When I was a kid growing up, like most people, I went through many phases of what I wanted to pursue as a career.  It seemingly swung  from one side of the spectrum to the other, from a soldier to a paleontologist, from an archeologist to an investment banker.  Looking back now I find it kind of silly like I’m sure most people do.  Of course now I know what I want to do, which in case you didn’t know from the title, is work in film.  But how did I get here?  How did I finally figure out what I wanted to pursue with such conviction after swaying back and forth between different careers?

I used to think that it all started the first time I picked up a camera with my friends and we made a forty-six second martial arts film titled “Jeet Kune Do” which was modestly produced right outside Purcellville, VA, and will be lost forever now after being accidently deleted.  However, I really didn’t get into making short films until probably after our first eight “films” or so.  If that’s what you want to call them.  That’s the point where I really started wanting to take it more seriously and start pushing ourselves to produce higher quality content.  As time went on I spent a lot of time writing screenplays, creating this website, and uploading our short films to the web.  My passion for film has only grown since, but I truly think that it all started before I even picked up a camera.

Like I mentioned earlier, I went through many phases of possible career choices.  The most notable careers I remember were to be an Archeologist, CIA Analyst, soldier, Paleontologist, and most recently an Investment Banker.  Looking at all of these together really shows how scattered my hopes and dreams were as a child.  Why did I go through so many evolutions of occupational paths?  I thought a lot about this recently and I think I figured out why.  The reality is that these jobs were shown and romanticized in some of my favorite films growing up.  After watching Raiders of the Lost Ark all I wanted to be was Indiana Jones, the coolest scientist you’ll ever see.  Only Harrison Ford could portray an Archeologist as an attractive and exciting career path.  I also think this is one of the reasons I spent so much time digging holes as a kid, possibly trying to find some ancient artifact like the Arc of the Covenant or even some weird plates nobody read but Joseph Smith.  Of course there were way less NAZIs trying to stop me when I was digging.

Speaking of digging holes, let’s move on to the next boring job on the list, a Paleontologist.  The scene that really comes to mind when thinking of this job is the unforgettable scene in Jurassic Park.  After digging up an impeccable Velociraptor fossil in the early scenes of Steven Spielberg’s classic film, Dr. Grant, proceed to give a lesson in respect to a young Rosie O’Donnell look-a-like about the hunting habits of the giant turkey.  That was badass when I was seven years old, and I spent the next three years of my life studying dinosaurs and digging more holes.  Don’t judge me.

So did I want to really be any of these jobs when I grew up?  I don’t think so.  I wasn’t attracted to the jobs themselves, but rather the way they were portrayed in these great achievements of cinema.  I didn’t want to be an investment banker because of the money, I wanted to be an investment banker because it seemed like a cool job in Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, which is one of my top five favorite films ever.   I think I wanted to do something that could really affect people in the same way these great films influenced me.  If a well told story in a visual medium could change what I wanted to do with my life then I imagine that a well made film could really make changes in somebody’s life.  So that’s what I want to do.  I want to make a great film that really connects with people.  Hopefully we’ll be able to do that one day.

-Matt