The screenwriter William Goldman famously wrote “Nobody knows anything” in his book on screenwriting — both as a warning to those feeling too confident after a project lands as well as those feeling insecure or nervous when a project doesn’t land. It’s a reminder I’ve passed on to others as many times as I’ve tried to hold it myself. When I came out of college full of confidence and landed in an industry that had no space for another wanna-be filmmaker, I had to keep going and make space for myself. When I changed cities a few times, or changed sections of the industry — from production to visual effects to development to reality — I had to keep making space for myself, telling myself that I could learn this, I could get better at that, I would love to meet more people like that. And I’m still trying to learn new skills, still trying to meet new people, read new books, make new movies. Nobody has a formula to success in this business — you just have to stick at it long enough and at some point you’ll realize that all the wandering you’ve been doing has actually become a path of its own.

I was an early movie-lover as a kid and loved telling my friends that I saw E.T. in the theater eight times the summer it came out. That kind of movie-going feels like a lifetime ago, and I was just a kid then. But the magic of the movies never left me. In high school, I took a “cinema studies” elective where we watched all of Kubrick’s films, and at that moment I knew I wanted to be a director. In college I studied theater and realized that I loved working with actors and helping their process. This is a job that people take because it’s about more than just making money and having a pension — it’s a calling that people feel in their bones from an early age.

I’ve always been a big Soderberg fan and love the way his career spanned genres and still always felt crafted, precise, and provocative. I also love old movies and anytime a Billy Wilder movie comes on I literally can’t turn it off — SOME LIKE IT HOT is 60 years old but still feels totally hilarious and worth rewatching over and over. More on the edgy side, I personally love David Cronenberg’s movies and love the way they make people squirm. There’s something so satisfying about getting a physical reaction out of your audience and I think all of those filmmakers make movies that really provoke strong emotions and responses from viewers.

What drives me? I love stories. I’m addicted to them. As a kid I was a voracious reader and it’s a habit I’ve never been able to quit. I love a movie that makes me cry, or laugh, or get angry — or all of the above. And storytelling is hard. Being good at it is damn near impossible. It’s like being a samurai — you could dedicate your life to it and never attain perfection. I’m certainly no story samurai, but I’m trying.

I love directing a set and I’ve been lucky enough to do it a few times. Taking a script and working with actors to turn it into a performance through rehearsals, conversations about what are the strongest choices to make — that process is pure adrenaline and when it’s over I crash and have to sleep for a few days. But while it’s happening, it’s bliss. I just want more of that bliss in my life.

The story of a man-boy living in the corner market, still waiting for his mother to come pick him up.

This project was all about finding the things that inspired me to get into this business in the first place. Working in the world of “branded content” you can forget the glory of storytelling and the fun that it instills on everyone on set — like when you’re having a party at your parents house when they’re out of town. I got a bunch of people that I loved working with and said “let’s make this damn movie” and it just turned into one of the best projects I’ve ever been a part of. The movie’s been to over 40 festivals now — although thanks to COVID it felt a little weird having all those reactions happen remotely.

There really wasn’t a lot of difficulty in creating the film. We had a total blast writing it, casting it, shooting it and editing it. The challenge is when we look around at each other and say “are we really doing this?” and we tell each other, “hell yeah.” Believe you’re going to do it and at some point you’ll just find yourself doing it.

Definitely the shoot was a blast. We had prepared so much to be ready for it and gotten a lot of people on board to make it happen so by the time we were shooting it felt like a big group of friends. Somebody would come to set and we’d all say hi like an old friend who stopped by to your party. My kids came and got to see me directing on set. It felt like a dream.

The greatest lesson of this project was trust your friends, trust your instincts. I put a lot of trust into the people around me and I never once felt like they let me down. This business is full of disappointments and I’ve had my share. But this project just never stopped moving forward and I owe all of that success to the people who helped me make it.

I’m sure I’ll think of something as soon as I hit the submit button but for now I’m good.