There’s a moment in my life I’m not proud of. I used to work at a rental facility, and I witnessed directors younger than me frequently checking out equipment. One evening, I stayed late at work to help with a production shooting at our facility. I watched a filmmaker who I felt “wasn’t doing it […]
I will admit something: I never used to think about my audience. I thought about them in a very transactional way. Will they like this idea? Will it be popular? But mostly, I thought of what I would be receiving from them. And it left me feeling unfulfilled. There is a lot of emphasis on the audience […]
After the shock of the 2024 election results came my moment of clarity: We could now stop pretending. We could stop pretending that this country’s current infrastructure wants to support the stories from the people that it marginalizes. So we could dispense with the idea that we needed to impress or cater to them. I […]
It’s confession time. Every filmmaker has gotten jealous of others who have “found success,” especially those who have blown up at a young age. We look at the 20-something genius who is now head of a major studio franchise and wonder: Am I no good? Am I too late? This used to bother me deeply, […]
We’re at the threshold of pre-production for Concrete River, and this week marked a pivotal decision that will shape everything about how we make this film. But the truth is, sometimes the most important creative breakthroughs come from constraints, not freedom. With our core team in place: JQ Cole attached as our lead Kevin Perry as DP and […]
Six months into editing our Ukrainian resistance documentary, I hopped on my weekly Zoom with the director Alex LeMay. He’d just screened our rough cut at Notre Dame for a small audience, and the feedback wasn’t what we’d hoped for. “They loved it overall” he told me. “But our Hero’s Journey structure isn’t working.” Creative Force is […]
As the 4th of July fireworks burst in the sky around my neighborhood. All I could stare at was the smoky air that, I’m sure, was filled with different kinds of chemicals. That dichotomy of celebration and personal consternation is how I see the country today. We are told that everything is fine. We should […]
Concrete River is what I’ve witnessed living as a so-called “artist of color” in America. This country chips away at our confidence and self-esteem. Telling us our worth and success needs to follow a pre-determined path. A path where there is only scarcity, and we create out of fear. The film follows the story of […]
CONNECTING TO THE UNKNOWN For the record, I don’t speak any Ukrainian. Before this project, I had only met one other Ukrainian while living in Denmark as a teenager. Who had to explain that: 1 – Ukraine wasn’t Russia 2 – Where it was on a map So there was a challenge ahead in […]