producers – universal positive

So far in history, there is only one feature-length motion picture executive-produced by yours truly. Twenty-six years after graduating from film school, I’m very proud to have earned Co-Executive Producer credit on this highly intelligent feature documentary. First screened at the 2016 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana and the American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, “Kickstarted” was lovingly co-directed by my friends Jason Cooper and Jay Armitage. I’m guessing that my unique contributions may be characteristic of many EP credits.

Essentially, Jason and Jay engaged me during the film’s Kickstarter campaign to help them generate more press coverage, and happily, that worked out well. The film was ultimately funded thanks to many factors; chief among them were the resourcefulness, skills and determination of the directors, as well as producers including Kim Sherrell, Chris Gartin, JP McMahon and Tristan Drew. It’s a badge of honor to have contributed.

I had some very good luck in my budding career about 22 years ago, when many disparate activities started leading in some positive directions for me. One of those new avenues was my first gig as a television writer, which came about because of prolific producer, director and videographer Randy Baker. Although that project never quite made it on the air, it led to a lot of collaborations with Randy over the next several years, all of which impacted me profoundly.

Before any of that happened, back when I was still a student at the University of Central Florida and president of the film club, Randy was one of the esteemed guest speakers I’d invited in. Already well known for his career achievements and knowledge, Randy’s knack for stepping forward as a local industry leader was in many ways just getting started. So all those years later when I was concepting shows, writing business plans, grant proposals and news releases and doing audio for him on shoots, he was also teaching me what it meant to be productive, to be a leader, to earn money, and to live as a freelance business professional.