I'm making it within the framework of senior seminar, a production class that is the culmination of the 'Film' degree that the Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film bestows upon graduates. I'm learning a great deal.

HOW I GOT HERE
I’m from Cincinnati. I heard about Purchase College from a friend whose mother went here. It was the middle of my senior year in high school, and I was, like most high school seniors, a bit anxious about my immediate future. Several programs had passed on me. I was a bit of a free spirit in high school and still am.

After Abhijit (now a student at Duke, and one of the smartest people I know) had mentioned Purchase to me, I looked the school up and noticed that a lot of film directors for whom I had a tremendous amount of respect had come through the program here. Charles Lane… Hal Hartley …Once I saw the campus, and talked to some of the people I was completely sold. It’s a very selective program, and I was thrilled to get in.

I’M SERIOUS ABOUT...
Working with the faculty and students here has been a remarkable experience that I wouldn't give up for anything. More important than specific concepts or bodies of knowledge I've learned about at Purchase (such as the etiquette of film sets or Eisenstein's dialectical approach to film editing) is the hunger, the unquenchable desire the institution has instilled in me to learn more and to push myself harder.

Until recently I've been living in New York and commuting to school. This was in turns draining and rewarding. I certainly wouldn't have been able to make either of my upperclassman films without the practical location scouting the commute engendered. I plan to move back to New York City in the near future. That's where the work is.

Of course, one doesn’t really know what the future will bring until the future happens. But I’m pretty confident that if I attack life like college, I’ll be fine. Right now, my life is making my  film.