When did you know that you wanted to be a director?
I loved making films as a kid. They were primarily in the form of school projects when I was given an alternative to writing a book report. I always chased creativity. I’d make Scream knock offs at middle school sleepovers with my best friends. I loved the spontaneity of the process, but the notion of pursuing filmmaking seriously, let alone as a career path, couldn’t have been further from my mind. It just wasn’t plausible to me. It wasn’t until I got to college that I realized that filmmaking meant a lot more to me than I had ever realized, and I had no choice but to pursue it.
How does your family background inform your approach to filmmaking?
Growing up with activist parents, my siblings and I had a fairly unique upbringing. Coming home from elementary school to find that my dad was in jail for civil disobedience actions was just as normalized as coming home to find that Muhammad Ali, Mother Teresa, or Maya Angelou were visiting. That was commonplace in our lives. I grew up on a farm where my parents have run a school for people with developmental disabilities for the past 50 years. The farm was also a sanctuary for animals that were rescued from slaughter houses, while simultaneously a sanctuary for AWOL American soldiers on leave from the Iraq war awaiting their conscientious objector status. I have been exposed to social justice causes since the day I was born, so it naturally informed my intention and voice as a storyteller.
How do you recommend young filmmakers find their voice and or guiding North Star so to speak?
With the industry growing increasingly competitive and (rightfully) inclusive of filmmakers from diverse backgrounds, it’s really important to hone your voice as a storyteller and work to carve out your own niche. For me, that has meant leaning into the values my parents bestowed and doing my part to do justice to their legacy through my work. I believe that every families’ legacy has a wealth of stories woven through their history that is unlike any other. That’s a terrific place for filmmakers to draw inspiration from because it’s their singular history, which creates their singular perspective.
How do you balance that within commercial work, where the creative and scripts are mostly set in stone before being presented to you? How do you infuse your own values into those projects or do you have to treat them merely as a means to an end?
Disability inclusion is a major focal point for me as a filmmaker, so advocating for authentic representation and inclusivity in the commercial space is something that’s top of mind for me. That said, I am still building a career in that space, so I don’t have the same autonomy as I have in music videos and films where I’m more or less calling the shots. Agencies are always looking to identify a director’s unique perspective, so I always include my intention for inclusion both in front of and behind the camera in my treatments. Sometimes they bite, sometimes they don’t, but I always advocate for it.
Are there any enlightening takeaways from making your first feature that have helped you evolve as a filmmaker?
I describe the production of Best Summer Ever as a life changing cluster fuck. We all were so green, and our intentions were so pure. Every single day was trial by fire while putting out fires while another one ignites, yet it was such a crucial crash course on the pace and intensity of feature filmmaking. My biggest take away was that working with friends is at once a blessing and a curse. The friendships were at the heart of our film, but also responsible for its near implosion. It was an intense perspective shift to have the health of a large production hinge on our ability to remain patient, empathetic, and open with one another while in the trenches of a very difficult production. We didn’t always succeed in that. Luckily we all understood that the film was bigger than us, and our determination to keep the film alive would not have been possible without the friendships already in place.
You’ve done a lot of amazing work in the music video world. Do you have a musical background? How did you spawn that side of your career?
A friend from my hometown is the lead singer of the band Dispatch, which broke up for a little while right as I was entering college. He had just started his new band State Radio, which was touring in markets around my college in Connecticut. I was taking production courses at the time, and convinced my film professors to let me go on short tours with State Radio with the understanding that I’d film while I was on the road. I ended up editing a few live music videos that I was really proud of. Those experiences sparked my love for making music videos, but I’ve been obsessed with music videos since I first saw the video for Everlong in elementary school. It blew my little mind. 5th grade me would be stoked to learn he’d be directing music videos one day.
What is advice you would give yourself 10 years ago knowing what you know today?
5th grade me is going to be pissed by this answer, but I’d probably advise him to not invest so much time into music videos. I have a complicated relationship with them. On the one hand, they’ve been instrumental in honing my style as a director, and I really cherish the artists and collaborators I’ve met along the way. On the other hand, the budgets have plummeted, it’s not a viable career path, and they really don’t translate to getting commercial work. For whatever reason, agencies have a difficult time viewing them as legitimate, which is of course a bullshit failure of imagination. But it’s the reality. So when you’re trying to grow your commercial reel in order to book jobs in order to put food on the table, having ten years worth of music videos in your back pocket isn’t going to be as helpful as you’d think, no matter how rad they are. So I would advise the 25-year old me to focus more on the commercial work, but 5th grade me would resent that.
Do you think it’s important for up and coming directors, who aren’t repped, to invest their own money in their commercial treatments when bidding on a project?
If time = money then yes. Every director should invest time in learning how to design treatments themselves. Learn Photoshop and InDesign. Sure, being repped means your production company is footing the bill for commercial treatments, but at some point you’re going to have a project that requires a treatment that you’re going to have to pay for, whether it be to fund a film or an idea for a commercial pitch that you want to try to pitch to a brand. Have the tools to be able to do that yourself.
What’s your biggest creative obstacle?
I tend to juggle too many projects at once, which causes none of them to get my undivided attention. My wife has been instrumental in helping me to focus on what’s going to move the needle forward, and try to ignore the shiny objects.
Do you have a project in the works that you’re excited about and can give us a little glimpse of?
I’m in development on my second feature The Dignity of Resistance, which is a biopic based on the true story of students and teachers from our school protesting The Department of Mental Retardation in a last ditch effort to force a change of name of the state agency in 2000. It’s an incredible civil rights story that I’m very excited to bring to the screen.
Is there anything (art, music, books, exhibits, food, places, or people) that has recently inspired you?
I was lucky enough to sit and listen to Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Spielberg chat the other day after a screening of The Fabelmans. To be in the presence of two of the greatest living filmmakers was a profound experience for me. It also felt synchronistic, as The Fabelmans is rooted in the legacy of Spielberg’s family, much like The Dignity of Resistance is rooted in mine. I walked away really inspired and energized to continue to push forward with my film.
Do you have a mantra you live by?
Surround yourself with people who uplift you and who allow you to uplift.
Do you have any interest in going to Mars?
Absolutely. I imagine it would help feed my UFO obsession. I often find myself lurking down the UFO Reddit rabbit hole when I’m having trouble sleeping. I would hope that my voyage to Mars would include some sort of sighting. If not, I’d like my money back, Elon.