number Nine, making her return a quiet closing of a long-open circle.

For the visual language of the film, Daryl adopted a strict stylistic discipline. He decided to direct the film entirely within the "headspace of David Fincher," suppressing his own instincts in favor of the clinical, calculated coldness associated with the director of Seven. He utilized the West Portal gym where Chris Ross worked as a trainer, incorporating shots of the treadmill overlooking the foggy San Francisco streets to create an atmosphere of urban isolation. The experiment was a massive success; to this day, Daryl views the shots in Number Nine with a sense of pleasant surprise, as if they were directed by a talented stranger.

Embedded within the narrative was a potent symbol of Daryl’s worldview: the Indian Head penny. In a scene not found in Hank’s original script, Ray’s character stands in the fog, staring down at the coin, paralyzed by the simple choice of whether to pick it up. When Chris Ross’s character exits the gym, he snatches the penny without breaking stride. The moment was a blunt visual metaphor for Daryl’s disgust with inaction, a trait he found intolerable in both life and business. The prop itself was a genuine Indian Head penny given to Daryl by his grandmother, chosen for its unique visual profile and as a sly reference to the Native American motifs in The Shining.

In Hank’s original script, the twist revealed that the "SOMA Slasher" was a man dressed as a woman, a trope reminiscent of 1980s thrillers like Dressed to Kill. Daryl preferred to sidestep the topic entirely, choosing to excise the cross-dressing element simply because he didn't want to include that demographic in his film. He opted to change the killer to a actual female, played by Sierra Totten. While this aligned with his personal preferences, it created a narrative plot hole: the police sketches shown on the news clearly resembled a man (specifically Ray), which no longer matched the reveal. Daryl rationalized this as a commentary on "Fake News"—the idea that the media’s incompetence and lying was what galvanized Tom’s breakdown.

Hank Della never verbally objected during the production, but the silence spoke volumes. At the premiere of Welcome to the Strange, Hank appeared visibly disappointed and displeased, offering little conversation to his son. Daryl sensed that his father felt the twist had been neutered and the story compromised by the removal of the original concept. It was a muddled message, perhaps, but it was the price paid for speed and executive decision-making.