The Hook I was sitting in a parking lot at 2 AM during the shoot for “Blood Buddies” when I realized something: the script I’d written three weeks earlier was garbage. Not the concept. The concept was fine—two estranged brothers forced to confront their past during a tense dinner. The problem was I’d written it … Read more
Gift Guide for Young Filmmakers: Gear That Actually Matters I’ll never forget watching my nephew try to edit his first short film on a five-year-old laptop that crashed every fifteen minutes. He’d spent three weeks shooting this thing—a zombie comedy about high school drama—and now he was one corrupted file away from losing it all. … Read more
Mental Health in the Film Industry: What Nobody Tells You Before Your First Big Production It was day 14 of a 16-day shoot on Closing Walls. We were running on four hours of sleep, craft services had run out of everything except black coffee and optimism, and one of my most experienced crew members — … Read more
First Assistant Director: How to Become a 1st AD (The Real Story) I’ll never forget my first day as a production assistant on “Blood Buddies.” We were three hours behind schedule. The lead actor’s wig wasn’t ready. Rain was forecast for noon, and we had two critical exterior scenes left. Everyone was losing their minds. … Read more
The Hook: My First Day as a “Director” Was a Disaster I showed up to the set of “Blood Buddies” thinking I knew everything. I’d watched every Nolan film twice, read Hitchcock interviews, and built shot lists in my head for weeks. Then my lead actor asked me a simple question: “What’s my motivation in … Read more
The Hook I was twenty-three, working a night shift at a video rental place in Vancouver, when a customer asked me to recommend “something that doesn’t play by the rules.” I handed him Pulp Fiction. He came back two days later. “That watch scene,” he said. “I had to rewind three times to figure out … Read more
The Day I Realized My $1,200 Phone Was Lying to Me I was shooting Closing Walls last summer—tight alley scene, golden hour light, the whole setup was perfect. Except my footage looked like garbage. Flat. Digital. That weird AI-smoothed look where everyone’s face seems slightly made of wax. My phone kept bragging about its “5x … Read more
The Beach Laptop Lie I’m in a Bangkok hotel room at 2 AM, uploading 47GB of footage through an ethernet cable I bought at 7-Eleven because the WiFi died. Again. My Instagram story from six hours ago? Me editing poolside with a coconut. Both things happened. But only one tells the truth. Three years ago, … Read more
Overview: TL;DR Being a PA is the best (and hardest) way to break into film. You’ll fetch coffee, wrangle extras, and learn more than film school could ever teach you. Expect 12-16 hour days, physically demanding work, and being treated as invisible—but also getting paid to watch pros work. Essential gear: comfortable shoes (seriously), a … Read more
The Book That Changed Everything Quick note: Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you buy something through them, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I actually use. If something’s garbage, I’ll tell you—commission or not. Picture this: It’s 2013, and I’m sitting in … Read more