production lighting editing directing

 It starts with discontent

White, cis-gendered, straight man. That’s me. Impassioned believer in human rights and equity. That’s also me. Whenever something bad is happening socially, I always want to say something. But what? Often I feel like there’s enough people like me out there crowding the airwaves already, especially when the subject matter is that which I really have no right to speak on: we’re talking race, women’s issues, and reproductive rights. When Roe v. Wade was overturned I wanted to say something. But I had no idea what to say. Luckily an opportunity presented itself. For my quasi-thesis film for my media studies & production major, I was given a script about a woman seeking an abortion to produce. I took it, rewrote practically the entire thing with a group of other writers, produced, directed, shot, and edited it. With it I tried to say everything I couldn’t say anywhere else. It was my social justice magnum opus.

I’d never done real cinematography before, or good lighting, or ran a set. Zero budget. 10 week timeline. It was a blast. This is the stuff I love.

Behind the scenes