Introducing Me So You Can Introduce you
Hey, guys, girls, fellow writers, fellow creatives, or whatever else you would like to be called. I am a person who believes in following behind someone else's back and being impacted by them some kind of way by their journey. So, I thought It would be fitting to allow you to follow mine. Here we go;
Since I was a child (and a very spontaneous one) I always had this wild imagination. I was heavily influenced by film and television. I loved Peter Pan, I literally believed in never growing up (that turned out to be some bullshit by the way). And I lived for The Jungle Book. I used to collect stuffed animals and I had these big green covers I'd place over me and my stuffed animals. Then, I'd talk to them (had to talk for them, lol). I'm not going to go into how I literally thought I was a power ranger, too embarrassing. Just take my word for it. Whether I was cooped in my room or roaming rapid outside, my imagination led the way. What I wanted to be wasn't clear then. I did really love basketball, Okay I wanted to be an NBA player (that was some bullshit, too).
Fast forward to around middle school time, I started taking some serious thought into the career thing. It was then that I realized that I wanted to be an actor. It just was just in me, I saw myself in movies. Plus, portraying characters were the most natural to me. Going into high school, I took that assurance more seriously. I took every theater class that there was to take. And that is where I met the first person that believed in me, my theater teacher Miss Hubbard. She saw potential in me as an actor and pushed me to be the best I could be on that stage. I keep in touch with her to this day.
Miss Hubbard told me that I should start off acting in theater, then transition into film. So, I took that advice to heart upon graduating high school. I did research on colleges that were a fit in North Carolina (I'm from Salisbury, North Carolina by the way, a small town) and had good acting programs. I was going back and forth between UNCW and UNCG. Being I didn't have any scholarships, nor could I afford to go, I took my guidance counsellor's advice of transferring to one of the schools.
So, I end up at RCCC where I'd continue acting classes with yet another acting teacher that believed in me and saw potential in me. Due to a more demanding school schedule, I couldn’t act in performances like I wanted to outside of my acting classes. So, I was looking for something to ease my urge to act. I don't know where the thought came from, but I decided to experiment with screenwriting. I found a book on screenwriting in the library and used it as a guide. Along with the ever-trustworthy internet. I'd devour hours of time into it I was so invested.
Back when I was at the high school, my guidance counselor advised that I switch my curriculum to college tech prep, meaning sophomore to senior year I didn't have to take any math classes. That would come back to bite me in RCCC. I placed so low in the math placement test that it would have took me more time and put more pressure on me to complete all of those math classes. I was devastated and went into what would be a second stint of depression. I was really down on myself. So, I turned back to screenwriting in the mist of this, I realized that I was pretty good at this. Better than I thought, being that I got a handle on loglines and query letters, my invincible feeling, 19-year-old self decided to submit my material to the agents and managers in Hollywood. Thinking I was going to sell my scripts for a million dollars, boy was that some bullshit. But, one thing that wasn't, this new fate I have aligned with screenwriting. You see, I got two of my scripts requested by Zero Gravity management (one of the top literary managements in Hollywood). I got rejected of course, I didn't have a grasp on screenwriting or it's fundamentals yet. But, the fact that they requested a script from a kid that barely knew what the fuck he was doing inspired me. I realized I had a unique voice that wasn't being reflected, the voice of the young black man. I used that rejection as fuel to my poised fire and charged on. I continued to write, rewrite, plot, study, read, fail, and repeat throughout my two years of community college, and carried my mentality beyond that.
I hit a road block when I started working part-time as a line cook at KFC during a year off from school. In fact, I was just going to wing it and not go back to school. "You don't need to go to school to be a screenwriter," I thought. Plus, I was bitter about the transfer falling apart. Also, I wanted a career and I wanted to achieve one at a young age. Back to KFC, After I'd work there, I'd come home and write. Then, people started not coming to work, forcing me to work more. People quit and got fired, forcing me to work even more. KFC fully took advantage of that situation and worked me more hours than all the other cooks. I was miserable, I had no time to write, no time to myself, and got paid $7.50 an hour for it (oh, I got a ten cent raise). I knew this wasn't going to work, this would prolong my path as a screenwriter. I needed a change. I started noticing these Full Sail University ads (thought the shit was a scam, thought nothing of it) with their creative writing degree program. I kept seeing it, and seeing it until I started doing some research on it for myself. I'm glad I did, not only did I attend Full Sail University, I've graduated Full Sail University. I achieved my Bachelor’s degree for creative writing within 21 months (accelerated program). It was rigorous, but I made it through and I'm a much better writer as a result. I have an understanding of story, an understanding of screenwriting and its fundamentals, and I've fully realized my identity as a writer. And I continue my path confidently, knowing I'm ready to be all that I can be in this field.
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