I had a cheap place to stay in New York, some money from graduation saved up, I was young so I figured, “Why not check it out?”… at least I have a job, right? As I got a chance to watch Griffin Dunne, the director, work with his actors, usually in very hushed tones apart and away from the crew, I thought to myself, “I want to know what that’s all about.”

After studying acting at Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute for over a year and then working for a bit bull of a Key Grip as his “best boy grip” on a few independent feature films, I realized that directing is where I saw my career heading. Why, you may ask?...

Directing is the most collaborative art form, that’s why. As this definition says, “All the director's efforts are aimed at creating a fully unified aesthetic experience.” Now to achieve that, the director needs to work effectively with the actors, DP, Gaffer, Key Grip, Locations head, Production Designer, Sound Mixer, Props department and every other person involved with producing a film.

Not only does the director have to answer every question that come his way from the actors about the script, story and motivations for each character, he needs to work; with the DP about where to put/how to move the camera, how to light each scene; with the production designer about how he wants Jimmy’s room to be decorated/look; with the costume designer about what Jimmy needs to wear for scene 32… you get the picture.

It might not sound like a lot of fun to you but being on set, in production, answering all those questions and solving the various problems that arise is exactly where I want to be… the center of the storm, the captain of the ship. Now, since I don’t have a feature film on my resume yet, the only person who’s gonna give me a shot with a great script is ME with the great script I’m re-writing… my least favorite part of the process. EB