An up-and-coming writer refuses to leave the spotlight when his best friend and debate opponent suffers cardiac arrest, leading to an obsession over his new opponent and a growing rift with his ailing wife.

The Way We Speak stars Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin in Better Call Saul), Diana Coconubo (Law & Order: SVU), Ayanna Berkshire (Wendy and Lucy), Kailey Rhodes (Breakup Season), Lowell Deo (Z Nation), and Reed Diamond (Moneyball).

Since the beginning of principal photography on The Way We Speak, Patrick earned a nomination for his role in Better Call Saul at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards, Ayanna starred with Daisy Ridley in Sometimes I Think About Dying which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and Ian won Best Director for Pinwheel Horizon at the 2023 Accolade Global Film Competition.

The Way We Speak is the first film in North America to shoot with Leitz ELSIE prime lenses, and is edited by long-time Francis Ford Coppola collaborator and editor Robert Schafer (Megalopolis).

NARRATIVE FEATURE | 1:27:00

Director Biography - Ian Ebright

The Way We Speak is Ian's first feature as writer-director; the screenplay placed in competitions including WeScreenplay and BlueCat from Sundance alum Gordy Hoffman.

Prior to The Way We Speak, Ian wrote and directed the award-winning short films Pinwheel Horizon (2023), The Devil Needs a Fix (2017), and From the Sky (2014).

Festival Formula's Katie Bignell described the dystopian sci-fi/fantasy Pinwheel Horizon as “an epic landscape that sets the world up wonderfully…three defined fighters all with their own strengths, and most importantly, weaknesses.”

American Cinematheque called The Devil Needs a Fix "deliciously intriguing...a sophisticated dark comedy with an edge." The film played festivals including the Seattle International Film Festival and HollyShorts.

Ian's Arabic-language dramatic thriller From the Sky aired on PBS and featured in MovieMaker magazine. Cinephilia & Beyond called the film "brilliant...an amazing and pioneering short."