Nutmeg the Evil Elf
Meet the Director
Max Steele
Mission
Max Steele is an award winning director, editor, and motion graphics artist based in Marietta, Georgia. He has directed a variety of short horror films that have amassed thousands of views on YouTube (“SWITCH” having over 21,000 views) under his company VILLAIN SCOPE PRODUCTIONS. In 2020, he shot a series of short documentaries on the Lowndes High School Football Team. Max also co-directed “END OF SHIFT” which premiered at the South Georgia Film Festival in 2021.
In 2023, Max wrote and directed the award winning sci-fi horror film “residuum”. The film would go on to be accepted into several festivals all across the world, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Romania. “residuum” even won Best Sci-Fi Film at the 2024 Foothills Film Festival. Outside of directing, Max has also made a name for himself as a motion graphics artist. He most recently worked on the live graphics package for the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2025 and has worked for a variety of television
networks
In 2023 I lost my sister to cancer.
This was devastating for me and my family, but also reinforced how fragile life is.
How a diagnosis, an accident, a single moment can permanently change your life.
As filmmakers, we love to say “someday.” Someday I’ll write that script. Someday
I’ll make that film. But my sisters death proved “someday” isn’t promised.
That realization changed me.
Two months later, on a podcast I host, an offhand joke sparked an idea: an elf named
after a Christmas spice that kills people. Up till that point, I would’ve told myself I’ll
write it someday. But after my sister’s passing, the question became: why not today?
So I began writing, at 5:00 a.m. before my day job, sitting in my bedroom with my late
sister’s cat beside me, staring at the blank page and throwing down words to see
what stuck, thinking about Christmas year round, asking myself “can I make this kill
more festive?”. When people asked what I was working on, I’d say, “it’s about an evil
Christmas elf that kills people.” I’d get looks of fear and concern. That told me I was on
the right path.
When I wrote the second version of the feature with found footage elements, I created
two new characters: CaptainAndre, a late-twenties streamer trying desperately to find
direction in life when he feels like time is running out; and Mike, the once shy quiet
friend, now an adult with a family of his own, still wanting to support his friend who
he knows is wandering aimlessly through life. At times in life, I’ve been both these
people. The frustrated 20-something feeling like he’s stalled in life, and the former
quiet friend trying to break out of his extroverted friends shadow. Into their livestream
walks Nutmeg: a demented Christmas elf that’s strangely charismatic and impossible
to ignore. A festive maniac that’s a threat to their life, but offers Andre the thing he’s
been chasing. Attention.
It was an honor to lead a small cast and crew through the production of Nutmeg the
Evil Elf. We faced our own challenges along the way: first time practical effects,
unexpected job losses, and the ever-present doubt that comes with making something
so personal and strange. But the spirit of the project, its dark humor, its holiday chaos,
its bloody beating heart, carried us through. This film exists because I stopped waiting
for “someday.” It exists because grief taught me that creativity isn’t something to
postpone; it’s something to strive for. To wake up at 5:00 am for. To be absurd for. And
if that choice leads to a Christmas elf wreaking havoc on a livestream, well, so be it.
Max Steele
Writer / Director
Nutmeg The Evil Elf