I fell in love with acting in the 5th grade and I'm now 25 years
old, but I didn’t fall in love with simply acting, but telling a story and
being a part of it. I really got into acting in high school, I started watching
movies differently and really studied the craft. More importantly, I started
studying the business. My father is a hardcore businessman, so not only did I
have the artsy, poetic side of me that just wants to create, but I also wanted
to do good business. I hear a lot of artists who just want to create and not
worry about if a project does well financially or not, as long as it's out
there. I commend them for that, but the business side of movie making always
held my interest. I wanted to know how much movies made and what were the
highest grossing projects of all time, whether it was film, television or
stage.
My mother used to
play this game with me, asking me at any given moment throughout the day about
who directed or produced or wrote a certain film, and I would answer it. She
couldn't believe how much I knew about films and the people behind them. With
this, I knew my senior year of high school I had to jump straight into the
industry somehow. I got accepted into some universities but I decided to jump
straight into acting. I sent out headshots and resumes to find an agent. It was
perfect timing. At that time, the state of Michigan (where I was born and
raised) gave out a tax incentive for films—the largest incentive offered by any
state.
Michigan, for a good 2 years, was the filmmaking capital of
the country. Hundreds of films were shooting in here from big ones to small
ones and I was getting called to auditions for what seemed like every single
one of them. The ones I was blessed to book ended up being big ones. My first
gig was playing "Prez" in Gran Torino and I got to work with Eastwood
and company and even attended the premiere at Warner Bros and went to
California for the first time. After Gran Torino, I got other roles that put me
on screen with people I looked up to in the film industry like Angelina Jolie,
whom I met at Gran Torino’s premiere–I was on cloud nine.
Gran Torino became the highest grossing movie of Clint
Eastwood's career so I decided to move out to California while the movie was
hot. When I moved out there I got to see the business for what it was—extremely
difficult and competitive. I saw that I was just one in millions that were
trying to make it. This is when I started a production company and the business
side of me came out. I produced “We Beat
The Streets” and as a company, I was able to get into doors I may not have
gotten into as an actor since I had been talking daily to the people who
provided actors with jobs like network executives, producers, directors etc.
I became more interested in this side of the business
because these are the people who create the stories that we see on screen. That's
my focus and has been for a few years, I don't just want to be a part of the
story anymore, I want to create the story I'm apart of. It's a tricky business
because it's about who you know and everything seems like it's closed off to
new comers. It takes an undeniable, relentless tenacity to make your mark. I
pray ALOT, and I have Faith that God has my steps ordered. I do what I do and I
let God do what He does. Now, I'm in a great place, I'm married to a beautiful,
amazing woman that is a true friend and helper, business is good and most
importantly growing, but still marching towards my goal which is to own a
thriving movie studio. I have a ways to go, but I'm going to keep pushing, keep
making noise.
Have you noticed you can't ignore a sound you don't
recognize? If it's an unfamiliar sound, you have to find out where it's coming
from right? You want to get noticed? Just keep making noise.
STH Productions
www.sthproductions.com
IG: @BlockbusterArt
No comments:
Post a Comment