I went from having this crazy idea that I could make a movie simply because I could write a script to actually taking all the steps to complete my first movie Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis and releasing it on DVD on Halloween this year.
I started thinking about all the crazy stuff that happened along the way, some of which every film maker experiences and some that no other film maker has experienced that I think "This could only happen to me" and some of it makes me laugh while some of it makes me think I was crazy to even start and then there is the part of it all that makes me fill with pride because I didn't let anything stop me from completing the movie.
One of the most common questions I get from people is "When all the hard stuff came up why didn't you just walk away from the movie"? The answer is simply because I couldn't just walk away because I had a cast and crew that were counting on me to complete the movie and I couldn't let them down.
I tell people it took me 33 and a half years for me to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and often they laugh and I agree on some level it is funny, I look back at all the jobs I've had in my life and I have worked since I was 16 from "burger boy" at Burger King, many different titles in nursing homes, to being assistant manager at family dollar I always had long tenures of employment but I was never truly happy in these jobs, I made friends and was able to support my family but I wanted to do something that makes me happy and film making is what makes me happy.
All the hard work that goes into writing the script, casting the roles, finding locations, getting everything you need to film the movie it''s all worth it when you hold the DVD in your hand and think to yourself "This is the moment you worked so hard for" .
I really like to talk to people who have seen the movie and talk to them about both the positive and negative because they both are learning experiences. The positive tells me what I have done right and the negative tells me what I need to improve on. When someone gives me a compliment about Rise of Mortis or they tell me they enjoyed the story or who their favorite character is, that always brings a smile to my face, I love horror fans deeply because we are all loyal to our genre. On the other side of that coin when someone brings a negative comment to me I always listen to what they have to say and address their concern or will explain to them why I did something the way I did but never tell them I was wrong to do it they way I did it because there was a specific intent behind it.
As the new year approaches and we start setting up Casting for Sins of Man II : Vengeance and start this crazy ride all over again I look back on this last year and say BRING IT ON because I know I have MANY more amazing stories to tell ....
STAY TUNED & STAY WICKED !!!