19 Dec My Love Affair with Filmmaking (Part 1) – The pivotal moment

They say there is always a pivotal moment when you decide to make a big career change or to pursue something that seems to go against the norm or at least what everyone else thinks is the norm. That pivotal moment for me came when I stepped onto my first 48-hour film festival event in 2008 (Frieda Gilroy was the name of the film).

Let’s rewind a little. I was an IT consultant in Houston at the time, having graduated from Rice University undergrad in 2007 and was terribly lost. I had money for the first time, got my first apartment, bought my first car, and still felt something missing. Honestly, I could not pin point exactly what was missing yet, except that I knew I wasn’t 100% happy. So I decided to explore and spend money.

I traveled, partied, spent copious amounts of time at the mall, and discovered the joys of online shopping. I started revisiting past hobbies. I volunteered at a local fire department as an EMT and later trained to be a firefighter. I even made a rash decision that I wanted to pursue grad school, specifically law school, so I started taking LSAT courses. How I reached that conclusion is beyond me.

One day, my LSAT instructor (super random) invited me onto a 48-hour film festival set as a production assistant. I had taken two documentary classes (both my favorite classes) previously in undergrad and already knew I really enjoyed making films, so I said yes.

Despite the fact that all I did on set was slate different takes,  I felt happy. It hit me what was missing.  There was nothing in my life that I was extremely excited about. In fact, by this point I dreaded going to work every day and I felt antsy and unfulfilled. It is very hard to describe what happened to me when I stepped off that set, but everything suddenly made sense. I connected the dots.

Being on set reminded me of all the days and nights I spent in the editing lab at school. It reminded me of all the films I made as a kid and how I much I loved it. Though I always knew that I loved filmmaking, this time I recognized that I did not just love making films, I was in love with it. And thus my love affair with filmmaking and my journey began. (To be continued…)