Behind the Scenes of Peaking: A One-of-a-Kind Festival Film
Some projects land in your lap and you just know — this is something special. That's exactly how I felt when I came on board to work with comedian and filmmaker Brent Pella on two interconnected creative ventures: his upcoming feature film Peaking, and the real-life music festival built to bring it to life, Peak State.
What Is Peaking?
Peaking is a psychedelic comedy feature film written, directed by, and starring Brent Pella alongside his creative partner Nikki Howard. The story follows a couple who attends a transformational music festival and ends up having a life-changing experience — described as Superbad on acid at a remote music festival, and spiritually rooted in the ethos of Burning Man's ten principles.
The film is being produced through Brent's newly launched production company, Door 11 Studios, which is focused on character-driven comedic storytelling across film, TV, and live events. Peaking is one of their flagship projects — and the way they're shooting it is unlike anything I've seen done before.
Want to be part of it? Tickets are available by donation at didyoupeakyet.com. Support the Kickstarter campaign to help get the film fully funded, and follow @peakingmovie and @brentpella for updates.
The Festival That Is the Movie Set
Rather than building a fake festival on a soundstage, Brent and Nikki made a bold decision: throw a real festival and shoot the movie inside it.
Peak State Festival runs April 15–19, 2026 at Valkyrie Ranch in Austin, Texas — a donation-based, capped-at-1,000-person event with a full lineup of live music and arts. The festival is the film set. Attendees become the cast of extras. The energy is real. The performances are real. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, a feature film is being made.
It's a genuinely brilliant concept — and a logistical undertaking that requires serious coordination from every angle.
My Role: Where Music and Production Meet
I'm proud to be contributing to Peaking and Peak State in two distinct capacities.
As Music Supervisor for Peaking, I'm working to ensure that the music woven throughout the film serves the story, the tone, and the legal requirements of a feature film release. Music supervision is about more than picking great songs — it's about licensing, sync rights, artist relationships, and making sure every track earns its place in the narrative. For a film centered around festival culture, the soundtrack isn't background noise. It is the world.
As Technical Production Manager and Stage Manager for Peak State Festival, I'm on the ground making sure the live event runs the way it needs to — for both the audience and the film crew. That means managing stage logistics, coordinating technical requirements across all performance areas, interfacing with artists and their teams, and keeping everything on schedule so the camera department can capture what they need. When you're simultaneously running a music festival and shooting a movie, the margin for error is slim. Every cue, every set transition, and every technical element has to be locked in.
Why This Project Matters to Me
Austin has always been a city where music, art, and storytelling collide — and Peak State feels like a natural expression of that. Getting to apply my background in web, digital strategy, and production to something as boundary-pushing as this is exactly the kind of work I built Lion's Share Digital around: projects that sit at the intersection of creative culture and technical execution.
Brent and Nikki are doing something that hasn't really been done at this scale before. They're not waiting for Hollywood to green-light their vision — they're building the set, booking the bands, and making the movie themselves. That kind of creative courage deserves every ounce of support and expertise I can bring to the table.
Stay tuned. April is coming fast.
While the lead cast has already been selected, there’s an open invitation to attend. PEAK STATE is set to take place at the Valkyrie Ranch in Austin from April 15-19, 2026, with headlining performances from Equanimous, Goldcap, Ruby Chase, Savej and Skysia, among others.
It is a donation-based event with differing tiers. By donating $222 to their Kickstarter, you can secure a ticket to attend.
Check out the lineup below. If you want to get involved, you can fill out this form.
Follow Brent Pella:
X: x.com/BrentPella
TikTok: tiktok.com/@brentpella
Instagram: instagram.com/brentpella
Facebook: facebook.com/BrentPellaComedy
YouTube: youtube.com/brentpella
