A Little About Me
I grew up in the 1980s, a perfect time to be a kid who loved movies. I could go see Spielberg movies in the theater, watch the original Star Wars Trilogy on HBO, or rent Back to the Future over and over again from the video store. It was a great decade to fall in love with filmmaking
That love for films never dissipated. The day after I turned 16, I was hired as an usher at my hometown movie theater. As fate would have it, I was working there during 1999, the much-celebrated year in film, which only solidified my love for filmmaking.
I tried to explore other career options but couldn't shake the desire to pursue filmmaking. I moved to Chicago and immediately fell in love with the city. Then, I turned my attention to Columbia College Chicago and decided to throw myself into studying film.
After graduating in 2008, I went to work for a Chicago-based company that made camera gear, rented equipment, and also produced a variety of web series. Working for this company allowed me to further my film studies by working on productions. During this time, I produced and acted in a web series called Hank Frisco: Galaxy Defender.
That’s me as a robot.
I have been with Morningstar for the last decade, producing, well, thousands of videos. That might seem like hyperbole, but it’s true. I have shot and edited everything from daily editorial videos to marketing videos to sales kick-off interviews, to short films to explainers. I also manage their YouTube page, and since taking over, there have been an average of 1,000 subscribers every month and roughly 3 million views every year. Which has earned the Morningstar YouTube channel the YouTube Silver Play Button award.
I’m also an award-winning director of an award-winning film named, “I Agree With You.” This was produced for about $22,000 and shot over the course of five days, in one location, with two actors. It won “Best Feature” at The Lake Michigan Film Festival, “Beat Feature (Out of State) at the Royal Starr Film Festival, “Best Direction” at the Grand Rapids Film Festival, and “Best Feature” at The Sheboygan Film Festival.