How did you get involved with the arts?
I started working at a local theater and met like-minded people who enjoyed movies as much as I did. From there, we turned that love into creating a few skit shows and even a terrible feature or two. Throughout my struggling and sometimes, non-existent storytelling career, I developed my skills and talent with each project I created. I read books. I watched movies. I studied storytelling techniques and more importantly, I lived my life. All of that has shaped me into the storyteller I am today and hope to be in the future.
What is your latest project?
I have several projects in various stages of development. Yesterday, season two of my web series, Scenes from the Movies, premiered on YouTube. It's a sampling of stories, most of them true and all of them exaggerated, of my experiences with customer service while working at a movie theater. I'm also in pre-production for a 25 pages short film to be shot during the beginning of 2013 called Kiddo. I'm very excited about that project as well as my A Doll's House adaptation, which is based on the Ibsen play of the same name. I've recently completed the 2nd draft of a script I'm co-writing with the very talented David Ian Lee. I'm definitely keeping busy.
What advice do you wish you'd received when you first got started?
Work hard for it. It's not enough to want to be a filmmaker. You need to work hard for it. Too often in this world, people expect their dreams and career aspirations to come true simply because they say them out loud or post it as a Facebook status. To quote Andrew Shepherd from An American President (played by Michael Douglas) when he's talking about freedom - "You've got to want it bad." Same applies for chasing your dreams. You've got to want it so bad that you're willing to work harder than anyone else to make it a reality. I bust my tail every day not only to make a living at being a storyteller, but also to be an example to my children that when they discover what they want to be in this world, that they understand that only 25% of fulfilling that dream is to admit it, the rest is about the work you put into it.
Who are some local artists people should check out?
Would NYC be considered local? As I mentioned before, David Ian Lee is a fantastic actor/playwright who performs consistently at a high level on stage in NYC. If you're ever looking for a show in the city and you see his name in the cast, make sure you check it out. Vanessa David is a playwright/actor working out of Stamford who also hosts her won web series talk-show/cooking show called The Headbanging Hostess. Her plays have been read and performed all across the area. There are so many talented actors and actresses I've been fortunate enough to work with on my projects. If you seen anyone in my shows and completed works that you really enjoyed, feel free to ask me and I'll get you in contact with them.
