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Issue #55 – Job Opportunities & Student Successes
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
“I had no idea that I would end up doing this in my life,” says Film Connection graduate Ofu Obekpa (Atlanta, GA) about his decision to become a filmmaker. “I went to traditional school and had a business degree in marketing. Look at me, I’m just doing it…Why not just do what you love to do?”
It turns out that artistry was in Ofu’s roots: “My parents were theatre actors,” he says. Although he wasn’t expecting it, it seemed a natural progression for him to want a more creative career after college. So Ofu began exploring film as a career, and found himself interested in the post-production side—visual effects and editing. “I am very visual and very internal sometimes,” he says. “Putting the pieces of the puzzle together and just creating in my own space and time…I like that a lot.”
That’s when his plans hit a snag. “[I] actually got accepted to grad school for film,” says Ofu. “The tuition was just enormous…I was like ‘You know what? I would use that [money] to shoot a film or something!’ But I needed to upgrade my skills.”
A web search landed Ofu at the Film Connection website. “The one-on-one concentration with a mentor and the real life hand-in-hand experience, that really caught my attention,” he says. “I did my research and I was like, ‘Wow, it’s a great opportunity.’”
The Film Connection placed Ofu as an apprentice with Rite Media in Atlanta, and to tailor his apprenticeship to his interests in post-production, Ofu says he worked with two mentors there: Steve Carmichael (for the basics of film production and camera work), and Kevin Christopher for editing, post-production, and visual effects. For Ofu, the experience of learning on-the-job could not have been a better fit, because the combination of doing the work himself with the guidance of a mentor made him take ownership of his training and his career.
“The thing about Kevin is he believes in you doing it yourself,” says Ofu. “So he just guided me and told me what to do, and how to do it….You have to go and do [it yourself], with self-study and your mentors to help you. That means you are actually forced to use your brain. No one is going to open your brain and just slam things in your head. So it kind of helped me out to do further research and read about stuff, which is really great. I think it’s a choice.”
Based on his own experience, Ofu’s advice to other apprentices is fairly simple: “Just don’t hold back anything,” he says. “Be organized, number one, and don’t be shy if [you] have any questions…That’s what they are there for, and that’s why they are mentors… Take advantage of every situation and ask questions and keep asking and asking. Do your homework.”
Perhaps even more valuable than the skills he learned as an apprentice, Ofu’s newfound sense of ownership over his career is what helps keep him going today. While sustaining himself with a variety of freelance projects, Ofu says he’s pitching an action script called From the Shadows with the help of a manager in Hollywood, who is helping him hammer out the connections and funding for the project. He says it’s a lesson in patience, and it’s also putting his business knowledge to work.
“Knowing the business is really good, because you don’t want to be low-balled,” he says. “You need to know where you stand…You have to find the right people.”
Even during the discomfort of waiting for his budget to come together for the film, it’s clear that Ofu knows where his passion lies, and he’s in it for the long haul. “You have to be strong,” he says. “The industry is not easy. You have to be focused, just like anything…Some things take time. I am a believer of, ‘Anything is possible.’…Where your passion is, you will succeed. Don’t get me wrong, money is good. It does a lot of stuff. But at the same time, you are most happy when you are doing what you love.”
Well said, Ofu!
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