Cinema is the true narrative love of my life

No story teller or artist has had a bigger impact on my life than David Lynch. When I watched a VHS rental copy of his 1984 ‘Dune’ adaptation, my 7-year-old mind was utterly transfixed. Instead of bouncing around the living room as I would for whatever George Lucas or Spielbergian (Yes, that’s a word) escapism, I was held in place, almost as if I had been hypnotized. I had never seen or heard a world such as the one being shown to me on my television, partly because of Frank Herbert’s wholly unique setting but also because of the unparalleled cinematic voice of David Lynch. From that day forward, my love of science fiction, cinema, and David Lynch as an artist would color how I perceived the world. And to this day, nothing has the same drug-like impact on me that a David Lynch film does.

This love of film prompted me to engage with other fans online throughout the 2000’s. This formative period of interacting with other enthusiasts, many of whom smarter and more talented than I, was my true film and writing school. No class in creative writing could ever compete with how this experience shaped me and my love of storytelling, regardless of the medium. It inspired me to experiment with short stories and screenwriting. And it exposed me to the nuances of all of the other technical aspects of film, which spurred a stronger interest in photography, cinematography, and editing.

In the mid 2010’s this interest reached a fever-pitch and I forced my way into micro budget filmmaking. The journey has endeared many wonderful artistic people of my native St. Louis area to me, and I feel so unbelievably lucky to have had opportunities to share in the challenging creative endeavor that is filmmaking through cinematography, screenwriting, directing, and editing.