Three Views After Two Weeks I’ll never forget uploading “Going Home” to YouTube in 2024. Spent six months making the film. Three views after two weeks. Two of those were me checking if it actually uploaded correctly. The third view? My mom. The problem wasn’t the film. It was pretty solid for what it was. … Read more
The Day AI Saved My Shoot (And My Sanity) A few years ago, I was three days from shooting “Dead Space Between Us” when my location scout bailed. No notice. Just gone. I had a skeleton crew, a $2,000 budget, and exactly zero backup locations that matched the dystopian aesthetic we needed. Normally, this is … Read more
The Shot That Changed Everything Three years ago, I was shooting “Going Home” in a cramped Victoria apartment. The scene: our lead actress discovers the final letter from her high school friend’s mother. We’d planned a wide shot showing the entire room, the letter, her hands trembling. But something felt off. My DP looked at … Read more
The Moment I Knew Post-Production Was Going to Hurt March 2019. We’d just wrapped “Going Home” after 12 brutal days of shooting. The crew was celebrating, actors were hugging goodbye, and I was sitting in my car with five hard drives full of footage. 47 hours of raw material. For a 14-minute short film. I … Read more
How to Run a Film Festival: What Nobody Tells You About Running One The first year I became president of CineVic Society of Independent Filmmakers, I thought I understood film festivals. I’d submitted to dozens. My short “Going Home” played at SOHO International in New York. I’d attended screenings, networked at parties, watched other filmmakers … Read more
The $47 Light That Saved My Shoot Last month I was filming B-roll for a client project in this tiny coffee shop. Natural light? Gone by 3 PM. Budget for rentals? Also gone. I pulled out the Godox RGB Mini from my bag—cost me around $90—and stuck it behind a potted plant. Suddenly the whole … Read more
An iPhone Just Beat My $3,000 DSLR (And I’m Not Even Mad) I shot a back-alley scene last month. One practical bulb, no fill, just vibes and prayers. I used two cameras: my iPhone 16 Pro and a Canon EOS R5 Mark II that costs more than my first car. The iPhone won. Cleaner shadows. … Read more
My Nephew’s $1,200 Mistake (And How You Can Avoid It) Last year I watched my nephew walk into Best Buy with his savings and walk out with a $1,200 camera kit. The salesperson convinced him it would transform him into a professional photographer. Three months later, that camera collected dust in his closet while he … Read more
Location managers keep film sets running I remember standing in a muddy field outside Victoria, camera crew waiting, talent shivering in costume, and absolutely zero permission to be there. We thought we’d just “shoot quick and leave.” Bad idea. A local farmer showed up, threatened to call the cops, and we scrambled. That disaster could’ve … Read more
Sony ZV-E10 Review 2026: Still Worth It Over the Mark II? I bought my ZV-E10 in summer 2022, back when it was Sony’s newest vlogging camera and the Mark II didn’t exist yet. Fast forward to January 2026, and everyone keeps asking me the same question: “Should I just save up for the ZV-E10 II … Read more