I didn’t go to film school. I was actually a Firefighter for a couple years before I got in the business. I’m fourth generation. My dad did it, my grandfather, my great-grandfather.
It’s a lot of on job training. Film school’s gonna teach you the basics; I’d say it’s more the cinematography and the art of lighting. You really have to be there, hands-on. It’s different when you’re in a class in front of twenty people than when you’re standing on set in front of a hundred people and you’re trying to implement lighting and there’s chaos going on.
Sometimes sets can be very chaotic, in a way, especially big action films. So you need to not be intimidated, especially by the different Directors, Actors, Producers and other crew members around you.
It’s a rewarding career. It’s not like you’re going to the same office every day. I’m doing the TV show Claws right now in Louisiana. In the last couple years, I did Rampage, Bad Boys for Life, Lady and the Tramp, Unhinged, and The Secrets We Keep. I’ve gone from a Will Smith big action movie down to a small, little, dramatic period movie that’s in the ‘50s—it’s always changing.
The crews change, for the most part. I travel a lot for work; I’ve worked at all the different areas except New York. You get to work with different people all the time. It’s not just the same people that you would see every day. I kind of like that.