While still a student at USC, Bryan Singer directed, wrote and co-starred in Lion's Den (1988), a 25-minute short which Singer, unable to get school funding, shot on a thin $15,000 shoestring provided by family, friends, credit cards and old friend/lead actor Ethan Hawke. More money was spent renting a theater with three other short filmmakers for a screening when USC refused to admit the films into their 'First Look' screening program. Hosted by Sam Raimi, the upstart screening met with a packed house and "a bunch of phone calls and a bunch of meetings" for Singer. [Filmmaker Magazine, 1995]
Bryan Singer and Brandon Boyce worked together again in Apt Pupil (1998), but this time Boyce wrote the screenplay and didn't act in the film.