Hero Tuesday: Kevin Smith!

Kevin Smith is a really great guy.  

He once shot a film near where I lived, and I was just getting into filmmaking, so like a good young stalker, I found out what hotel he was staying in and left a letter explaining my journey and asking if it would be possible to sit in on rehearsals (obviously I was coming at the whole filmmaking thing with a theatre background). 

I carried on with the rest of my day and called my friend John later that evening and told him what I did. We laughed and joked about wouldn't it be cool if, then carried on discussing our day. So imagine both of our surprises when I told him I had to go because Kevin Smith was on the other line.  

To be honest, I don't remember much about our conversation. He thanked me for the letter and said I wouldn't be able to come to rehearsals for legal reasons. But then we proceeded to talk for the next hour about filmmaking and the struggles of doing things on your own, but also the struggles of working with a studio and answering to people on your creativity.  

That hour flew by pretty quickly.  

In the weeks to follow, I managed to get an internship at the local casting office and actually got to work on set. I had previously stopped by set and introduced myself and gave him a thank you note. When I began working he remembered me and made a point to check in from time to time to see how I was doing. He also made sure I was able to stay on set, even when I didn't always have a reason to be that was related to my internship. 

I walked away from that experience still a n00b when it came to filmmaking, but learned a lot about life and the industry in general. It's so true that the feel of the set comes from the top down. The laid back, family feel spoiled me. But most of all, Kevin's kindness made me feel safe to go after the things I wanted, and helped me realize there were people out there who wanted me to succeed as much as I wanted to be successful. 

Through that experience I realized that anything is possible. It's a memory I keep for rainy days. And planted in me a desire to one day be the person helping others realize their dreams. So even though we never interacted again, I'm thankful for the impact Kevin had on my life.