Film School Chronicles I

Going to the New York Film Academy was one of the best experiences of my life. I was not so much in New York as I was in LA, being at their Los Angeles campus bang on the backlot of Universal Studios was totally fantastic.



Here are some of the life lessons we learnt at school:

Larry Leahy on the film business: “If you don’t drink, you’re in the wrong line of work, get out of my class.”

On film basics: “It’s like cooking you want a little of this and a little of that. And you want it to taste good at the end of the day, but hey buddy, you can’t make chicken without the chicken you’d just have a mess.”

“Ok, but what’s your McGuffin?”

On Francis Ford and Apocalypse Now: “You know buddy, by then Francis had just lost his shit and people were dying all over the place…” (Before getting lost in deepest thought)

Bennett Graebner on character: “No one likes people without flaws, they’re just fucking boring.”

On preferences: “Just don’t write shit about babies and animals and old people and certainly not all at once.”
(Good advice to student filmmakers I assure you, despite this advice we still had that one guy who wrote a 30-minute movie about all three.)

On his own advice: “Now here’s a really bad idea…”

Jadit DeBrito on priorities: “If it’s a question of you going over the cliff or the 35, take a fall.”

On lighting and life: “Now this is nice, but I like things a little eghee (edgy).”


*These are some of the smartest, most talented people I have ever had the privilege of meeting.