"Don't care if it's not the way you find the truth..."

Okay, so it’s been about a year since the Big Chain Theatre’s fateful decision to reject my application for Projection Manager and since the Sarasota Film Festival rejected A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema. Around this point last year, I had refocused my energies toward my true career and I’d gotten a paying job working for the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival as an editor on not one but three documentaries. I say “paying” instead of “paid” because, well...they’re still working on paying me what I’m owed and since it’s been a year, I feel that I can mention it.

Anyway, in that year of refocusing, I’ve been to New York City, Alexandria, VA, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, LA, Los Angeles, CA, and Orlando, FL, with one or more of my films. Some of these festivals have been so kind as to nominate my work for awards and even give me two of them. It’s been fantastic, I’m not complaining at all, though the next sentence may seem to contradict that. The only problem for me with this past year is that I didn’t get to make any more films than the music video I did for World Collision. I was busy getting Kimyoo Films out there which is vital, but between traveling and doing the job of four people at the theatre, I couldn’t film anything. (yeah, yeah...I know.../whitewhine.)

Four isn’t an arbitrary number, by the way. While I was away on vacation and in New York for NewFilmmakers, I discovered later through emails that were fired back and forth that four people couldn’t pick up my slack. Technically, one of them shouldn’t have had to pitch in at all, but still...FOUR PEOPLE.

The relative dry spell in filming ended late last month when I shot a very short film which fits into my beloved A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem universe called “and be at rest.” It’s vague enough that it can stand on its own, but it is obviously a part of the universe as Chris Cline was kind enough to don the dog collar once more. After it has its premiere, I’ll be posting it on OpenFilm.com and of course, I’ll link to it here. I may already have a premiere lined up, but I always get too excited and ahead of myself and I want to wait for confirmation before I say anything for sure.

The main thing about doing this short was to help me get familiar with some new stuff I bought before I leap in to not one or two, but four more short films this year (I count music videos as shorts.) Chris Cline and I are teaming up to bring one of his scripts to life with him behind the camera. Chris is one of the best writers I know and he knows more about the genre than I do! Once his film is complete, I’m stepping back behind the camera for one of my shorts. After that, I have possibly two music videos for World Collision! There are two more projects on the horizon, but it’s too early to talk about those just yet. They’re moving forward, though, and that’s good!

Also on the horizon is a feature which will obviously be my first. I don’t want to say much more than that, but it’s very exciting!

I’m not your typical filmmaker. I didn't pick up my first camera until I was in middle school and didn't own my own equipment until a couple of years ago. I had four years of Booker High School of the Visual and Performing Arts and one semester of film classes at Manatee Community College (which has since turned into the State College of Florida.) I've always wanted to do this, though. And be an astronaut, but that's beside the point. I learn by doing. I’ll still be learning while I make movies sixty years down the line (I don’t plan on retiring, obviously.) There’s really no right or wrong way so long as you’re learning and putting out what’s in your heart.