Universal Pictures has preemptively acquired the rights to Crime of the Century from a pitch by Chris Morgan through a two–year deal he has with the studio.

The movie is set to be directed by Dan Trachtenberg, co–host of the Totally Rad Show and commercial director who recently made huge waves with his short film Portal: No Escape, which was based on the hit puzzle game from Valve. The project is Trachtenberg’s feature debut.

A must–see new short film has come along that fans of the hit puzzle–solving game from Valve, Portal, will especially want to check out. It’s titled Portal: No Escape.

The short, directed by none other than Totally Rad Show host and Geeks of Doom friend, Dan Trachtenberg, is a live–action story set in the holding cells of Aperture Science, where a female captive (possibly Chell from the game?) is in an Oldboy sort of situation, being kept locked away for many days with no idea why. That is until she discovers a Handheld Portal Device in her cell, and, after a bit of testing, makes her break for freedom.

Even if you’ve never played the games and have just a basic idea of what Portal is, this is a film that should impress you. Hell, even if you have no clue what the game is, this is a damn fine short everyone should check out once. It very much reminded me of those fantastic live–action Halo shorts that have been made.

Check out Portal: No Escape below!

Director Dan Trachtenberg, who you might know from his online television show, Totally Rad Show, has a new short film out with BlackBoxTV called More Than You Can Chew, which you can watch right here below.

Apparently, BlackBoxTV is a Twilight Zone-like anthology series that’s put out on YouTube each week, which sounds pretty cool. More Than You Can Chew, which Dan co-wrote with Mark Walker, runs just under 5 minutes. The short centers on a rookie paramedic and her partner who respond to a 911 house call of a most unusual nature. At first it seems like a less-frantic episode of something like CSI, but then the eerie begins and that’s where you get your Twilight Zone feel.