Award-winning director David William James Elliott's short film I Forgot to Unsubscribe from a Stock Footage Service is set to debut on YouTube on July 24, 2026, on the newly launched RIOUGA channel. The film, which has garnered critical acclaim and dozens of awards on the independent circuit, explores the all-too-familiar scenario of signing up for a free trial and forgetting to cancel, leading to an annual fee.
The film follows a filmmaker who, stuck with an unwanted subscription, devises increasingly desperate schemes to reclaim his money using the stock footage. It is described as part memoir, part metatextual documentary, and part existential horror film for aging millennials trapped in the service industry. During its festival run in cities including Mumbai, Tokyo, Paris, Cannes, London, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York, the film accumulated awards for Best Stunt, Best Female Director (despite being directed by a man and comprised entirely of stock footage), as well as recognition for voice work, writing, editing, and a homage to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive recreated with stock clips.
Elliott, an MIT and Stanford graduate with training from Second City, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Steppenwolf, and The Annoyance, and a BJJ Black Belt, credits the subscription mishap with reigniting his creative career. He walked away from an opportunity to write for Saturday Night Live in 2012 to build sustainable farms in developing nations. The film's success has spurred five other film projects and a poetry book, all released within the past six months.
RIOUGA (Royal Institute of Objectively Universally Good Art), the startup production company behind the film's YouTube debut, was founded by Juan Sebastian Carcosa and David Elliott. Described as 'PBS meets Adult Swim, for burnouts, by burnouts,' the network aims to explore fine art and niche subcultures. It is currently developing three interview series along with short films and documentaries set for release throughout summer and fall 2026. For more information, visit RIOUGA.
