By the time I was five I had discovered the magic of cinema and between free Sunday movies at the local matinee and writing every day my head was filled with magic and adventure. When I was nine, I got to meet several of my literary and cinematic heroes while visiting a Hollywood talent agency and was given this timeless advice: “If you truly want to be an artist, never give up and always strive to do a better job, to tell a better story.”
Walking away with autographed memorabilia and a mission in life, I continued writing while starting to make my own home movies using a secondhand video recorder. I spent the next 25 years of my life working in and around almost every aspect of filmmaking including the romantic and the not so romantic. I learned not only acting, screenwriting, cinematography, directing, editing and producing, but I also did a lot of set design, fine carpentry prop making, scenery construction, make-up, costuming and way, way too much line producing and budget/schedule wrangling.
After two decades, I travelled the world applying my skills to charitable work making public exhibitions, short films, PSAs and documentaries used to raise funds and highlight social problems of poverty, illiteracy, drug abuse, domestic violence, human rights violations and governmental abuses. It was tough but it was also a great opportunity to get to meet and work with some of the biggest names across the Americas.
Despite enjoying many adventures including being shot at with automatic weapons and driven off an embankment in Venezuela, walking past bombed out buildings in Colombia, killed in an illegal street car race in Mexico, and taking a bullet in the leg when stopping a mugging; after the birth of my second daughter I decided it was time to go home to Hollywood and focus on the four things I enjoy most: family, writing, filmmaking and teaching.
I created Dare Cinema as a venue to share knowledge, insights and common experiences on the journey of filmmaking while I continue to write screenplays and tackle directing feature films.
My videos and blogs cover camera techniques, film philosophy, storytelling solutions, scriptwriting, budgeting and scheduling films and pretty much anything else I can think of that will help you make your movies.
I know there are a lot of filmmaking websites out there, but I hope you enjoy my focus on substance over style and the nuts and bolts approach to what it really takes to make movies and succeed as a visual storyteller.
Always feel free to write me at dare@darecinema.com to chat, discuss films, request specific tutorials or disagree with my views.