Summertime Grind: Success is Hard Work

August 26th is the official kickoff date for the beginning of the semester at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. I haven't been lulling away my summer though. Every day represents a new opportunity, so I'd like to share a few of my summer projects before the school year begins.

During the summer I learned about a film competition known as Looking At Democracy. The competition focused on finding creative media pieces which strengthened American democracy. I decided to submit my documentary, Portrait of the Storm: Tuscaloosa, AL, to the competition. I won the title of Emerging Artist in the competition.

This came with a $5000 dollar prize. You can also watch the submission by follow this LINK.

  

During the jury decisions of Looking At Democracy I came across another competition called The New York Television Festival A&E Unscripted Development Pipeline. Filmmakers pitched their reality television show to A&E Television Network for a chance to be produced. I pitched following the lives of black greeks on their prospective campuses. The title simple, The Black Greek. A month later I was chosen as one of twenty-five semi-finalist. You can check out the video I made during undergrad that was the inspiration.

Semi-finalists will also participate in the NYTVF pitch as an Official Artist in the 2013 New York Television Festival this upcoming October. So I'll be in New York a year after choosing to attend USC instead of NYU for my graduate film studies. If my pitch goes becomes top 5 I'll receive 20k to make the pilot. 

I also participated in writing competitions over the summer, though decisions haven't been made for most. I sent in a short script to Slamdance's Writing Competition. The first critique sent back to me was well received. This is a competition I'm not expecting to win, but I need to participate in. Writing is a crucial piece of my development as an artist. The best way to hone this craft is writing as much as possible, then allowing your work to be read.

First Critique Sent from Slamdance

I sent in a feature treatment, lookbook, and short script to Break Media's Prototype Competition. Eight chosen filmmakers will receive 20k to make a 5 - 10 minute short film based on their treatment/short script. One filmmaker will be given a deal to make their short into a feature. It's a long shot, but I'm more than willing to give it a chance!

Finally, I was a semi-finalist for a smaller writing competition sponsored by Dreaming Tree Productions. If I had won I would've received a 1k budget, use of a Red Epic Package, 1 Ton Grip and Lighting Equipment, and free editing and color grading of the film. This would've been an amazing win, but I wasn't chosen. Still, the feedback and collaboration with the production company left me with a very polished short comedy script I'll shoot in the future. 

The majority of the post has been geared towards non-production work, but I have been on the ground running. I decided to take the summer off and focus on honing my cinematography skills. This brought a large amount of pressure off my shoulders to direct anything in a small amount of time, freed me to work more on writing, and made me available to work on colleagues' projects. 

Working as DP and Steadicam Operator on set. 

Lighting the scene for a Kickstarter Video

I worked as The Director of Photography on a sets over the summer, and finally got the chance to steadicam operate again. These are a few of the many endeavors I dived into over the summer. I'm finishing my internship with Spiritclips, Hallmark's film production branch and I'll start with Panavision in early September. I'm working towards a dream, and I'll do whatever it takes to succeed.