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Issue #73
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
RC Graduate Garrett Pace
Production Room in Bravo Ocean Studios
Control Room A in Bravo Ocean Studios
Ti West, Writer/Director
Hakym Reagan and David Poland
Dillon Abell
Seth Aiken
Film Connection apprentice Seth Aiken (Cayce, SC), got to do some bounce lighting on a commercial. Speaking of the experience, Seth says, “It was both intimidating and exciting working on something that you know is going to be seen by everybody here in the state capital.” Seth is impressed with the experience he’s having at Genesis Studios, where he’s doing his apprenticeship: “Working with these guys has definitely cemented my thoughts of working in the film industry…These guys are more than professionals at what they do. Watching them is like watching Odysseus shoot that arrow through the axe heads. Everything works and falls perfectly and I hope one day I’ll have the experience to be as good as the guys at Genesis.”
Filmmaker Joel Gonzales has an interesting history with the Film Connection. After graduating the program several years ago, he launched a successful career in the film industry, largely beginning with the connections he made during his on-set time as an apprentice, then continuing into jobs with known organizations like Summit Entertainment, Universal and Artists in Entertainment. But several years into his career, understanding the power of mentoring and on-the-job training, Joel reached out again to the Film Connection and asked to become a mentor!
Today, Joel mentors Film Connection students by involving them in film projects through his production company, Think Dreamer Productions based in the Los Angeles area. In a recent conversation with us, Joel weighed in with helpful insights he’s learned about having a common-sense approach to the film industry, as well as why he decided to become a mentor—and even taking a moment to talk about some of his current students. Below are some choice quotes from that conversation.
ON HOW WORKING ON-THE-JOB HELPED LAUNCH HIS CAREER:
“The mentor I had…it was like he threw me on set, and I just did what I did, which is connected with people. I networked, I hustled, and after my first movie that I worked on with him…I connected well with the AD on the project, and she liked me enough that she brought me on two more films with her as an AD trainee. And I just took that knowledge and I ran with it, and after I started booking my own features and music videos as an AD, I moved up to a line producer, and then I just started doing my own films.”
ON HOW HE CAME BACK TO THE FILM CONNECTION TO BE A MENTOR:
“I went back to Film Connection like a year ago, and I and I thought to myself, ‘Well I have experience that I could share.’ And I hounded them a little bit, and they finally came around to say, ‘Okay well we’ll give you a couple of mentees.’ And I think they liked my attitude with my students because I take it seriously…I have two mentees working right now…I took them on jobs right away.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING TO YOUR STRENGTHS:
“When I started in film school, I wanted to be a director. I realized I don’t have the patience for it and I don’t have that kind of, that eye for it, and I decided, you know what? My strength is producing, so I stuck to producing.”
ON HOW HE PLAYS TO HIS STUDENTS’ STRENGTHS:
Joel Gonzales and FC apprentice Mo Zhang
“I believe highly in apprenticeship & mentorship as I am a result of this teaching environment. I understand a strong theoretical education works for a lot of students, but hands on experience and doing these tasks teaches hands on involvement that is hard to get. It is harder to build these bonds that are taught cooking together. This style builds confidence in the apprentice to achieve the goals to raise them above cook status into Sous Chef over a period of time through hard and smart working techniques that will empower the students to be performers, not guided by someone else’s success, but creating their own.”
— Robert W. Phillips CEC, CCA, CFSP, CC, Director of Culinary & Nutrition, MCH Deanco
MountainGate Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
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