How did I get involved in filmmaking? And why?
I've always loved watching good movies (and some bad ones too), but when I was in high school I saw a documentary about special effects makeup, and since I've been doing visual art all my life (my parents got me a chalkboard and multi-colored chalk when I was 3, and I went on drawing, painting, sculpting, and making costumes), that seemed like something I could do to finally be a part of making the kind of media I loved to consume. I soon worked with Will Palitti on making sets, props, and monster suits for an 'Aliens' themed haunted house, and he taught me a lot of legitimate techniques that mainstream companies use, as well as ways to cut corners without it looking like you did when your budget is minimal (seems like it always is).
All of my friends were artists, writers, musicians, and actors, so what we did for fun was get together every weekend and either shoot a silly little video, or brainstorm what we wanted to shoot the next weekend. For most of those, we had a loose concept, maybe a couple of characters, and usually a few specific gags we wanted to do. All the rest was learning improv by fire when we hit record. Most of those aren't very good, but if you really want to see where I started, one of them is on YouTube (and IMDB). We wanted to make one of those bad 'Karate' movies (only later did I realize the movies we were spoofing were Kung Fu movies) where they get in fights for no reason, do ridiculous moves, and the dubbing doesn't even come close to matching the actors' mouth movements. I'd been practicing Martial Arts since 8th grade, so I figured I could kick around onscreen. We ended up with a 10 minute movie that at least we thought was funny. What did we call it? Bad Karate! Watch at your own risk. This led me to start writing funny scripts for other things I wanted to see onscreen, and when I showed them to my friends, they thought I was a pretty good writer.
While I was in college, I got to train with the United Stuntmen's Association, and was certified to perform stunts. Another skill that would come in handy. It also taught me why some of the things I'd done with my friends worked and why others didn't. One of my friends knew the location manager for film and T.V. in our town, and he put in a good word for me, so the next time a film crew was in the area, I got hired as a P.A. (a Production Assistant is the film wold version of a Go-Fer; you pick up lunch, drive people to and from the airport, answer phones, or whatever). For the next few years, I kept doing that sort of work on bigger productions, while smaller independent productions got me experience doing just about every other kind of work there is in film shy of the big guns like department heads. But I've worked in the art department, as a stuntman, an actor, a driver, an editor, sound department, special effects makeup, etc. You learn a lot by spending time with the seasoned pros in these various departments, and you can make connections too.
Meanwhile I'd been studying screenwriting online, in books, and just by really paying attention to the movies I was already watching, and it all helped me hone my writing, so that I could try my hand at more serious scripts. Working with local filmmakers allowed me to pick the perfect crew with the skills to bring exactly what I was after to the screen.
That's how I got here and why.