Reaper, Inc. Part 2 — About Me
AKA I’m A Narcissist
Roughly two years ago (at the time of writing this) I went to film expo in Milwakuee with Jakub, who will be DPing Reaper, inc. The highlight of the event was that Jayson Crothers (https://www.jaysoncrothers.com), most notably known for his work on Chicago Fire, was teaching some seminars. One of the first things he said and that has stuck with me over everything he else he said was —
(And I’m paraphrasing)
You should know at least a little about the person’s background whose teaching you or presenting to you.
For those of who stick with me series of posts you’re going to be reading a lot from me. Heres what you need to know:
From roughly 2006–2016 I was a freelance DP. Most notably known for my with Senorwooly.com (2008–2016) and “The Evelator”. I took a break from freelancing in 2016 because I got tired of chasing the low end shoots, completing against people with more gear than me (and I own a lot of gear) to kill myself over a project that most likely will never see the light of day. I also cofounded a tech startup that raised a seed round in that time frame.
The startup failed for start upy reasons (it was a problem looking for a solution, rather than a solution to a problem) but we did get into an accelerator and I got a lot of hands on experience managing, planning, and budgeting.
I semi came back to freelancing or at least film production at the tail end of 2018. I shot and helped produce “The Undesirables” (a low budget spec pilot) and did a few various freelance gigs. I also helped some friends on their super low budget indie horror feature, “Evil Lurks”.
Mid 2019 I got the feeling once again that it just wasn’t worth chasing those gigs and that I would -
1: Rather just work with people I know and help them succeed.
2: Make the stuff I wanted to make, even if that meant I had to write, direct, and finance it myself (and I did on a few shorts).
3: Take a chance on myself. I already own all the gear I’d need to make things, I have a lot of experience, know a lot of crew, and could probably write.
There are slightly more minor details I didn’t go over but that should give you a brief overview of me and my experience.
See you in the next installment!
Want to follow this whole journey from beginning? Start here!
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You can follow Reaper, Inc. On Instagram here.
P.S. Filmaka didn’t directly sponsor this blog other than giving me 35,000 to make a webseries.
