I’ve been a teacher almost ten years. I’ve taught after school programs, summer camps, college-level film classes, weekend workshops, you name it, I’ve taught it. It all started when I’d been asked to teach a directing workshop long ago … But then the artificial intelligence software company I was working at full time (yes, I worked in A.I.) was downsizing and I was forced to find other employment. I filled an open Lecturer position at the University of Texas in 2008 to teach upper level undergrads in the film program. It was one class a semester, but even just teaching that one class at a university level, terrified me.
When I started teaching at UT two things happened … I became a full time mentor to classrooms full of wide-eyed enthusiastic kids … and magically I became a better filmmaker. The reason I became a better filmmaker? I had to become a student again. I had to go back and study and at least “kind of” know what I was talking about when I stood in front a room full of college kids waiting to be inspired and educated. It was a huge responsibility and I didn’t take it lightly.
So along with my students, I went back to school. I started auditing classes, watching online lectures, reading countless books, watching the classics and breaking them down. I loved every second of it. I found inspiration spilling out of my ears. And my films got so much better. Not to mention watching my students go out and shoot every weekend and be willing to take risks, make mistakes and just play on the playground … it made me want to get back on that playground. In my time teaching at UT, I grew exponentially as a filmmaker.
But I have to say, the most rewarding aspect of being a teacher, is being a mentor. When I was growing up my drama teacher, Jeff Grove was my mentor. I’m not sure he realized it at the time. I took drama as an elective because I thought it would be an easy A and I sucked at drawing and I sucked at Latin. Little did I know, I would find refuge in acting. And Mr. Grove saw that. He told me I had potential. He told me I had talent. In real life I was this shy kid who would never have gotten on stage without a little shove. And he gave me those words of encouragement that built my confidence and self esteem. That confidence landed me leads in all the high school plays, a few community theater productions, winning awards at acting competitions and getting a scholarship into a college acting program. Eventually I realized I wasn’t cut out to be in front of the camera or on stage. I wanted to be the puppeteer behind the curtains. I wanted to direct. And learning the actor’s language in high school made me a better director. And if I had to trace my career back to where it all started, it would be Mr. Grove and those four words, “I believe in you.”
When Mr. Grove (yes, I still call him Mr. Grove) came to a screening of Hellion last summer in Florida, I got to say “thank you.” I got to tell him he had a small part in the making of this film. When I teach, I get to be my own version of Mr. Grove. I get to see my students being rock stars years after graduation. And there’s no better achievement.
This sounds super cheesy, but if you go out and help one kid, one student and tell them they can be anything, do anything, their dreams are possible and they have the talent and drive to make those dreams happen, you’ll be so pleasantly surprised later in life when those few words will take shape into a movie, a play, a performance, a Nobel Peace Prize, a great scientific discovery or maybe, just maybe … an Oscar … who knows?